Doctor Who: Audience and Industries

Audience

1) Who is the target audience for Doctor Who? Do you think it has changed since 1963?

Mainstream family audience - broad appeal as millions of people watch the BBC.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: learning information that you did not already know. Doctor Who offers its audience an education about space travel, science and history.  

Personal Relationships: personally relating to something - seeing your lifestyle on screen. How different audiences may identify with Susan, her teachers or the Doctor.

Diversion (Escapism): escapism and being entertained away from your normal life. Science Fiction is a classic genre for escapism

Surveillance (Information / Facts): caring about characters and wanting to find out what happens to them. The audience are left thinking what will happen to the characters in the ends as they have entered a new planet.

3) What additional Uses and Gratifications would this episode provide to a modern 2020s audience?

INFORMATION/SURVEILLANCE: learning information that you did not already know. Doctor Who offers its audience an education about space travel, science and history and modern audience may get educated by this.. 

4) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to An Unearthly Child?

VOYEURISTIC PLEASURE: Watching something you wouldn't normally get a chance to see for example we would not usually get a chance to see the inside of TARDIS

5) What kind of online fan culture does Doctor Who have? Give examples.

Doctor Who now has an international online fan culture of events, fan fiction, fan-edited trailers and more. The BBC also produces merchandise to sell to this audience. 

Industries

1) What was the television industry like in 1963? How many channels were there?

There were only two TV channels in the UK in 1963 and they were BBC and ITV and they had black and white scenes due to lack of technology in 1963.

2) How does An Unearthly Child reflect the level of technology in the TV industry in 1963?

Due to the level of technology in 1963, the film was in black and white with clunky camera movements and basic editing and sound effects.

3) Why is Doctor Who such an important franchise for the BBC? 

It is due to the fact that it brought in a lot of revenue and income to the BBC by being sold to different countries and was seen as 'entertaining' and 'educational' film to watch.

4) What other programmes/spin-offs are part of the wider Doctor Who franchise?

Other programmes/spin offs such as torchwood are part of the wider doctor who franchise

5) Why does the Doctor Who franchise have so much merchandise available? Give examples. 

It is due to the fact that it brought in a lot of income and was liked by audiences from different countries as it was entertaining meanwhile being educational.

Doctor Who: Language and Representations

 Language and contexts

1) Write a summary of the notes from our in-class analysis of the episode. You can use your own notes from the screening in class or this Google document of class notes (you'll need your GHS Google login). 

Camerawork and sound: 

• Music - theme tune to Doctor Who. Very science-fiction - sets genre from beginning.

• Graphics on screen: title of show and episode. Simple text/font. 

• Sound: hum of TARDIS (helps create science-fiction genre).

Mise-en-scene:

 

• Susan - first introduced dancing and dressed as 1960s teenager (costume). Seems to be both typical teenager and alien.

• Costume and hair typical of 1960s.

 

Narrative and genre:

 

• Opening title sequence like a rocket taking off - sci-fi genre and links to 1960s space race.

• Enigma codes: mystery of Susan’s home. French Revolution book - “I’ll have finished it” “That’s not right”... suggests time travel.

2) How can we apply narrative theories to this episode of  Doctor Who? 

Todorov's Equilibrium: everything is going fine until the teachers follow Susan and go into the TARDIS

Propp's character theory: Male teacher - hero, Female teacher - Heroine, Doctor - Villian

Barthes's enigma and action codes: When the teachers follow Susan to where she lives (action codes) In the end the characters end up in a different planet (Enigma code)

3) In your opinion, what is the most important scene in the episode and why?

The end scene as it is interestingly left in a cliff-hanger where the characters were left in a different planet as they had entered the TARDIS

4)  What genre is An Unearthly Child and how can you tell? Make specific reference to aspects of the episode.

Science fiction (Sci-fi) as it takes the characters through time travel and space and brings them into another planet by TARDIS

5) How does An Unearthly Child reflect the social and historical contexts of the 1960s?

Susan is dressed up as a typical 1960s teenager

Historical references to a revolution

Old technology in 1960s
Clucky black and white cameras

Representations

1) What stereotypes of men are reinforced and subverted in Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child? How?

The 1960s stereotypes are reinforced as the male teacher is seen or displayed as brave, strong and a hero of the female teacher and Susan

2) What stereotypes of women/girls are reinforced and subverted in Doctor Who: An Unearthly Child? How?

The female teacher and Susan needed saving from the other teacher and this reinforces the stereotypes as they are seen as inferior.

3) How do the representations of young people and old people in An Unearthly Child reflect the social and historical context of the 1960s? 

In the 1960s, young people are seen as less rebellious as they are seen today and old people like the doctor is seen as a bit more arrogant than young people in the 1960s.


4) What representations of race/ethnicity can be found in Doctor Who: An Earthly Child? Is this surprising or not? Give reasons for your answer and consider historical / cultural context (the 1960s). Has this changed in more recent series of Doctor Who?

There seems to be less diversity in British films back in the 1960s as there are only either Americans or British actors in the cast. Nowadays there is more diversity in race and ethnicity in British films as there are actors from anywhere around the world in the casts.

5) How is social class represented in An Unearthly Child? Think about how education and knowledge is presented in the episode.

Susan may be seen or represented as a social class as she seems to live in a junkyard with her grand father AKA the doctor and she also seems to know more about history as she says 'that's not right..' when looking at the French revolution book so she may have more education than a typical 1960s social class teenagers..

Television: Introduction to TV drama

1) How does this His Dark Materials trailer meet the conventions of a TV drama series?

A TV drama series is a set of connected TV episodes that run under the same title e.g. His Dark Materials. This conventions are met when an episode will focus more on one character or another. (Ensemble cast)

2) What genre (or genres) are suggested by this His Dark Materials trailer?

Adventerous, action and drama

3) What kind of characters and narratives are introduced in this trailer?

We are introduced to Lyra who is apart of a prophecy as she makes her way through the world (which she isn't apart of) that she entered.

4) What settings appear in the trailer?

Realistic lighting and editing for social dramas to keep it gritty. Common use of flashback, point of view shots, dialogue and voice over, enigma and action codes throughout.

5) Who do you think the target audience for His Dark Materials is? Give reasons for your answer.

Teenagers to the age of 25 (both genders, female and male). This is because the storyline mostly has teenagers running around in an abandoned town or village

Music Video: Final index

1) Music Video: Introduction

2) Music Video: BLACKPINK - How You Like That CSP

3) Music Video: Arctic Monkeys - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor CSP