LFTVD Essay

Q: ‘Representations of social, cultural and historical events can vary within long form television from different countries.’ Discuss how and why audiences might respond to and interpret these representations differently. 

In your answer you must: 

·         consider the contexts in which long form television dramas are produced and consumed

·         explain how media contexts may have influenced different aspects of realism and audience response in the set episodes of the two long form television dramas you have studied 

·         make judgements and reach conclusions about the differences in realism of social, cultural and historical circumstances between the two set episodes.

·      D83 and Stranger things have been studied.

·      English and German trailers for D83 were very different to suit the audience.

The two media long form television drama programmes I have studied are Deutschland 83 (German speaking narrative) and Stranger Things (English speaking narrative). Both being set in the 1980’s however both having varying representations. Netflix the distributer of Stranger Things, is platform agonistic international company with over 160 million monthly subscribers already with a vast audience. Due to the vast success and target audience worldwide, it had a budget of $6 million per episode in series 1, with over $15 million on marketing the LFTVD with large conglomerate company’s such as Coca Cola, Nike, Adidas, Chevrolet and Burger King. Well-known brands such as Top shop and Primark produced clothing products with the Stranger things characters and setting upon them spreading the awareness of the LFTVD allowing fans to purchase and act as a self-marketing campaign (Jenkins idea of Fandom active participants of the circulation of media types). Hesmodhalgh theory of minimising risk and maximising profit is heavily subverted with Stranger Things due to the niche narrative and originality with characters and representations. However, Netflix being such a large conglomerate have the chance to task risks and create more niche LFTVD, which evidentially paid off due to 40 million households streaming the first episode within four days of it being released. Therefore, within a large population of Netflix’s audience being American due to the cheaper alternative from expensive, long cable TV contracts it was very popular due to the verisimilitude factor for the Americans due the drama being set in 80’s America.

Whereas Deutschland 83 was produced to three different distinct audience types. RTL produced and distributed for the German audience. Due to the German audience this LFTVD had many elements of verisimilitude therefore it was unpopular due to the unpopular history and negative representation of parts of Germany during the Cold War. Whereas through Walter presents on Channel 4 for the UK it was very popular with 5 million views of the first series in a month of it being shown, this is due to the varying political views within the UK matching the description of the representation of East VS West in Deutschland 83 however not as extreme. The production of Deutschland 83 is seen as ‘old’ due to the traditional productional values of using TV channels to distribute the programme such as Sundance, RTL and Channel 4 with this it is targeting an older more mature audience even though most of the channels are platform agnostic on demand. Due to historical contexts for the German, British and American audience it affects their involvement and personalisation to relate to the program (making it popular in some country’s more than others).

Due to Netflix’s excess success it allowed it to have a budget of $6million per episode consisting of post editing, acting and directing. With Stranger Things due to the theme of the supernatural vast amount of effects and post editing was required showing elements of postmodernism, for example when will is cycling home on his chopper bike – an intertextual link to a typical prop in the 1980’s for young teenagers – suddenly non diegetic (added sound effects are evident) to make the audience aware of the supernatural theme in this scene. An alien like figure is present in a dark, dusk setting in the woods created by a low stationary shot to show how Will is exposed and has a lack of control in this situation. Whilst the story line of Stranger Things is chronological to show a clear flow and story line to the narrative, however in-between the story line multiple sudden jump cuts are placed to the show the fast paced serious/sinister tone subverting to the young youthful teenagers trying to find their friend. 

Deutschland 83 follows a chronological structure, showing Martin living in the East serving his country showing a state of equilibrium, however this is short lived as he is recruited/drugged to work in the west as an undercover spy. Todorov stating how a media text shows a state of equilibrium which is then prevented by a disruption this theory is very effective for D83 showing a clear structure. Due to the overall negative portrayal of Germanys history. Therefore, this creates an enigma for the German audience due to the repetition and representation of negative historic events gaining a lack of audience approval however from an English/American perspective it is an informative/action packed spy drama, targeting a vast target audience. Due to Channel 4 and Sundance vast national recognition it allowed D83 to be available to a vast network through two platforms. (Providing alternative media -original-). Baudrillard theory helps show the verisimilitude of Ronald Reagans speech, real newspapers from the era and replica uniforms to fit the time period where as the action packed spy drama scenes e.g passing of secrete cameras and phone calls to the East suggest a form of Hyper reality helping entertain the audience and gain their full attention.

Gender in D83 is shown through various powerful figures such as Martin a white young male, who gains the most screen time showing to had some power due to working for the East German Army in this instance he is presented as the man of the house following a patriarchal approach, however Annett Martins girlfriend is shown to be independent and powerful contrasting Van Zoonens theory of patriarchal ideologies due to her female character not seen as just an object but an important lead to the narrative and the political ideologies of female right in the communist part of East Berlin.  However, during Stranger Things, the mother of Will is shown to be a stereotypical female showing typical values of taking care of the house and children, this conforms to Van Zoonens theory due to the Western Patriarchy in America in the 1980’s. However, Nancy Wheeler a young up and coming adult is subverting the stereotype of women’s body’s being seen as objects as she pushes Steve Harrington away the typical (high school jock) and focussing on school study rather than being treated as an object subverting typical western 80’s ideologies.

The military/government are represented to be powerful with opposing ideologies, the west government supported capitalistic views and beliefs contrasting to the East of equality and communistic views creating a vast conflict over beliefs and ideologies splitting Germany. Therefore, the government were shown to be upfront and truthful however the East employed spy’s who Martin represents, trying to access information about the Wests attack upon the East. Themes of corruption and power are evident due to both wanting a common goal. The differing audiences for D83 with infer from the TV Drama that Germany was once very corrupt making vast mistakes and cut enormous corners to try and gain success adding to some negative connotations as a nation from a German perspective.

D83 LIAR

D83 Characters

D83 Characters

Character	Information
Martin Rauch, Moritz Stamm	Major or Minor Character? Major Character Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype when working as a Soldier in the east, however when moving to the west as an undercover spy he subverts his typical political views and ideologies to try and fit into that society to gain trust and information. Characteristics? Caring, talented, family/girlfriend orientated. Communist ideologies due to living is east Berlin. Confused when first walking into a supermarket seeing all different branding and groceries available. Shown through the long shot making him feel small. Contribution to Narrative? Showing typical communism views, main character showing the personal factors occurring between both politically sided individuals and sides of Berlin.
Lenora Rauch Martin’s Aunt	Major or Minor Character? Major Character Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms to the stereotype in the East as they promote women’s equality. Whereas men are seen to be superior as rigidly patriachial. Characteristics? Powerful, exposed to luxury’s even when supporting eastern communism views. Contribution to Narrative? She is very important in the narrative as she firstly speaks about Martin being the spy to help the East spy on the West warfare.
General Wolfgang Edel	Major or Minor Character? Major Characteristic Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype when shown is his office, whereas shown in his own home (comfort zone) he refers to fish as his ‘silent friends’ showing sympathy to animals subverting strong mate ideologies in west Berlin. Characteristics? Capitalistic ideologies, war orientated, strict, authority, nurturing. Contribution to Narrative? He is the main catalyst in West Berlin who employs Martin.
Walter Schweppenstette	Major or Minor Character? Major character/minor role. Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype of a strong and smart spy who controls Martin (high in ranks) authorities to eventually persuade him. Characteristics? Has authority, controlling, calm yet purposeful. Contribution to Narrative?
Annett Schneider Martins GF	Major or Minor Character? Minor character Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype as she shows love and devotion to Martin when he returns home for the family party. When he goes ‘missing’ she shows care and questions Martins mum about his where abouts. Characteristics? Kind, caring and loving. Contribution to Narrative? N/a
Alex Edel General Edel’s son	Major or Minor Character? Minor character Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Subverts the stereotype as he states Martins quotes as if you sound like my dad. Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative? N/a
Tobias Tischbier Professor	Major or Minor Character? Minor character Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype of trying to persuade Morritz to help the country, however, subverts the typical Eastern communist as he has no family or history to return to. Characteristics? Strong minded, wise and aware of the Western ideologies. Contribution to Narrative? N/a
General Arnold Jackson	Major or Minor Character? Major/minor role. Stereotype? Conforms or Subverts? Conforms the stereotype by showing typical patriarchal views and ideologies. Characteristics? Stupid, capitalist. Contribution to Narrative? Supplies the documents for Morittz to photograph and report back to the Eastern government/Berlin.
Add characters: mum PA  Edel’s daughter Anyone else?

Deutschland 83 Scene By Scene

13B Deutschland 83 Episode 1 – Scene by Scene walk through

	Scene Name	Significant screen grab	Summary of scene	Choose three important shots/scenes Meaning in key features and terms - DISTINCT and camera, editing, mise en scene, sound, themes	Timings and Order	Narrative Equilibrium/disruption/obstacle(Todorov) Verisimilitude?  Denotation/Connotation/Enigma(Barthes) Binary opposites? (Strauss)
1 Fred	East German Diplomatic Mission – West Germany		Non diegetic audio of Reagan American President explaining how the Russians are causing problems.  Luxurious apartment, cigarettes, coffee shown in the capitalist part of West Germany. Non-diegetic music to add emotion and suspense to the situation. Cigarettes present addiction and intoxication yet show luxury.	Drawer full of luxury items such as branded coffee, cigarettes show the varying political ideologies. Reagan speech again reinforces political ideologies. Women on the phone talking to an unknown voice showing some sort of concern.	00:00-01:12	Binary opposites are present as shown by the scene name, the capitalist values of branding, variation and hierarchy. Contrasting to the equality of communism in the east of Germany. Disruption of the equilibrium is evident through the women speaking to an unknown voice due to the strengthening speech from Raegen saying how he will react to the Russian actions.
2	Barracks – Border Crossing		Medium shot of stairwell with bright lighting,  long shot of soldiers walking. Non-diegetic music is still playing, adding an action like theme and adds suspense for the audience. Lack of lighting in the hallway to add confusion and suspense. Close up of shutting the door, foreshadowing an important event.	Martin is shown to have power over students as they are trying to sneak in contraband, the low medium panning shots look up to him portraying this. Dark unsaturated lighting portrays the uncertainty and uneasiness from the political tension.	1:12-3:01	At this point the narrative is at its equilibrium due to Martin doing his job working for his country, however the West contraband has been confiscated which is a symbol foreshadowing his potential next journey serving his country however he isn't aware. The denotation of the confiscating the literature shows how he is worthy to his country, however from this minor contraband it shows how he is worse than the original smugglers as he after returns this back to his family home and laughs with his fellow colleague showing how minor the situation is.
3 Lily	East German Foreign Intelligence HQ		.  digetic audio of lenora speaking. . shot of lenora getting out of her car, going into the main offices in east germany. .Shot of lenora standing by the window looking out Shows she holds power out of the two.	tracking shot of lenora as walks into the office close up as she stands by the window	3:01- 5:04	Introduction to lenoras character. There is a meeting about potential attacks on germany. The equilibrium begins undisrupted and then becomes disrupted when annet suggests her nephew would take part.
4	Rauch Family Home		All diegetic sounds from the party.  People greeting each other Music in the background	setting: tracking shot of martin walking into the garden. Lots of diegetic sounds from the party. close	5:04-6:22	Martin arrives home to a family garden party. The narrative so far includes the introduction to martin and the family as the camera follows him into the house.
5 Tilly	Inside Rauch Family Home		Close up - Camera follows Martin as he enters the house to find his girlfriend, Annette.  Diegetic sound of party, talking, glasses clinking, music on the tv Mid shot of him saying hello to three male friends. mid shot of TV and a band are playing the lead singer says ‘How cool is this’ diegetic sound Close up of aunt smoking in the kitchen before asking about her sister’s illness ‘How’s the dialysis going? Diegetic sound Long shot of aunt looking over through the kitchen at Martin and his girlfriend - cuts to him looking over and smiling at her - medium long shot.  His mother and aunt talk in the kitchen - medium long shot for both characters. His aunt gets her some Nescafe coffee and Chanel perfume - two products banned in the east. His aunt asks his mother about her health and she expresses that she needs a kidney transplant, yet she will not be granted one as she is not a high priority.	DISTINCT and camera, editing, mise en scene, sound, themes  setting: house, blue walls, lots of people in blue, darker colours connoting that the East is seen as a more controlled, restricted, less exciting place than the west.  icons: the Nescafe coffee and Chanel perfume given from the aunt to his mother shows the restrictions of the East and the breaking of that control through this action. This is shown through a medium shot of the two sisters talking in the kitchen. The aunt is sitting and the mother is standing presenting that the mother is confident and strong in the house setting and the aunt may be more uncomfortable/awkward as she spends most of her time in the office characters: sisters talking in the kitchen, secretive, privacy  Martin is with his girlfriend in the other room dancing with the others - reflects their youth, vulnerability, unknowingness of the severity of the war etc	6:24-8:10	Equilibrium/disruption/obstacle(Todorov) Verisimilitude?  Denotation/Connotation/Enigma(Barthes) Binary opposites? (Strauss) The equilibrium is not evidently disrupted as nothing in this scene changes - the party still goes on. but through the character of the Aunt being introduced this is the catalyst to the change in equilibrium.  The verisimilitude is strong and reinforced through the exchange of illegal gifts of coffee and Chanel perfume as this was a difference between the north and the west. It is also reinforced by the band playing on the TV. There are enigmas of who the man is on the right as Martin acts surprised and strange to see him.
6 Kieran	Opening Sequence Titles		Credits: All non diegetic countdown 3-1, global map, highlighting Germany, colour coding west and east germany. Walkthrough of all actors ‘Stop Cold War’ US Flag with hazard signs instead of stars Germans Protesting Nuke attack screen Fighter planes and running ‘Deutschland 83’		Credit Sequence   8m 11 - 8m 47	Narrative of the credits shows teh germany divide to give context of how the country was divided and they style
7 Rosie	News Reports		non-diegetic sound of the TV reporting various news ‘to ensure security in europe through disarmament’   the tv is the only shot with a montage of different news stories in the news from different people in positions of power	8:48- 9:17	verisimilitude is present as the news stories are all genuine real stories from the news then	the narrative here is simply the opening the episode up into the events and news stories happening regarding missiles, war
8 rosie	East Germany – Rauch Family Home		Non-Diegetic music of the party. Some non diegetic dialogue from people at the party, not on screen.	First shot is a tracking shot from behind Martin Rauch with the background slightly blurred initiating his importance  -close ups of martin greeting his mother and family  -there’s numerous diegetic sounds through the dialogue when martin is greeting everyone	East Germany Rauch House - 5m 05 - 8m 12	narrative so far includes the introduction to martin and the family as the camera follows him into the house.
9 Kieran	East Germany – Rauch Family Home		Rauch House: Old car pulling up to the house. mum eating food in kitchen Gets up, realises someone at the door, the door was unlocked. ‘we’d like to speak to martin’ martin sleeping at 3pm Martin gets woken up Comrades sit at table to talk to Martin about staying in East Germany ‘Do you play chess?’ ‘If martin works for us, i can get you on the kidney transplant list’; blackmail Can play chess, enjoys football and knows who played, doesn’t play piano ‘Fritz,  make us a nice cup of coffee’ coffee gets spiked so Martin passes out Snaps fingers Passes out		East Germany Rauch House  9m 17 - 14m 20	narrative shows how the army wants Martin to go West Germany as an undercover. Martin wants to stay loyal and not go but he needs to go to save his mother.  main comrade poisons coffee to make Martin pass out so they can transport him to Bonn. Also brakes Martins fingers to get out of football and other activities western germans don't participate in.
10 Daisy	West Germany – Tischbier’s House		He wakes up in West Germany after his coffee had been drugged.  looking up at the ceiling, he notices a large chandelier hanging - a luxury that is not common in East Germany. sitting up from his bed, he looks at the side table and sees a magazine with --- on the cover. after getting out of bed, he looks out the window and sees the West Germany Cities and their way of life.	Mid shot of the chandelier hanging from the ceiling shows how the ideologies from East to West are so significantly different from each other.	14:20 - 15:20
11	Bonn
12	Office of supermarket		After Martin has run out of Tobias’s house, he runs through West German street. To get away, he runs into a supermarket. All over the shelves, he sees different brands of products, something that is extremely rare in East Germany.
13	Park
14 Sam	Training montage		-Training scene is full of non-diegetic music to represent the pace of the scene, also the music is of the west which is generally more upbeat and fast paced than eastern music which is slow and patriotic. meaning that this is martins indoctrination into becoming a eastern spy. There is also diegetic audio of the tools and speech that is giving the audience a step by step guide on what Martin needs to know to become a spy.	There are a variety of camera shots in this scene ranging from extreme close up, to long shot. This is to represent the pace once again of how fast the training is for martin in order for him to become the ultimate spy for the east.	20:19 -	the narrative is unresolved and we are left with the enigma of whether he will be suitable for the role and whether he is capable to be successful The narrative is an open-ended multi stranded narrative as we are following Martin’s story closely but also the verisimilitude of Reagan and the Cold War
15	Train Scene		-A woman boards a train -The real Moritz Stamm is assassinated by Nina	Birds eye view of the women boarding the train. Wearing a skirt and leather jacket. Is Long shot of the women walking towards the camera through the train corridors. Is looking for someone
16	Base		-Martin starts his new role Kramer – another spy -Meet General Edel	Worm hole camera shot, shows Edel is a higher rank than Martin Mid-close up shot More colourful background and settings	23:22
17 Ami	Barracks		Martin is asked whether he’s read ‘Green Party’ (Petra Karin Kelly was a German Green politician and ecofeminist activist. She was a founding member of the German Green Party, the first Green party to rise to prominence both nationally in Germany and worldwide). super basic and simple living quarters, as expected. Because east germany was a communist authoritarian state Martin wasn't used to having access to these kinds of novels.  Goes against the ideologies of the east in order to fit into the west society and is “just like my father” referring to the general.		23:23
18	Office		Phones rings and Martin doesn’t know how to operate it - “don’t they have phones in Braunschweig”.  He has to log all the phone calls - “East Germany - 546 Solviet Union 548. we monitor east germany rom building g and solviet union from building H''  Questions who’s listening to them as it seems that people are always listening and that they too must make “interesting phone calls”		24:11
19 Regan	Edel’s Office		Martin (Moritz) gets called into Edel’s office - using the non-diegetic dialogue “Stamm”. Martin (Moritz) addresses Edel as “General” and Martin (Moritz) is told to go and buy cigarettes for the American coming over. Martin replies to the General’s dialogue of needing the American “on our side” with “Aren’t all of the Americans on our side?”.		24:10 - 26:24
20	School in East Germany		Ingrid Rauch (Martin’s mother) ends her PE lesson with the diegetic dialogue of “We end gym class with a loud ‘sport is over!’”. As Annett walks into the gymnasium, one of Ingrid’sstudents get their (forgotten) jacket from Ingrid. Annett persists to ask Ingrid where Martin is as she can’t seem to find him anywhere - even at work. When Annett says that she ‘went’ to where Martin usually works, Ingrid’s facial expressions change as she realises that she has to stop Annett from asking all of these questions about the whereabouts of her boyfriend.		26:25 - 27:02
21 Leo	Barracks		This scene shows Moritz in bed, practising picking locks in his bed.  He is doing this in preparation for the infiltration task he has to do in the upcoming scenes.  Unrest from another guard causes him to stop the lock picking due to him being a spy getting caught is the worst case scenario.	Scene showing him staring up at ceiling, shows unrest. close up of Moritz covering the practise lock and pick under his pillow when he could be potentially found. This close up makes sure to bring it to the viewers attention that he is not in safe territory. Poor low lighting creates a certain point of how he views the west.  The area (dorm) he is in is typical for an army barracks, limited furniture, basic living essentials. Little personal touches. eery  xylophone builds a suspense in background to support his wring doing in the scene.	27:07 - 27:34	practising locking foreshadows him breaking into the office to obtain the documents (barrts)  oppositional (Strauss) 2 people of different political ideologies sleeping in the same room
22	Base		long shot of the barrack onto which Mortiz is located  cloudy, “depressing” atmosphere sky compliments the warzone.  Western barrack, high grade military equipment. Large facility.	Long shot to show a location change within the episode.  soldiers with red caps draws attention from the viewer. Sound is the a TV news broadcast which is giving updates on the nuclear tensions between both sides of Germany and the potential for world war 3.	27:40- 27:43
23 Maisie	Canteen		99 Luftballons song (non -diegetic sound) ‘This song is playing everywhere’ -General's son (Alex Edel), trying to make conversation with Martin. Martins loss of appetite could be due to his stress of being a spy as there is a lot to take on. Four of them sit down in the canteen and mock the east.  Discussing ‘negotiations’. Martin realises the General talking to others, and therefore seizes the moment to try and see what is in their briefcase.	There are a range of medium to close up shots (whilst introducing the new characters to the programme ) as well as a tracking shot when Martin and Alex are about to sit down in the canteen.	30:00s - 31:17s
24	Base		Martin sneaks into base where he tries to break into the room where the briefcase is by using the skills he has just been taught. There are constant switches between close up to long shots to show the details of him breaking into the doors/drawers etc. He finally gets into the room with the briefcase and opens it up to find confidential information about the west, immediately taking photographs of them. After he rapidly takes photos, he rushes out of the room and jams the keys back in the drawer and not long after everyone enters the room.	The first shot that is shown in this scene is a long tracking shot of Martin through the blinds to emphasise how he is a spy and is sneaking around. The blinds cut out half of the shot to create suspension as well as making it seem like someone is spying on him. The close up shots of him trying to pick the lock create tension and leave viewers wondering whether he will do it in time. Martin is  constantly looking around nervously to see whether anyone is coming. Non- diegetic orchestral tense music, creates suspense as it sounds like it’s building up to something. The close up shots of Martin’s expression, highlights how anxious he is.	31:17s - 33:58s
25	Bonn – Edel House				33:58s - 42:43s
26	Outside Edel House				42:43s - 44:24s
27	Training in the woods				44:24s - 47:16s