EJP

Teaser trailer for the activity areas at CTT! - First Draft. Rough edit. Sound quality is a little off.

“We don’t kill the living!” (Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead, 2009)

  “An analysis of modern television series’ using past film theory, semiotics and psychoanalysis to reveal representations of modern culture, looking in particular, at gender.”

Introduction

  ‘”Culture refers to the characteristic features of a civilisation or state, or the behaviour typical of a group or class. Culture is thus deeply connected to ideology. One might say it is the ‘real world’ manifestation of ideology. Since characteristic features, social behaviours and cultural products all convey ideology.” (Benshoff & Griffin, 2011, 13)

 Benshoff and Griffin explore the sub-elements that create culture such as race, gender and class, and use theories and film analysis to explore the ideologies which American film creates, surrounding these cultural representations. Cultural products, for example film and television series, are what Benshoff and Griffin describe as representations of the culture in which they are produced. Consciously or subconsciously, filmmakers create bi-products of the culture in which they are surrounded; therefore one can argue that in terms of symbolism, narrative and discourse, those who view these cultural bi-products can create their own ideologies based on what they see. (Benshoff & Griffin, 2011)

 “Every image embodies a way of seeing. Even a photograph…the photographer’s way of seeing is reflected in his choice of subject. The painters way of seeing is reconstituted by the marks he makes on the canvas or paper. Yet, although every image embodies a way of seeing, our perception or appreciation of an image depends also upon our own way of seeing.” (Berger, 2008, 10)

 Therefore, ideologies that one creates when viewing a Hollywood film or television series, are constructions of our own thought processes that are influenced about what we see visually, and based on our self. We can then create our own interpretation of that image through the use of language. With this in mind, one could argue that each individual viewer interprets film and television texts, being representations of the culture in which they are produced, differently. (Berger, 2008)

...

“In a story that mirrors that of character Norman Bates from 1960 film Psycho, Emmanuel Kalejaiye, 21, dressed up in women's pink clothing after killing Tolu Kalejaiye, 44, last September to give him time to get rid her body” (Rawle, 2014)

The publication of this murder story compares the character of Norman Bates with the nature in which Kalejaiye acted after killing his mother, making the fictional character of Norma Bates come to life.

Another example is the online American newspaper, The Huffington Post, which has a webpage dedicated to serial killers, where most reports graphically describe the events that happened during singular or mass murder (The Huffington Post, 2014), mirroring the chronological narrative of film and television shows. What first appears, as the page opens, is a series of large mug shots of the killers, making them initially identifiable to the viewer. Underneath is a caption describing the extent of their crime, which supplies the viewer with a narrative. Again, by allowing serial killers the privilege of news reportage, one can argue that this in turn glorifies their existence, making them more accessible and giving their criminal behaviour room for admiration and justification. Culture then accepts this type of publication as normality, which allows filmmakers to produce these ideas into visual entertainment.

What is interesting about these murder news stories is that they are covered vastly over a longer period of time and are explained in as much detail as possible. These stories tend to be of the most extreme, most violent and most disturbing cases. On the 14th of December 2012, Adam Lanza stormed into Sandy Hook Elementary school, shooting and killing 20 children and six members of staff. Prior to his arrival at the school, Lanza shot and killed his mother at their home in Newton, Connecticut (BBC, 2013). The incident of what is described as “the second-deadliest mass shooting in U.S history” (Martinez, 2013) is still being covered in the news today. Arguably, the amount of graphic information and details published of the murders, could override the actual magnitude of the crime purely for the sake of entertainment, desensitizing the viewer towards this type of crime. Police images of the school after the shooting have been published across the Internet, including clear pictures of fresh blood splatters, guns and bullet holes, and the clothes in which Lanza was wearing at the time. Again, chronological descriptions of Lanza’s footsteps that day both narrate and bring to life his horrific killing spree.

...

  Each seminal text has similarities of family ideologies and domesticity. One could suggest that traditional family ideas can be symbolised by the dinner table, which is a recurring feature in both Breaking Bad and Bates Motel. The dinner table suggests bonding, sharing, conversing and, most important to family structures, togetherness. This can be seen, as both protagonist mothers, Norma Bates and Skylar White in particular, prepare breakfast and dinner for their families frequently, displaying traditional motherly attributes. The dinner table in Breaking Bad is a commonly seen area involving regular family mealtimes. However, one could argue that as the destructive nature of Walter’s Empire rises, the once conventional ideology of the dinner table becomes more and more illusive. The effrontery of Jesse Pinkman’s invite for dinner at the White’s family home signifies a change in dynamics. Seating the accomplice to Walters Empire destroys any ideology that the dinner table once symbolised, and one can argue that his presence reflects the magnitude of Walters lies. (Breaking Bad, 2013)

...

“Domestic also described devotion to the home life or duties, and thus its usage delineates the ideological separation of the private, the intimate, and the feminine from the public, the political, and the masculine” (Sheumaker and Wajda, 2008, 238).

This idea that the home is a separation between masculinity and femininity, it could be said, symbolises the physicality of the walls that protect the family from the opposing force of the outside world. This can be put into literal context, with Norma Bates’ home intrusion by the male rapist forcing her to murder him, and Jesse Pinkman’s intrusion into Skylar Whites significant area of her home. These scenes both signify an imbalance of femininity within in the household, something that the females cannot akin to. (Breaking Bad, 2013: Bates Motel, 2014)

“Domesticity was allied with (feminine) nature, as opposed to the competitive grittiness of the (masculine) city” (Sheumaker and Wajda, 2008, 240). This idea of feminine nature reflects the instinctive nesting rituals performed by the mother creating a comfortable family home. The absence of the home then, one could argue, sees the eradication of femininity. In The Walking Dead, the main mother figures, Lori and Carol, are forced to abandon their ‘nests’ in order to survive the zombie outbreak. Due to this lack of nesting, one could suggest that their natural motherly duties are taken away. In the early stages of the apocalypse, it appears that these instincts still exist, as in season one, we often see the mothers washing and sewing clothes, as well as preparing and cooking the food. However, as the series progress, this becomes less of a priority, especially when camping without the physicality of a building. Being forced out of their original camp sees the group having to travel to find a safer destination. A herd of walkers sneak up on the group in the first episode of season two, in which Carol’s daughter, Sophia, flees the scene, getting lost in the woods. We later learn of her whereabouts as we see an infected Sophia appear from the barn of a farm in which the group later resides. In front of the group, Rick immediately shoots Sophia in the head, another sign of his morality diminishing. (The Walking Dead, 2012)

The death of Sophia signifies the definitive end of Carol’s status as mother. In season three, we see a substantial change in Carol’s behaviour. She is seen to help mother Rick’s baby, Judith, and takes responsibility for other children of the group, however they are not biologically attached, which reduces her allegiance to them. The group also believe that Carol is teaching basic education to the young children, however during her lessons, she actually teaches them how to use knives and guns. During an illness epidemic that runs throughout the prison (in which the group move into following an overrun at the farm in season two), we learn that Carol is murdering sick members of the group and disposing of their bodies in order to stop the epidemic from spreading. (The Walking Dead, 2013) We also see Carol shoot one of her adopted children in the head, as fears grow of the child becoming dangerously fond of Walkers. (The Walking Dead, 2014)

My new business cards for our printshop! We’ve been set up for a year now, however I’ve recently taken on board the marketing and promotions! Learning the basics at University, I can transfer my knowledge across to expand our growing business. How exciting! In fact, check out our Depop: printshop19 - newly set up to spread our stock • private message me for purchase!