BFI notes

On the 24th of January we went to the BFI in London and had a session on TV drama, here are the notes:

The 7 areas of representation:
Gender
Age
Ethnicity
Sexuality
Class and status
Physical ability/ disability
Regional identity

Sub-genres of TV Drama with examples:
Medical drama - Holby City
Fantasy drama - Game of Thrones
Period drama - Downton Abbey
Science fiction drama - Doctor Who
Musical drama - Glee
Teen drama - Waterloo Road
Melodrama - Mr Selfridge
Crime drama - Luther, Broadchurch, Tunnel
Thriller drama - Breaking Bad

Representation theorists:
Levi Strauss - binary oppositions
Richard Dyer - stereotypes legitimise inequality
Propp - 8 character types
Daniel Chandler - representations are constructed
Steve Neale - genre repetition and difference (audience expectations in terms of genre)
Laura Mulvey - male/ female gaze
Stuart Hall - dominant, negotiate/ oppositional readings of representations