LFTVD - QUESTION 3 PRACTICE (CODES + CONVENTIONS)

'THE DIFFERENCES IN THE CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF LONG FORM TELEVISION DRAMAS REFLECT THE DIFFERENT VALUES, ATTITUDES AND BELIEFS OF THE AUDIENCES THAT CONSUME THEM.' HOW FAR DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT?

The contrasting nature of codes and conventions within the LFTVD genre very much stems from the need to reflect the different values, attitudes and beliefs of the consumer in order to engage and target individuals personally, regardless of whether the show is for a global mass audience or niche national one. Netflix, a large international media company, has to extend the codes and conventions in order to reflect audiences on a global scale, making sure consumers can connect with the product regardless of geography. Whereas, smaller PSBs like DR only need to appeal to it's niche nordic audience so codes and conventions will differ. Where Netflix has a need to appeal to a global audience range in order to increase it's market share, DR is projecting to a niche audience, justifying it's license fee by reflecting the values and attitudes of the country. 

Stranger Things very much finds its success in the engagement of mass international millenial/Gen Z audiences in 2016 through the hybridisation of genres. The blend of micro-genres such as sci-fi, thriller, teen romance, and high school drama pairs with a multi-narrative structure to create a fluidity that enables diverse audiences to be targeted and therefore increases consumption on a global scale. This links then to Neale's Hybridisation of genres theory; genres are fluid and evolve over time, which Stranger Things have taken advantage of, attracting and engaging cross-genre audiences by drawing together the codes and conventions relating to multiple genres in a hybrid blend. In comparison, The Killing's 2007 niche older ABC1 Danish audience valued gripping storylines reflecting the social issues within Denmark including political corruptness and discrimination. Through the use of the niche Nordic Noir genre, The Killing were able to follow these conventions in a distinctive format that intrigued audiences and further influence more shows within the same genre to be created such as Borgen and The Bridge. These shows further became successful outside of their own country, finding a secondary audience in the culturally aware, who were drawn in by the dark and more serious tone that is created through the use of Nordic Noir codes and conventions. 

However, it's not just the audiences that effect the choices of genre, codes and conventions, but the ownership structure of the shows also. Netflix has the ability to exploit a multi-genre hybrid due to a vast budget curated from over 180 million subscribers worldwide paying a minimum of £5.99 a month. As an entertainment outlet, it therefore has the creative flexibility regarding production decisions, resulting in full creative freedom being handed to the Duffer Brothers. The structure of Netflix allowed them to take risks and create a complex show that could be released in full and binged by any subscriber at any time whilst also advertising it in both above and below the line manners to create hype, adding to its success. Comparatively, DR needed only to satisfy the needs of a Danish audience for whom were paying the licence fee, and did not intend for The Killing to reach international audiences. Even with the licence fee, DR had to synergise with ZDF, a German PSB as they didn't have the budget to create The Killing alone. The show very much reflects the epitome of a media product from a production company who only have the budget to create on major product each year, therefore it's success and reception by it's audience is critical, the content of the show being a priority of targeting the niche Danish audience. Netflix had the budget to try and test different shows, DR had to be successful in order to justify it's fee.

Furthermore, the format of the two shows very much reflect the needs of their respective audiences. Stranger Things Season 1 was made up of 8 60-minute episodes adhering to Netflix's tried and trusted 'bingeability' format. This emerging consumer style coincides with Netflix's core demographic of Millennials and Gen Zs, adhering to a more fast paced and less scheduled lifestyle that is becoming more and more apparent. Consumers want to have content at their fingertips whenever it is convenient for them to watch it, Netflix does this while still building up anticipation for Stranger Things with traditional marketing and advertising. However, The Killing takes a more conventional format in the form of television broadcasting. The first series consisted of 20 50-minute episodes regarding the case of Nanna Birk-Larssen, being shown weekly in Denmark on DR and as weekly double bills on BBC4 in the UK. This format adheres to the traditional 9-5 working week, which applies to most adult consumers, to which the show is targeted at, both fitting with the Danish audience and the ABC1 BBC4 audience.

The codes and conventions of LFTVD is also influenced by the cultural backgrounds of the audiences targeted. Stranger Things in itself is a culmination of 80s pop culture, the majority millennial audience being brought up with the films of Steven Spielberg and books of Steven King. The Duffer Brothers have harnessed this nostalgia through the use of intertextual relay in S1E1, referencing movies like E.T, with the boys' bikes, Alien, through the depiction of the demogorgon, and The Goonies, when they find Eleven in the woods. Through Netflix's streaming platform, though, not only are millennials watching, but Gen Zs too. While millennials are drawn in through the childhood nostalgia of the 80s, teens are introduced to these narrative patterns, depicting Hesmondhalgh's Cultural Industries theory at play. Big firms like Netflix have to reproduce shows with well-loved narratives in order to mitigate risk and maintain market success. The Duffer Brothers have blended genres to build a new narrative, combining the likeability of other shows and movies with their own new ideas and quirks in order to provide a groundbreaking new show that is guaranteed success.

Though the narrative of The Killing emulates Stranger Things with the disappearance of a child, there is a key difference in the perspective the shows are told through. Where Stranger Things represents adults as naive and tells the story through the Children's POV, The Killing has chosen to focus on the domestic interactions of the adults, ensuring that the consumer sees themselves in the text and can reflect it's narrative into their own life, growing stronger connections; this is applicable to both sets of audiences, Adults seeing themselves in The Killing and Millennials seeing their former selves as children in the 80s (or Gen Zs seeing themselves now). Sarah Lund furthermore breaks the stereotype of the authoritative male police detective, which is filled by Meyer and Hopper (who both end up contrasting their supposed role, being very anti-heroic), in Stranger Things, very much expressing her gender rather than acting stereotypically feminine (Judith Butler). The panning shot as she thinks and sound motifs emphasise her protagonistic role and establish her intellectual power over the men around her. Both shows are also set in a tumultuous political time, The Killing in the wake of the recent Danish elections in which a coalition was formed, comprising a right-wing party which was previously unheard of, and stranger Things was set in 1980s America, a time of Government scepticism and a great fear of the unknown. These fears are very much present in the characterisation of Troels Hartmann in The Killing and The Demogorgon in Stranger Things. However, given that Stranger Things is a period piece, the political contexts are read differently. Where in The Killing, it is a visual representation of the problems in society at the time, relatable to the lives of the consumer, Stranger Things can be looked back on as dystopian to what we now know to be irrational fear, whilst still playing with the borderlines of reality.

To conclude, it is clear that both shows overall have a focus around reflecting the different values, attitudes and beliefs of their respective audiences. Netflix's Stranger Things uses genre hybridisation, intertextual relay, repetition of narratives and Netflix's bingability format in order to attract mass global audiences, whereas DR and The Killing stick to hard-hitting narratives conventional of the Nordic Noir genre to appeal to their culturally aware ABC1 Danish (and later international) audience. These differences in production values, representation and media language reflect the different ownership structures of Netflix and DR and the needs of their respective audiences in order to reach a common goal of reflecting their attitudes.