Buffy The Vampire Slayer
Audience - The age range for people watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer would young teens aged 13 and upwards onto older adults. Although I think the series is best for teens and adults who will appreciate the multi-leveled story, plus Buffy is in mortal danger in most episodes and she looses her virginity to her much older boyfriend and there are monsters everywhere. But I think that both genders would enjoy this TV show, girls would look up to Buffy and the hard chooses she has to make and also because she dresses nice (in the 90's) and has a witty fun personality. Plus girls would like to watch this show because of the attractive men in the show. And it encourages strength in girls, mentoring and teamwork. And males would enjoy this because of the action shown in the show, the danger, the comedy and watching a blonde girl in short skirts killing vampires. Teenagers can also relate to the pressures Buffy has to deal with daily, they can draw parallels between Buffy's life and normal high school life experiences.
The psychographics of the show would be explorers because they like to seek discovery, likes to explore new ideas, values difference and adventure. typically younger. And in the 90's they would rarely of seen a woman killing vampires whilst also dealing with typical high school drama. Also I think reformers who seek enlightenment, likes to be challenged, can form own opinion, very aware of social issues because I think this programme would be challenging for them and it's enlightening to see a woman have such strong power.
The mode of address - By the cover of the first seasons dvd cover, genre of the show is fantasy/horror/comedy/action. You can see that it's horror by the title of the show is in creepy text and in the background it's dark and misty which adds a horror effect and you can see gates to a graveyard behind her, it's fantasy because of the stake she is holding in her hand to kill vampires because in reality they aren't real, which also draws action fans into the cover. It's also comical because her name is Buffy, the name doesn't sound scary and it doesn't sound like a scary vampire slayer, plus she's a girl and has blonde curly hair and looks more like a victim of a vampire rather than the hero, this would make some people laugh because it's not what they're used to seeing. In my opinion this show would have a preferred reading, this is when the audiences respond to the product the way the media producers/want and expect them to.
Although I think that people that are used to seeing this type of thing would have a Negotiated Reading when a member of the audience partly agrees with part of the product.
What is the tone, how does it make you feel?
Whilst watching this TV show you begin to care about all the flawed characters and their own person problems and they are really likeable people. This show also has different qualities humour, action, romance and is well written, a serious side, but also leaves room for innocent humour and love stories that are realistic and you can relate to. The show presents down-to-earth and revealing relations between teenagers, and between young people and parents, teachers and mentors, and a diverse range of authority figures. It also engagingly deals with social relationships, love, rejection, loss, and all the complexities of family, school, work, constructing identity and finding oneself, growing and evolving, or failing and regressing as a human being.
In the opening credits you can see that this show has supernatural horror in it by the vampires and witchcraft, the action because it shows a lot of fighting scenes, the drama is shown by the use of the high school setting in the mise en scene. In the show it's mise en scene is based around a high school, graveyard, the library, the towns club The Bronze and Buffy's house. When in the graveyard there is usually creepy music playing in the background, the music in The Bronze is usually a band playing or loud dance music, there is dialogue from students whilst in the school and in Buffy's house there is usually scenes with her and her mother or friends talking or discussing that episodes issues.
Narrative - There is flashbacks at the start of a Buffy episode with Giles talking the audience over what happened in the pervious episode it's begins with a non linear storyline, also during episodes their is often flashbacks that become non linear because Angel goes back in time to his early days of being a vampire when he didn't have a soul and killed people and wasn't good. Their is also flashbacks used with other characters reflecting on their past and how its effected the present day. Near the end of the seasons there is usually enigma puzzles, cliff hangers leaving the audience anticipating what will happen to the characters, did they die from that horrible monster? does angel still love Buffy? WHAT WILL HAPPEN? watch the next season and find out! This is a way of making the audience still interested in watching the show by having cliff hangers leading onto the new series.
Representation of men, young people, stereotype? - In the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer there are a lot of stereotypes shown...
Willow's nerdy stereotype
Willow is known as a 'nerd' they show this in the TV show by using costumes such as smart clothes like shirts, tartan dress, overalls and t-shirts that aren't meant for her age range and majority levels, childish things and hats that make her seem geeky. She is usually always shown on screen with books or in the library, in season one there is a lot of dialogue about how she helps people with there studies and is good at using technology. She also has never been on a date or had a boyfriend and only has one friend Xander from her childhood, Willow also gets bullied by the popular group at her school.
Buffy's - confident heroine stereotype
Xander's character - Comical best friend stereotype
They show this in the show by his costume choices for example his horrible silk shirts with crazy patterns, this shows that he doesn't take himself too seriously and wears a Donald Duck wristwatch despite his age, this is copying Willow's choice of wearing clothes that don't match her age because they're best friends.
He is also shown as a comical best friend by the one liners he has in the show.
Giles character - Clever geeky librarian stereotype
Giles is always shown in the TV show in the library or walking to the library or talking about books. Even the above photo shows books in the background showing that he is a librarian and his costume are suits and shirts and his glasses. Throughout the show he is constantly cleaning his glasses...
He is shown as a stereotypical British librarian, he has a posh english accent that the other characters make fun of him because of it, this is due to his geeky stereotype.
Angel character - the handsome romantic lead stereotype
Angel is always shown with Buffy or trying to save or help her, he's always wearing black and white and is tall, dark and mysterious. Cordelia the popular girl tries to win over Angel but he is just interested in Buffy. He is romantic and acts like a gentleman towards Buffy even though he is a vampire he is kind and always helps her out in tough situations because he has a soul. He is the stereotypical boyfriend in a TV show.
Cordelia's - Popular rich bitchy stereotype
Cordelia's bitchy rich popular stereotype, her dialogue in the show is herself seem better than other people because of her clothes, how rich she is and how many friends she has. She is shown as shallow and this is done by her dialogue and the clothes she wears, she always has perfect hair and if someone tells her she doesn't it's the end of the world, it always has to be her way. She is the typical bitch stereotype in a TV show.
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