Media language Flashcards
Black Mirror - is a
science-fiction anthology series. While the stories that science-fiction products tell are fictional or imaginary, their narratives are usually grounded in the world of science as they explore the impact of real or imagined scientific or technological advancements on society and humanity. Often set in another world, such as a different planet, an imagined future or an alternative present, they commonly feature characters who travel through time or space.
Science-Fiction genre coventions in San Junipero
Alternate reality
Time travel
Virtual reality
Robots
End of life care
Heaven is a place on earth
Ideas of religion vs science
Romantic love- LGBTQ+
Freedom from bigotry
Authentic
Fake
Restricted narrative - audience knows less than the characters. SJ is revealed as a simulated reality
Self-actualisation
Set in the future
Headset/device
TCKR systems :lights, electronics
Hospital of the future: greg, high-tech equipment
World of memories
Immersive nostalgia therapy
State controlling what people can do
Restrictions to human choices
Self-driving van
Hedonistic world
In what ways could the ‘San Junipero’ episode of Black Mirror be seen as unconventional of the science-fiction genre and in relation to other Black Mirror episodes?
- Positive, happy ending
- Freed from constraints of social norms
- Overcome obstacles
- Aesthetic
- Science can bring about a utopian life after death
- “Heaven is a place on earth”
What other genres does the ‘San Junipero’ episode of Black Mirror draw on besides science-fiction? What conventions from those genres does the episode feature?
Hybrid- various genres
Sci-fi
* Romance- love story between kelly + yorkie
* Kelly: guilt/sorrow following husband + her daughter’s death - dilemma
* Kelly struggles to emotionally commit to yorkie
* Yorkie attempting to override her parents refusal to allow her to stay in san junipero
* Teen drama/coming of age- yorkie
* Yorkie- dancing in club, drinking alcohol/ finding her identity + style, ditches glasses, trying on different costumes, her relationship with kelly
* Kelly- identifies as bisexual but has not experienced a relationship with a women until san junipero
NEALES THEORY OF GENRE
the idea that genres may be dominated by repetition, but are also marked by difference, variation and change
the idea that genres change, develop and vary as they borrow from and overlap with one another
the idea that genres exist within specific economic, institutional and industrial contexts
san junipero applied to neales theory
- San junipero is hybrid, it’s a mixture of various genres incorporated to heighten the narrative. Different elements of sci-fi, romance and coming of age
- Audience entertainment needs to be satisfied to be successful/make money
- Ready-made audience + pre-sold audience
- Spin-offs
- Anthology
- High production values
- Series 3- previous success
- Moved from channel 4
Todorov’s Theory
all narratives share a basic structure that involves a movement from one state of equilibrium to another
these two states of equilibrium are separated by a period of imbalance or disequilibrium
the way in which narratives are resolved can have particular ideological significance
initial equil
- In the beginning, the two young women like each other and have sex
- Enjoy themselves in night clubs
- Equilibrium is love
- Introduction to San Junipero
- Highlight on Yorkie’s introverted character (ingenuine)
- Youthful and utopian life
- Technology isn’t the main plot line of the narrative
- Kelly has had different relationships in San Junipero
- Yorkie experiences restrictions
introduction disequilibrium
- Kelly rejects Yorkie, confesses she’s dying, too scared to develop feelings
- They get married but then get into an argument, therefore, Kelly crashes a car as she’s too sceptical to stay forever in San Junipero
- Her dead husband and daughter are revealed
- Establishing the characters and who they are (Yorkie’s introverted personality juxtaposes Kelly’s extroverted personality that pushes Yorkie to have fun, to the point she’s uncomfortable)
- Kelly influencing Yorkie to be freer and have reckless fun, whilst introducing the LGBTQ+ genre (friends to loves)
- Kelly not wanting to pass over, whilst Yorkie wishes her to and already has
- Distance through decades (Kelly realising she had attachments to Yorkie and Yorkie trying to run after Kelly)
- Yorkie doing the things her parents never let do
- Yorkie “feeling San Junipero” and feeling free from her parentrestrictions
new equilibrium established
- Kelly decides to be buried alongside her family but ignores the idea of religion and chooses science by uploading her conscience to San Junipero
- Reinforce the ideological message of religion vs science
- Embracing technology and happily in love (fairy tale ending)
- Yorkie leaving her glasses on the beach (can see the beauty of life without a lens of restrictions holding, her back)
- Yorkie “feeling San Junipero” and feeling free from her parents’ restrictions
- Happiness gained in a lesbian relationship
- Drive into sunset
- Value being authentic to yourself don’t let society silence your true colours, exit bigotry from our lives
- Highlight female empowerment
Lévi-Strauss’s theory of structuralism
The idea that texts are best understood through an examination of their underlying structure
The idea that meaning is dependent upon (and produced through) pairs of oppositions
The idea that the way in which these binary oppositions are resolved can have particular ideological significance
two nightclubs as binary oppositions
tuckers + quagmire
Quagmire
Structuralism
- stuck in boredom
- dystopian / hell
- chaos and insanity
- cramped and crowded
- dark and sinful
- Low-key lighting
- Close-framing
- Louder, edgy music
- Snake symbolises deceptive, evil atmosphere
- Deserted
Tuckers
Structuralism
- Utopian/heaven
- uplifting 80s vibe with neon florescent lights
- fun and youthful: dancing and arcade games
- Palm tree symbolises idyllic, paradise atmosphere
Yorkie v Kelly
Binary oppositions
introverted/extroverted
staying/leaving
inexperienced/experienced
