The Returned Flashcards
What was ‘the returned’ based on?
French Film ‘They came back’ 2004 directed by Robin Compillo
Who directed the set episode?
Fabrice Gobert
When was the set ep aired in France?
November 2012 on Canal+
When was the set ep aired in the UK?
June 2012 on Channel 4
When was Channel4 founded?
1982
What are Channel4’s aims?
produce niche, less mainstream programmes.
Publicity strategy?
360 degree virtual navigation of the town by canal+
What genre is ‘The Returned’ ?
drama/fantasy/horror - Zombie Genre
What award has the show won?
International Emmy for best drama series in 2013
Industry Theorist
Hesmondhaigh
- minimise risk & maximise profit
- series 2 and an American spin off would suggest a guaranteed audience
Audience: Primary Target Audience?
fans of zombie/supernatural texts
Audience profile?
15+
male & female
ABC1
french speaking
Audience: Secondary Audience?
younger fans (360 experience)
Audience: Inherited Audience?
fans of channel 4/canal+ programmes
fans of ‘They came back’
Adverts featured?
L’oreal, Prada, Emirates, Boursin, Blackberry
Audience; What do the featured adverts suggest about the audience?
In a high income bracket
Audience: Whats the significants of the adverts being in french?
presents the french language as a novelty rather than an inconvenience
Representation: Camille
Main character of the episode, episode centres around her family - young child & one of the ‘returned’
Representation: Lena
Sister of Camille, seen out partying and shows Simon where Adele lives. Returns house where she is confronted by her known too be dead twin sister - sexual connotations
Representation: Claire
Mothering characters seen to worry - suggested romance between her and Pierre
Representation: Jerome
Farther of Camille and Lena, husband too Claire, having an affair with young girl
Representation: Mr & Madame Costa
Married too Madame Costa, sets house on fire to kill her, then jumps off the dam.
One of the Returned, married to Mr Costa who kills her by setting his house on fire
Representation: Pierre
Believed to be a Vicar/runs a healing group/Claire’s lover … is referred too as a doctor/psychiatrist too Camille when she returns
Representation: Simone
One of the Returned, After arriving at what we learn to be Julies house, Lena shows him where Adele lives and then he knocks on her door
Representation: Adele
believed to have a past with Simon - freaks out when he returns and is comforted by her child who Simon reacts too
Representation Theorist; Stuart Hall
Representation is constructed through codes; Narrative, Mise-en-scene
Representation Theorist; Van Zoonen
Women belong to the family/domestic life and men to the social world of politics and work; that femininity is about care, nurturance and compassion, and that masculinity is about efficiency, rationality and individuality.’
WOMEN: Domestic, Sexualised (Lena), Nurturer (Claire and Camille, Julie and Victor, Julie as nurse to M. Costa)
MEN: Efficient, Rational, Individual
Points of sale?
Genre with a twist, enigma, quality drama
Stuart Halls theory of ‘otherness’?
Powerful elite groups (white, male, middle class, etc.), who control the media, create a ‘norm’, which reflects them.
The majority of cast are white males (Simon, Jermone, Mr Costa). Representations of other groups (e.g. Women) are then constructed in terms of their difference to this – their ‘otherness’
Pierre reflects contemporary issues – immigration, camps and the integration of refugees (e.g. Syrian) into French society.
he returned as ‘other’ – non-human.
Language; Technical Codes
camera (angles, shots, movement) focus, editing
Language; Visual Codes? (costume, setting, colour palette)
- costume is very simple to suggest a normal lifestyle without wealth or need to be stylish.
- Setting is very basic and bleak.
- Colour palette is dark muted greys, blues and reds.
Language; Genre?
Horror/Mystery Drama.
Typical themes within this genre of isolated setting from the rest of the world, characters are all very ambiguous and have secrets that the audience want to understand.
The supernatural sub-genre is reliant on enigma.
Language; Narrative?
Characters are complex and storylines interweave
Audience is challenged through enigma, confusion e.g. why do only some of the dead return? Why is the water level dropping? Who is Victor? Who killed Lucy? How did Mme Costa die?
Language: Surreal /anti-realist elements?
Victor in the middle of the road; the telepathy of the twins. – Poetic realism, French in style, shot construction and natural lighting.
Langauge Theorist?
Levi-Strauss - Binary Oppositions drive the narrative of the story;
Living v dead
Immortality v mortality
Men v women
