WJEC, MS4, Section A, TV industry, Case Study, The Walking Dead, TWD, Genre, Narrative and Representation

2. • 2012: How typical are your three main texts of
their genre? [30]
• 2013: ‘Most texts today mix genres.’ How true is
this of your three main texts? [30]
• 2013 (w): Explore the genre conventions in your
three main texts. [30]
• 2014: To what extent do your three main texts
challenge genre conventions? [30]
Section A : Previous Genre Questions

3. • How can we apply Steve Neale’s theory that
genre’s are ‘instances of repetition and
difference’?
• What about Daniel Chandler who explained
that genres are becoming mixed (hybridised)
to appeal to a wider audience?
• How can we explore Nick Lacey’s ‘Repertoire
of Elements’ in relation to The Walking Dead?
Genre theorists

4. Genre
DramaSurvival
Horror
Adventure
Western
Action
Zombie
Horror
Post
Apocalyptic
Fantasy

5. Western
• Many Westerns privilege the family as the
chief social structure, and show this family as
threatened and endangered.
• The narrative strives to restore the family.
• The Western often pits a terrible villain against
two heroes:
• One hero is a loner who maintains ties to the
land and goes his own way
• The other is idealistic, socially conscientious,
upstanding, and married.

6. 2012 (w): How important are characters to the
narrative of your three main texts? [30]
2013: Explore the narrative structure of your
three main texts. [30]
2014 (w): Explore how narrative is constructed
in your three main texts. [30]
2015: ‘Media texts contain complex narratives.’
How true is this of your three main texts? [30]
Section A : Previous Narrative
Questions

7. How can we apply
• Todorov?
• Propp?
• Levi-Strauss?
• Barthes?
• Linear? Non-Linear?
• Single Stranded? Multi-stranded?
• Narrative resolution?
Narrative

8. • The Walking Dead replicates this structure
fairly closely
• Zombies represent the terrible villain
• Rick Grimes an upstanding sheriff and family
man embodies the law
• Shane Walsh, Rick’s police officer-partner, is
the increasingly turbulent loner (even though
he has Lori at the start – she is not actually
his).
Binary Opposites

9. • Equilibrium/Disequilibrium?
• Disruption = Rick being shot
• Recognition of disruption = Waking in hospital and
seeing the after effects.
• Attempt to repair = Tries to find his family
• New equilibrium = unresolved – cliff hanger/open
ended
Todorov

10. • Masculinity in contemporary film and TV is
usually represented as a split between two
heroes, “double protagonists,” one of whom is a
Narcissist, the other a Masochist.
• Narcissist - preoccupied with personal adequacy,
power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to
see the destructive damage they are causing to
themselves and others
• Masochist - someone who obtains pleasure from
receiving punishment
Narcissist v Masochist

11. • Shane is the narcissist here, morally
upright and troubled
• Rick is the masochist

12. • Most mainstream media texts are made by male
producers for male spectators
• This results in ACTIVE male characters (they are
the protagonists i.e. a subject whose actions push
the narrative forward; so the audience are
encouraged to identify with them)
• Female characters are usually passive (they are
often seen as a ‘prize’, an object of desire that
men fight over; don’t act or think for themselves
Mulvey

13. • In Mulvey’s own words, popular films “are obsessively
subordinated to the neurotic needs of the male ego”.
• Narcissus was a figure in Greek mythology, a boy who was
so attractive he fell in love with his own reflection
• Narcissism = loving your own image
• Narcissistic identification = male spectator sees male hero
on screen and gets pleasure by both feeling similar to the
hero (he’s a man, too, so the screen is like a mirror) and
admiring/loving the idealised image of masculinity
• e.g. Rick Grimes/James Bond – personification of what men
wish they were; get pleasure from admiring him and
identifying with him, because they aren’t like him in real
life.
Narcissistic identification

14. Hegemonic masculinity is a concept of proposed
practices that promote the dominant social position
of men, and the subordinate social position of
women.
It explains how and why men maintain dominant
social roles over women, and other gender
identities, which are perceived as "feminine" in a
given society.
Connell:
Hegemonic Masculinity (1995)

15. Hegemonic masculinity
Complicit masculinity
Marginalized masculinity
Connell: Hierarchy of Masculinity

16. Hegemonic masculinity -dominant form of masculinity
Expected in our society but not be the most prevalent kind of masculinity, it is
culturally valued the most.
Qualities include heterosexuality, whiteness, physical strength and suppression of
emotions such as sadness.
Complicit masculinity: when a man doesn’t fit into all the characteristics of
hegemonic masculinity but do not challenge it either. Since they are not challenging
they receive social benefits from being male
Marginalized masculinity: when a man does not have access to the hegemonic
masculinity because of certain characteristics such e.g race and disability.
These men subscribe to hegemonic masculinity norms including aggression,
suppressing emotions such as sadness and physical strength.
Men of colour and disabled men are examples of marginalized males.
Subordinate masculinity: men exhibit qualities that are opposite to those that are
valued in hegemonic e.g physical weakness and exhibition of emotions like sadness.
Effeminate and gay men are examples of subordinate males.
Connell: Hierarchy of Masculinity

17. • The term was originally coined by Teresa De
Lauretis, yet developed more fully by Judith Butler
in her book Gender Trouble
• Queer theory offers the view that all identities are
‘social constructions’
• The ideas of male and female are just as much the
product of representations as masculinity and
femininity
• Queer theory does not concern itself exclusively
with homosexuality – it is about all forms of
identity
Queer Theory

18. • Judith focuses on the need to break the line between
the categories of sex and gender so that all forms of
sexual identity can be accepted and celebrated
• Queer theory attacks the binary oppositions which
underline traditional ideas about sexuality e.g.
man/woman, active/passive, gay/straight
• Butler says that no one has an innate sexual identity –
repeated representations of heterosexuality will create
the illusion of what is normal and right
Judith Butler – Gender Trouble 1990

19. Rick

20. Morgan and Duane
(ALVARADO)
“You tell me or I will kill you”

21. Morgan

22. Victim
Morgan’s Wife

23. Collecting sticks! Fragile/Weak
Amy

24. Shane
“I’m not putting you in danger”

25. The Prize
Lori

26. • Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick’s theory of
triangulated desire applies here, as both Rick
and Shane are interested in the same woman,
Lori.
Triangulated Desire