2019
'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?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. This was in part due to its use of codes and conventions that reflect the values, attitudes and beliefs of its American audience. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, while Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix by using a range of popular genre tropes with clear and established appeal to a wide audience. In both cases, codes and conventions play a key role in constructing representations that speak to American cultural values. The visual language of the small town setting, the mise en scène of domestic and suburban spaces, and the narrative conventions of the coming-of-age story all reflect deeply American attitudes towards community, youth and individuality. Most of the codes used to represent central characters also construct clear stereotypes rooted in American beliefs about adolescence and outsider identity, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST uses codes and conventions that reflect the values of their US audience, but we might also notice that it was financially and critically successful on a global level, despite its very obviously Americentric construction. This is very likely due to the way that US production has maintained cultural hegemony for many years and that most international audiences are both comfortable with and often copy US codes and conventions. This challenges the statement to a degree: if ST's conventions appeal universally, it suggests they are not simply reflecting one audience's beliefs but instead have become a dominant global framework.
Deutschland 83 (D83) offers a more complex test of the statement. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) its codes and conventions were shaped by different creative and commercial pressures than ST. Its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster and it seems likely that this bumpy start was due to the way its narrative and representational conventions conflicted with the values and lived experiences of German audiences. The choice to use the codes of a thriller around a communist protagonist in conflict with a NATO antagonist produced a dissonance for German audiences whose attitudes and beliefs about the Cold War were deeply personal. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that audiences negotiate or resist texts whose conventions clash with their own values, and German viewers may have adopted an oppositional reading as a result. However, D83 did gain critical and financial success with UK and US audiences, whose more detached attitudes to the Cold War allowed them to engage comfortably with its subversions approach to Spy Thriller conventions. As a result, it became a sleeper hit with German audiences who eventually re-evaluated its unconventional approach to the genre and came to appreciate them as thoughtfully crafted. We might therefore argue that the relationship between codes and conventions and audience values is not fixed: the same conventions can reflect the beliefs of one audience while challenging those of another, and audiences' attitudes can shift. This both supports and complicates the statement: conventions do largely reflect audience values, but the example of D83 shows that conventions can be less significant than lived experience in terms of audience reception.
2020
'Long form television dramas lack originality; no matter which country they are made in, they all use intertextuality in the same way.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. This was in part due to its deliberate and highly developed use of intertextuality, which is central to the show's identity and appeal. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, while Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix by activating audience familiarity with a range of established genre texts. Intertextuality plays a key role in establishing the genre. The lab setting makes direct intertextual reference to films like Alien, while the suburban setting and ensemble of young protagonists evokes E.T. The representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg. Most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST uses intertextuality that will appeal to their US audience. One might argue that this reliance on familiar reference points is precisely what the question means by a lack of originality, and there is a case to be made that ST's intertextuality is primarily commercial. However, the synthesis of those references into a new generic hybrid could equally be seen as genuinely original creative work.
Deutschland 83 (D83) uses intertextuality in a meaningfully different way, which challenges the statement's claim that all long form dramas use it identically. Where ST's intertextuality is largely American and nostalgic, D83 draws on the traditions of Cold War spy drama but filters them through a specifically German historical and political perspective. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) its intertextual strategy is consequently more subtle. The show uses the conventions of the spy thriller genre but subverts audience expectations by placing a communist at the centre of what is structurally a Western generic framework, creating an intertextual irony: audiences bring expectations shaped by decades of Western spy narratives, and the show deliberately unsettles those expectations, especially given the historical and political lived experience of the shows German audience. This is likely the reason that it failed to capture a robust German audience in its original run, which certainly proved financially risky. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that German audiences, who bring their own intertextual framework of knowledge about the Cold War, may read the show's genre references very differently from UK or US audiences. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences. We might therefore strongly disagree with the statement: while both ST and D83 are intertextual, they use intertextuality in ways that are shaped by their national contexts, their budgets and their target audiences, producing very different creative and ideological effects.
2021
'Audiences and producers no longer find the concept of genre relevant to long form television drama.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. The role of genre in this success is central and makes a strong case for disagreeing with the statement. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, as evidence that genre remains vitally relevant, not as a rigid set of rules but as a flexible resource that producers consciously exploit. Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix by combining genre tropes with clear and established appeal, attracting overlapping audience groups. Genre is therefore not irrelevant to producers but is a fundamental tool of industrial decision-making. The visual representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg and places like the lab making intertextual references to popular genre films like Alien. Similarly, most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST uses genre to appeal to their US audience, but we might also notice that it was financially and critically successful on a global level. Neale's concept of repetition and difference is directly applicable here: genre provides the repetition that makes the difference pleasurable. ST's global success suggests that genre remains highly relevant to both producers and audiences, functioning as a shared cultural language that enables communication across national boundaries.
Deutschland 83 (D83) further complicates the statement by demonstrating that genre relevance operates differently in different national contexts. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) it relied on genre conventions in a more pressured way than ST: it needed the spy thriller genre to provide a framework that would be legible and engaging to international audiences unfamiliar with the specific history it depicts, but its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster. It seems likely that this bumpy start was due to the way its genre conventions created expectations that its ideological choices then frustrated: the spy thriller genre typically positions Western protagonists sympathetically, and a communist hero in that framework was disorienting for audiences with direct historical experience of the Cold War. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that genre knowledge is itself shaped by cultural context, and that genre therefore functions differently for different audiences and that they may have adopted a negotiated or oppositional reading as a result. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences who re-evaluated its subversion of genre, going on to praise it for subtlety, authenticity and originality. We can therefore strongly disagree with the statement: genre remains relevant to both producers and audiences, as both ST and D83 demonstrate, but its function is more dynamic and audience-dependent than a simple framework of fixed conventions would suggest.
2022
'Long form television dramas produced in different countries always incorporate the dominant conventions, viewpoints and ideologies of those countries.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. On one level, ST appears to strongly support the statement: it was produced in the US and clearly incorporates dominant American conventions, viewpoints and ideologies. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, as drawing on genre forms that are themselves products of the dominant US media industry, while Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that Netflix's economic model is itself an expression of the dominant ideology of US global media capitalism. In both cases, dominant conventions play a key role in establishing the genre. The representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg and places like the lab making intertextual references to popular genre films like Alien. The ideological content of the show is also recognisably American: the narrative of ordinary individuals defeating shadowy government forces speaks to a characteristically American suspicion of the state, and the emphasis on individual agency reflects deeply held American values. Most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST incorporates dominant American conventions, viewpoints and ideologies, but we might also notice that it was financially and critically successful on a global level. This is very likely due to the way that US dominant conventions have maintained cultural hegemony for many years, becoming so normalised internationally that they function as a kind of global common sense — which itself qualifies the statement's claim that these conventions are simply national.
Deutschland 83 (D83) presents a more complex and challenging test of the statement. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) it was produced in Germany but did not straightforwardly incorporate the dominant German conventions, viewpoints or ideologies of its moment. Rather than affirming the dominant West German ideological position, D83 chose to take the perspective of a communist East German protagonist and to represent the Cold War with ideological ambiguity, but its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster. It seems likely that this bumpy start was due to this ideological choice, which produced oppositional or negotiated readings from German audiences whose own dominant viewpoints conflicted with the representation offered. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that the lived experience of the German audience shaped their rejection of a text that departed from their dominant ideological viewpoint. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences who re-evaluated its representation of 1980s Germany and politically ambiguous characterisation, going on to praise it for subtlety and authenticity. We might therefore argue that the statement is partially true: dramas do incorporate dominant national conventions in terms of cultural detail, but the most significant dramas often simultaneously challenge the dominant ideological viewpoints of their countries, and this tension is a source of their power.
2023
'No matter where they are produced, the representation of characters and events in long form television dramas are always influenced by historical contexts.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. This was in part due to its use of representations that appeal to an American audience. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, while Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix by using a range of popular genre tropes with clear and established appeal to a wide audience. In both cases, historical representation plays a key role in establishing the genre. The representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg and places like the lab making intertextual references to popular genre films like Alien. Most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST uses representations that will appeal to their US audience, but we might also notice that it was financially and critically successful on a global level, despite its very obviously Americentric use of representation. This is very likely due to the way that US production has maintained cultural hegemony for many years and that most international audiences are both comfortable with and often copy US tropes and representations. However, it is important to note that ST is set in the 1980s and its representations of characters and events are saturated with the historical context of that decade: the Cold War anxieties that underpin the Demogorgon, the post-Watergate suspicion of government institutions represented by the Hawkins lab, and the cultural moment of Reagan-era America visible in the fashion, music and suburban landscapes. Moreover, ST is made in the 2010s and 2020s about the 1980s, so its representations are shaped by two historical contexts simultaneously: the period depicted and the period of production. This layering confirms that historical context is always at work in shaping representation.
Deutschland 83 (D83) offers perhaps the most direct illustration of the statement, since its representations of characters and events are inseparable from their historical context. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) the show depicts real historical events and its central narrative is built around the historically documented tensions of that moment, but its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster. It seems likely that this bumpy start was due to the choice to represent a communist protagonist in conflict with a NATO antagonist. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that the historical lived experience of the German audience may have influenced them to adopt a negotiated or oppositional reading of this representation and to reject its core premise. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences who re-evaluated its representation of 1980s Germany and politically ambiguous characterisation, going on to praise it for subtlety and historical authenticity. The German audience's initial resistance and subsequent re-evaluation demonstrates vividly how historical context shapes not only the production of representations but also their reception. We can therefore strongly agree with the statement: both ST and D83 confirm that historical context is always at work, whether in the period depicted, the moment of production, or the historical experience audiences bring to their reading of the text.
2024
'Intertextuality is essential for long form television dramas to appeal to both national and international audiences.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. This was in part due to its use of intertextuality that appeals to both national and international audiences. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, while Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix by activating audience familiarity with a range of established genre texts. In both cases, intertextuality plays a key role in establishing the genre. The representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg and places like the lab making intertextual references to popular genre films like Alien. Most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST uses intertextuality to appeal to their US audience, but we might also notice that it was financially and critically successful on a global level, despite its very obviously Americentric use of representation. For international audiences, many of those foundational texts are themselves internationally distributed and beloved, so ST's intertextual web is legible globally as well as nationally. This suggests that intertextuality was essential to ST's dual national and international appeal, operating as a shared cultural language that transcends national borders. This is very likely due to the way that US production has maintained cultural hegemony for many years and that most international audiences are both comfortable with and often copy US tropes and representations.
Deutschland 83 (D83) provides a more challenging and nuanced test of the statement, suggesting that intertextuality is important but that its effects are not uniform across national and international audiences. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) D83 uses intertextuality differently from ST: it draws on the conventions of the Cold War spy thriller, which provided an immediately familiar and pleasurable generic framework for international audiences, but its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster. It seems likely that this bumpy start was due in part to the fact that German audiences brought their own lived experience , rooted in their knowledge of East German cinema and how the Cold War has been represented in German cultural memory, and these did not align comfortably with the international spy thriller conventions the show employed. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that the show's intertextual choices produced negotiated or oppositional readings from German audiences and that they may have been influenced to reject its core premise. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences who re-evaluated its representation of 1980s Germany and politically ambiguous characterisation. We might therefore agree with the statement only partially: intertextuality is highly important for reaching international audiences, as both examples demonstrate, but its relationship to national audiences is more complex and can sometimes create as many obstacles as opportunities.
2025
'No matter where they are made, long form television dramas must be realistic to succeed.' How far do you agree with this statement?
In an Economic Context, Stranger Things (ST) was hugely successful. It represents a significant investment for Netflix (with a reported budget of $6m per episode) and became an international success, establishing Netflix as a creative, high-quality brand. ST presents an immediate challenge to the statement, because it is profoundly unrealistic: (parallel dimensions, telekinetic children etc.). Despite this, it was one of the most successful long form dramas of its era. Neale would point to the genre hybridity, combining Sci-Fi, Horror and Teen Drama, and note that all three of these genres have long and commercially successful histories built on the deliberate suspension of realism. Hesmondhalgh would point to the way that this combination mitigated financial risk for Netflix precisely because audiences have a well-established appetite for fantastical, non-realistic content. In both cases, a lack of strict realism plays a key role in establishing the genre. The representation of setting is significant, with the small town clearly established using mise en scène familiar to audiences steeped in the work of Steven Spielberg and places like the lab making intertextual references to popular genre films like Alien. Most of the representations of central characters also construct clear stereotypes, especially with the nerdy teens and the super-powered Eleven. So, it is very clear that ST does not rely on realism to appeal to their global audience. However, while the supernatural elements are unrealistic, the emotional and social world of the show is constructed with considerable realism: the representation of adolescent friendship, family tension and social exclusion is emotionally authentic in ways that anchor the fantastical elements in lived human experience. What matters for audience engagement is not realism as such but emotional and cultural plausibility.
Deutschland 83 (D83) offers a more direct engagement with the question of realism, since it is grounded in real historical events and does not employ supernatural or fantastical elements. With a smaller budget (an estimated $1m per episode) D83 constructs a form of realism rooted in historical authenticity, but its initial failure to attract a robust following in Germany might have spelt disaster. It seems likely that this bumpy start was due to the fact that German audiences, whose lived experience gave them a personal relationship with the historical reality being depicted, found D83's representation took ideological and narrative liberties that conflicted with their sense of historical truth. By applying Hall's Reception Theory, we can see that German audiences may have applied a very different ideological lens to decoding the production; they may have accepted its representations as realistic, but seem them as ideologically divisive or flat out rejected them as being politically, culturally and historically insensitive. However, the show did gain critical and financial success with both UK and US audiences and, as a result, became a sleeper hit with German audiences who re-evaluated its representation of 1980s Germany and politically ambiguous characterisation, going on to praise it for subtlety and authenticity. D83's eventual success came not from a shift towards greater realism but from a re-evaluation of its representational choices as thoughtfully ambiguous. We might therefore substantially disagree with the statement: neither ST nor D83 succeeded primarily because of realism. Both succeeded because they constructed a form of plausibility sufficient to engage their target audiences. Realism is not essential; what matters is that a drama earns its audience's belief in its own terms.
