Revision: Humans - facts

What section of the exam does Humans come up in? - Component 2, Audience - How does the audience interact with the product // How does the producer target audience 

What is special about the TV industry this year? - two questions for TV, one for Humans, one for Les Revenants 

How many marks/minutes are all the questions in C2? - 50 minutes per industry, 30 marks - Humans 15 marks 


What possible questions an come up for Humans?
Henry Jenkins 
How can audiences respond/interact/be fans of Humans? - Fans participate in media products 
How can producers target/construct/position their audiences? - Targets a niche audience 


What genre is Humans?
Genre: Sci-fi
Subgenre : AI/ Robotic 

What genre conventions confirm Humans is part of the sci-fi genre?
Both five seconds into the future and alternative present 
Conventions : robots, robot freedom, speculative ethics, themes of robots vs humanity, AI, green eyes of the synths, the word synth

Detroit become human (VG)
Ex machina 
Blade runner
Chappie 
I, Robot
Terminator 2 

Who produced Humans?
AMC and Channel 4 - UK and US coproduction, Allows targeting of an international audience
C4 - Edgy, alternative niche TV shows - Inbetweeners, Fresh meat, Skins, Misfits 
AMC - Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Mad Men, Preacher


Who is the target audience for Humans?
It is a niche, but also diverse audience

---

To what extent does Humans target a niche audience?

Kneejerk reaction
It greatly targets a niche audience to maximise its success.

Plan:
Typical genre conventions
Closeups and Extreme closeups 
hermenutic code - raises questions, is she pretty, what will she look like 
nuclear family 
allegory - mental health problems , society, representation of women, representation of minorities, prostitution, slavery, sex and consent, racism, 
post modernism

Introduction: DAC
A niche audience is a specific and often highly participatory audience. I shall argue that Humans deliberately targets a niche audience in order to maximise profit and to engage this audience fully. Humans is a 2015 US/UK coproduction science fiction TV show that focuses on AI, robots, and the notion of humanity.

One way in which Humans deliberately targets a niche audience is through the use of controversial and deliberately upsetting concepts. For example, the character of Odi is a clear allegory of disability, and helps the show to deal with a difficult and troubling concept. Odi is represented through an establishing mid shot of him lying on the floor of a typical of a typical UK shopping centre. He is surrounded by the MES of broken glass and jam, which reinforces the symbolic nature of his 'death'. This is further anchored by Odi's endearing appearance. He is dressed in a stereotypically innocent fashion, for example a big chunky orange sweater, which has symbolic connotations of childishness. This is further anchored through his floppy blonde hair, which reinforces the preferred reading that a niche audience should identify and feel sorry for him. By allegorical representing mental health issues, Humans deliberately makes reference to challenging and controversial topics that will only resonate with an educated and niche audience. 

Another way in which Humans deliberately targets a niche audiences is through the use of post modern themes and hyperreality. Postmodernism is a concept that argues that nothing is real and nothing makes sense in our society. Hyperreality refers to a representation that is better than reality. Anita is a clear example of a hyperreal, post modern construct. The second Anita emerges from her box, she disrupts the reality and normality of the stereotypical Hawkins family. Anita is extremely hegemonically attractive, and this is reinforced through the sound and performance of gasping when she is unwrapped from her box. In the promotional monologue, it is announces that Anita can cook, clean, raise the child, and even, through the proairectic code of a sly wink and a closeup of Anita's buttocks, it is inferred that she can also functionally. This is enhanced through Anita's total lack of emotions which makes her simultaneously compelling, and also upsetting and creepy. Anita's hyperreal status is a clear allegory of societies attitudes towards the representation of women. This complicated and challenging ideology will clearly only appeal to a niche audience. 

Planned obsolescence - george is an old man stuck in his ways... criticism of consumerism/capitalism

A final way in which Humans targets a niche audience is through using well recognised science fiction conventions. For example, the MES and concept of synths will be familiar to fans of the science fiction genre. When Anita is pulled out of her box, this is greeted with an electronic startup sound effect, which reinforces the conventional science fiction paradigms to the target audience. This is further anchored through her costume and her piercing blue eyes. 

This provides fans many opportunities for participatory culture, as they can go online and discuss the nature of synths, and the many complex themes that this show introduces.