Tutorial

My critical investigation will be about the recent hit TV drama; Luther. I will link it to E-media and representations and show how black characters are being represented in not only Luther but all media too. I will research into what society says about black detectives being the protagonist and the lead detective in all investigations. I will have to link it to how Luther has gone viral and how Luther is on Iplayer. In my investigation I will also link Luther to Idris Elba's other TV programmes such as The Wire.

Targets:

• Watch each episode of Luther
• Check representations of black characters
• How does society see a black character as the lead actor /
• How significant is Luther's role ?
• How relevant is this in our internet age ? 

5 Media texts

5 Ideas 

• Sherlock - TV
• Britz - TV
• Four Lions - Movie
• Dark Knight Rises - Movie
• Luther - TV

3 Choices

Britz - 

• TV Drama
• Show about current affairs
• Tackling terrorism
• Controversial 
• Problems about society

I chose 'Britz' as one of my 3 choices as the actual TV drama was very interesting and it showed many media conventions. It also tried to tackle ongoing problems in society through its two part drama series. It also showed how the media may affect people. I also chose Britz as it shows an understanding of the people's views rather than just the media's and it showed how the media can affect some bodies life and ruin it and then how it can further go on to affect them in the future. Britz was also seen as very controversial as people believed that the director Peter Kosminsky did not really understand the views of the Muslim society and portrayed them as very negative and actually as terrorists rather than trying to portray them positively.

   

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britz_(TV_serial)

www.channel4.com/programmes/britz

http://youtu.be/VPPKBvgbn_k

The links above show the actual site for the TV show Britz and the Wikipedia page gives institutional information about the show. The YouTube link is a trailer about the show whereas the Channel 4 website is the homepage about the actual show. All three give information about the show and these try to attract an audience. Britz is also available to watch on the 4OD website, so even though that the show came out a few years ago, people may still go onto the website and watch it. 

Luther 

• Ongoing TV drama
• Current affairs
• Controversial police
• How police react to crimes
• Uses and Gratifications - Identity  

- I chose Luther as it is a ongoing series currently being shown on BBC. It would help me as it is ongoing so there will be more to talk about and Luther is also a crime drama with Luther being the main character. It shows all the necessary media components which show the problems of society and how the police tackle it, I also chose it as it portrays the police in a very positive but questionable ways where the police officers may not always be seen as the innocent ones. Uses and gratifications theory for identity also comes into Luther as we see Luther as a disturbed character who needs to find his own identity and many of the audience members could also link with this as the protagonists own confusing identity may help some members find there own identity and this helps interaction with the audience. "Luther" is a fast paced mystery presented with many plot twists and insights into the human psyche.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_(TV_series)

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vk2lp

http://www.bbc.co.uk/luther
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1474684/

All the links above show information about Luther and information about the show and the institutional information about the show. We also see ratings and other peoples views of Luther on the websites. The BBC website also gives a link to actually watch the show online on BBC Iplayer. Luther is currently in its third season and the imdb website shows how popular the TV show has become, it has been given a rating of 8.4 which on the website is quite high and it gives reviews of the show and portrays the good thing about the actual show. 

Sherlock 

• Current affairs
• Ongoing TV drama
• Alternative stereotype on Police officers
• Problems about society
• Audience interaction

 Also Sherlock is another ongoing TV drama that shows how one man helps the police tackle there problems, one of the reasons why I chose Sherlock was that it portrays the police as pretty much useless as they need to always come back to Sherlock to help solve their crimes, he is also portrayed as both the protagonist and the villain so you see his very controversial ways of dealing with crime. Another reason why I chose this is because it also shows the reality of how society can be and how they can turn on you in an instant and you can quickly turn from a hero to a villain. There is also an online blog where Sherlock actually makes the audience help him to solve his cases so this also interested me as it shows more interaction with its audience.

en.wikipedia.org/.../Sherlock_(TV_series...

www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018ttws

www.thescienceofdeduction.co.uk/

www.johnwatsonblog.co.uk

The links above give institutional information about the TV show Sherlock Holmes and the imdb website also gives us reviews and ratings for the actual TV show - whereas the last two links are blogs which have specifically been posted through the BBC website to interact with the audience. It interacts with the audience as on the actual website people are 'helping' Sherlock Holmes solve crimes and we see a lot of information about the actual TV shows and even things that happened in the show on the blog. 

How do video games such as 'Call of Duty' and 'Grand Theft Auto' push the boundaries of on-screen violence and what is the impact of this on audiences?

In our groups we discussed the impact of what video games such as 'Call of Duty' and 'Grand Theft Auto' may have on an audience, and how they push the boundaries of on-screen violence. As we discussed both video games are known for there violence, they are both rated 18 and as many have said they apparently affect the audience. We discussed the 'Bobo doll experiment' where a woman showed violence to children and they went on to do the same but the game has an age rating so no one under the age of 18 should play the game. We also said that parents should have a responsibility to see what video games their children are playing. It could also affect the older generations as the video games tend to have a lot of violence. We also discussed the fact, that even though many say there is a link no such thing has been proven, no matter how many times the same thing has been reported, no scientific proof has shown the link. So maybe it could depend on the person playing the game rather than the actual game. We also discussed the way video games could have a positive affect on the audience as people could take out their physiological anger out during the duration of the game rather than go out and comply in violent actions. So in a way the video games could be good for teenagers who may have mixed emotions and anger issues - as they are able to take out their anger in the game rather then outside of the game, but even though many people have argued between the link of violence and video games, no such thing has been proven.

Critical investigation - Gaming

‘A society that glorifies violence will grow more violent’ - This quote from the gaming critical investigation signifies how people see gaming and how people think it affects society. It represents how gaming is being seen and how the violence of gaming is becomming an issue.

With Web 2.0 converging many of the media platforms, accessibility to violent media content on the web has been made more easier than ever. - The media language used here with using "Web 2.0" shows how in this critical investigation, the person has spoken about one aspect through all media platforms.

‘Watching violent films and playing games like Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Modern Warfare makes youngsters more prone to violence’ - Conveys one side of the arguement and allows a counter a passage for a counter arguement in the crticial investigation.

'Throughout violent video games, there have been clear boundaries between genders; it can be argued that the dominant sexes that play these types of video games are males as ‘males are more attracted to violent imagery than females are’ -

'Conversely it can be believed that 'Video game popularity and real world youth violence have been moving in opposite directions' -

'This connotes how women are seen as sexual objects linking Laura Mulvey’s theory of male gaze, as the game demeans women, portraying them as worthless. -