The Returned

Question 1

The returened (aka, les revevnat) the sequel introduction

Answer 1

• Begins with an establishing shot with dam. Dark, low-key lighting (highlighting enigma/importance)
• TV companies displayed on screen = helps to direct auidences (familarity)
• an original program = makes it feel more special, something different
• the title appears out of the water = foreshadows the narrative, perhaps something is coming out of the lake.
• directed by Fabrice Gobert (well-known french director) = atracts audience
• based on a film = useful for audiences who like to see the adaptation, even if they havent seen the film. It suggests that the film is good quality to make it into a series

Question 2

Synopsis

Answer 2

“The Returned” follows a small community that is shaken when several long-dead residents suddenly reappear, looking unchanged and unaware of their deaths

story/enigma
- The dam, the flood – runs throughout
* The quest for the truth
* Julie and Victor
* Simon and Adèle
* The journey/ transformation –the living and the returned learn from each other

Question 3

opening sequel

Dark Images/surrel images

Answer 3

• Dead animals floating in lake in an unnatural way (e.g. the deer) = adds a sinsister tone
• promotes the narrative of life and death = unnatrual element
• These dead animals are juxtaposed by living cats, again signifying life and death
• we see two people kissing then the camera tracks across a grave = suggets unanswered questions. Are the two graves for the people kissing? / is something strange is occuring? = binary opposition
• the scence where there is powerlines = the electricirty feels like a referrence to Frankenstein where audience will be familar on how electrity can bring someone back to life = connotes a sci-fi, sinister narrative
• Symbolic imagery: The pose of the the person with their arms outstreched has connotations of Jesus on the cross, which hints to the story of Jesus’ resurrection (coming back from the dead)

Question 4

Contextual Information

Television Context

Answer 4

• Television has become a global, increasingly commercial industry, with public service broadcasting adapting to new roles, and international co-production growing, highlighted by the global success of broadcasters like HBO.
• Interactive social media platforms like YouTube have empowered the ‘prosumer’ audience and made social media and viral promotion vital for marketing television content.

Question 5

Simon

Answer 5

• In one scence he stands in front of a town in front of some lit up houses, everything e.g. the clouds moves but him
• The time lapse gives the effect that Simon has been stood in one stop watching the village for hours
• adds to the idea that its eerie and strange
• leaves the audience tensed
• character becomes complicated
• Voyeristic looks at Adele, track her down
• Buys sex of a girl in club= maybe confirms that women are men properties males tend to have callous sexual attitudes towards women = hypermasculinity, we also see this aggression in Jerome
• bell hooks the oppression of Simon to Adele

Question 6

Setting/location

Answer 6

• The low-key lighting in the tunnel creates a threatening/ dangerous atmosphere
• The ghostly reflection in the mirror and the smeared handprint, adds to the supernatural genre and the idea of ghosts
• the setting is on the edges of a ski resort where the houses are isolated, the roads are long and empty, typical of the genre.
• Within the individual homes there is a sense of claustrophobia reinforced by the darkness and the framing.

Question 7

STOCK CHARACTERS

Answer 7

• usually including a ‘creepy’ child (Victor),the undead, the maternal figure (Claire), nurturing characters(julie), victims (lucy) and representations of authority. (pierre/jerome)
• Often the pairing of characters are binary opposites and their relationships contribute to tensions within the narrative, for example that between Julie and Victor.
• these promote certain ideologies in a significance way to reflect how representations are constructed in The Returned which positions the audience to look at social groups and issues in different ways, reflecting cultural shifts

Question 8

Zombie Genre conventions in the returned

Answer 8

It is possibly closest to a zombie text because of its focus on the ‘undead’, although is difficult to categorise by genre.

• The undead = people are comingb back to life = mortality
• shocking gory scence e.g. lucy’s attack
• contemprary settings
• resources always running out = apocalypics
• no explanation as to why zomies have returned

Question 9

Hybridity

Answer 9

Fans of:
- psychological thrillers
- zombie sub-genrre
- supernatural sub genre
- The genre now is a starting point to target the audience and then surprise them through hybridity and intertextuality. E.G. flickering lights = reference to Frankenstien

Question 10

Genre – Steve Neale: In The Returned

Answer 10

• Neale asserts that genres may be dominated by repetition, but they are also marked by difference
• The recognisable codes and conventions of the supernatural thriller make them easy to market to audiences.
• However, subverting and challenging these conventions by introducing more unique elements = ensures commercial success

Difference:
- The Returned demonstrates difference in that it focuses less on the gore/horror of more typical zombie dramas and more on the psychological impact on the community of the loss/the return of the children.
- elements of a family dramam (soap oprea)
- slow pace
- not classic zombies in their appearance or behaviour, they outwardly appear ‘normal’.

Both Ig..
In its style and aesthetics, the programme borrows from the 1930s French cinematic
tradition of Poetic Realism. The visual style is minimalist, but lyrically constructed. The tone
- echoes with a sense of doom
- The focus is on the nature of the human condition and what it means to be happy.

Similarities
- Typically in the zombie/supernatural genre = they lose their resources, issue with light
- reference to death surreal elements

Question 11

Audio codes

Music/ Non-deigetic/dialogue

Answer 11

• The sinister mood music at the start quickly establishes elements of the zomibe/supernatural genre
• music is discordant,contrasting with the seemingly normal act of camille
• the panicked breathing as Camille is walking home is unsettling.
• The thunder is a conventional audio code in this genre signifying fear and unease.
• The questioning by the undead of the living reinforces the strangeness of the situation and their confusion, for example Simon asking for Adele in the bar.

Question 12

Ways of phrasing

Media Language: Constructing Meaning

Answer 12

The producers of The Returned have selected the visual/technical/narrative code
of……example) to connote…(explanation):
E.g.
* Visual code of the candle props in Camille’s bedroom to connote……….
* Technical code of the diegetic scream in the underpass to connote……………
* Visual code of high key lighting when Camille is on the coach to connote…..
* Narrative code of the water levels in the dam going down connotes

Question 13

Technical codes

Answer 13

• Close-ups enhances the relationships between characters and establish tension and a dynamic = evident in the ‘conversations’ between Camille and her parents and her first meeting with Lena.
• Establishing shots are quick ways of communicating information. = The early establishing shot of the town serves to create a sense of cultural realism. establishing a real place in which the characters function, so reinforcing their believability.
• Long shots of the undead on the lonely road and Lucy alone in the subway are conventional of the supernatural thriller genre

Question 14

Represntation of women - Claire

Answer 14

• The female characters are represented as passive and emotional. They perform roles related to nurturing and domesticity.
• In the early scenes of the episode Sandrine announces her pregnancy, thanks Pierre and heralds it as a way of healing the past.
• Claire and Julie are both represented as carers, Claire welcomes the return of her daughter + julie = victor
• close-ups of Claire reinforce her passive representation, the intra-diegetic gaze between her and Jerome or Pierre show that she looks to others for help and explanation. In the meeting at the start of the episode, the camera repeatedly cuts to Pierre as the leader of the group, the women look up to him.

Question 15

REPRESNETATIONS OF WOMEN

ADELE

Answer 15

• Adele is first seen by Simon in a wedding dress representing her more traditional female role. She is also seen to be emotional and hysterical after assuming that she has seen the ghost of Simon.
• Technical codes contribute to the construction of representation, for example the wide shot reinforces her vulneraality and perhaps damsel in distressed whenn she looks in the mirror.

Question 16

julie

Answer 16

• on the other hand, julie is constructed to be level headed and calm in stressful situation i.e. Mr Costa calling to ask for medical assistance.
• represented as someone with a nurturing job, caring for others. demonstrates a wariness of men.
• she lives alone in her apartment, demonstrates individuality
• whilst Julie tends to the basic needs of the unknown child Victor, feeding him and letting him stay the night.

Question 17

Camile + Lena

Answer 17

• Camille, the focuses in some way to breaking the passive female stereotype.
• She is seen as active and resourceful in escaping from the valley and determined in her need to return home. = independent
• Lena is constructed as a stereotypical rebellious teenager who has regular confrontations with her parents. = subvert tradioinal stereotypre of being passive
• Her representation is constructed through her code of casual clothing, her truculent behaviour and expressions.
• She is sexual. The shots of her in the bar reinforce this representation, particularly in her conversation with Simon(asking to her a drink).
• However, she is also vulnerable, as she is happy to take him to a remote part of the village.

Question 18

Representations of gender: Men/ Masculinity

Answer 18

• Some of the men in The Returned, for example Pierre, are represented as dominant, rational and in control within the community.
• It is to Pierre that Claire turns initially after the return of Camille and he questions Camille about what she can remember, taking control of the situation.
• looks after her, medical care
• Jerome challenges this typical masculine representation and is presented as more
  emotional and unable to cope with his loss and grief.
• In the community meeting he is seated on the outside and questions the ‘ugliness’ of the memorial to the dead. The fact that he believes that Lucy can communicate with Camille reinforces his vulnerability. In the faming of the shot when Camille comes outside to join them in the storm, he cannot bear to look at her.
• links to bell hooks, we see this in Jerome paying for sex
• Similarly, Simon is represented as ‘other’ and an outsider. Other than the bar, in the first episode he remains outside, looking into the life he once had.
• Simon = dominant oppressive male, he shouts at Lena

Question 19

Hall - otherness - the returned

Answer 19

• CONTEXT: Gobert has in The Returned created an allegory of the migration of Syrians into Europe, specifically France, and invokes a discourse around global migration.
• In making connections between the undead and migrants Gobert is making a political point about a humanitarian crisis.
• The returned/undead are not human, therefore are ‘other’ and are feared by the living in the same way that the French people feared the impact of migration on their communities. In
• The undead are further reinforced as ‘other’ by linking them to unnatural events, for example the receding of the dam waters

Question 20

van zoonen on the returned

Answer 20

• The idea that gender is constructed through discourse, and its meaning varies
• according to cultural and historical context
• The discourse around constructions of gender in The Returned - little change in the roles of men and women which function as binary opposites.
• The women in the programme are associated with domesticity, nurturing and appealing to men. They are emotional and less active in the narrative = reinforcing the patriarchy.
• Lucy is sexualised and is an object of visual pleasure for both the audience and the male characters
• Her role is passive and she is the one being looked at as an object of the male gaze (Mulvey). It is Lucy, who at the end of this first episode, is murdered by a man and seen as disposable.

Question 21

how do they position the audience

Answer 21

• The way in which the programme’s representation of ‘the returned’ places the audience in the position of armchair detectives, trying to work out how and why Camille, Victor and Simon have come back from the dead
• The audiences may be positioned to identify or empathise with the families and loved ones of those who have returned (e.g. through Claire’s representation as the grief-stricken mother reunited with her lost daughter)
• The way in which the representation of Victor is constructed to have a particular effect on the audience, evoking a sense of eeriness, unease
• The way in which the representation of spaces and places, such as the isolated mountain town setting, also constructed to evoke a sense of eeriness, unease or dread

Question 22

Theoretical application

Connell discusssion on the four characteristics of men

Answer 22

• hegemonic masculinity {normal}
• complicit masculinity not strong but accept it
• marginalised masculinity- cannot achieve hegemonic status (e.g. white disable
• subordinate masculinity: feminised, gay or show emotion, not traditional for what males do

OLD THEORY

Question 23

Representation of ethnicity

Answer 23

• All white cast - is bell hooks right, or is it simply a true representation of traditional spline in France?

Question 24

Representation of age

Answer 24

• child: Victor

Stereotypical child

Question 25

MARKETING METHODS

Answer 25

* Sold on **genre with a twis**t – focus on **trailer** and **reviews** **(link to Neale).** * **Sold on enigma – social media buzz.** * Some **merch**andising (**e.g. spin-off, novelisation**) target fan audience who become part of the fan community. * As does **Canal + strategy offering 360˚** = on multiple platforms. * These **elements target different audiences**. * **Hesmondhalgh** argues that companies use these techniques to minimise risk and maximise profit. ***With its follow-up series 2 and spin-off American version***, it reflects his notion of major media institutions formatting their own cultural products.

Question 26

TARGET AUDIENCE

Answer 26

* **fans of zombie/supernatural texts** = mainstream audience. **15**+ (primetime TV slot). = after the watershed * **Cross-gender appeal** – **male** audiences may identify with **e.g. Simon (role models) aspiration**. * **Female** audiences **of different ages** may i**dentify/relate** with **e.g. Camille/ Adèle.** * fans who can **relate** to **greif or loss** = **older** * Secondary audience – **fans of hybrid genre**- more **alternative/niche** - mini narrative - romance - love sotry - entertainment * **younger** fans e.g. **students. 360˚ marketing including interactive websites and multi-platform reach.** - *appeal to them more* - **cliffhangers**, **unanswered** question - **come back for more watch the other episode.** - also **stream** *online **AII4** to **appeals to a younger,** **modern** audienc*e * **word of mouth ratings important** - recived 100% rates in rotten tomatoes * **Alternative** audience because of **non-linear, surreal narrative structure and lack of closure.**

Question 27

oppositional audience

Answer 27

* some audiences was **disappointed** that it **wasnt scary as they hoped** - **quite** * THE **FOREGIN** NATURE OF THE SHOW WITH **SUBTITILES**, alotugh *may atrract wordly audiences* - **put some off** - ***tricky* to *engage* in shows that like** * **alienate** some audiences - **lack of ethnic diversity** - **also focus m/c** - links to bell hook