Question 3 practice essay

Question 3 Read and cut down to 1000 words and replace Borgen and Homeland with your texts. Though this is too long it gives you a good idea for a structure.
In this question you will be rewarded for drawing together elements from your full course of study, including different areas of the theoretical frameworks and media contexts.
Why do long form dramas from different countries offer different representations? In your answer you must:
• consider the contexts in which long form dramas are produced and consumed
• explain how media contexts may have influenced the representations in the set episodes of the two LFTVDs you have studied
• make judgements and reach conclusions about the reasons for the differences in representation between the two episodes. [30]

Sample answer

Long form television dramas (LFTVDs) are influenced by social, cultural, economic, political and historical contexts. Social contexts include such factors as changes in gender roles, inequalities based on gender, race and ethnicity, and social attitudes to sexualities. They include the social anxieties and/or contested social values of the time and place that television programmes are made. These will influence representations. Cultural contexts include the influence of national cultures on television programmes, for example the cultural importance of television dramas in reflecting, re-interpreting and re-enforcing national cultural identities and representations of social groups, events and the individuals within those (and on occasion, challenging and subverting those representations to try and instigate cultural change and domestic conversations on representations and identity).

Political contexts include the influence of political debate on regulation of television; how television programmes can reflect and comment upon national political institutions given the freedom of Western programme makers to criticise and satirise their own political systems; and how in political dramas such as Borgen or House of Cards the audience may need to have political knowledge to understand some representations.


Economic contexts include the competitive nature of the television industries and influence of high budgets on flagship television programmes, e.g. the opportunities for character development in ‘authored’ high-budget programmes allow for more complex, individualised three-dimensional characterisation rather than stereotyping

I am going to consider the effects of contexts on the American LFTVD Stranger Things and the German LFTVD Deutschland 83.

In Stranger Things, we see the influence of social contexts. The episode reflects socially contested gender and racial/ethnic relations in that it represents a world in which apparent conformity to social norms masks underlying tensions and conflicts; in particular, we see a racial slur towards Lucas as he is called ‘Midnight’ when confronted by the bullies. 


In Stanger Things, we see the influence of cultural contexts: the episode shows the influence of American culture’s reaction to terrorism and extra-terrestrial worries – overt patriotism, militarism and the search for heroes. However, the series is based on an Spielberg type films, so may reflect more universal cultural responses about the best way to respond to threats that are applicable in a global cultural context. The representational complexity of the programme, particularly its morally ambiguous heroine, reflects the context of the high expectations of narrative complexity in LFTVDs. In Stranger Things, we see the influence of political contexts: the programme reflects cynicism towards federal politics in the USA by representing the government as desperate for a ‘win’ in a foreign war. The series requires some understanding of the CIA and American government (but international audiences are used to being positioned as requiring knowledge of American society).

In Stranger Things, we see the influence of economic contexts: the episode reflects the highly competitive market in which US Netflix operate and that one strategy available to such a streaming service is to differentiate the brand with high-quality adult drama, which portray complex and individualised representations of people and places.

In Deutschland 83, the representations reflect social contexts: the episode reflects contested gender relations showing the impact of feminism on patriarchal society; politics and the media are mostly male dominated, but women are represented as skilled professionals and Eastern spy Lenora, in particular, is represented as decisive. Many of the representations foreground the work of constructing femininity (as in Butler’s theory), especially for Lenora. However, the generals wife fits the traditional patriarchal stereotype of the ‘hysterical’ woman. Masculinity is represented both positively from a feminist perspective.

In Borgen, the representations reflect cultural contexts: the episode reflects Danish culture in its depiction of consensual decision-making and coalition politics and its celebration of tolerance and inclusivity towards minority groups. However, much of the politics is not only a representation of a national culture but of a globalised ideology of western liberalism. The representational complexity and sophistication of the programme reflects the context of the high expectations of LFTVD. The episode shows the influence of celebrity culture in the way Birgitte becomes an instant celebrity by making one impactful speech.

In Deutschland 83, the representations reflect political contexts: the episode reflects a cynical view of spin driven politics yet provides an optimistic vision of democratic politics; the political world is cynical, Machiavellian, and driven by spin, but the voters respond to the honesty of a conviction politician. The episode reflects the context of immigration becoming an issue in German politics. The series requires some understanding of German national politics but does not assume this knowledge on the part of audiences, providing enough exposition to enable politically literate audiences to understand the narrative. The representations in Deutscland 83 reflect the historical context of the rising power of women, in that Lenora is a leading government spy.

InDeutschland 83, the representations reflect economic contexts of a small publicly owned national broadcaster with limited finances but with a unsuccessful track record in selling series internationally, thus encouraging cooperation with other European television producers, creating a very national product yet with international appeal.

In conclusion, the representations in these two LFTVDs do reflect their national social, cultural and political contexts, with Stranger Things explicitly interrogating what it means to be American and Deutschland 83 exploring the opportunities for a news politics within a very European consensual social democratic political system. However, both dramas include elements that are due to genre: Stranger Things could be remade as a German spy thriller, for example, with similar representations; equally, Deutschland 83 could be remade as a small town based political drama with an idealistic peaceful lifestyle. Audience may also be a factor here. The sophisticated international audiences for LFTVDs may demand both local colour, so specifically national or even local representations, but also archetypal themes that can be enjoyed globally, such as protecting the homeland or creating a new politics. The streaming American television market as compared to the highly regulated and small German television market may also account for some of the representational differences. The German programme has to have cultural significance as DR’s one big drama for the season, whereas Homeland has rapidly to establish its identity as a brand within a highly competitive American television market, hence its more mainstream use of genre. It is likely that genre, audience, industries and contexts all intertwine in their influence on representations in LFTVDs.