Produce a presentation using clips and illustrations, in a format of your choice, highlighting your favourite genre, why it appeals to your peer audience and how audiences are positioned and respond to films of that genre. You must comprehensively explain the relationship between audiences and films with elucidated examples, using subject terminology correctly.
The Appeal
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What is the purpose of science fiction?
Science fiction is quite often written with a social purpose or goal in mind. While a common convention of the genre is to ponder or set the characters in futuristic and/or dystopian settings, its true purpose is not to predict the future but to speculate, explore concepts like horrors of endless war, the glorification of human ingenuity, or the ramifications of a radically different political system.
How are audiences interested in the sub-genres?
Audiences are often engaged through escapism (Blumler and Katz) in other fantastical or dystopian fictional worlds that are more interesting than mundane reality. Audiences are drawn to science fiction, which, whilst speculative, often nods to realism and a more thoughtful perspective on the future, frequently one that’s informed by scientific and technological reality. According to Zach Berkson, “the draw of science fiction is more nuanced than a desire to escape the mundane.”
What are the most common conventions of sci-fi films?
The genre of science fiction often incorporates hypothetical and science based themes into the plot of the film. The genre often includes futuristic elements and technologies in order to explore social, political and philosophical issues. Frequently, the film itself is set in the future, either on Earth or in space, incorporating generic conventions likes heroes, villains, a quest, advanced technology and unfamiliar locations (different planets/worlds).
The amount of representation in science fiction films has changed and developed slightly over the years, however it is a genre that despite its frequent display of diversity in species (robots, aliens, etc), lacks racial, ethnic, sexist and gender diversity.
Science fiction is quite often written with a social purpose or goal in mind. While a common convention of the genre is to ponder or set the characters in futuristic and/or dystopian settings, its true purpose is not to predict the future but to speculate, explore concepts like horrors of endless war, the glorification of human ingenuity, or the ramifications of a radically different political system.
How are audiences interested in the sub-genres?
Audiences are often engaged through escapism (Blumler and Katz) in other fantastical or dystopian fictional worlds that are more interesting than mundane reality. Audiences are drawn to science fiction, which, whilst speculative, often nods to realism and a more thoughtful perspective on the future, frequently one that’s informed by scientific and technological reality. According to Zach Berkson, “the draw of science fiction is more nuanced than a desire to escape the mundane.”
What are the most common conventions of sci-fi films?
The genre of science fiction often incorporates hypothetical and science based themes into the plot of the film. The genre often includes futuristic elements and technologies in order to explore social, political and philosophical issues. Frequently, the film itself is set in the future, either on Earth or in space, incorporating generic conventions likes heroes, villains, a quest, advanced technology and unfamiliar locations (different planets/worlds).
- There are various character types in generic science fictions films:
- Aliens (invaders, ET creatures fighting against earth/humans)
- Robots
- Androids
- Humanoids
- Humans (scientists/researchers/heroes/victims/villains)
- Mutant
- Protagonist (Propp - hero)
- Antagonist (Propp - villain)
- Artificial intelligence (Propp - helper/mentor)
- Sidekick (Propp - helper/mentor)
- Science fiction films often also use a lot of iconography like:
- High-tech gadgets
- Holographic images
- CGI/Special Effect/Makeup
- Weapons of mass destruction
- Spaceships
- Teleportation machines
- Laboratory
- Lab coats
- high-tech/unique costumes (typically metallic with unique geometric designs)
- The narrative conventional to this genre typically involves:
- The overcoming of obstacles by the hero; (eg: Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi - the rebels rescue Hans Solo from Jabba the Hutt and battle the Empire, while Luke and Jedi try to bring his father back away from the dark side).
- Based on scientific principles and ideologies (commenting on important issues in society).
- Exploration of ‘world’s concern coming true’ (eg: Global warming; Max Max: Fury Road - the world has nearly run out of fossil fuels and a war breaks among groups of rag-tag savages). Science fiction plays on its audiences’ concerns and fears of the future due to the current dire situations in the worlds, as a result making the film appealing, attractive and familiar (identification - Blumler and Katz).
- Destruction of earth/apocalyptic world
- Development of new technology/species and the consequences that follow (this genre gives the audience a chance to show or create a belief about what the future might look like). Several science-fi films also takes rel scientific ideas and advance them so far into the future that they become a fantasy.
- Psychological/biological changes in characters due to scientific changes or over experimentation.
- Alien invasion wherein extraterrestrials invade Earth with intentions of replace/enslave/end human life. This may also correspond with robots turning against humans.
- Hence, several narratives an be used in sci-fi films, sometimes the filmmakers chose to narrowly follow one kind of narrative, but most often film of this genre have a mixture of the above narratives, overlapping with each other in order to create a more uniques, immersive and complex world for the audience to escape into (Blumler and Katz).
- There are also some conventional settings in sci-fi films such as:
- Futuristic
- Different dimension
- Earth/Alternative version of Earth
- Space/Other planet(s)
- Spaceships
- Parallel universe
- Dystopian land
- Sci- fi films typically have similar themes:
- Binary/ good and evil (Levi-Strauss)
- Paranormal/supernatural/superhuman abilities
- New discover
- Time travel
- Space travel
- Fear of the unknown
- Realm out of stereotypes presented in society
- ET life invasion
- Revenge
- Power
- Human intervention
- Man vs nature
The amount of representation in science fiction films has changed and developed slightly over the years, however it is a genre that despite its frequent display of diversity in species (robots, aliens, etc), lacks racial, ethnic, sexist and gender diversity.
Target Audience
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The target audience for science fiction films tend to vary depending upon the sub-genres of science fiction the film is. Typically, the target audience for sci-fi films are of a predominantly caucasian male demographic, aged 18-29 with any income rate and an interest in science and fantasy worlds. Due to these demographics the protagonists in sci-fi films are overwhelmingly white and male, in order to allow the white male target audience to engage with the hero. Hollywood has always been lacking diversity, however that has changed and improved overtime, despite this, they still have a long way to go. In recent years science fiction has garnered a growing audience demand and interest in the genre, perhaps due to the technological convergence, advancements and developments currently taking place at a rapid pace and changing the world. Such swift scientific advancements are promoting audience demand for more scientifically and logically accurate narrative, characters and settings, reaching wider audiences.
Moreover, the massive exponential growth of CGI in the industry has induced a trend of making special effects, VFX and fictional characters look more realistic. It is mostly younger audiences that have such an interest in this genre as younger people enjoy watching dystopian and futuristic worlds that often feature a young cast allowing for identification and relationship building (Blumler and Katz) and engagement between the audience, the characters and the world they are living in. With the world endangered by relatively new treats like climate change, increased crimes rates, broken governments, civil rights, and the threat of nuclear wars, the younger target audiences are able to escape into different worlds that could potentially mirror the future of their own, eg: Black Mirror, post-apocalyptic world, etc. This has resulted in a change in the audience profile that sci-fi directors have placed as the default ever since the first science fiction film was made.
Sci-fi has nearly always garnered a niche target audience, which has continued to grow with time, and has gained more prevalence in recent years with more accurate scientific terminology, concepts and settings, which has made the genre more realistic and believable for the target audiences. Mass audiences have now begins to increasingly accept and appreciate science fiction films, however, the genre still remains at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity, appealing to a relatively niche audience. The psychographics of the sci-fi genre has consistently stayed the same, with fans of the genre having a considerable interest in science, fantasy and realism, and being substantially creative, scientific and imaginative, most often taking a preferred/dominant or negotiated reading of what the director intended.
Moreover, the massive exponential growth of CGI in the industry has induced a trend of making special effects, VFX and fictional characters look more realistic. It is mostly younger audiences that have such an interest in this genre as younger people enjoy watching dystopian and futuristic worlds that often feature a young cast allowing for identification and relationship building (Blumler and Katz) and engagement between the audience, the characters and the world they are living in. With the world endangered by relatively new treats like climate change, increased crimes rates, broken governments, civil rights, and the threat of nuclear wars, the younger target audiences are able to escape into different worlds that could potentially mirror the future of their own, eg: Black Mirror, post-apocalyptic world, etc. This has resulted in a change in the audience profile that sci-fi directors have placed as the default ever since the first science fiction film was made.
Sci-fi has nearly always garnered a niche target audience, which has continued to grow with time, and has gained more prevalence in recent years with more accurate scientific terminology, concepts and settings, which has made the genre more realistic and believable for the target audiences. Mass audiences have now begins to increasingly accept and appreciate science fiction films, however, the genre still remains at the lower end of the spectrum in terms of popularity, appealing to a relatively niche audience. The psychographics of the sci-fi genre has consistently stayed the same, with fans of the genre having a considerable interest in science, fantasy and realism, and being substantially creative, scientific and imaginative, most often taking a preferred/dominant or negotiated reading of what the director intended.
Sub-Genres
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Since there are over 40 different sub-genres of sci-fi, I will be focusing on 6 of them (with one case study each):
- Steampunk/Cyberpunk/Biopunk
- Sci-fi Horror
- Post-apocalyptic
- Alien Invasion/Robot Invasion
- Time Travel and Alternate/Parallel/Lost/Dystopian Worlds
- Supernatural/Superhero
Sci-Fi Punk
Cyberpunk: typically set on Earth, involve a hacker immersed in a cyber-world, interacting (both online and physically) with similar people. Often they're modified to 'jack' their brain directly into cyberspace. It is fiction relating to the science of cybernetics, which views nature as a series of interconnecting mechanical systems. It deals with the link between biology and computer technology, and explores humanity’s changing relationship with computer systems. Virtual reality, prosthetics, cyborgs and internet fraud are all part of the cyberpunk niche, and usually go hand-in-hand with social decline.
Biopunk: a spinoff of the 'cyberpunk' subgenre, involving hackers (and oppressive government agencies) who manipulate human DNA -- their own and/or someone else's; it also often deals with social decline and political repression. |
Ghost In The Shell: Synopsis
In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people's minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that her life was stolen instead of saved. Now, she will stop at nothing to recover her past while punishing those who did this to her. |
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Sci-Fi Horror
This is a sub-genre of science fiction and horror films, often revolving around subjects that include but are not limited to alien invasions, mad scientists, and/or experiments gone wrong. It bridges the boundaries between sci-fi and horror, often involving jump-scares alongside graphic and gruesome imagery meant to scare, revolt or disgust the viewers. This kind of film often involves 'on-the-edge-of-your-seats' kind of enigma and action codes.
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Annihilation: Synopsis
A biologist's husband disappears. She puts her name forward for an expedition into an environmental disaster zone, but does not find what she's expecting. The expedition team is made up of the biologist, an anthropologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and a linguist. |
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Post-Apocalyptic
This genre involves stories that are set well after some vast upheaval. Rather than showing the immediate aftermath of a dismal, futuristic world, these tales depict a new society that has arisen from the ashes, usually here on Earth. Often the survivors remain leery of technology. It is fiction set in the aftermath of a cataclysmic event, in which the world, and human civilization, has been radically altered. Post-apocalyptic landscapes are typically grim, with survivors facing multiple dangers, such as violence, starvation, radiation, extreme weather and even mutants.
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Mad Max: Fury Road: Synopsis
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper, and a drifter named Max. |
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Alien Invasion/Robot Invasion
Alien/robot invasion stories are self-explanatory. The target is usually, but not always, Earth, and the narrative typically depicts an eventual human triumph. In this sub-genre aliens or robots or alien robots attempt to invade the Earth, either through military conquest, political subversion or a campaign of mass extermination.
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Independence Day: Resurgence: Synopsis
As the Fourth of July nears, satellite engineer David Levinson (Jeff Goldblum) investigates a 3,000-mile-wide mother ship that's approaching Earth. Fortunately, 20 years earlier, nations across the world started to use recovered extraterrestrial technology to develop an immense defense program. When the alien invaders attack with unprecedented force, the U.S. president, teams of scientists and brave fighter pilots spring into action to save the planet from a seemingly invincible enemy. |
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Time Travel and Alternate/Parallel/Lost/Dystopian Worlds
Time travel is a vast sub-genre, whether or not its protagonist travels in space as well. In these stories, this capability is possible, and is put to use by the characters -- in secret or in public, easily or with great difficulty, and rarely or often. The effects of such temporal ventures vary in each portrayal. (With paradoxes, new timelines, historical immutability, etc).
Parallel universe sci-fi is quite similar to the 'multiverse' sub-genre. What makes this sub-genre distinct is that the other universe(s) can be very strange, with differing physical laws, etc, as it may depict the strange physics of an alternate cosmos, with rigorous charts. Alternate histories/worlds depict might-have-beens, if one or more crucial situations had been resolved differently. Common themes are: what if the Roman Empire never fell, or the South had won the US Civil War, or Germany won World War Two, etc. Dystopian (crowded world, gilded cage, jaded society, theocracy, etc.), is the opposite of utopian. These horrid societies are all too easy to imagine. In most such tales, the protagonist seeks to better her/his own life, if not to liberate the entire society. |
Edge Of Tomorrow: Synopsis
When Earth falls under attack from invincible aliens, no military unit in the world is able to beat them. Maj. William Cage (Tom Cruise), an officer who has never seen combat, is assigned to a suicide mission. Killed within moments, Cage finds himself thrown into a time loop, in which he relives the same brutal fight -- and his death -- over and over again. However, Cage's fighting skills improve with each encore, bringing him and a comrade (Emily Blunt) ever closer to defeating the aliens. |
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Supernatural/Superhero
This is perhaps the most well-known and popular sub-genre currently, as the highest global box office was recently achieved by Avengers: Endgame, as superhero sci-fi film. This sub-genre covers a broad number of narratives of humans gaining or being born with extraordinary super-powers, and typically involves some kinds of hero's redemption arc.
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Wonder Woman: Synopsis
Before she was Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), she was Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, Diana meets an American pilot (Chris Pine) who tells her about the massive conflict that's raging in the outside world. Convinced that she can stop the threat, Diana leaves her home for the first time. Fighting alongside men in a war to end all wars, she finally discovers her full powers and true destiny. |
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Audience Profiling
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Psychographics
Interests: Science, reading, fantasy, complex ideas and theories, action, adventure
Social class: Middle/lower classes Attitude: Logical thinkers, accepting of new worlds, fantasies, and complex, creative and imaginative ideas and theories. They also typically have a decent understanding of complicated logical and hard and soft science; they are creative, open-minded, explorative, and curious. |
Audience Response Theory
Audience Positioning & Response
The science fiction genre places its target audience in a specific position, as the main goal of a sci-fi film is to explore each individual's place in the universe, and to make the audience consider philosophical questions about the nature of reality and the mind, Arthur C. Clarke once describes science fiction as "the only genuine consciousness-expanding drug". This genre can also inspires more people to enter the field of science and think logically and creatively at the same time. Moreover, science fiction is a genre that can depict how society could function differently, which is the first step towards progress, prompting lateral thinking. Science fiction can also help people address long-term problems like global warming and climate change, alongside other topics like space exploration among other potential technologies. Science fiction was created to explore alternate realities and to evoke thoughts about the functioning of our society, politics, environments and several other issues. There are three main different types of responses that an audience member can have, in regards to how they read a film, and according to media theorists Davis Morley and Stuart Hall, they ways in which audiences receive films are simple. An audience individual can either have a dominant/preferred reading, negotiated reading or an oppositional reading.
Stuart Hall's Audience Reception Theory
Dominant/Preffered: How the producer wants the audience to view the media text. Audience members will take this position if the messages are clear and if the audience member is the same age and culture; if it has an easy to follow narrative and if it deals with themes that are relevant to the audience.
Negotiated: A compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts parts of the producer's views, but has their own views on parts as well, e.g. audience member likes the media, is of the same age as you and understands some of the messages, but the narrative is complex and this inhibits full understanding.
Oppositional: When the audience rejects the preferred reading, and creates their own meaning for the text. This can happen if the media contains controversial themes that the audience member disagrees with. It can also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society. Oppositional reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or is of a different age or a different culture.
Negotiated: A compromise between the dominant and oppositional readings, where the audience accepts parts of the producer's views, but has their own views on parts as well, e.g. audience member likes the media, is of the same age as you and understands some of the messages, but the narrative is complex and this inhibits full understanding.
Oppositional: When the audience rejects the preferred reading, and creates their own meaning for the text. This can happen if the media contains controversial themes that the audience member disagrees with. It can also arise when the media has a complex narrative structure perhaps not dealing with themes in modern society. Oppositional reading can also occur if the audience member has different beliefs or is of a different age or a different culture.
The Hypodermic Needle Model
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/1/7/121724333/published/seafood-is-natures-superfood-2-e1509819773501.png?1558884702)
Sci-fi films can either be accepted, rejected, or accepted and rejected at the same time, for example a film like Annihilation (2018), may appeal to fans of sci-fi and horror but not to people who do not like horror films or jump-scares.
Hence it is unrealistic for a film to want to achieve a preferred reading across a mass audience, as it is made up of several individual with varying likes and dislikes, which often leads to sci-fi films settling for a negotiated reading with its audiences. The hypodermic needle mode was first developed in the 1920s/1930s to demonstrate the effects of mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the supposed power of mass media - in particular film - to inject the passive audiences with ideologies. Repressive regimes across the globe control the media organizations in their countries, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling their populations. It is a linear communication theory that suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of passive audiences. The concept however, ignores the ideas that not everyone in an audience behaves in the same way.
This is also supported by the linear communications theory of information, that states ideas from the media are passes onto mass audiences through word-of-mouth and recommendations. However, this is not very reliable as the information and ideologies may become twisted or incorrect by the time they reach a mass audience, since word-of-mouth can be unreliable.
The hypodermic needle model is also supported by other effects theories such as the two-step flow theory (assumes a more active audience, who will discuss texts with each other, and if the test is discussed with someone we respect then we may as well be passive enough to except their received views of the text); and the cultivation theory. The latter is a more refined version of the effects theory, as it states that while a single text does not have much effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive; this theory explores the effects of individual media texts on an audience.
Hence it is unrealistic for a film to want to achieve a preferred reading across a mass audience, as it is made up of several individual with varying likes and dislikes, which often leads to sci-fi films settling for a negotiated reading with its audiences. The hypodermic needle mode was first developed in the 1920s/1930s to demonstrate the effects of mass media on their audiences. This model owes much to the supposed power of mass media - in particular film - to inject the passive audiences with ideologies. Repressive regimes across the globe control the media organizations in their countries, usually in the belief that strict regulation of the media will help in controlling their populations. It is a linear communication theory that suggests that media messages are injected directly into the brains of passive audiences. The concept however, ignores the ideas that not everyone in an audience behaves in the same way.
This is also supported by the linear communications theory of information, that states ideas from the media are passes onto mass audiences through word-of-mouth and recommendations. However, this is not very reliable as the information and ideologies may become twisted or incorrect by the time they reach a mass audience, since word-of-mouth can be unreliable.
The hypodermic needle model is also supported by other effects theories such as the two-step flow theory (assumes a more active audience, who will discuss texts with each other, and if the test is discussed with someone we respect then we may as well be passive enough to except their received views of the text); and the cultivation theory. The latter is a more refined version of the effects theory, as it states that while a single text does not have much effect, repeated exposure will make the audience less sensitive; this theory explores the effects of individual media texts on an audience.
The Relationship
The relationship between audiences and films has been explained and explored by several theorists, critics and ideologies, however, this relationship can be very subjective in regards to each audience individual. With reference to science fiction films, the market has grown considerably over time, yet it still remains a relatively niche genre with a niche target audience and interest; and the sci-fi film market has become more competitive and commercial with the emergence of cross media convergence, digital marketing and distribution, alongside the growth of online streaming services and binge-watching. Social media has allowed audiences to become more active and voice their demands, concerns, likes and dislikes about the genre and its growing tendency of commercialism (eg: The Avengers film franchise). Audiences are often skeptical of the films they pay to watch as they don't want to be let down, disappointed or made to feel as if they have made the wrong investment in entertainment regarding science fiction and the action, adventure, thrill, enigma and actions codes, and other themes, it is supposed to deliver.
Audience Positioning
In most science fiction films the audience engages and aligns itself with either the characters, setting, narrative, themes, or a combination of them; hence each audience individual is positioned differently based on their psychographics. However, there are two main kinds of positioning when it comes to audiences and they ways in which they consume film; they can either be identified as passive or active.
Passive audiences do not actively engage with the media given to them by the director. Instead, they do not question the message the media is sending them, simply accepting it dominantly in the way the director intended. The media has no impact on a passive audience, which discourages the audience from talking about it after having experienced or watched the film.
An active audience actively engages with the film, and does not simply accept every media message blindly. They question what they see and develop their own interpretations of the film based on their own life experience, education, family, cultural and social influences. An active audience makes sure to respond to the media, they have been given by the director, correctly with a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading o the directory intention. This allows them to spread their personal and critical responses to the media through word-of-mouth, which is a format of viral marketing.
Passive audiences do not actively engage with the media given to them by the director. Instead, they do not question the message the media is sending them, simply accepting it dominantly in the way the director intended. The media has no impact on a passive audience, which discourages the audience from talking about it after having experienced or watched the film.
An active audience actively engages with the film, and does not simply accept every media message blindly. They question what they see and develop their own interpretations of the film based on their own life experience, education, family, cultural and social influences. An active audience makes sure to respond to the media, they have been given by the director, correctly with a preferred, negotiated or oppositional reading o the directory intention. This allows them to spread their personal and critical responses to the media through word-of-mouth, which is a format of viral marketing.