How does the Trailer for Topboy (Channel 4) target their audience?
· Primary audience: young males, a demographic between 16-25 given this is the age of the characters represented in the drama.
· Secondary audience: members of the young, black community as the race is predominantly represented through the characters.
· The mise-en-scene consists of high-rise flats and council estates, representing a crime-ridden neighbourhood. Young people may are also more likely to identify with and sympathise for these characters (Blumler and Katz) – the dialogue reinforces this when the protagonist states “I wanna life... I wanna good life”.
· This may also appear to audiences who want to escape into intense narratives, which are a welcome contrast to their more routine lives (Richard Dyer).
· The trailer features close-up shots of a black hand carrying a knife, drug weighing and a Long Shot of an abducted black man, suggesting ‘Summerhouse’ is a dangerous and undesirable place to many people who do not live in these poverty stricken areas. Even though this is a drama, this may gratify an audience through finding information about what life is like in deprived areas in Britain.
· There is grime/electronic music playing (non-diegetic sound), creating an exotic vibe which matches trailer’s narrative of building up intensity.
· The grime/electronic music could provide a form of entertainment (Blumler and Katz) through building up the intensity from the narrative, making the audience eager to find out what is going to happen next.
· There are many low-angle shots utilised to represent the protagonist as an intimidating and dangerous character (Alvarado) - gratifying the audience through constructing a dramatic narrative.
· The narrative structure of equilibrium (the two boys walking calmly through the estate), disequilibrium (tracking shot of boy running away scared, drug dealing and police lights) to equilibrium of the protagonist calmly overlooking the Summerhouse estate. This would provide a form of entertainment for audience to resonate with (Blumler and Katz).
· How does the Trailer for Topboy (Channel 4) position their audience?
The text has attempted to position the audience to see the black characters as the perpetrators of crime (as drug dealers and crime-ridden), yet the white characters are framed as being the victims in the short narrative (being chased, suffering from fear etc.), reinforcing Alvarado’s theory of black people as ‘dangerous’.
· Although the audience is positioned to feel sympathy for the lead character (who is also black) through the use of voice over: “I was born and bred in Summerhouse. I’m 26 years old”, “I haven’t got nothing else to be except this”. This reinforces another one of Alvarado’s representations of black people as being pitied in the media.
· The repeated visual codes of violence positions some audiences to view London council estates as dangerous places.
How may audiences respond differently to the trailer for Topboy (Channel 4)?
· Stuart Hall’s ‘Reception Model’ (1980) theory; audiences have contrasting responses to the same texts; preferred, negotiated and oppositional.
· Old people may view this trailer with an oppositional viewpoint, from witnessing youths and juvenile delinquents with a taboo, creating a moral panic (Cohen) of them as being ‘dangerous’. Therefore they may feel no sympathy for the central character.
· Mainstream audience may respond with a negotiated viewpoint, opposing the drug culture and crime-ridden lifestyles the characters lead, however, understand this is a result of their unfortunate upbringing and view them as being ‘pitied’ (left-wing ideology).
· Young people who are going through a rebellious stage could view the culture depicted as something they desire, rather than something that is a negative part of these character's lives - as a glorification of inner-city crime.
· Some viewers may see the drama as a reinforcing negative stereotypes of inner-city culture - and by focussing on the crime and drama for narrative's sakes are creating a melodrama that exploits the issues in which it is dealing with (and certainly doesn't provide any accurate information about these places).
· Some views may see the representation of black characters as violent, reinforcing negative stereotypes - and may see this text as possibly racist (in the vein of blaxploitation movies in the 1970s - look it up!).
