TELEVISION CULTURES
BLOG POST 1
COURSE SCREENING/GENRE
‘Dead Set’ is a British television show inspired by the horror film ‘Dawn of the Dead’, where contestants of a U.K ‘Big Brother’ and its production crew are suddenly under attack by zombies.
The genre can be defined as black comedy, with crude humour mixed with blood and gore. Black comedies are texts that make fun of themes that are usually serious or restricted to society, such as death, violence or torture. The reason this show was made with aspects of dark comedy was to show viewers that there is most definitely a dark side to something so amusing and light-hearted such as reality television.
The main idea of the series is to create a metaphor for both reality television and British society itself.
The director and producers of the reality TV show are presented as selfish, greedy and unsympathetic, just like the savage zombies attacking people. Though most are exaggerated, it is done to give viewers an idea of how these shows are made and how important ratings are (more important than violent riots happening across the country). ‘Dead Set’ gives the impression that both the producers and the zombies are rather similar, with each one “feasting” on people’s lives, making them miserable, for their own malicious intentions (the producers, money, and the zombies, blood and flesh). Not only are the zombies a representation of the television producers, but they become metaphors for both the ‘Big Brother’ contestants and the audience who are all simultaneously glued to the screen. Us, as viewers of ‘Dead Set’ are then inclined to think of our own lives and how we view the media. Are we as addicted as the people shown? Or are we more in control?
The show tells viewers about how, although in different ways, each person is brainwashed. Media’s Hypodermic Needle Theory, coined in the 1940’s and 50’s to imply mass media had a direct, immediate and mighty influence on its audience, can also be interpreted into the show and it’s aim; saying to viewers that many people in British society are so engrossed in what reality TV shows present to them, that they are unable to see the real world and what is happening in their own surroundings (such as the scene in the first episode where a zombie stumbles amongst the crowd, going completely unnoticed).
It is easy to connect this to everyday life. When you are commuting on the train, looking around, many people have their head down, scrolling through their phones, purposely unaware of what is happening outside of their virtual world. This is proven very real in the 2013 news story, where an alleged killer, goes unnoticed as he pulls out a gun in plain sight on a San Francisco train, as everybody on the carriage were too concerned with their tech devices. A sense of reality and fear is evoked in ‘Dead Set’ viewers as they connect it with their own experiences, and hopefully take it as a lesson to be more wise and plugged into their environment.
The Hypodermic Needle Theory also suggests that everyone is the same and respond to media in the same, passive way. This again brings us back to the idea of brainwashed zombies unable to control their own thoughts. The similarity between these two ideas is that, just like a vicious zombie bite, the Hypodermic Needle theory gives people the idea that information is injected into the mindless audience with no barriers.
Reference:
Huffington Post. 2013. San Francisco Train Passengers Too Distracted By Phones To Notice Shooter’s Gun In Plain Sight. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/san-francisco-train-shooting_n_4066930.html. [Accessed 13 August 15].