The Returned Flashcards
The returened (aka, les revevnat) the sequel introduction
- 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
Synopsis
“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
opening sequel
Dark Images/surrel images
- 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)
Contextual Information
Television Context
- 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.
Simon
- 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
Setting/location
- 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.
STOCK CHARACTERS
- 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
Zombie Genre conventions in the returned
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
Hybridity
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
Genre – Steve Neale: In The Returned
- 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
Audio codes
Music/ Non-deigetic/dialogue
- 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.
Ways of phrasing
Media Language: Constructing Meaning
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
Technical codes
- 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
Represntation of women - Claire
- 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.
REPRESNETATIONS OF WOMEN
ADELE
- 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.
