8:2: Martin Hoyle on television drama The Bridge Flashcards
(16 cards)
What is the audience?
- educated audience
- upper classes
- fans of Hoyle
- those interested in Scandinavian noir and police detective series
- fans of Borgen
- those who have watched season 1
Context: Martin Hoyle
- Fairly famous tv and radio critic.
- Has written for Rotten Tomatoes, the Independent and FT.
Context: The Bridge
- A Scandinavian drama, which are rising in popularity as a whole.
- A crime series.
- Noir series - a series with dark themes (troubled protagonist, bleak settings, strong and complex plot).
- Produced by Denmark and Sweden.
- Shown in 100 countries.
- Started as a BBC 4 drama, then moved to BBC 2 in England.
Context: FT Weekend Magazine
- Financial Times
- Has an educated audience of professional oriented business people (so typically middle and upper classes).
- However, being the weekend magazine, it diverges from topics of only finance.
What is the voice?
- Positive and evaluative voices at first, with a very dramatic tone.
- For the precis, the voice becomes far more factual and summative, while still holding onto this persuasive tone.
- A very educated and informed voice, probably linking to what the audience expects and his experience.
- Mature voice as he discusses a mature show.
“Saturday is complete again: Scandinavian noir is back.”
- “complete” - suggests there was a lack prior. Hyperbolic. Gives it a sense of necessity.
- “again” and “back” - rooted in what was and what is now. This idea of being thrown back into it.
- Factual statements. His opinions are posed as facts, creating a very certain and educated voice and lending to the persuasive purpose.
“After the civilised machinations of Danish politics in Borgen, we plunge into the dark world of terrorism, mass killing and poisonous grudges underlying humane, orderly Nordic society.”
- “dark world”, “terrorism”, “mass killing”, “poisonous” - semantic field of death and crime, creating this noir element.
- Juxtaposition created between the “civilised machinations” and the Scandinavian noir. Accentuates the noir and also lends into this genre of a civilised society having an underlying darkness, building a complexity valued by the audience reading. This is repeated when he mentioned the “humane, orderly Nordic society”.
- “plunge” - connotations of lack of control and suddenness.
- “civilised machinations of Danish politics” - an exophoric reference to another Scandinavian noir. He expects you to know.
- “we” - inclusive pronoun, pulling the reader in.
- “underlying” - the hidden part of society is being brought to light.
“The second season of The Bridge (BBC 4 9pm) resumes thirteen months after the story of the first ended, with an opening less gruesome but just as eerie when an apparently unmanned coaster crashes into the Øresund Bridge.”
- “BBC 4 9pm” - he gives the instructions on how to watch, which is once again persuasive. “9pm”, so therefore for more mature audiences.
- “less gruesome but just as eerie” - more exophoric referencing.
- “apparently” - reinforced the mystery element of the genre. Makes people want to know what is true and what isn’t, persuading them to watch.
- use of alliteration - “second season” and “coaster crashes”
“The five drugged youngsters found chained on board trigger more joint Danish–Swedish police cooperation.”
- Narrative hook - giving enough of the plot to establish the mystery and plot, encouraging people to watch and find out more.
- “youngsters” - emphasis on their innocence, making the text emotive almost.
- “drugged” and “chained” - this idea of taking control from innocents. Accentuates the fear element.
- “trigger” - stranger connotations than a word like “start”. This idea of a strong element being released after almost being held back.
- semantic field of violence or crime with “drug”, “chained” and “trigger” - accentuates noir genre
“Hoorah for the chalk and cheese combination of frowsy, easy-going Martin (Kim Bodnia) and the unsmiling, briskly robotic Aspergerish Saga (Sofia Helin).”
- Slight shift of tone to far more informal with “Hoorah”.
- “Chalk and cheese” - contrast created while still showing a close link with the alliteration.
- Asyndetic listing of adjectives to describe the characters.
- “frowsy, easygoing” vs “unsmiling, briskly robotic” - reinforces the contrast further.
- “Aspergerish” - not a real term, so coined by him, which is very informal. An outdated term, perhaps alluding to an older audience.
“Saga’s antiseptic, angular, pre-eminently logical psyche is disturbed by her efforts at normal relationships.”
- More asyndetic listing. Shows he has an abundance of opinions, presenting his voice as very knowledgeable.
- A use of low-frequency lexis, catering to the educated readership.
- Metaphorical adjectives. “Antiseptic” - connotations of clinical and clean cut. “Angular” - connotations of focus and hardness.
- “Pre-eminently logical” - intensified by adjective, creating a level of detail in describing her character and a very knowledgeable voice.
- “efforts at normal relationships” - emphasises the fact that she naturally isn’t normal.
- personifies her psyche with “disturbed”, emphasising her power.
“She has learnt to detect when people are making jokes and laughs heartily if unconvincingly, hurt when Martin gently points out that this is unnecessary.
- “She has learnt” - past perfect tense, implying that her prior behaviour was different. Another exophoric reference.
- “detect” - related to her work. Perhaps shows the way she allows work to take over her life rather than embracing her personal life.
- Many adverbs of manner, allowing the writer to really characterise these characters.
- “gently” - a juxtaposition to the angular, antiseptic. Reminded of the dynamic. The writer works to remind us rather than tell us why this series is so great.
“‘I acknowledge their attempts to be amusing,’ she explains earnestly…”
- The use of quotations makes the provenance more reliable.
- Affirms prior comments on her character.
“Saturday’s brace of episodes is rich with subplots, vivid subsidiary characters and a reminder that even mass terrorism can be rooted in the skewed world picture of one unbalanced human.”
- “rich” - this idea of high quality abundance. Further persuading people to watch.
- “vivid” - an attributive adjective which contrasts the prior ideas of noir, not only emphasising the word but showing the complexity of the series and genre.
- Triadic structure - draws attention to the complexity of the show.
- More narrative hooks.
- “one unbalanced human” - the use of the numeral adjective “one” really emphasises the power of the individual. Very vague with “unbalanced”. Once again, narrative hook.
- Polysyllabic, low-frequency lexis.
“There emerges a common theme: connection, the failure to connect, the fear of abandonment and isolation, and the Nordic thriller’s paradoxical juxtaposition of high principles and violent action, efficiency and murderousness.”
- “emerges” - incredibly dramatic and hyperbolic, really emphasising the ideas.
- He aims to emphasise all the complexities of the show for the high-brow readers.
- Use of fused sentence - gives the description a level of depth and complexity, as it contains all the factors within a single sentence, helping to emphasise. Almost overwhelming in one sentence, just like the show.
- Linking to themes - literary allusions almost, transforming it into a sophisticated work of fiction.
- accentuates the multi-dimensional nature of the series, giving it a societal dimension by linking to human themes.
- use of contrasts and literally saying juxtaposition (literary lexis, makes it more reliable and compelling). Shows complexity.
“The dark is all-pervasive.”
- Simple declarative.
- Hyperbolic.
- “all-pervasive” - hyperbolic and emphasising.
