Context
What is context?
Context in relation to a media text can be broken down into the following: social, historical, cultural, economical and political.
The difference between social and cultural context
Society is a community within which people live and interact with one another.
Social refers to the people who live in a specific place and interact with one
another within the social environment. Social context refers to these people and
the structure and function of institutions that operate within a society such as
family, education, religion, communications, government etc... It also helps us to
understand social conflicts that may arise as a result of the structure, functions
and interactions of the people who live within it. We all live our day to day lives
in the same society following the same structures and functions. Social context
focuses on the relationship between media products and the society within
which they are made in relation to social groups, attitudes, changes, conflicts and
inequalities.
Culture is the way the different people who live in that society behave - you can
have one society or social structure (American, British, Swedish, German) but
many cultures or sub-cultures within that society.
Cultural refers to what creates the identity of the people who live in any given
society. Culture refers to the beliefs, meanings and practices that guide the
shared behaviour of individuals within a group in any given society. This includes
the attitudes, values, habits, customs and traditions of the shared culture. Culture
can be seen to include all aspects of ‘life’ including language, the products we
make, the things we do and how we do them. There can be lots of different
cultures and sub-cultures within a society, which is why we might all behave,
think and act a little bit differently even though we are all living our day to day
lives in a similar way.
TASK: Write down your own definition that explains the difference between social and cultural context.
TASK: Write down your own definition that explains the difference between social and cultural context.
Context in Regards to Long Form Television Drama
Social Contexts
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of changes in gender roles, of gender, racial and ethnic inequalities, social attitudes
to sexualities on television programmes.
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of social anxieties and/or contested social values on television programmes, for
example the perceived rupturing of the ‘American dream’ illustrated through allegorical representations of social anxieties such as
domestic terrorism and surveillance and also more broadly through wider western social values towards security and family and home and the perceived breakdown of the ‘nuclear’ family.
Social Contexts within Stranger Things
The episode intertextually reflects 1980s family and gender relations and is set within a Speilbergian, mostly white, world of suburban family life, representing mothers as figures struggling to hold the family together, fathers as absent or insensitive and distracted, and young boys as establishing a fierce loyalty and masculine camaraderie in the face of a hostile world. Mike’s teenage sister, Nancy, is represented in contradictory ways: she anti-stereotypically excels at science while still fitting stereotypes of the teenage girl (reflecting theories such as Gauntlett). The episode shows the influence of social anxieties about the consequences of scientific experimentation.
TASK: Answer the following questions for Stranger Things.
- 1. In which country is the drama set?
- 2. In which country is the drama made?
- 3. What is the social identity of the people in the drama?
- 4. Who makes the drama?
- 5. Are they a small independent organisation or a large multi-national / global conglomerate?
- 6. How is the social identity of the country of production reflected in the drama?
- 7. What aspects of social and day to day life are reflected in the drama (being with families, going to school, legal and political systems, being religious etc.)?
- 8. How are these structures reflected in the drama – as usual or to be questioned?
- 9. How does the drama influence our own participation within the social structure (confirms it as the right thing to do or questions it?)
- 10. Is there any social conflict apparent in the drama?
- 11. How does the drama represent social changes?
Cultural Contexts
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of national cultures on television programmes, for example the cultural importance
of television dramas in reflecting, re-interpreting and re-enforcing national cultural identities and representations of social groups,
events and the individuals within those (and on occasion, challenging and subverting those representations to try and instigate
cultural change and domestic conversations on representations and identity).
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of cultural globalisation and hybridisation on television programmes and recognition
that key character types may share certain generic traits in their representations across westernised television culture.
Cultural Context within Stranger Things
The episode shows the influence of the cultural icon of the American small town community developed by Hollywood cinema, not least in the 1980s. This representation has global recognition (by international audiences used to being positioned as Americans), given the global success of the Hollywood blockbusters of that era.
TASK: Answer the following questions for Stranger Things.
As reflected in the settings and characters within the drama (1980s):
What do we see people doing in the drama?What attitudes, values, habits, customs and traditions can we see them taking part in that identifies their culture (as American, Germans, Danes etc…)?
What do they wear?
How do they speak?
How do they spend their spare and recreational time?
What do we see them listening to or watching?
What do they eat?
Where do they go out?
How do they interact with one another?
What values or beliefs are they seen to hold?
What intertextual references to other cultural products are there?
How do audiences consume and interact with products (either of the set drama itself or how we see them consuming media within the drama)?
As reflected at the time of the drama’s production (2016):
How does the set product typify cultural trends and preferences of what audiences like to watch? How do audiences consume and interact with the products? How have current cultural trends and uses of technology influenced this?
How does the viewer’s own cultural background or social identity affect the way in which they may respond to and interpret the drama?
How does the drama support or reinforce the cultural background of its target audience?
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of key historical events on television programmes, for example, 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ and how this affected the American psyche and been reflected and re-interpreted through television dramas; for example, how the reunification of Germany influenced the region and has been reflected and re-interpreted through television dramas.
TASK: Answer the following questions for Stranger Things.
When was the drama set?
What significant events or issues happened politically, socially, culturally at that time? Write a list.
Does the drama represent or refer to any historical events?
Political Contexts
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of attitudes to politics on television programmes including how television programmes can reflect, reinterpret, amplify and satirise national political institutions and the mechanics of their working, including an understanding that Western programme makers have the freedom to criticise and satirise their own domestic politicians and political systems. A knowledge and understanding of the need for the audience to have political knowledge itself to understand the basis of some representations in political dramas.
Political Context within Stranger Things
TASK: Answer the following questions for Stranger Things.
What is the political context at the time in which the product is set or made (e.g. political leadership at the time, significant political events or issues)?
Is there any political conflict evident in the drama?
How does the drama reflect political debates and issues?
Could the drama be seen to influence political debates and the way in which its viewers may think or feel about these political issues?
How is political power seen to be used or achieved in the drama?
Does the drama contribute to shaping ideas about politics and political power?
How could the political climate in which the audience watch the drama affect their own response?
Economic Contexts
Knowledge and understanding of the influence of high budgets on flagship television programmes, e.g. the opportunities for character development in ‘authored’ high budget programmes allows for more complex, individualised three-dimensional characterisation rather than stereotyping. Responses may also show knowledge of the disparity between production budgets for US television dramas and European television dramas and their sources of funding and how budget can influence representations through allowing more or less choice to programme makers when constructing representations, for example, with regard to locations, settings, costumes, filming, lighting, sound and editing technology.
Economic Context within Stranger Things
The episode reflects the continuing success of streaming services such as Netflix who need to maintain the brand with innovative and original programming.
TASK: Answer the following questions for Stranger Things.
How is the company that made the drama funded?
What income revenues do they have?
What is the budget for the drama?
How does the owner(s) of the product use or develop processes of production, distribution and circulation?
How successful is the company in comparison to others in the market? What profit have they made?
What technological developments have there been that allows the current processes of production, distribution and circulation?
What developments in technology may there be that could change processes of production, distribution and circulation?
The contexts in which the drama is set (1980s).
When and where is the drama set?
What genre is the product?
What is the political, social and cultural climate that the drama is set in?
Are there any intertextual references to other media products, historical eras, and social identities?
How are these
represented in the drama?
How accurate are these representations to the real event or issue?
What viewpoint or ideological messages do they offer?
How may the meanings constructed by the product be interpreted by different audiences?
The contexts in which the drama is produced (2016).
When and where was the set product produced?
Who owns and distributes the set product?
What other dramas do they produce?
What was the budget for the set product?
Do the dramas they produce offer similar representations?
Are there any intertextual references in the first episode of the set
product?
How is the set product distributed? On what platforms?
Is the product available globally? Which countries isn’t it available in and why is this?
What circulation platforms are there? How is the product viewed and consumed?
Who is the target audience? Which wider audiences might enjoy the product?
How can audiences access and consume the set product?
How was the drama received in different countries?
How might their viewing contexts affect what they view and how they interact with the product?
Which factors might affect the interpretation of meaning for different audiences of the same product?