October 24, 2014 [REPORT]

I am studying the television industry on a TV programme called Glee. This programme is a series and
has a huge amount of episodes. Glee is an American comedy drama series which airs on the FOX
network in the United States Of America. The programme was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad
Falchuck, Iann Brennan. The FOX film corporation was formed in (1915) by theatre chain pioneer
William Fox who also formed the film corporation by merging the two companies together. The
merging of the two companies was an early example of vertical integration. 20th century Foxs story
begins in a small theatre in New York's lower east side. On the year 1904 from Hungary aged 25
William Fox stunned viewers with his mysterious films. By 1915 20th century Fox's 5$ movie shows
were very popular, this grew drastically into a chain of theatres around New York City, then
transformed into a movie making business.
I have researched the annual income of Fox industry's and it does not give me a specific figure of
their yearly intake. But 20th Century Foxs brand value is $10.2 billion dollars. Founded in (1986).
The headquarters is located in L.A and California. On the Forbes list its the 46th worlds most valuable
brands.
I will be using different episodes of Glee to illustrate the points i want to make. I will be talking about
how 20th century FOX has make glee episodes based on specific life related issues so the audience
can have real life relation to the programme.
The target audience is typically teenage based. I think this because the programme Glee is based on
typical teenage issues which the audience feel like relate to them in real life. One of the common
ways to describe different audiences is placing them into various categories depending on their
income. Some viewers may watch Glee as an escapism from reality. This varies from
A,B,C1, C2, D, and E.
A: meaning the top band. Meaning either bankers, doctors and people who receive a large salary.
B: just one lower from a, this could be meaning graphic designers etc.
C1: supervisors and nurses.
D: semi-skilled and un-skilled workers.
E: unemployed, students pensioners and casual part-time workers.
Personally i think the demographics for the TV series Glee is C1-E. I think this because in reality you
wouldnt expect people like doctors, and bankers watching TV programmes like Glee because
theyre very focused on there busy lifestyle and jobs. Also personally i think Glee is aimed at the
audience of teenagers and there is no teenagers who have jobs as an qualified doctor. C1-E is more
suitable because the people in this category are obviously younger and are not on a huge salary.
They have more spare time then people who are in band A-B.

Its obvious that the producers want the target audience to meet the needs and requirements but
who was the programme Glee really after? Looking at films and programmes such as The Cheetah
Girls and High School Musical and Hairspray which all were a huge success and got the attention of
many people around the world. I think that the producers took inspiration from these films and
October 24, 2014 [REPORT]

decided to make it in to a series of programmes which storyline carries on each week too keep
viewers appealed. Glee focuses on various issues such as homosexuality, teenage pregnancy, bullies,
weight issues and many more life related issues. In psychographics there is different groups there
are the mainstreamers, aspires, Succeedors, resigned, explorers, strugglers and reformers. Taking
into consideration the letter E and D may not own a television because theyre unemployed or an
old age pensioner and simply are not interested in watching television. Another reason as to why
people in the category E,D cant view various programmes is because they do not have a
subscription to a certain service, for example SKY, Now TV, Virgin Media. The category C,D explains
and shows that the income that they are receiving is not very high or they are not taking in any sort
of income.
I think the programme glee definitely fits into the category the mainstreamers. I think this because
this group consists of a large group of humans. Especially children and families. A good example of
the mainstreamers summed up in a advert is the Coca Cola advert.
With the aspires i dont really think glee fits in with this specific element. This is because they are out
to be the best, latest products, care a lot about the way they look and take notice to how other
people look. In the programme Glee the producers are trying to convey a message that you
shouldnt care about what anyone thinks of you and you should be comfortable in your own skin. It
doesnt matter how much money you have. A good example of an advertisement or product which
fits nicely with the aspires is the Dr Dre beats headphones advertisement. Next the Succeedors.
Personally i do not think that it fits in with the genre and target audience of Glee. This is because
glee is mostly based at teenagers and young adults. Teenagers and young adults are not going to be
the most successful people in the world and have jobs as doctors etc. Also the Succeedors crave the
best of everything especially brands. An brilliant example of an advertisement which fits the group of
Succeedors perfectly is the Lacoste advert. For one the brand Lacoste is expensive brand that only
people with a high income can afford. They turn their noses on brands like Blue Inc., Asda George.
In order to find out more about this topic we carried out detailed qualitative and quantitative
research by...using internet resources, watching various episodes of Glee and looking at the history
of Glee on a variety of websites especially on IMDB.
The research i have obtained is mostly secondary because its not my own personal facts and
statistic. I have gathered my information from the internet and the TV. Using secondary resources
are more reliable then me writing facts and statistics about the programmes. There is specific
websites which have all reliable information like 20th Century FOX.
I have chosen to complete a detailed textual analysis on the TV programme/series Glee. Glee uses
real life relations and storylines throughout the programme, such as teenage pregnancy, and
sexuality. The typical audience for a programme like Glee is generally based to an teenage audience.
Reason one: Glee being a teenage drama a large part of the show involves and focuses on with
people struggling to fit into school, being bullied, teenage pregnancy's and love triangles. These
specific storylines are appealing to teenagers because any teenager could at least relate of one of
the issues which are focused on throughout the series. Or teenagers could be watching it simply for
audience pleasure or excitement. Reason 2: one of the Glee episodes focus on sexuality. The episode
was showing a character (Kurt) feeling very uncomfortable and in denial about his sexuality for a
very long time. Kurt struggled with bullying and death threats. Being bullied and picked on for your
October 24, 2014 [REPORT]

sexuality is very common, it could be relatable to many people in real life situations of all ages and
terms. Reason 3: An variety of music. Many families would all view programmes together. Little
children, parents and teenagers. The music they recreate in the show is not focused on a specific
genre, they range it from Broadway to huge hits which play on the radio regularly. They perform
pop, rap, opera, and classic rock. What the producers have done is made them perform the songs
but put a twist on the song which makes it different from the original version, or they mix two songs
together. Parents have stated that Glee introduces their children to the music that they used to
listen too.
Reason 4: guest stars. Glee has being aired for an number of years and the stars have obviously
claimed their fame and time in the spotlight. But the producers have made the programme more
interesting by using celebrity endorsement by having random guest appearances. For example they
previously they have had Olivia Newton John, Idena Menzel, Kristen Chenoworth, Brittney Spears,
Gweneth Paltrow, John Stamos.
Lastly, themed episodes. Previously there have been episodes which have had themes such as
Madonna and Lady Gaga. These artist have such an huge demographic fan base they tap into
millions of viewers. They have also performed hit songs by Bon Jovi, Beyonc, Elton John, Bruno
Mars. This makes the programme more appealing to an wider audience because children wouldnt
be familiar with artists like Bon Jovi and Elton John because these songs had their time of fame in a
different generation.
The media triangle is made up of three elements, these being media text, production and audience.
Media text meaning: what meaning is being conveyed?
Audience: To whom is the meaning being conveyed?
Production: How and why is the meaning being conveyed?.
What is it? Its a programme called Glee. Can you name three things like it? Yes, Hairspray, High
School Musical and the film Greece. Does it have stereotypes? Glee has seven dangerous
stereotypes for example the crazy redhead, the bitchy blonde cheerleader, the exotic lesbian, the
sensitive jock, the sassy, lazy, food obsessed African American, the dumb blonde, and the evil gay.
The concept of the media triangle is that institutions make specific programmes which are very
similar to programmes which have been aired previously and are highly successful. For example the
programme Skins was a very successful television programme. Recently 2014 a new series of a
programmes called Glue. If you have watched both programmes theyre very similar meaning
(characters, location.) some of the characters have almost identical features and have similar
attributes.




October 24, 2014 [REPORT]


From the 1920s there was a theory discovered which explains how mass audiences might react to
the mass media. This information is transferred by the hypodermic needle, so reporters or writers
inject information into the audience regardless if it is true or not and make people believe specific
things. The hypodermic needle is one of the oldest theory's known in the subject media studies. An
example of the hypodermic needle is television viewers would have their minds injected with
sex,violence.
A good example of the hypodermic needle theory is an Columbine Elementary School suggests that
they have consumed a negative piece of media and that led them to kill 13 people, and injure 24
others. People believe that the Matrix was the main focus and had influenced the shootings. I think
that some violence on television and in movies can create an impact and influence violent
behaviour. The hypodermic syringe theory can come into this because the media makes us believe
this. It injects us with all this information and the audience think oh because its on television and in a
film that its politically correct to commit crime.
Gratification theory: This theory states what people do with media rather then what media does to
people. This theory is also contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states that the audience is
passive. The gratification theory is not so people make use of the media for their specific needs.
There are many needs and gratification and they are categorised into five different sections being...
Cognitive needs.
Affective needs.
Personal integrative needs.
Social integrative needs.
Tension free needs.
An active audience suggests that they have their own opinions, and decisions to what the media
actually does for us. However an passive audience are like puppets/parrots. They respond to media
texts how the producers would want them to.
Moral panic: The Jimmy Savile revelations are causing a classic moral panic. From mods and rockers
to child protection, society is prone to scares and panics. These themselves can be damaging. This is
one of the headlines for the guardian newspaper on Friday 23rd November 2012. On this newspaper
article there is a picture which is showing mods invading the beach in Margate, Kent waving sticks
and throwing bottles at retreating rockers in 1968. The battles prompted a moral panic across
society. Moral panic is when the media discusses many different stories about an specific issue or
person which usually has been in the media for something previously for example (Jimmy Savile) The
way the writers/reporters have written or portrayed the text, has caused society to be and live in
fear which causes people to panic. The media are obviously experienced in what they do, so they
completely exaggerate the story to make the audience believe and panic over the situation. Moral
panics can often be broken into three specific elements, these being occurrence and signification,
wider social implications and social control.
October 24, 2014 [REPORT]

The occurrence and signification meaning, an event occurs then information is passed to the media
for them to exaggerate the story further. Then the wider social implications meaning, connections
are made between one event which widens the society as a whole. After an significant event has
taken place, the story is then extended through contributions of expert opinion makers. The public
attention is then 100% focused on these issues. Lastly, social control- moral panics seek some sort of
resolution. The government and parliament seem to always get involved due to the amount of
people being worried and concerned about the issue, this sometimes leads to a change of law/rules.
This is developed to almost warn the person/issue causing the moral panic that there is going to be
consequences to the threats or dangerous issues happening around the world. The negotiated
audience responses is where the audience of the media agree with some points made by the
producer but then question some of the elements and possibly change your opinion and others by
explaining things further. Preferred texts would mean that an audience is agreeing with what the
producer is saying. An example of preferred reading for the film 12 years of a slave. The clear
message that the producers is trying to convey is that praise the lord that slavery has been abolished
and its not a common thing anymore. There has been laws which have been enforced so slavery is
dealt with heavy consequences.
I'm going to now discuss the issues of representation; these could be anything ranging from gender,
sexuality, stereotypes, mental health and many more. A good example of representations is looking
at soap operas. These programmes like Eastenders, Emmerdale; they offer stereotypical
representations and sometimes controversial representations. In the programme Glee they use a
variety of people for example someone who has an disability, someone who is a homosexual,
different races, these are known as protected characteristics. The issues rose when discussing
representations of people can include the effect that specific narratives programmes have on the
audience/viewer. For example the closing credits after soap like Hollyoakes or Eastenders may offer
the audience a helpline relating to the issues raised in the soap. E.G, rape, homosexuality,
discrimination, bereavement.
Glee covers many characteristics for example Rachel as the geek the cheerleaders as the sluts and
many more. A good example of stereotypes would be the comedy drama The Breakfast Club a brief
synopsis- A group of 5 students who are all put in a Saturday detention. They all labelled with a
different stereotype; The geek, The athlete, The rebel, The emo and The prom queen. After being
forced to spend the day together they discover that in fact theyre not all that different after all. This
teaches the audience about why people shouldnt be sectioned into specific groups (stereotypes).