Drama case study comparisons.
Lucifer-famous US episodic drama.
Summary: A Los Angeles set crime drama about the devil, as well as other supernatural and human characters, attempting to solve different crimes around the city, whilst also dealing with their own inter-personal conflicts.
Tv drama conventions and how they are followed:
Fits into the average drama length of 30+minutes per episode. Has both episodic plots focusing on different crimes (most often murder) and how they are solved, as well as grander stories which last through an entire season. The character’s relationships slowly progress from episode to episode, with most episodes having a conflict in one of these relationships to serve as a b story. These changes are usually commented on in the main characters therapy sessions which book-end most of the shows episodes. These are meant to serve to clearly explain character progression to the audience, with the intro showing a characters problem and the ending showing how through the episode the character changed and the problem was solved. Status quo changes are common either at the end of a season or at key points, either introducing new characters or revealing something new about a character we were not aware of, which is used to try and keep the show more fresh and interesting to try and stop it from becoming formulaic.
Uses and gratifications:
Diversions: The show frequently uses humour and absurdist situations to serve as both comic relief from the more serious moments, and to serve as a form of escapism for the viewer, entertaining them and letting them have fun through the show.
Personal identity: Despite mainly being completely separate from humanity, the characters in lucifer often face incredibly human and relatable struggles, such as struggling against family and trying to find a place in the world where you feel that you belong. By seeing how the different characters respond to these struggles, audience members who struggle with this can use the show to explore potential solutions to their problems, as well as inform how they feel about these intense and personal topics.
Surveillance: The show features a lot of up to date issues and culture from the time when it was made, and so can help people to understand and see what is going on in the world around them, as well as serving as a time capsule for the early 2010s period in which the show released.
Personal relationships: The shows relatable characters and their stories can make people feel personally attached to them, making it seem as though they have a sort of relationship. The choice of a mystery-focused overarching story can also promote discussion about the show and what is going to happen next, fostering relationships between the shows fans.
BBC3 original drama shorts-Anthology Drama show.
Summary: An anthology show which released short unrelated episodes which tell a variety of different stories with a wide range of tones, from the serious to the comedy-dramatic.
Tv drama conventions and how they are followed:
This series breaks the formula of the classic tv drama repeatedly, first by vastly condensing the episodes down to 15 minutes, making each episode need to have less filler and room to breathe for the entire plot to be delivered. This show keeps the idea of character focused plots with characters who change over the episode, but the anthology structure lets the characters be more tightly focused on one specific story, but also makes them more two dimensional, with less room to be deeply explored. The anthology structure means that there can be no room for a developing or constantly changing overarching plot, and so the plots are more tightly packed in its emotions, both of the comedic and dramatic, trying to leverage the same emotional impact in a viewer that a more traditional drama often does.
Uses and gratifications:
Diversions: Many of these dramatic shorts focus much more on their comedic elements and more outlandish premises, since they need to be just as memorable as other shows in a shorter amount of time, and so can be incredibly entertaining and escapist from the real world.
Personal identity: Since these shorts feature a lot more realistic characters in many real-world scenarios, the audience is more easily able to relate to them and look at their struggles through the lens of their own lives. This helps viewers use the shorts to safely explore their own identity, and come to a better understanding of themselves through the shorts.
Surveillance: In order to be more immediately dramatic and emotional, these shorts often drive their conflicts using modern day issues and problems, such as the internet and more widely known mental health issues. Using this, the audience can become more aware of the issues people face today, and how the world has recently changed.
Personal relationships: Although the anthology structure makes the show less likely to create a fan community, the show still uses its relatable and well explored characters to create a feeling of knowing the characters like people, and to ultimately make the viewers see themselves as having a more personal relationship with them.
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