San Junipero - flashcards

Context

Context

• Science fiction anthology TV show

• Created by Charlie Brooker and Annabelle Jones

• First two seasons aired in UK on Channel 4 in December 2011 - moved to streaming platform Netflix for seasons three, four, and five

• Speculative fiction or dystopian sci-fi

• Charlie Brooker - showrunner for all five seasons - journalist and comedy writer

• Main theme of Black Mirror - effect of technology on human bodiesa and consciousness

• FIrst two seasons were bleaker than NEtflix produced seasons

• San Junipero won an Emmy in 2012 - “Outstanding TV Movie” + “Outstanding Writing” in 2016

Media Language

• Anthology TV show - each episode has a different cast, setting and plot - show can be watched in any order - each episode is a stand alone narrative

• San Junipero classified as sci-fi romance but also as a period piece - much of the action takes place in 80’s + 90’s - elements of 80’s teen movies like Pretty in Pink - older audiences would enjoy the plot and nostalgia for different time periods

• More emotional and optimistic time compared to other BM episodes - deliberate decision by Brooker - counter criticism that show has become ‘Americanised’ after move to Netflix

• Focus on same-sex couple - could put episode in LGBTQ+ ‘coming-of-age’ genre - critics praised episode for avoiding tragic ending that is conventional for same-sex romance narratives

Intertextuality

• 80’s + 90’s settings contain wealth of intertextual references to American culture from period - Kill’s costume in 1987 segment inspired by ‘Control’-era Janet Jackson

• Music used in nightclub Tuckers evokes historical period + underscored central romance (Heart and Soul by T’Pau) + main concept of existing in a computer generated virtual reality (Living in a Box)

• Different movies playing at San Junipero cinema are period-specific + link to themes of narrative - e.g., The Lost Boys tagline “Sleep all day! Party all night! Never grow old! Never die!”

• Shots of ‘vintage’ technology like Pac-Man and Top Speed arcade games and different models of TV sets - help to establish sense of time and place - offer suggestions that perhaps this environment is an escape from the ‘real world’

Narratology - Todorov

• Equilibrium: first scene shows Yorkie going to nightclub - ‘twist’ is that this is an artificial virtual reality, ‘normal life’ of the character is lying in hospital, paralysed after a car accident. Equilibrium can also be the ‘reveal’

• Disruption: for characters this is their meeting in the first scene followed by ‘losing’ each other in different time periods. For the audience, disruption could be the revelation that San Junipero is not a real place at all

• Enigma codes - ‘will-they-won’t-they?’ narrative of conventional romance + questions raised by apparent time-travelling element from sci-i and how it is possible

Technical Codes

• Dialogue:

  • Authentic + compelling tone to dialogue between Yorkie and Kelly - flirtatious and wary

  • When ‘real world’ is revealed, notable absence of ‘tech-heavy’ terminology that would be usual for science fiction genre - keeps emphasis on emotional core of narrative

• Music:

  • Music used in each time period established period and underscores emotional and thematic content

Consider how genre conventions are socially and historically relative, dynamic, and can be used in a hybrid way

• Same-sex romance reflect changes to the social norms that have been taken place in the late 20th and 21st centuries

• Romance has a happy ending - departure from films and TV featuring LGBTQ+ characters - often characters are ‘punished’ for their sexuality with a tragic finale

Genre - Steve Neale

• Through genres may be seen as being limited by familiar tropes, they are also marked by difference, variation, and change

• Science fiction and romance have a recognisable conventions that produce audience pleasures

• From narrative ingredients like use of advanced technology and virtual reality (sci-fi genre) to the ‘feel-good’ response created by watching two characters fall in love despite significant obstacles (romance)

• However, Neale would also say they also need to display something original to set them apart from other examples

• Evolution is essential to sustain a genre - San Junipero does this by introducing elements that could be seen as nostalgic (associated with period dramas set in a recent history) and making the romance a same-sex love affair (distinguishing it from other heteronormative sci-fi love stories like The Tie Traveller’s Wife)

Consider how representations may invoke discourses and ideologies and position audiences

• Brooker said the first draft of the script had a heterosexual romance at its centre - decided to change this to a same-sex relationship as a comment on the acceptability of LGBTQ+ relationships (including gay marriage) in the 80s and 90s

• Episode warmly received by LGBTQ+ community - sexuality of characters not portrayed as problematic - love between Yorkie and Kelly has numerous obstacles - sexuality is not one of them

• Relationship is between two elderly women also challenges stereotypes of this age group

• Both characters do physically die by the end - spiritually they remain together for eternity - (driving into a literal sunset - reference to Thelma and Louise) - subverts common portrayal of LGBTQ+ relationships as doomed or tragic

Representations of gender and sexuality

• Brooker has said he deliberately wanted to create more female and non-heteronormative characters in BM after realising the first season focussed on straight male protagonists

• “powerfully resonant” that same-sex relationships would have been condemned in 1987 + some other time periods

  • Context of Donald Trump winning US presidential election - right wing politician - vocally condemns liberal and progressive ideas, especially ideas regarding gender and sexuality - appointment was widely feared by members of LGBTQ+ communities

• Inter-racial relationship between two elderly women - one is physically disabled - challenges more stereotypical representations of these social groups

• Double Emmy and BAFTA wins - welcomed as cultural shift towards more positive attitudes towards same-sex relationships

• Portrayal of more extreme alternative sexualities - Quagmire fetish club - less positive - representing characters as ‘lost souls’

Feminist Theory - bell hooks

• Patriarchal power as a major problem in society - victimises both women and men - forces them into stereotypical roles - punish them if they do not conform to roles

• San Junipero challenges view by portraying a ‘heaven on Earth’ - female LGBTQ+ characters are free to interact, flirt, have sex, and fall in love without disapproval or persecution of patriarchal society

Gender Performativity - Judith Butler

• Gender is not fixed, biologically determined characteristic - rather a fluid social construct - people ‘perform’ a gender role composed of clothes, hair/make-up, posture, and other behaviours

• ‘Anything is possible’ in the virtual environment - both main characters choose to remain female

Identity Theory - David Gauntlett

• Audiences actively borrow from media texts to help construct their identity - “a narrative self” - not stable, they are fluid, depsnding on the media text and characters being consumed

• Long form multi-protagonist dramas offer audienes a range of different characters for audiences to identify with - BM departs from this - each episode is self-contained, usually focusing on one or two main characters

• San Junipero widely acclaimed by critics and by the LGBTQ+ community for showing a healthy, optimistic portrayal of a same-sex relationship - resutl has had a very positive effect on queer viewers sexual identity

• Kelly’s shift from heterosexual marriage (and motherhood) to LGBTQ+ relationship with Yorkie also suggests a fluid nature to sexuality

Consider the processes of production, distribution, and circulation by organisations, groups, and individuals in a global context

• BM was created by Charlie Brooker and producer Annabelle Jones - first season produced by Zeppotron (division of Dutch media company Endemol Shine) for Channel 4

• Brooker was inspired by intimate relationships with digital technology - wanted to explore what extrapolation of these relationships might mean for the individual and society

• After two seasons BM became a co-production with a US institution

• 2014 - Netflix bought exclusive US distribution rights - later won a bidding war to produce show - initially to be co-production with Channel 4 - issues regarding budget and creative freedom - Brooker and Jones opted to work exclusively with Netflix

• 2015 - streaming channel commissioned 12 new episodes - would become seasons 3 and 4

• Global reach of Netflix - BM available in 80 territories by 2016

• 2020 - Brooker and Jones formed Broke and Bones production company to continue making BM for distribution by Netflix

Consider the significance of economic factors to media industries and their products

• After first 2 season Channel 4 cited budgetary restraints as a reason for delaying commissioning of a third season - search for co-production partner led to a bidding war in the USA - Netflix won by committing to producing another 10 episodes

• Lucy Pyke - producer for NEtflix - said move would ensure BM would be “bigger and better” - more international than first two season (based in UK)

Cultural Industries - Hesmondhalgh

• Radical potential of internet has been limited by domination of large cultural institutions - increasingly indivisible for technology giants like Google, Apple, and Amazon