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Television in the Global Age

Genre and the television crime drama

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 3

Overview

Genre in television, steve Neale and why a completely repetitive crime drama would fail commercially.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Explain why a completely repetitive crime drama would fail commercially.

Key term

Name four iconographic elements a viewer expects to recognise in a television crime drama.

Key term

Define the term repertoire of elements.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What is meant by genre in television?

    Model answer

    Genre is the classification of media products into recognisable types by their shared codes, conventions and expectations. It gives producers a template to work from and gives audiences a way of predicting what they will get.

  2. 2

    Name four iconographic elements a viewer expects to recognise in a television crime drama.

    Model answer

    Typical iconography includes the warrant card or police badge, the incident room with its evidence board, crime scene tape and forensic suits, and the mortuary or autopsy table.

  3. 3

    What does Steve Neale mean by describing genres as marked by repetition and difference?

    Model answer

    Neale argues that a genre is not a fixed list of rules but an ongoing process that repeats familiar elements while also varying and changing them. Every new product both confirms the genre and shifts it slightly.

  4. 4

    Explain why a completely repetitive crime drama would fail commercially.

    Model answer

    Audiences take pleasure in recognising conventions, but total predictability removes suspense and gives no reason to watch a new series rather than an old one. Producers need variation to make their product stand out in a crowded market.

  5. 5

    Define the term repertoire of elements.

    Model answer

    A repertoire of elements is the pool of settings, characters, narrative situations, iconography and stylistic devices that a genre draws on, from which any single product selects a particular combination.

  6. 6

    What is genre hybridity?

    Model answer

    Genre hybridity is the blending of the conventions of two or more genres within one product, such as a crime drama that also functions as a family melodrama or a political thriller.

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