Analysis of a specific genre of TV Show

Fantasy

Typical examples of fantasy:

Game of Thrones
Once Upon a Time
The Vampire Diaries
Merlin
The Originals
Being Human
Teen Wolf
Shadowhunters
Supernatural
Smallville

The TV Show that I have chosen to analyse is Game of Thrones.

This show has originated from a book series by George R.R. Martin . Episodes are released once a week in a ten week programme, and starts from April and ends in June. There is only one season per year and has now been airing since 2011 at the time of 9:00 pm. Typically stories unfold throughout the series and often end in cliff-hangers rather then resolutions.

There are many appeals for the genre fantasy and reason why fantasy is a popular genre. According to Bulmer and Katz audience's have 4 particular needs that are fulfilled by viewing television. For example personal identity, which allows the reader to compare their own life with characters and situations portrayed and to explore individual problems and perspectives. This is a positive point in terms of the genre of fantasy due to many of the situations being unrealistic. need for escapism is also involved as it allows the viewer a form of escape from everyday pressures and is a source of entertainment. Fantasy is a important genre for this as a lot of the story lines are unrealistic and un-relatable meaning that viewers can switch of form the pressures of the day and enjoy the programmes. Social interaction is also a need that can be fulfilled when watching the fantasy genre. The reason for this is that , with a show such as Game of Thrones there are many different plot lines and cliff-hangers that can be later discussed with groups of friends or fans. From my personal experience this is true as I am big fan of the show and also a lot of my friends are to which allows us to communicate to each other about the programme. Game of Thrones follows the conventions of a typical fantasy genre. For example there are several opposing forces(some being no human eg. whitewalkers) that=at are fighting against eachother.  In terms of mise-en-scene the settings for Game of Thrones centre around natural places such as deserts and forests but also the occasional city and village. The costumes of the characters are, for the women, grand dresses specifically designed for
that character and there nature in the TV show. For the men it is the typical armour of that of a hero.
In GOT (Game of Thrones) the props and setting have a medieval theme, showing the audience that
this is not set in modern day society.The lighting also have significant impact in the shows as it is
always low key lighting when the more intense and serious scenes are being shown.

The target audience for GOT according to the 4C's model would be The Mainstream. The reason for this is that the show has became extremely popular over the years. But also The Struggler, the reason for the struggler would be because they are typically looking for escapism and due to GOT being a fantasy genre , this provides The Struggler with escapism. In terms of lifestyle categories GOT Apply to groupies. Groupies are those who want to be excepted by those around them. The show also appeals to a group category called Trendies. trendies are desperate to have admiration of a peer group
For a trendie to get this admiration they may watch the show and then confess to their peers about them watching the show, this could form a bond between the groups.

When deciding what type of audience profile would fit the fantasy genre it is hard when using the income statice model . For example the audience could range stage A which is upper middle class e.g doctors lawyers but can reange to the class E which is considered the level in which people are at lowest income and also students. This is unreliable as students could be training to become lawyers or doctors therefore makes the model void of categorising certain people. The on a whole however, is
targeted to viewers who are 18+ due to it containing nudity and gruesome violence.

It is clear from the begging of the opening sequence that the genre of this show is fantasy.nthe reason for this because the opening is a map of all the different locations within the show including the places 'Westeros' and '. The use of the medieval music also hints that this show will be full of drama due to the music being dramatic. The mixture between closeups and wide shot hints at the tension between the different places within the map of GOT

Within every season of GOT there are various different setting for each plot these can be a mixture between natural settings such as deserts, forests to village sand cities but are sometimes filmed in the studio. The settings are important for the characters as they symbolise the strengths and weaknesses of the characters. Places that GOT is known for filming in are Irelnad and Spain.

Technical codes that are typical used for the fantasy genre that are used in GOT would be the use of wide shots. These are normally used to establish a setting or situation, for example a battle. They also use close ups for more intense dialogue and scenes. In scenes  that are less intense the cuts between shots will tend to be slow at pace however, when they are more intense in terms of battle scenes or arguments the cuts between shots are fast paced. There is also a frequent use of non diegetic sounds for swords explosions and fire in order to enhance the sounds and portray them as being much more threatening and tamarin and non diegetic sound is also used in order to add sound that would not be there for example, the sound of dragons or a whitewalker.

Typical characters of a fantasy genre that appear in GOT are the misunderstood/underestimated men and women , the weak girls and the heroes including both unconventional being Brienne of Tarth and the conventional Jon Snow ,the cocky/arrogant leader, the mentor. And also the strong independent women leaders. All of these characters in the show add to the different plot and are all there in different ways to drive the narrative.

In terms of narrative there are plenty of Binary oppositions that apply in got for example Freedom vs Slavery in which Daenerys frees all of the slave. hero vs villain which applies to Jon Snow when he prepares to take on the white walkers.  The show however does not apply to Todorv as there are always cliffhangers to each season. Matters are  however resolved sometimes are attempted to be resolved.