Les Revenants and Industry

The BBFC in some ways regulates TV and officially doesn't

Forms of regulation:

• parental controls/PG lock
• watershed - a time when broadcasters agree to put on more 'spicy' things
• an advisory measure
• self-regulation
• any form of regulation is to prevent harm and offence to any audience

TV is regulated by OFCOM in the UK

• independent from the government
• funded through companies they represent
• e.g BT, Channel 4, Post
• protect people from scams
• set broadcasting rules to protect audiences
• you can complain to OFCOM through social media, email or their website
• OFCOM rules are highly subjective
• parents have to govern their children
• digital technology has left it effectively impossible to regulate television
• digitally convergent media
• Netherlands is a very different country, with different laws around regulations

Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt - Regulation and its effectiveness

• Mr Costa's suicide is the most harmful scene out of both shows
• references to euthanasia, suicide and depression in Black Mirror
• OFCOM will potentially investigate every complaint
• nobody would watch the shows if they were too extreme - self-regulation

To what extent have economic factors influenced these shows?

• cult TV
• Black Mirror is a science fiction
• Les Revenants is a horror
• cult tv is something that provokes a fervent response in an audience
• cult audiences have an almost religious response to media products
• speaks to and positions a niche or even marginalised audience
• uses hermeneutics to drive narratives, which keeps audiences asking questions (often to other audience members)
• uses complex narratives, that encourages watching and more importantly re-watching episodes to get the most out of it
• buffy - niche and unconventional and targets a hybrid audience
• targets an audience who feel like outcasts