His Dark Materials: Audience and Industries blog tasks

1) Read this audience rating guide for His Dark Materials. Based on the screening and this article, who do you think the target audience is for His Dark Materials and why? What about psychographic groups? You can revise Psychographics here.

I believe his dark materials is aimed middle-class teenagers of any race or gender given the inclusion of multi-racial characters and an equal balance of male and female characters, the protagonists being teenagers is what also leads me to believe that the show is aimed at them because they'd find their ages something that they can relate to. What psychographics might be interested are adventurous personalities who seek out interesting ideas and answers.

2) What audience pleasures are offered by His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies? Apply Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory to the episode. Make sure you provide specific examples from the episode to support your ideas.

Personal Identity: Devoted fans of the fantasy genre would enjoy His Dark Materials as it includes conventional aspects of fantasy TV, through the daemons, the witches, the tear in the sky, etc. This also applies for fans of the steampunk genre, through the hot air balloons and other pieces of technology. Young, teenage girls might also find pleasure in relating to Lyra, as would teenage boys, or people who are from Oxford, in relating to Will. Moreover, children or young people in general would enjoy the show's focus on young people. 

Personal Relationships: Audiences could form parasocial relationships with any of the characters of the show, although it's more likely these relationships would be formed with the protagonists rather than the villains. The most prominent example where audiences are positioned to form relationships with the protagonists is the scene where Will asks Lyra to team up, developing the narrative and making the audience feel like a part of the group. Furthermore, fans of the actors behind any of the characters are likely to watch the show simply based on the fact that their favourite actor is in it. 

Diversion (Escapism): Audiences can find diversion in essentially all aspects of the show, however, the most obvious example of this is in the large establishing or over-the-shoulder shots used to show the fantasy settings, such as when the "city in the sky" is shown. 

3) Thinking of the 3 Vs audience pleasures (Visceral, Vicarious and Voyeuristic pleasures), which of these can be applied to His Dark Materials? Refer to specific scenes or moments in the episode to explain your answer. 

4) How did fans react to Season 2 of His Dark Materials? What about critic reviews? You can find some possible answers for this in this BBC website article on the critical reception for His Dark Materials and watch the fan reaction video above.

5) What might be some of the preferred and oppositional readings for His Dark Materials? Why did some fans love it? Why have other people criticised it? 

Industries

1) Which companies produced this His Dark Materials series?  HBO AND BBC

2) What were the UK viewing figures for A City of Magpies? How did this compare to season 1 of His Dark Materials?

The first episode of the first series of His Dark Materials series was watched by audiences of 7.2 million in the UK and 423,000 on HBO. The first broadcasts of the CSP episode had audiences of 4.4 million on BBC1 and 227,000 on HBO. This was a significant drop in viewership and displayed the series' decline in popularity.

3) What was American network HBO's role in making His Dark Materials and why is this important? Look at the notes above for more on this.

4) What famous stars are in His Dark Materials and why do you think they were selected for the show? Watch the Comic Con panel video in the notes above to see the stars talking about the show.

5) Who are Bad Wolf and what do they produce?

Comparison: Doctor Who - An Unearthly Child and His Dark Materials - The City of Magpies

1) How are the technical conventions different between 1963 Doctor Who and 2020 His Dark Materials (e.g. camerawork, editing, sound and mise-en-scene)?

2) What similarities and differences are there between Doctor Who and His Dark Materials in terms of genre and narrative?

3) How are representations of people, places and groups similar or different in the two shows?