Crime drama is very popular in the UK alone. This type of drama may be popular for many reasons, maybe because of the time of day they are shown (relating to my last post) or maybe people enjoy the contrast they rarely see in their day to day lives. Crime creates suspense and often follows a story, which may leave cliffhangers at the end of episode, encouraging viewers to tune in next week.
A particular theory is the gratification theory. In the 1960's, media theorists realised that people make choices about what they do when consuming texts and that drama left entertainment, surveillance, correlation and cultural transmission with society. Blulmer and Katz then went on to publish their theory in 1974 concluding that the individuals in society might choose and use texts for reasons such as; diversion, personal relationships viewers may have with the characters, personal identity, and surveillance. This is a good example of one of the reasons why people may watch crime drama.
People may watch crime drama to experience the adrenaline rush that the criminals get, or the police get, in a high speed chase without actually getting involved with crime. Usually crime drama is exaggerated to draw in more of an audience, and it does exactly that. Writers always try and make the few main characters, whether they are criminals or police members, very relatable , and even though the main character may be in the wrong, the viewer will still route for them as they get to know the character personally and therefore makes a 'relationship' with the viewer, and again encouraging them to tune into the next episode.
In conclusion, people may watch crime drama to experience the excitement of being involved with the police or being a police member without personally being in trouble. They may also see similarities between one of the characters, therefore making the viewer interested. Also a certain crime series may be on at a certain time of day which the viewer had adapted into their daily routine.
A good overview of reasons why audiences watch crime drama, with your own ideas considered thoughtfully. You introduce the 'uses and gratifications' theories: you could explain them a little further and develop your analysis by comparing the theory to your own ideas. Aim to refer to specific TV crime dramas and analyse which audience theories may apply to which TV crime dramas. Aim to be even more specific. Situate your specific examples in the *context* of TV drama genres and TV crime genres and sub-genres to show wider awareness of the range of crime drama both currently and in TV history. Ms Keenan.
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