Language:
1) His Dark Materials fits the genre of fantasy through the props and CGI used to create this fantasy effect. The talking daemons, and flying witches display this theme as it shows that the world Lyra is in, is nothing like reality.
2) Lyra's mum fits the character theory of the villain. Lyra is the hero as she is trying to find all the missing kids. Will would be the helper.
3) In His Dark Materials, some obvious enigma codes are seen at the end of the episode, when Lyra is told by the alethiometre that Will is a murderer, and the ending scene shows will sneaking around. This will leave questions and wanting to watch more from the audience as throughout the entirety of the episode, Will was presented as the friendlier and more approachable character compared to Lyra, and for the ending scene to reveal such an accusation will leave viewers intrigued to learn about the backstory of Will .
4) An example of binary opposition seen the episode, is Lyra helping man frozen at the water tap; she saw someone in need of help, and assisted him, whereas her mum, was torturing the witch to gather information on Lyra's whereabouts; she hurt someone for the benefit of her own.
Representations:
1) In this episode, women are displayed in a way which subverts the typical stereotypes of women in media. Lyra and her mum both assert dominance and independence in the episode; Lyra's mum is part of the magisterium, which is a type of government predominantly led by men, and Lyra was the leader in sense as to Will following her around, and listening to her ideas and suggestions without questioning her authority.
2) Men are subverted to their typical stereotypes as Will is seen following Lyra throughout the episode; taking her lead and trusting her leadership to help them get out of Citagaise.
3) Age is shown as a subversion as Will and Lyra are portrayed as intelligent and wise whilst searching their way through Citagaise, however teenages are usually portrayed as immature in serious situations and their only motive is to have fun.
4) Race is reinforced in this episode as the Magesterium only consists of white people; a place considered to fit those of high intelligence . Another reinforced stereotype is Will being revealed as a murderer at the end of the episode; one of the few black actors is shown as criminal/ someone to not be trusted.
5) This episode displays fictional world like scenarios and story lines; alternate universes and time travel including witches.
Audience:
1) I think his dark materials is aimed at viewers who enjoy sci-fi and fantasy as the story line, plot, props, and entire mise-en-scene fits that genre . Additionally, in terms of demographics, i believe it's also aimed at a younger audience because the protaganist's are adolescents.
2) Personal identity: those who feel out of place for enjoying fantasy like shows
Personal relationships: perhaps those who don't have a strong relationship with their mothers.
Diversion: to escape from the troubles they face in reality; watching the adventures of others from a fictional perspective may divert their worries that await for them in reality.
3) One of the audience pleasures that can be felt/seen through the audience is vicarious pleasure. This can be experienced when watching Lyra and Will chase down the only two other people they believe to be in cittagaise. This can create an exciting thrill as it reveals new characters and the chase can create suspense as the audience doesn't know what will happen next.
4) The critic review states the though the trailer is thrilling, it doesn't give the book enough credits, nor does it have enough magic to keep the younger viewers engaged. Older viewers who have already watched the first season will definitely be of interest in watching the second, however new viewers may not be frequent.
5) Some preferred readings may be for the audience to trust the process of the trailer and watch till the end of the series to gain the sastification and credit not given in the reviews. An oppositional reading may be that the trailer was highly dissapointing and didn't bother making it fit to appeal new viewers.
Industries:
1) Bad Wolf and New line productions produced the series.
2) There was a major drop in viewings in comparison to the first episode of series 1 and 2 with series 1 having 7.2 million in the Uk and 4.4 for series 2. On HBO, the viewings in comparison from series 1 to 2 dropped from 423,000 to 227,000.
3) HBO helped promote the series as they have over 40 million subscribers.
4) Bella thorne, know for her famous role in game of thrones, is seen in the show, and this has been done to show the shows progression and important stroyline requires good actors.
5) Bad Wolf is a TV drama production company based in Wales who are an independent company who network with larger broadcasters such as HBO, BBC, and Sky.
Comparison:
1) In comparison to Doctor Who, and his dark materials, both created in such different timelines, there are many visible diffrences in the making of both shows with Doctor Who being quite a cheap and oldly filmed because of its time period, whereas in his dark materials, the props and camerwork show the money put into it and both reflect its time periods.
2) In terms of genre, both are similar in the sense that there are 2 protaganists in discovery of new sci-fi adaptions but the difference is that Lyra and Will are aware of the fantasy around them, Ian and Barbra aren't.
3) Representations / stereotypes are different as in doctor who, Barbra is dismissed because of her gender; she is made out to lack knowledge and understanding of the sci-fi, whereas Lyra is hown to be more of knowledge and dominance than Will.
