In my previous post I discussed what postmodernism is and how we can recognise a postmodern text. In this post I am going to discuss how those features are used in my chosen essay tv show-Masters of Sex.
I wanted to look at how the TV show uses hyper reality effectively in the costume designs - allowing the audience to still feel like they are watching of the 50's era yet the show ever so slightly emphasises the costumes to create a new, fresh change.
Looking at the video below; Masters of Sex Season 2: Behind the Scenes - Dressing the Part
I found that the costume designer decided to concentrate on the 50s style, however create a hyper real version of the clothes to make them more stylish and fit the characters personalities.
She says ''The colour palette of real 50's clothes were chrome, red, yellow and blue. But that's not the tone of the show'' ''We've created this palette which is very much insular to this world, that may not have existed in the 50's, but I think it's sort of hyper reality''
I like the idea that the costume designer has kept true to the 50s style as if she didn't, what would be the point in the period drama style? However, she has emphasised the style of the 50's and slightly modernised it to fit with the tone and style of the show.
This leads me onto my next focus, nostalgia in the TV show.
Although the 50's fashion is slightly emphasised, I still believe that the older audience will be able to feel nostalgic on the 50's and the late 50's, especially because the
The TV show also uses a hybrid of genres - which is a cross between a variety of genres in a film to make it appeal to a wider audience instead of having a defined genre, only appealing to a niche audience. Masters of Sex discusses the science of sex throughout the programme which could be seen as science fiction - however it's not fiction. The main genres which are used are drama and romance. We see a continuous romance growing between Masters and Johnson which will entice a large audience as romantic TV shows are highly popular. The second genre which is featured throughout is drama - the show touches on very sensitive topics and cultural issues throughout such as the fact one of the characters is homosexual. Throughout the first season we see him struggle to come to terms with the fact he's gay and even try to find a 'cure' as during the 50's being homosexual was looked on as being a 'disease' and embarrassing. The show has done well to keep to the truth of what it was like back then for homosexuals, and the audience may feel a lack of nostalgia to this part of the show as for some people it was a really hard and distressing time dealing with being gay. A sensitive topic the show deals with is the idea that Doctor Masters was abused by his father as a child which further creates a more emotional and dramatic piece of tv. Another major cultural issue the show deals with is sexism and women being taken seriously. A female character in the programme is battling advanced cancer whilst trying to have raise awareness of pap smears and the importance of them, however as she's a female doctor people aren't taking her seriously, ignoring what she has to say. This subject brings up the fact that the show also uses ironic playfulness in parts of the show - for example us as an audience know that the doctor is right about the pap smears and should be taken seriously - although this isn't humorous it's ironic as the audience know that she is right and will feel more involved in the show.
The show also uses a postmodern term called temporal distortion. This is a technique that uses a non linear timeline, the author jumps back/forwards in time. We see an example of this in the first season when randomly we see Doctor Masters back when he is a young doctor talking to his boss, he suddenly is less confident and nervous. At first we as an audience are confused about what's happening but then soon click and realised we're back in time.
Below, I looked into a 'behind the scenes' video of how the hair and makeup transformation is done in the show. I really like how they have stayed true to the 50's hairstyles and created a look which was 'typical' back in the 50's with curly short hair which is extremely neat and styled. I like how in the video they talk about how the character doesn't have tattoo's so they have covered up the actress' tattoo's with foundation to stay true to the fact that as a high maintanance women, Libby (character) doesn't have tattoo's.
Below, I looked into a 'behind the scenes' video of how the hair and makeup transformation is done in the show. I really like how they have stayed true to the 50's hairstyles and created a look which was 'typical' back in the 50's with curly short hair which is extremely neat and styled. I like how in the video they talk about how the character doesn't have tattoo's so they have covered up the actress' tattoo's with foundation to stay true to the fact that as a high maintanance women, Libby (character) doesn't have tattoo's.
Sources:
http://www.longislandpress.com/2014/07/19/showtimes-masters-of-sex-adapted-from-newsday-reporters-book/
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2014/sep/30/masters-of-sexs-second-season-is-uneven-but-enthralling
No comments:
Post a Comment