Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts.

Discuss the audience appeal of your three main texts.

Lost is produced by a popular American production company called ABC. Lost is a mainstream text targeted to a very broad audience due to the ensemble cast used for the text. Throughout the text we see a range of different characters of different ages, gender, ethnicity and backgrounds. Lost aimed to be the first text to appeal to such a large target audience through the use of different characters so it gave everyone someone to relate to. Focusing on part 2 of the pilot, we are introduced to the three main characters, Jack, Kate and Charlie. Each character is different and we get to know more about their past just in this one episode. In the first few scenes of this episode we are given a flashback from Charlie whilst he was on the plane. We come to understand that Jack is quite a shady character as in the sequence on the plane there are close ups of his hands tapping on the arm of the chair signalising his distress, the close up helps to emphasises this. He then locks hisself in the bathroom just as the plane begins to crash. We see more close ups of his face and hands as he fumbles with a small packet of what seems to be some form of drugs. The close ups highlight this and makes the audience wonder why he's addicted to drugs, this then creates an enigma code no leaves the audience wondering why. The cuts are very fast pasted in the sequence which again emphasises his distress. JJ Abrams, the director of the show, is best know for his work on the Star Trek films and is also said to be directing the new Star Wars movie. When directing this episode he has thought carefully about setting up certain enigmas to keep the audience hooked and waiting to find out more. This show was first aired in America where commercials happen about every 10 minutes and Abrams always left an enigma at the end of each section before an commercial break so they would return to find out more. An example of this is the character of Walt,  who is a young boy around 13, is searching for his dog in the forest when he comes across a pair of handcuffs. The camera lingers on Walt as he stares at the handcuffs and the camera gradually get closer to Walt. The score is a very high pitched trailing sound which builds tension as the audience don't yet know what Walt is starring at. The shot then switches to the handcuffs and moves closer as if we are seeing them from Walt's perspective. The enigmas code is solved quickly within this episode as the audience receive a flashback from Kate, who we label as the heroine at first as she is relatable to Lara Croft in appearance and actions, she's wearing little clothing and had the long brown hair like Lara Croft, and we see her on the plane wearing the handcuff which then creates another enigma for the audience to consider; why is she wearing them? 

Mad Men is another American TV show produced by AMC. AMC are also know for produced Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead. AMC stands for American Movie Classics as it originally aired only movies. AMC is a niche channel as its a subscription channel and by the year of 2013 is had nearly 97,700,000 subscribers. Mad Men was the first TV show they produced and aired in 2007 and is still on going. This programme is aimed at a niche target audience and is in need of active audience members as this text isn't as generous in giving the entire selection of information. Considering that Mad Men is the first series produced by AMC, it has proved to be successful and popular as it is the only TV Drama to consecutively win an Emmy Award. Throughout the narrative the audience are faced with many different character roles representing the 1960s. During the episode in series 5 called 'The Other Women' there are many different issues that are addressed relating mainly to the women. Don Draper who is the protagonist, is a highly successful businessman working in New York. In the process of this show Megan, who is Don's wife, explains how she wants to advance her acting career. Don does t deal with this well as he believes it is Megan's job to stay at home and wait for him to come home. The second wave of feminism has just begun in the early 1960s and women were fighting for gender equality. This is apparent through this episode. Another character whose see is a victim of gender equality is Joan. Joan is seen as the ideal women representing Marylin Monroe with her looks and figure. Joan is taken advantage of because of her looks and is asked to sleep with someone in order to help the company with a job deal. Peggy is another female character of the narrative who is Don secretary. Peggy is constantly pushed around by Don in this episode and at the end she confesses to Don that she is leaving his company to work with a rival. In the final scene when Peggy tells Don we see Don sat on the couch with Peggy stood over him. This shows the shift in roles as Peggy is seen to be more powerful than Don by towering over him. This shows a development of Peggy's character and can make her relatable for the audience as she is representing women and looking after herself and going after what she wants. We see a progression in the feminism element of the text. This appeals to its audience as it gives an insight to life in the 1960s and the struggles faced by women. It allows women to relate to Peggy, Joan and Megan as they are strong independent women.