LO2 Task 3 Script

Introduction:

Hi and welcome to the next episode of education wise I'm going to be talking to you about the audience of the film 'The Simpsons Movie', as discussed by Len Ang, she said that media producers imagine an audience or entity before actually making the product and that these imaginations are getting more diverse as do the audiences. John Hartley says that "Institutions are obliged not only to speak about an audience, but crucially, for them to talk to one as well; they need not only to represent audiences but to enter into relation with them" which means that they need to understand their audience so that they can effectively target them to make a great product for them. The target audience for The Simpsons Movie are the majority male and the median age of 18 because it may be a cartoon but it does feature some adult humour that kids may not notice but teenagers do, they also may fit into the National Readerships Survey Life style class C and fit into the ABC1 class of C1 to D.

Gender:

The gender of the target audience is mainly male but also a little bit female and the reason is because of a few scenes and characters in The Simpsons Film. Homer is the main protagonist in the film; he makes the mistakes in the film and is shown to be quite selfish but his character soon changes because of the problems in the film. Men may relate to him as the humorous side of men as Homer is quite immature in the film. Then there is the serious side of men represented by the antagonist president of EPA who is trying to destroy Springfield because of environmental reasons and so is trying to be responsible which all men try and do at one age. Bart is another male and he represents the younger male audience of the film and how they may see him as a role model, but not a good one, he takes lots risks and tries to annoy Homer. Then there are the female characters that, unlike the male protagonists, are the mature ones and are seen as quite smarter than the males. Marge is the house wife in the Simpsons Movie and TV series and so takes care of the family; this means that she has quite a lot of responsibility as do actual house wife's and if families will see this there's mostly going to be actual housewife's who see it and so they would definitely relate to Marge. Finally, Lisa is the 2nd youngest of the family but also the smartest, she resembles a young female who watches the film as she is the one that would most likely want to make her parents proud as does Lisa and like in the actual TV series and film she looks up to the mother as a role model.

Age:

Next is age and the median age I said was 18 and I say this because of the adult humour in the film, but that isn't to say that it can be for the younger audience. The first example is the oldest person in the film is the old wise lady and she teaches Homer to realise that everything isn't about him and that he should be considerate of other people and so is perfectly represented as a wise lady as it shows that she has become experienced in her life. Next, is Homer and Marge's age which is around 40 years old and this would relate to the parents watching the film with their kids as they are the ones who could afford the ticket or by the DVD. Next is Bart whose 10 years old and he isn't very mature or responsible, he is more childish than his younger sister, and represents the most juvenile kid in the family and is more likely to be a brat. Then there is Lisa who is 8 year old and she is the smartest in the family, because she's one of the youngest she tries to impress her parents as she is most likely not being noticed especially when Bart is causing trouble and being noticed all the time. Bart and Lisa are both examples of an ideal self for the audience they represent as young boys would want to be like Bart and knowing how to skateboard like a professional, and be like Lisa and be intelligent and know a lot of things, his can lead to a young girl wanting to be intelligent, which leads to getting a good job and lifestyle.

Life Style:

NRS is the National Readership Survey and they provide estimations of the number of people who interact with media like TV, radio, Newspapers and Movies. The NRS life's style rating of the Simpsons Movie is C which means that they are classed as Settled Suburban, meaning that they are family people who have decent jobs, such as plumbing and services like Police and fire fighters. This can relate to the films protagonists as they're a family, the first example of this is Homer as he has the job of being a nuclear safety officer which he earns about $20,000 a year with, this is a bit low for someone his age which is more of a 20 year old's salary. Unlike Homer, Marge is a housewife and so is unemployed which makes her classified as a 'Have-not' because she has no job and may not even have any qualifications. Both Lisa and Bart are kids and so are classified as have-nots as both of them are still in education and still have a few years before they have qualifications. This could obviously relate to the target audience of the film, who are kids the around the same age of the Lisa and Bart, and the kids may also relate to the characters as they are into the same things as them, stereotypically, the male kids will be interested in sports, hanging out with friends and video games, just as Bart is too whilst maybe the girls are into dolls and also hanging out with friends, and Lisa is also represented as a mature figure which the girls in the audience may want to look up to. In 1972 Denis McQuail said "There are four reasons that people consume media products or pleasures they gain from them" firstly the media has surveillance which lets you learn something new especially on the news for example. Next is escapism and this is when a film is submersing, which immerses you into the diegesis and if it's done well then it will get you wanting more of the product, you may keep being submerged in the film and also TV show as it's an animation and will most likely always have something happening and so you always entertained and always interested. Then there is the building of personal identity which is when the audience relates to the location and characters or actors, it could be that you relate to the characters because it’s your 'ideal self' as explained by Carl Rodgers, which means that it’s what you imagine our self as and sometimes what your ideal partner is. Finally, the building of personal relationships outside the diegesis, this is when the film gets people bonding and talking because they're talking about the films lore and scenes. The film was released with a lot of merchandise, for example electronic plushies of the main characters and these were sold at around £20 at the time and this isn't cheap, but it also isn't really expensive either. It's an average of £23,000 salary in their class C jobs; this means the merchandise is a bit below their spending power, which they earn about £7 an hour, meaning they get about £56 pound per shift, so they can afford it.

Spending Power:

Spending power is the money left after all the debs and necessities have been paid. The NRS social grade or ABC1 for the audience of The Simpsons Movie is most likely C1 and ranges to D, C1 is lower middle class, C2 skilled working class and D is working class. All of these classes spending power could easily or barely pay for the cinema ticket, a genuine ticket for the film when it first came out was about £5 so its hardily going to be expensive as these class of people would have some spending power around £20-30. With the extra spending power, they have they can also use it on pleasures like video game related things and day trips out, these are usually the things Americans would stereotypically do as America is full of places families can go, like zoos, amusement parks and cinemas. There's also the case that the target audience, which again is children aged around 8 to early teens, and going back to what they would typically do, which is related to what the characters Bart and Lisa do in the film, the male children would most likely be into sports, hanging out with friends and video games this could go for both teen males and younger male kids, whilst the female children would probably be into playing with dolls and also hanging out with their friends, whilst teen girls will more likely be buying make-up, clothes and accessories. So in the male and female case, hanging out with friends would typically cost about at most £10, this is for like buying food and drinks, and if they're going to the cinema it may even cost at most £20, this can be easily afforded, if this is on maybe a weekly basis as they could save up money over the week, if they get pocket money. In the male case, lets say for sports they do skateboarding, which Bart does. Getting a skateboard is around £20 pound, for one that is mass produced and sold at a local sports shop, but for a more professional one it would cost at the very least £40, and seen as they are quite young and only doing this for fun they may go for a the cheaper option, but as they become a teenager they may want to get the more professional one, this may be harder to afford with the spending power they have, as they will be most likely using their parents spending power, unless they have a job.Video games on the other hand, when brand new they cost around £40, this could easily be afforded with their spending power if they save up for a while. In the female case, a female in her early teens, may buy clothes, make-up and accessories to keep up with current trends, this isn't the kind of character Lisa is represented as, but it is a stereotype in the real world, which Lisa may take up when she is in her early teens as she is only eight years old. This would cost about £20-30 a month, if they do buy these monthly, and that is affordable with the spending power.  

Okay this was Taighlor McNally and this was about the audiences of films and how they can differ between different films, I will see you in the next episode, bye!