Case study: TV Life on Mars

Life on Mars

Genre

Use of conventions in sci-fi and crime (characters, iconography, settings, narrative, etc) and how they are followed or subverted. Link to Neale's genre theory and how the text is a combination of familiar and different genre elements

The characters are conventions of the crime-genre as there's a detective, a side-kick, boss, villain (a.k.a. criminals), the storylines are influenced by these, with two partners who don't get along working their issues out over the course of the episode. The setting is urban, set in a big city like Manchester to enhance the narrative as there's a bigger scope for crimes. The narrative is overall influenced by sci-fi, as he apparently time-travels, and music and audio codes exemplify this. Nevertheless, the show belongs to a hybrid genre, given the narrative also contains typical crime storylines, Sam is concerned with catching criminals in his work as a detective.

Narrative

Structure: Does the episode follow Todorov's narrative stages?

Todorov's narratology theory claims the pattern of Equilibrium (2006: normal murder case)- Disruption (Maya's disappearance- car crash- 2006 to 1973) - Resolution. Life on Mars loosely complies with the theory as there's a disruption to the normality established at the beginning, once he gets into a car crash. There's no clear resolution however as the episode ends on a cliffhanger. 

Barthes' narrative codes: what enigmas remain unsolved by the end of the episode? Are any solved?

There are various enigmas presented in the episode. Only a few minor ones are resolved (crime) like whether Maya is dead and the first suspect's connection to the killer. Regarding as to whether he's actually time-travelled or he's imagining it there's unclarity; sci-fi influences the enigmas as there are bigger questions posed such as has he changed the future? how did he end up in the past? is it his imagination or is everything real?

Is the episode a restricted or unrestricted narrative?

It is unrestricted narrative as the audience is learning with the protagonist

Representations

How are genre, ethnicity, the police and wider society represented in both the 1970s and modern-day narratives of the episode?

Representations of gender are heavily contrasted with the characters of Annie and Maya. Annie isn't listened to at the start, and is the target of misogynistic jokes. She belongs to the "women's department" demonstrating the different status of people according to gender. Therefore, through the narrative, and the clothing (which sets her apart from the men) the inequality of women in the 1970s is established. Whilst Maya belongs to a more modern era, the fact she's placed as a side-kick and love interest to Sam suggests the status of women.
Representations of ethnicity are established through the character of Nelson. His change from a Jamaican to a British accent when speaking to Sam is underlying the status of minorities in the 1970s when race riots were occurring. It critiques a society who finds stereotypes comfortable.

The police are represented differently in the two eras presented. The more methodological forensic way of the modern-day police is contrasted with the dodgy, apathetic cops of the 1970s. This is aided by iconography like cigarettes, alcohol and gum in the scene that introduces Sam to the old police station, along with close-ups. It links to 1970s cop shows as the cops from the older time favour violent and corrupt, as the narrative codes demonstrate them destroying evidence.

The differences from wider society are evident from the representations of gender, ethnicity, police, etc. Nevertheless, iconography like iPods and cassettes, batches, Jeeps... establishes the 1970s and modern times as binary opposites.