peaky blinders

PEAKY BLINDERS

How has your chosen Media text attracted its audience? How has an audience responded to your chosen media text? The first thing you must define is context and audience.

Context/Intro Set in Birmingham in 1919, Steven Knights Peaky Blinders is a crime drama which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang.

Placement/Target audience. Peaky Blinders was aired on BBC Two. BBC Two's remit historically was screening programmes targeting the arts, culture, drama and some comedy. Texts should be appealing to audiences not already served by BBC1 or ITV. Over its first thirty or so years the channel developed a reputation for screening highly praised and prestigious “High Brow” drama series.

This successful placement has helped attract its intended target audience.

A highbrow text is intellectually and culturally rich. Peaky Blinders has elements of a highbrow text but also contains various mainstream conventions. Incidentally a criticism of BBC 2.

Peaky Blinders has been complemented for its high production value and cinematography. A gratification of an active audience.

Boardwalk Empire VS Peaky Blinders?

Boardwalk Empire VS Peaky Blinders?

A negotiated audience enjoyed the text but thought it lacked originality and often seemed to mirror some of the key narrative themes of Board Walk Empire, a American text set in the same era. The text was also accused of sacrificing its artistic merit and realism for mainstream convention. Others thought its failure to meet the heights of Boardwalk were down to budget.

The points of comparison between Peaky Blinders and HBO's Boardwalk Empire are conspicuous. Both are set immediately after the first world war in a gangland in which the future is up for grabs; and both feature a returning soldier shattered and embittered by his war experiences. "Tommy is one of those men who came back from this war horrifically damaged, who were spat back into society without any counselling," says Murphy. "And, of course, a lot of them brought their weapons home with them. There were a lot of guns around at the time. Tommy has a huge disdain for authority

In the end, Peaky Blinders flattered to deceive. Ultimately, it only served to prove that, when it comes to truly great shows, British TV still can’t match American television. Partly, this is down to scope and budget.

Audience Response

A oppositional response to the text was that it was all style no substance. Again some critics put this down to budget. Most highbrow TV series have 12 episodes per season. With Peaky Blinders only including 6, Jim Shelly, the Daily Mail critic, felt the series was rushed with characters and plots often under developed and lacking complexity.

Audience Response – Underdeveloped?

One way Peaky Blinders attracted an audience and thus gained a positive audience response was via breaking the stereotypical representation of regional identity, in this case the Brummie.

Attracting an audience. Audience response.

A study was conducted in 2008 where people were asked to grade the intelligence of a person based on their accent and the Brummie accent was ranked as the least intelligent accent.

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Cillian Murphy

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Cillian Murphy

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Cillian Murphy - Tommy Shelby

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Sam Neil

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Sam Neil Sam Neil -C.I. Chester Campbell

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Helen McCroy

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Helen McCroy

Attracting an audience – The use of the film star

Helen McCroy – Aunt Polly