Avengers Characters

The Representation of Characters in The Avengers

Mrs Peel Representation:

• Costume: Emma Peel is usually seen wearing a skin-tight latex suit.
• Settings: Emma Peel is often seen in her apartment which is highly modern and contains very expensive decorations.
• Props: Emma Peel can be seen fencing quite often.
• Actions: Emma Peel would quite often flirt with her partner, John Steed.
• Dialogue: Speaks with a posh accent to prove she is of the upperclass.
• Stereotypes: Is quite often sexualised as a woman, but is in no way shown to be weak as she can beat others in a fight, however she does sometimes become damsel in distress as requires John Steed to come to her rescue.

Mr Steed Representation:

• Costume: John Steed is often seen wearing a suit and a bowler hat.
• Settings: John Steed is often found in places where the action is high, or a pace usually allocated to those oh a high class.
• Props: John Steed is seen carrying an umbrella quite often.
• Actions: John Steed is often seen flirting with Emma Peel. He is also quite good at hand to hand combat and will often be seen fighting.
• Dialogue: Speaks with a high-class accent.
• Stereotypes: Is an excellent combatant and can win in a fight against anyone, he will often come to the rescue of people such as Emma Peel.

1960's Stereotypes:

• Nationalities: At the time of filming majority of England would've been White British, and so the actors were White British so that way the audience could've identified further with the characters.
• Gender: Most of the lead roles were played by males, and females were minor side character apart from the aide of Steed.
• Job Roles: Females were always seen performing jobs which would've been considered womanly, so many females would've been teachers or nurses. Men would've been seen playing roles which required a lot of strength like soldiers or blacksmiths.
• Places: Seaside towns would often be the setting of episodes as they were associated with Britain.

How was media language used to show the social context of the 1960's?

How was Media Language used to show the social context of the 1960's?:

Consider:
Camera-work, Mise-En-Scene, Editing, Sound

Answer:

Many media devices are used thoroughly throughout The Avengers TV programme in an attempt to show that the programme was set in the 1960's. It does this by utilising many different devices such as mies-en-scene. One such instance is when Mr Steed wants to enter Mrs Peel's apartment and instead of using a small peep-hole to look out into the hallway Mrs Peel uses a large eye which is plastered in make-up which would've been a popular style at the time, showing that it's connected to the time period. Mrs Peel is also seen to wear a skintight leather catsuit which can be linked to the sexual expression of the times the contraceptive pill would've been newly released and women were then free to be as promiscuous as they wanted without having to risk pregnancy, and so Mrs Peel was the embodiment of that as she was being sexy and promiscuous.

Another media device used in The Avengers is the way that Camerawork was used. The camera shots used are to show that Steed in the more powerful out of the two agents as he is a strong male as a low angle shot is used to depict that the male is of a higher status. A high angle shot is used to show that the woman is the weaker of the two, but after they begin fencing Steed is quickly overpowered showing that Peel is in fact the stronger one of them as he is then shown using a high angle shot.

Another media device they have used is sound, they used ambient sounds such as door bells but the most important thing they used is non-diegetic sound, as it is sexy and will compliments the flirtatious nature and the flirtatious speech of Steed and Peel.

Another media device they have used that is pivotal showing that the show is set in the 1960's is the editing. At the time the easiest way to figure out who a British spy is, is to see which British person has an umbrella 

Britishness in The Avengers

How was 'Britishness' represented in Episode 1 of Season 4:

Costumes:

• John Steed was seen wearing a suit and a bowler hat whilst carrying a umbrella.
• Emma Peel wore a skin-tight lycra outfit whilst investigating, but when undercover as a teacher she wore an elegant dress with hat.

Settings:

• The first scene was set in London in a very modern, highly technical flat.
• The train scene was classically British, each train car having been designed to seat 4 people.
• The rest of the episode was set in a small seaside village with a cosy inn.

Props:

• Steed is seen holding an umbrella constantly.
• Steed drives an exceedingly British car.
• Steed wore a bowler hat.
• Peel was seen to be fencing.
• Peel would carry around a handbag.

Character Interaction:

• Steed was rather flirtatious towards Peel.
• Steed acted rather friendly with everyone, showing the British stereotype that we are all friendly and know each other.

Dialogue:

• Steed and Peel are friendly towards one another in their speech.

Stereotypes:

• Steed and Peel like tea.
• Steed and Peel investigate rural areas like in Sherlock Holmes.

Case Study: The Town of No Return

The Avengers - Season 4 Episode 1: The Town of No Return

Plot Summary:

It opens up with a strange man attending to his lobster pots when a man emerges from the ocean in a black water-tight covering, he then marches up the beach towards the town of Little Bazeley.

After a small bout of fencing, agents John Steed and Emma Peel are tasked with infiltrating the small coastal town of Little Bazeley due to several other agents going missing there. They travel there via train and share a carriage with a portly man called Smallwood, and upon arriving Steed takes on the role of a Land Realtor and Peel poses as a teacher.

The town is very strange as no villagers are found around the town, and all the others are found in the local inn and behave very strangely. Here they find the Headmistress, School Inspector and 'Piggy' Warren.

Peel and Steed get rooms at the inn whilst Smallwood goes looking for his brother.

The next day Peel goes to the school and finds that there are no children, and that they are in fact 'On Holiday'. This behaviour is strange so she leaves in an attempt to locate Steed, and finds him on the beach. There they find the corpse of Smallwood and go find his brother. Smallwood's brother looks nothing like he does in the photo that Smallwood carries around of him. This brother then tell the agents that Smallwood left for London, proving that something ominous is going on and that this brother is an imposter.

Whilst investigating the school an elderly man bursts into the room and tells Peel that he is the real School Inspector and starts ranting on about what is below.

Heeding the dying mans words, Peel and Steed head into a bunker where they discover a small army of imposters with a large stockpile of weapons. Steed and Peel defeat everyone in the bunker and lock them underground permanently.

The agents are then seen driving away from the town on a scooter.

The Characters:

John Steed:
Emma Peel:
'Piggy' Warren:

Links to social and cultural context:

Audience Appeal:

The Avengers 1961

The Avengers (1961):

1) Which Institution produced the show?:

It was produced by ITV.

2) Who was the primary and secondary audience?:

The primary audience demographic is aged over 15 as it aired past 9pm. The show is aimed at males and females as it featured a strong female lead. The social grade of the target audience ranges from B to E as ITV wasn't deemed to be as posh as the BBC.

3) When did the first episode air?

The first episode, called Hot Snow, aired on the 7th of January 1961.

4) How many viewers followed the show?

The regular viewer count for each episode was

Duopoly in the 1960's

The era of two competing broadcasters, ITV and BBC, is referred by many as a "Golden Age" of broadcasting in the UK. The two institutions had full control over the programmes as they produced them in-house.

How might this competition and control have positive outcomes? What negative effects might this have?

Television Industries: Ownership

The BBC:

Channels: 

The BBC has 9 separate channels. These channels are BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC News, BBC Parliament and BBC Alba.

Mission, Vision and Values: 

The BBC intends to provide impartial news and information to help people understand and engage with the world around them. The BBC also hopes to support learning for people of all ages. They will also aspire to output the most creative, distinctive and highest quality services. The BBC also intends to reflect and represent the diverse peoples of the United Kingdom in all of it's nations regions. The BBC will also reflect the United Kingdom along with it's culture and values to the world.

Most Popular BBC 1 Programmes:

The most popular programmes featured on BBC1 are Doctor Who, The Apprentice, Eastenders and Strictly Come Dancing.

Most Expensive Programme to make:

The most expensive program ever made by the BBC is Rome, it costed $10 million per episode.

Other Platforms:

Online using BBC iPlayer, listening to the radio on all the different BBC stations.

How Else Does it Generate Income?:

Not only does the BBC generate an income by getting people to buy a TV Licence, it also generates income by selling it's dramas and shows to other countries.

Advantages of being Publicly Owned:

They have a guaranteed income, so they do not need to worry about having a low viewer count for the first few episodes of a series.

ITV:

Number and Names of ITV Channels:

ITV, ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, ITVBe, CITV, ITV Box Office, ITV HD, The Store.

Strategy:

y

Most Popular ITV Programmes:

The most popular ITV programmes are Coronation Street, Emmerdale and I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

Most Expensive ITV Programme to make:

y

Other Platforms:

Other platforms consist of ITV player which is available online, allowing you to watch ITV shows online.

How does it Generate Income?:

ITV generates an income by playing advertisements and by using product placement.

Advantages of being Commercially Owned:

It can generate more money by utilising sponsorships to advertise other products.