EXAM QUESTION 5

'Explain how social contexts influence television programmes. Refer to The Avengers.'




Social context can effect a television programme a lot, it can not only effect the people starring in the programme but also the audience and can change there views on what is going on. A good example for a series being effected by the outside world is the Avengers. The Avengers was first aired 20 years after the second world war had finished. Twenty years is not a very long time and WW2 effected a great deal of people as it was the time for England to step up and show the world what they could do.
 Many things had been completed before the avengers aired such as the suffragettes winning the vote, Hitler coming to power and both world wars starting and finishing. The Avengers expresses a lot of these points. For example the two main characters, Mrs Peel and Steed, are seen as equals maybe even Mrs Peel being slightly more important. This shows the world how woman can be independent and that Mrs Peel is expressing that in different ways. Like when she is fencing and Steed comes in and they start play fighting and Mrs Peel expresses a lot of independence. Not only are they equal in there bravery but they are also given the same opportunities and responsibilities to handle and complete.
A big part of this time period was your status and the amount of money you had. Throughout the 1900s you were judged upon because of your class, there was upper class, middle class and lower class. In this episode of the avengers you can see that Mrs Peel and Steed up from a higher class as in one scene you witness Steed taking china and porcelain teapots out of a bag and offering them to Mrs Peel. Clothes as well as the props can help you understand what class people were from for example Steed is always wearing a suit and Mrs Peel likes to wear her tight and very fancy outfit, this is suggesting that they like to look there best and can afford nice clothes like these. The last thing that could determine someone's class is the sound of their voice. Mrs Peel, particularly, has a very well-spoken and posh accent, suggesting that she was brought up in a wealthy family and taught well. An audience of this time period would look out for all these things so that they can have a rough background of the main characters.
 As I previously send the show was aired 20 years after the second world war. Many items and scenes suggest that the people of England still thought about the war greatly and were still recovering from it 20 years later. In the pub that Mrs Peel and Steed are staying in, there are many war related pictures showing the audience what the war was like and the steps that people are taking to get over it. You see many fighter planes hung up around the pub room, showing us that people are still thinking about the items used in the war. There is also a scene where Steed is shown putting bits of writing together, in a playground, the writing is talking about a man who was killed in action, in the war. This suggests that although these people died over 20 years ago, they are still memories of them all over the place and that the show is trying to make sure people don't forget about the soldiers who fought for us.
 In conclusion, the social context of the world around us effects all TV shows all around the world. They influence the actors and the audience to act upon the issues that have faced the world and are making sure people don't forget about the past.