Peaky Blinders Response

How has your chosen media text attracted its audience? 

Steven Knights Peaky Blinders is a crime drama, set in 1919, which follows former world war one soldiers who have returned home and formed a criminal gang in Birmingham. The program aired on BBC Two, a channel which screens programmes targeting the arts, culture, drama and some comedy. These types of texts appeal to audiences who aren't already served by BBC One or ITV. Over its first 30 years the channel developed a reputation for screening highly praised and prestigious 'high brow' drama series.

A 'high brow' text is rich in intelligence and culture. Peaky Blinders has elements of a high brow text but also contains mainstream conventions such as the music. The Peaky Blinders soundtrack includes contemporary artists such as Nick Cave and The White Stripes, this use of modern music within the program could attract the audience as they may be fans of the artists and or it brings a post modern element.
The text has been complemented for its high production value and cinematography. An active audience would take gratification from this as (cinematically) it would remind them of a movie.
Peaky Blinders has been compared to the American program 'Boardwalk Empire', as both programmes are stylistic, have film star casts, set in the past and are about crime. A negotiated audience would enjoy the text however would think that it lacks originality and often seems to mirror some of the key narrative themes of Boardwalk Empire, the American text set in the same era. The text was also accused of giving up its artistic merit and realism for mainstream convention.

The cast of Peaky Blinders is another aspect of the program which attracts the audience as the cast consists of 3 stars.

Cillian Murphy portrays 'Tommy' in Peaky Blinders and is a well know actor. His filmography includes Inception (2010), The Dark Knight (2008), Batman Begins (2005) and 28 Days Later (2002).

Award winning actor Sam Neill, portrays 'Inspector Chester Campbell' in Peaky Blinders. He's known for Jurassic Park (1993), Jurassic Park III (2001), The Piano (1993) and The Hunt For Red October (1990).

'Aunt Polly' is portrayed by award winning actress Helen McCroy. McCroy is well known for her role as Draco Malfoy's mother in the Harry Potter series as well as her roles in Skyfall (2012) and Hugo (2011).

By casting film stars into the program, Peaky Blinders would have attracted a wider audience made up of these stars' fans who follow their career(s).

Audiences in the 1920s weren't as active compared to recent years as modern technology allows the audience nowadays to practise more creating a much more active audience.

In response to Peaky Blinders audiences and fans of the program took to forums/ chat rooms on the internet to discuss the issues within the program.

The encoding and decoding model is a theory which Stuart Hall devised for an active audience which examines the relationship between a text and its audience. Encoding is the process by which a text is constructed by its producers and decoding is the process by which the audience reads, understands and interprets a text. Everything that is being shown to the audience has been constructed and encoded for them to decode. By encoding the text it allows the audience to participate and become more active with the text which gratifies them, letting them go to forums and chat rooms and discuss the text with others.

BBC Two also have a web page dedicated to Peaky Blinders. Information on the cast, music as well as clips and articles are linked onto this website allowing the audience to research more into this program and become a more active audience. It also keeps them updated about the second series that is soon to be released.