Media Studies - TV
Generic signifiers evident in The Bridge


Media Language Pages 21 - 22
EDUQUAS

What generic elements of crime/Nordic Noir are evident in the seven minute recap of season 2 The Bridge?
Compare your ideas to the suggestions.


Recurring situations

Murder and attempted murder/ Terrorist plot/ Countdown to destruction/ Examining CCTV footage Police car chase/ Photofit/ Timely rescue

Car search/ Clear the building / Confronting the suspect

Detective stands alone

Elements of narrative

Investigative narrative

Clear disruption of equilibrium (Todorov)

Closure of some narrative strands with some resolution

Surreal elements (Martin’s vision of Jens)

Driven by binary opposites e.g. cops v criminals, personal v professional

Style

Chiaroscuro lighting – effect of duality or bars (imprisonment). Low key.

Closed frames - entrapment

Desaturated/grey/khaki colour palette – bleak

Soundtrack – eerie, echoing.

Windows and reflections – themes of appearance v reality

Iconography

Police uniforms, cars, flashing lights and sirens, technology- PCs/mobile phones/ evidence bags / clues (e.g. lapel pin)/ handcuffs/ poison / gun / alibis – dates, times/jargon

Forensics – gloves, microscopes, hypodermic

Settings

Iconic bridge/incident room/police station (s)/ hospital/prison/IV room

Snow/bleak landscape/leafless trees

Laboratory

Themes

Family – domestic v professional

Power of the past

Justice v vengeance

Moral dilemmas

Reflection of contemporary issues – eco-terrorism

Appearance v reality

Stock characters

Plain clothes detectives

Unlikely partnership

Anti-social detective (female)

Boss(es)

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