Longform TV Drama

• Long Form TV Drama


  Lots of episodes, often multiple series
• Question 1


  Worth 30 marks, asks to compare two shows
• Question 2

  Worth 10 marks, asks how well one of the theorists applies to the shows
• Netflix


  • Producing shows allowed for more episodes, and different season lengths
  • No longer relies on TV scheduling because of Netflix (streaming service)
• Lupin was the most watched non-English show when it was released on Netflix
• Stranger Things

  • About 'outsiders' in American society
  • The makers imagined the Demogorgon as Trump when making the show
  • Set in Hawkins, Indiana, in the 80s
  • 8-episode first season
• Lupin


  • Set in Paris (the Louvre)
  • Heist
  • High intensity
  • Element of French history
  • Black lead character in France - racism big part of the show
  • Editing is very stylized
  • 'Lupin' is not the main character - he is a famous fictional French character (similar to Sherlock), who is a 'gentleman thief'
• Stranger Things

  • First aired on Netflix, 15th July 2016
  • Only 8 episodes
  • Written and directed by the Duffer brothers (Matt & Ross Duffer)
  • Their first feature length film was 'Hidden'
  • One of their inspirations was protect MLUltra, a mind-control program run by the CIA during the cold war
  • 'We wanted the supernatural element to be grounded in science in some way' - Matt Duffer
  • 2016 - Brexit vote, Trump election
• Stranger Things Plot


  1. Boys, Older teens, Eleven/experiments, Police search/Hopper

  2. Scientist in lift

  3. 4 boys (Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas) - playing D&D

  4. Nancy + Steve

  5. Will is attacked

  6. Introduce Hopper as police chief - Will is missing

  7. Eleven gets food at diner - help from Benny

  8. Benny is killed - people listening in to phone calls

  9. Dr. Brenner looks for Eleven but she escapes

  10. Search for Will - Sarah (Hopper's daughter) died

  11. Boys find Eleven when looking for Will
• Stranger Things Historical Context

  • The Cold War
  • Ronald Reagan was President
  • Margret Thatcher in the UK
  • Aids crisis
• Stranger Things


  More reliant on historical context because it is set in the past, and therefore relies on 80s culture and context to build the foundation of the show
• Lupin


  Heavily uses heist film/tv tropes, which do not rely on historical context to be entertaining to an audience
• Hopper Introduction Sequence

  1. Follows on from Will's abduction + the intro

  2. First thing it shows is a close up of a kid's drawing

  3. Pans + tilts onto a table (filmed with a camera on a track to get smooth movement)

  4. Table shows half-eaten food, empty lager cans, books (Earnest Hemmingway), ash tray, pill bottle

  5. TV is on, but he's asleep - been on all night

  6. Pans to hopper sleeping on the sofa, in jeans, face in pillow

  7. Wakes up when the dog barks

  8. Cuts to an establishing shot of a lake (the view from his house)

  9. Hopper comes outside, half naked, for a cigarette

  10. Appreciates the sunrise

  11. Cuts to a montage of him in the shower. Jump cuts show him getting ready

  12. Insert - main shot of character, close up of something, go back again

  13. Brushes his teeth and then smokes again

  14. Takes his medication with beer

  15. Jump cut to him putting his clothes on - realization that he's the police chief

  16. Leaves the house without locking his door or turning off the TV

  17. Next scene - enters the police station

  18. Slurs his words when speaking to colleagues

  19. Eating a donut - cliché
• Fandom - Henry Jenkins: Fans act as 'textual poachers' - steal bits from the media and create their own culture. Audiences have become active participants in media rather than passive consumers.
• Lupin Characters

  • Assane Diop - main character. Black man living in France, from Senegal. Bases himself on Lupin, popular French character
  • Babakar Diop - Assane's father, chauffeur/butler for Hubert. Falsely accused of the theft of the necklace
  • Raoul - Assane's son
  • Claire Laurent - Raoul's mother, Assane's ex wife
  • Hubert Pellegrini - Babakar's boss, accuses him of theft
  • Anne Pellegrini - Hubert's wife
  • Juliette Pellegrini - daughter of Hubert and Anne
  • Benjamin Ferel - makes the fake necklace
  • Guerdia - Police Inspector
• Lupin Plot


  1. Babakar is a Butler for the Pellegrinis

  2. Babakar is framed for robbery + goes to prison

  3. When Assane goes to visit him, Babakar is found dead (appears to be suicide)

  4. Assane finds the Lupin book after his father's death

  5. Assane gets a job as a cleaner at the Louvre

  6. Gives money to his ex wife, cannot pay his debt, and is threatened

  7. Gets criminals to help him with the heist in order to pay off his debt

  8. Assane enters the bidding, and wins the necklace (sees Juliette)

  9. The criminals attempt to betray Assane, but it is revealed this is part of his plan

  10. Escapes with the necklace, but Guerdia is suspicious

  11. Visits his son - they are surprised he arrived early, implying he is normally late/doesn't show up

  12. Gives his son the Lupin book
• Omar Sy


  Plays Assane. One of the most famous actors in France. Was in Jurassic World, X-Men Days of Future Past, etc.
• Lupin Poster

  • Assane is right in the center, foregrounded
  • Looking directly at the camera, appears calm and confident
  • Costume has elements of casual and formal
  • Setting is the Louvre, huge icon of France. Shows him as an intellectual, and a valuable part of France
  • Walking through open gates. Metaphor about immigration
• Levi Strauss - Structuralism


  • People are socialized by myths/fables as they grow up
  • Stories are created by 'binary oppositions', and that stories are ruled by a structure of opposing terms
• Levi-Strauss's theory


  More useful because the binary oppositions are what drive the plot
• Lupin was released in 2021 (Pandemic)
• Netflix added 5 million subscribers in the first 3 months of 2021
• 76 million households watched Lupin during it's first month of release, and became the most watched non-English series on Netflix at the time
• Lupin became number 1 in France, and a lot of other countries
• As of June 2023, Part 1 of Lupin has 99.5 million completed viewings
• Arsene Lupin


  • Referenced by Assane as an intertextual link
  • Original books by Maurice Leblanc, created in 1905
  • Has appeared in many different adaptations/versions
• Lupin Balcony Scene

  1. Walks on beat with the music, shows he is in tune with French hip-hop/rap counter culture

  2. Balcony scene shows a different side of Paris not normally shown in media

  3. Assane is able to overpower Kevin, allowed himself to be dangled off the balcony to prove his point
• Netflix Industry

  • Invested $6bn in original content in 2021, compared to $2-3bn by Apple TV+ and Amazon
  • Netflix's success has prompted other companies to spend more on original content (Amazon making the most expensive tv show of all time)
  • Important to keep interest as a streaming service, so people don't unsubscribe
• David Hesmondhalgh


  • Industries rely on repetition to sell content, because it is reliably profitable, but it creates repetition
  • This creates conglomerates (e.g. Disney), because big companies are buying up the competition, and so everything becomes less unique
  • This is because film companies need repetition to avoid taking risks or making a financial loss
  • Risk is particularly hard in cultural industries (film, tv, games, etc.)
• Repetition in Lupin (hesmondhaulgh)

  • Classic heist
  • Valuable jewelry that gets stolen - prop of Queen's necklace
  • Sidekick character - Benjamin
  • Flashbacks
  • Use of original song that has been sampled by Eminem
• Hesmondhalgh's theory


  More applicable to Lupin because it is a more clear-cut genre, and uses classic heist conventions
• Historical Context of Lupin

  • Modern France is a republic (no royal family) because of the France revolution - makes the stealing of the 'Queen's necklace' significant
  • Is a reference back to France's past, when they were a colonialist country
  • Assane grew up in Senegal (which was a French colony)
• Lupin & Realism

  • Social realism: involves addressing real world social issues and the everyday concerns of ordinary people
  • While the plot/heist elements are unrealistic, the social issues it addresses bring the social realism element by reflecting what it is like for many migrants living in France
  • One of the unrealistic elements is how easily fooled the auction staff are
  • However, the setting, the relationships, and the issues are realistic to a migrant living in France
  • Overall, the show is 75% realism, largely due to the realistic portrayal of France which is not often shown in the media, and also the familial relationships between characters
• Lupin was the first French series to rank in the top ten on Netflix in America.