Life on Mars Textual analysis

Generic codes and conventions

Life on Mars starts off in 2006 with the generic conventions of a crime drama, starting off with a car chase in an urban middle class area, then showing police cars, police uniforms and the detective who is not wearing a uniform and instead wearing a suit to show who the main character is by contrasting him to everyone else. Then there is a normal chase with Sam chasing the criminal down into an alley way which is where he catches him, an alley way is a place not many people go to unless you live there but usually people take the main paths as alley ways are connoted of being dodgy and creepy and is considerably safer to take the main road. Sam takes down the criminal with a baton which is a sign itself connecting to police as that's their main weapon, he doesn't use it willingly though as he starts getting attacked first and pulls the baton out for self defence. The next scene is an interrogation in a police station with a mix of different people who are different genders and ethnicities to show that in 2006, everyone is equal in this workspace. In the interrogation scene, we can see surveillance cameras, photos of the crime and the 2006 process of solving a crime. The reason Life on Mars are showing all these generic conventions in the first few minutes of the first episode so later the change to 1973 is more transparent for the viewer and to show how different times were in 1973. Life on Mars links to Neale's Genre Theory where genres are dominated by repetition so audiences can identify the genre however it changes over time by borrowing conventions from another genre and overlap, Life on Mars starts off as a normal crime drama by showing the normal iconography but later takes sci-fi conventions to convert crime drama to historical crime drama. Once Sam is in 1973, all the crime drama iconography is subverted to fit in 1973, for example, there is no technology like surveillance cameras as they didn't have them then, there are many more like police uniform, location etc. The boss of 1973 is Jean Hunt who is a very masculine character is the major sign that it is 1973 with the expression of his aggression onto other characters like beating up Sam which wouldn't of been allowed in 2006. 

Narrative: Binary Opposites

The first binary opposite we can identify is Criminal vs Police, the evidence is police chasing someone down an alleyway which signs that this guy is a criminal. The next binary opposite is Male vs Female meaning Sam Tyler vs Sam's Girlfriend, they both have different views on the case and want to approach it differently causing arguments but Sam shuts her down. Linking to Bell Hooks theory of the idea that feminism is a struggle to end sexist/patriarchal oppression and the ideology of domination, 2006 has some male domination over females but as Sam goes into 1973, male dominance is much greater than in 2006 and women are exploited, discriminated against or oppressed much more. Another binary opposite comes up which is 2006 vs 1973, the difference in the location, technology, characters, fashion, cars, jobs, politics, law and many more. Also Reality vs Fantasy is another one as us, the audience still aren't sure if this is real or is in Sam's mind. Sam vs Tyler is the next binary opposite as their is a huge difference in them two characters, at the moment Sam is more softer and calm and takes his job the more safe and law side approach whereas Hunt is more aggressive and uses different methods that would get him in trouble if he was in 2006. The reason there are so many binary opposites are to forward the narrative linking to Levi-Strauss theory of meaning is dependent on upon pairs of opposition.

Narrative: Enigma Code

There are many enigmas in the first episode, first starting off with, the first crime in the episode, what is going on, why are they chasing him, where is it, then we go to the interrogation scene and find out its not him, so we still need to figure out who is the suspect but he is still suspicious so we don't know if its hi or not. Also, why has the main character lost his skills, and has relationship issues, all these problems are normal problems that appear in basically every crime drama. Then we go into 1973 with more enigmas, why is he there, what does he do, what does he need to do to go back, how is he going to cope, how is he going to solve this crime. Towards the end, Neil pretends that he is his subconscious and talks to him, making Sam and the audience completely sure that he is in a coma, but then Cartwright talks to him about how he was joking which confuses us and Sam twisting the main enigma and plot. Using this code within a narrative usually frustrates an audience but also pulls them in as they want to find out what happens next and they also want their questions answered links to Barthes Theory of the idea that texts communicate their meanings through a process of signification.

Restricted or unrestricted

Restricted	Unrestricted
We know the same amount of what Sam knows about the 2006 and 1973 crimes	We know that Sam shouldn't be there, but every other character doesn't believe him.
We don't know if Sam is in a coma or not, we have the same thoughts as him	Not sure but could be a sign where the hospital sounds can be heard randomly showing us that he is in a coma which other characters cant hear
Sam knows he shouldn't be there, but every other character doesn't know	Us and Sam know the future whereas 1973 character's doesn't
We don't know why Sam is there in the first place	We knew that Sam went back in time straight away but Sam didn't believe it straight away
We don't know what Sam needs to do to go back	We know what caused Sam to go into a coma (if he is in a coma) but other characters don't
We know methods Sam could use to solve the crime but he can't do it in 1973	We know that Sam is still alive in 2006 because none of this would be happening if he was dead
We don’t know if Maya is ok or not
Us and Sam know that he is gone back for a reason as later on we find relations to 2006