Question 4 b): Discuss in detail how one programme offers audience pleasures. Give examples from the programme.

I have chosen to analyse the audience pleasures of watching Miranda (BBC 1). I will give specific examples by close reference to episodes and by quotation. 

Miranda is mainstream family viewing, aimed at a target audience who would relate to middle class life. Miranda is a TV sitcom: socially inept Miranda always gets into awkward situations when working in her joke shop with best friend Stevie, being hounded by her pushy mother, and especially when she is around her crush Gary.

A comprehensive review of all four BBC TV channels by the governing trust (July 2014) found that BBC 1 could feel “middle class in focus and target audience" with Miranda cited as an example. They also found that the BBC is falling out of favour with younger people and BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic viewers). The average age of BBC1 viewers is 59, compared with 56 in 2010/11. However, the character of Miranda is also quite like a big child as she is unmarried, always making a fool of herself and getting into trouble with her mother, so I think that audiences such as middle class teenagers and middle age parents could relate to her. Audiences also relate to her relationship with her best friend Stevie because it is very jokey and friendly which is commonly what most friendships are like, they make fun of each others flaws but in a loving way. stevie is the friend who your parents compare you to. She is the polar oppisite to Miranda. Miranda almost looks up to stevie and what shes achieved. Stevie thinks that she is is sucessful and more physically attractve than miranda by stateing "She has the allure." compared to miranda who have "wiles".

Miranda offers the pleasures of the sitcom genre, such as characters that are recognizable that the audience can relate to, who are stereotypes. Miranda's mother, for example, is a ‘hellish’ mother that has high expectations for her daughter, she acts very posh and strives to be just like the aristocrats that are above her.
Miranda's mother makes us laugh because she is so relatable in our own family lives, for teenagers, grandparents and for adult’s mums, it is penny’s generation which are known to have these personality traits Miranda’s mum portrays.
Miranda's group of girl friends are stereotypes. For example, the excitable middle class lovies, the type of woman that are much depended on a man yet enjoy a bit of alcohol at times. They can often come out as annoying and posh but have the best interests at heart and just seek approval from those around them.
Her girlfriends often make us laugh at Miranda, such as in the episode when her friends say "Queen Kong” as her nickname comparing her to the gorilla king Kong poking fun at Miranda’s physical features

However, in many ways, Miranda is an anti-stereotype because most comedy heroines are portrayed in a beautiful, sexy body such as Jennifer Anniston in Friends. However, she is very clumsy and often is made fun of with her features. She makes us laugh as she often makes fun of herself by comparing herself with the common image of what woman should look like.

There are many points of recognition for middle class audiences in the ways in which the sitcom addresses audience’s lifestyles, concerns, hopes, such as Miranda's conflict with her mother as when she is told what to do in social situations by her mother that she does not find funny or useful.

Another narrative strand that makes audiences relate to her is her trouble love life. To explain:

Each episode also features predictable running gags such as, for example,
Miranda always manages to lose her clothing, such as in the episode when she is in front of her love interest Gary and her friends and her dress gets caught by the door of a taxi, ripping of her dress and leaving her in her under garments
Stevie and Miranda always compete for boyfriends, such as the episode when Stevie finds a wallet belonging to a man that came into their joke shop which then intrigues them to go find him and compete for his attraction
Miranda always embarrasses her friends socially, such as farting in awkward situations then blaming it on an imaginary dog when really the audience and the characters know it was her.

The sitcom addresses audience’s lifestyles, concerns, hopes about relationships. Miranda always fails to explain her true feelings for Gary, such as when Gary is due to leave to go to Hong Kong and Miranda is scared to admit her feelings, Miranda tells us: "?"
She competes with, quarrels and makes up with Stevie, for example, when Miranda and Stevie make a new friend called Tamara, they end up having a competition as to who’s a better friend, it then goes wrong when Tamara calls them middle aged in which they team up again and try to prove their youth
She gets scolded by her mother, such as in the episode when her mother says "Be normal"  when Miranda and penny are in a therapist office, to which Miranda replies “oh I’m just standing here!”

In most sitcoms, the audience is passive consumer but this show is filmed before a live studio audience. In addition, Miranda establishes a relationship with her audience by looking at the camera and having a conversations. She confides in us, the audience her feelings, saying:  "well this has all got a bit out of hand" talking to the audience and keeping them in the loop

For Blumler and Katz, audiences use media to gratify needs (the uses and gratifications model of audience behaviour). Miranda offers the pleasure of entertainment, escapism and diversion by making us laugh. In particular, both slapstick humour and verbal humour entertain us. Examples of these include, slapstick comedy when Miranda falls over and pushes Stevie as well as verbal which is things like funny words and silly movements such as dancing.


Audiences also like to relate to the characters in programmes; I have shown that Miranda offers many points of recognition in its characters. It’s also important that Miranda is a likeable character who does not hold grudges. For example,
Audiences pick programmes with actors that they know and like. It is also significant that Miranda Hart is a well-known comedy actress and stand-up comedian

Audiences tend to favour programmes that support their values and their sense of their own identity. Part of our sense of self is informed by making judgements about all sorts of people and things. This is also true of judgements we make about TV and film characters, and celebrities. The shows we watch, the stars we like can be an expression of our identities. One aspect of this type of gratification is known as value reinforcement. This is where we choose television programmes or newspapers that have similar beliefs to those we hold. Therefore, equally important is the upbeat, comic atmosphere of the show. Despite set-backs such as finding out that Stevie has kept the dog Miranda bounces back, for example, she keeps hers in the kangaroo pouch,


Finally, audiences like to know what is going on in the world (surveillance). This relates to Maslow’s need for security. By keeping up to date with news about local and international events we feel we have the knowledge to avoid or deal with dangers. In a sitcom, the characters face all sorts of situations that we can experience vicariously, some of which are challenging, such as arguments and losing a job and telling someone how you feel about them,.

In conclusion, Miranda is a show which people in the UK of a wide ages can relate to by its well written characters and its different approaches of humour that can entertain different audiences.