Lost | Exam Question

'Most media texts target a rage of different audiences'. how true is this for your chosen text?

The intended audience for JJ Abrams 'Lost' is a wide mainstream audience, where passive and active audience can be gratified. A range of conventions have been used to appeal to this audience.

One convention that has been used to appeal to this wide mainstream audience is an ensemble cast. 'Lost' has a wide range of actors and character roles with different ages, races, genders and nationalities included. Each character also has a different personality style with different views and opinions on things, so that there is a character that relates to everyone watching. An example of this is that there is a young american female called Shannon who is perceived as being vain and selfish. When asked by her brother to come help the survivors of the plane crash, Shannon rejects him and continues to sunbathe amongst the rubble. On the contrary, their is Hurley, a teenager with long curly hair and is much larger than the rest of the cast. He is willing to get to know the people on the island and get stuck in helping out. When Sawyer is fighting with Syiid he states 'we are all in this together man'.

Combining escapism and relatable plot is another convention that will help appeal to a wide audience. By each character having a somewhat relatable back story that is revealed in the flashbacks and flash forwards, it gives the audience not only a character to relate to but a situation or problem that they can relate to as well. An example of this would be the relationship between Michael and his son Walt. It is revealed that Walt's mother has recently died so Michael is responsible for taking care of Walt however because Michael is new to this, his relationship between him and his son is flawed.

A third convention that would help gratify the widest audience possible is the use of hybrid genres.