In today’s lesson, we have analysed the opening of Zen (BBC 1), a television thriller. We
noticed the ways in which genre was signalled:
- There were images of guns which signals the world of crime
- There were images of key to refer to prisons – the key to open the locks of a prison
- The protagonist wearing a formal and dark coloured suit with sunglasses, looking formal and authoritative
- Famous Italian buildings that people could recognise, such as buildings relating to Italian police headquarters “The Questura” clearly inscribed in stone
This detective television series featuring Aurelio Zen is
based on the novels of Michael Dibdin. It is set in Rome, Italy, which links to
the fact that the opening had many visual clues that signalled the Italianicity
of the drama. For example:
- The red, white and green vertical bands with connotations of the Italian flag
- Silhouetted images of St Peter’s Dome, as well as bird’s eye shots of St Peter’s Square which are iconic emblems of Rome, renowned the world over
- Repeated images of Fiat Cinquecento cars, which again reinforces the Italianicity of the opening
