"The Color Purple" is a radio drama created by Alice Walker, about a girl named Celie. Celie is an uneducated black girl who was born into poverty and segregation. Set in the deep south of America.
After listening to this radio drama, I believe that the target audience is middle aged women.
Characters and represented through the way in which they speak. The tone and pitch of characters voice really helps you understand the characters personality. For example, Celie speaks nervously at times and never sounds confident in the language she uses. Whereas her husband is represented as a strong, aggressive, male figure. Certain characters represent typical stereo types, e.g. aggressive husband and vulnerable woman.
Throughout the radio drama we hear background music in intervals of scenes. This helps us to imagine the location (Southern United States)
The History of Radio Drama
- Radio dramas popularity began in the 1920's/1930's. BBC was the only radio provider in the UK, producing 50 radio dramas a year.
- In the 1940s, radio dramas popularity increased even more during the war, it became more important as people were in the house more than ever before.
- By 1951 there was over 300 radio plays a year, as TV still wasn’t popular.
Radio Drama Today
Radio was once a leading format of media but now it could be considered as a dying medium. Many young people, as well as myself don't listen to radio dramas, as they tend to find it difficult to relate to them and engage them. I personally think this is because of the way that the younger generations have been brought up. Many young people are growing up surrounded by new technologies such as Sky digital television, game consoles and the ever-expanding Internet. As young people, maybe we are unable to be entertained by radio now other technologies have taken over the way people live. Despite this, I believe that radio dramas can contribute positively to society. This is because, radio dramas can outline issues that many people may face in their lives. This could help them when having to deal with these issues. Also, radio dramas can be used as a sense of escapism. In some way, radio can have benefits that television or other formats don't. Radio is more assessable than television than any other media as its portable and only requires the audience to listen. So this means the audience can enjoy the radio dramas in the comfort of their own home and even when they are driving.
After doing this research, I have decided that I want to produce a radio drama aimed at young people like myself (aged 16-21). I have choosen this target market because I feel that there is a gap in the market for young peoples radio dramas.
