10 key words!

Even though i have got the key words from the pack, i'll just repeat the work!!!


American Dream - refering to contradictions and conflicts in society.
conflict with culture of individualism.
corporate life
Fears of all kind - terrorism.
-Heroes - crisis of identity, have to be seen as "normal"


Laura Mulvey - Male Gaze, the portrayal of women, and the judgements made about them.
Women are often seen as passive and weak.
-Apparent as nikki has an alter ego, which is fighting back showing a more dominant character.


New Man - A more caring, and gentle role of a man, often as a father and husband who is able to show feelings.

-Male characters such as peter have issues with their identity, and what is expected of them and what they want to do.


Prime time is the time between 7.30 - 10.30 which has the largest number of viewers on tv.

-Extremely important as Heroes is aired on BBC2 at 9pm. Not only could this explain the popularity, however younger audiences also watch it.


Syntagm - a combination of signs that forms a chain of meaning. A certain symbol that has been recurring through out the season. Build up of tension as neither the audience nor the characters know the meaning.


Genre theory - Richard Dyer 1973, genres are pleasurable because they offer escapist fantasies into fictional worlds which remove the boredom and pressures of reality.
In a sense Heroes does the opposite because it is bringing topical issues to light, eg terrorism.



Sexism - discrimination on the basis of sex pften against women.
-both female characters nikki and claire face this.


Patriarchy - male domination where women are percieved as subordinate.
-similar to heroes the female characters are defined with the relation of a man.
Claire and her father or boyfriend.