Life on mars Ep 1 Analysis

Life on Mars, in brief, is about a white man named Sam Tyler who within the show gets hit by a car and gets put into a coma but he believes he's travelled back in time which is part of the enigma since the audience doesn't know whether he has travelled back in time or whether it is his subconscious or whether he is in a state of limbo.

In the first scene we are shown multiple cars most being police cars this would indicate to most people that the show is about the police force since the title of the show is very ambiguous, but the title actually comes from David Bowe's song "Life on Mars"; which also features within the show at the point where Sam gets taken back to 1973. Also within the first scene, the camera is at wheel height with a lower point of view, therefore, leading the audience to try and deduce whats happening.

In the opening of the show, we see Sam Tyler as the head of the police force in 2006 and he is in the process of an interrogating a suspect in a murder. Within this scene, it highlights most of the modern technology of the time to foreshadow later events since when he travels back in time his lack of technology forces him to use his intuition there is also another scene in the opening that touches on Sam's lack of using his intuition.

The audience also is presented with many close ups, zoom in and outs, which are mainly focused on the detective and the suspects. This can show the importance of the character and their relevance to the case. In addition, mid shots were used especially when crumbs from a sandwich was dropped onto the evidence, which then cuts to an mid shot of Sam's face to see his reaction.

In life on mars the narrative switches when the new 1970 cop is introduced he acts as a “bad cop” to Sam’s portrayal of a good cop, within most detective shows we are giving a” good cop bad cop” Life on Mars represents this in a way where both characters are good cop and bad cop at times that can be seen when the first suspect doesnt reply and the 1970’s cop says he “got the information out of hr” however, when sam tried he attempted to talk to the suspec in a good manner there is a contradiction of roles later in the episode where Sam is portrayed as the bap cop and the 1970’s cop is protrayed as the good cop when they were wuestiong an old woman. This representtation of ying and yang and that they are both the side cop but are different, 

In concluson Life on Mars presents the audience with a mystery and a semse of character development which would entice an audienxe ro continue