Most media texts target a wide range of audiences, how true is this of your chosen texts?

Lost, directed by JJ Abrams, is targeted at a wide mainstream audience. It has been encoded to inclusive so passive and active audiences can be gratified by it. Its wide targeted audience is dictated by its need to draw in huge profit to recuperate the money spent upon its production. The scale of its target audience is reinforced by its Ensemble Cast. Lost's cast is intend to appeal to gratify a wide audience through the various ethnicity's and stereotypes presented. This convention is implemented by Abrams to allow its different target audiences to relate with its different characters, as there are representations of a stereotypical geek through Hurley, and also the struggling father-son dynamic between Walter and Michael Dawson. This connection audiences could find with the ensemble cast meant it gee rated large viewing figures and by integrating an Ensemble cast, allowed the show to maximise it profits through its vast target audience.

A further segmentation of Lost's target audience is Passive and Active audiences. One way lost attempted to gratify these audiences was through its hiring of the accomplished composer Michael Giacchino, who produced a score which created connotations which made its viewing easier for a passive audience. The use of high pitched drones and chrechendoes allowed a a passive audience to enjoy the show without becoming too active, gratifying its target audience which just want an easy watch, without being too challenged. However whilst Giacchinos work allowed Abrams to target a wider audience, Lost also graitys active viewers. 

Another demonstration of how Lost targets a very wide audience is through the use of enigma codes. An enigma code is conveyed  in one scene in which Walter finds handcuff on the ground, leading an active viewer to question is meaning. Another example is when Terry O'Quin talks to Walter about the Backgammon black and white pieces, which provide a double narrative which gratifys an active viewers desires. Abram's emphasis upon the score and his inclusion of enigma codes is further designed to entertain both active and passive viewers, gratifying wider audiences and in turn returning more profit.