Red Band Society is Fox's newest coming of age TV drama produced by Steven Spielberg originally aired September 17, 2014. Fox's target demographic of viewers is everyone under the age of 50. The demographic of viewers is particularly evident through the show's use of broad age range. The show's plot is centered in Los Angeles's Ocean Park Hospital where teenagers form an unlikely but intense bond as they live together on the pediatric ward fighting cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart failure, and eating disorders. The particular episode used for this analysis is the series Pilot episode. .
The pilot episode ran for 45-minutes focused on introducing the audience members to the shows main characters. The introduction is done by narrator and comma patient Charlie. Charlie introduces each character by sharing a brief summary of each of their lives before entering the hospital. Charlie's main focus is on the teenage patients, but he does not neglect to introduce hospital doctors, nurses, and other staff members. Charlie does this by switching between introducing each character and narrating the events of the current day. .
Several theoretical approaches should be considered when analyzing the effects Red Band Society has on the viewing population. The Magic Bullet Theory, also known as the Hypodermic Needle Theory was the first major theory involving the effects mass media had on society. Glen Sparks informs his readers that the magic bullet theory relies on the notion that "once the [media] message reaches the audience, it will exert powerful, relatively uniform effects on whoever processes it."(Sparks, 2012, p.58). That is to say; the mass media send a direct, immediate, and powerful message to which every viewer interprets, processes, and internalizes the same way. Magic bullet theorist believe the media (needle or bullet) injects a message into the minds of the audience members causing the audience to change their behavior or psyche towards the message.
