Les Revenants, Reception theory, genre theory, regulation

Les revenants is about the interrelationship between sex and death

Explores the concepts of grief, misery, the feeling of losing a loved one.. But yet, how did it appeal to a mass-market audience?

The show, while unconventional for the Horror genre, it is greatly generic as per the standards of conventional dramas and mysteries.

From an aesthetic perspective, many of the significant characters are hegemonically attractive, the cast of all ages may appeal to someone. Sort of equivalent to a rom-com. 

The family drama aspect of a family trying to push through a series of tough events, when boiled down to it is deeply relatable.

Binary oppositions between many characters featured, Victor and Julie. Lena and Camille, Adele and Simon.

Co-financed between Canal+, as well as the French alps tourist board.

Stuart Hall - Reception Theory

The preferred reading for Les Revenants is clear for the viewer to enjoy the mystery narrative,, the interrelationship between sex and death as mentioned above,  and understand the connotations of the loss of innocence being equivalent to death.

An oppositional reading of the show is that viewers may find the mysteries extremely annoying, or tiring. Perhaps give it a miss entirely based upon it being a French show with subtitles

Steve Neale - Theory of genre

How we apply his theory to the first episode:

For a drama that intends to keep viewers invested based upon it's mystery in the narrative, it seldom offers any answers.

Camille is an atypical monster, there is virtually nothing she does that is 'spooky' or evil, she simply comes back from the dead out of the blue. This is entirely unconventional for the horror genre.

Livingstone and Hunt - Regulation in the media industries

Violence - The tunnel stabbing scene plays upon real-life anxieties and fears of local crime, so could genuinely be effective to some viewers due to this relatability.

Sex - not glorified, but still shown and implied between underage characters. (With adult actors)

Language - Lastly, the show is just keen on swears and slurs, which is generally placed at a higher age rating for obvious reasons in regulation.