The Bletchley Circle, a historical drama from 2012, is a three-episode long show that centers around a group of four women who met in 1943 during World War II as code breakers for the British army. Jean, Millie, Susan, and Lucy (pictured above from left to right) decipher and crack a German code that reveals German troops are approaching. With the code deciphered, they save the British military and other allies from the planned surprise attack from the Germans. Nine years later in 1952, they are all separated and back to their "ordinary lives."
Although this show is fictional, it is based on actual events. There really was a group of code-breakers at Bletchley Park in England. According to the Computer History Museum website, one of the most prominent pieces of technology used was dubbed the "Colossus," an electronic code-breaking computer. Additionally, most of the code-breakers that were employed were women. They operated many Colossus machines and other devices such as the ENIGMA encryption/decryption device. Above is a picture of British code-breakers operating a Colossus.
The pilot episode introduces the gruesome disappearances and subsequent murders of four women, each found in different locations throughout London. At this point, Susan is a housewife and takes care of her two children Sam and Claire while her husband, Timothy, is the family breadwinner. Right away it is easy to see that Susan is not entirely happy with where she is in her life now. She is extremely smart and it is revealed that she enjoys crosswords and puzzles in her free time. To her husband, all she did during the war was clerical work, but due to the nondisclosure agreements the women signed, they could not tell their spouses or others of their secret code-breaking assignment. Instead of focusing on puzzles, though, Susan spends her time thinking about the recent string of murders and any possible connections between them. She thinks of the killings like they're codes to crack.
Susan's intelligence is a divergence from societal norms. Her independence and determination to crack the code of the killer's murder spree is strong proof that women are valuable in the workforce. They can be more than housewives or waitresses. Susan consistently remembers a saying one of her old friends told her: "Don't be ordinary." Her actions in the show and her propensity for making a difference in others lives (specifically to stop the murders from continuing) support the strong dominant representation the show pushes for: women are strong, intelligent people that can make a difference in any field they're in. Unfortunately, due to the patriarchal views society embraces at the time (since it is 1952), Susan's independence and intelligence are often downplayed by men. Therefore, the show pushes for a dominant representation that women can do anything, whereas in the show itself and during that time period, the dominant representation was that women needed to return to their domestic duties and stay there.
To understand the importance of the dominant representations in this series, we must define some terms. Representation is defined as "the social process of making and exchanging meaning" (Carah and Louw 27). The creators of the show are encoders which are defined as "those with the power and ability to create and circulate a messages within a culture or discourse community" (Carah and Louw 30). In other words, the creators (or anyone actively helping with the show such as the crew, editors, etc.) have a job to portray their message as strongly as possible. In this case, they are pushing for the idea that women are capable of doing whatever they want. Although this is a subversive discourse during the time period in which the show takes place, they push for it to be dominant in the show to the viewer, or decoder. As viewers, it is our job to decode the message the encoder is emphasizing. Or, we may decode other messages that encoders may not have intended to send. Decoding may be subjective.
Ultimately, Susan tells Timothy of her suspicions regarding the murders. He plays it off, thinking she is treating such despair like a measly puzzle. Due to Timothy's high position in his job, he has many connections to powerful people, so Susan asks if she can see the deputy commissioner and tell him about the pattern she sees in the killings. She talks with the commissioner and explains the next possible location of the murderer's next victim. He sends out a squad of police to investigate, but they come back empty handed. Timothy is very embarrassed with his wife's failure to pinpoint the next victim and her strong interest in puzzles. "I tried--we tried," he said, to try and help console her. He effectively inherits her failure. Timothy's downplaying of Susan's intelligence subliminally show the dominant idea of their society, that men were meant to be the breadwinners, the most intelligent, and in control. While women could do more than just be a housewife or a waitress at the time, their intelligences were still questioned and men still dominated STEM related jobs and higher business positions. Depending on the viewer, Timothy's reaction of Susan's interests and subsequent embarrassment of her may be a negotiated or oppositional representation. Viewers may understand and validate Timothy's reactions and behavior toward Susan, but may disapprove of it. Or, viewers may completely reject his behavior and the patriarchal standards of the time.
As a result of the lack of victim at Susan's proposed location, she becomes depressed and burns her stash of newspaper clippings and pictures she collected about the murders since it began. However, as she pokes the embers in the fireplace, she almost tosses in a picture of her with her old friends back at Bletchley Park. She flips the picture over to find their addresses. This reignites her determination to find the killer and prevent further murders. By now, the pilot is halfway over but it takes a hopeful turn when Susan commits to reuniting with her friends and convincing them to help her crack the code of the cold-blooded killer.
Cited Sources
Louw, Eric, and Nicholas Carah. Media and Society: Production, Content & Participation. Sage, 2015.
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