Stranger Things Representations

Scene by Scene Narrative

Stranger Things Scene by Scene Analysis

Stranger Things Character Analysis

1980s film references in Stranger Things

The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

• Star Wars is one of the largest film franchises of all-time of which the second film in the original trilogy was released in 1980
• The Empire Strikes Back was released three years before the first episode of Stranger Things
• The film was of massive popularity with a male-adolescent audience in the 1980s 
• in the Stranger Things poster, "eleven" stands with her outstretched which is a reference to the 'force' that is such a key part of the Star Wars story
• Mike shows Elle a Yoda toy and refers to her "Jedi-like powers" and Dustin refers to Elle as "Lando" whenever he feels betrayed but this never applies

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

• References to parents whose obsession with the supernatural which comes across like madness
• in the film Close Encounters Richard Dreyfuss' character terrorises his family to follow his obsession with aliens
• Joyce (the mother) realises her missing is trying to alert her through the electrical wires in her house, so she buys a load of Christmas lights in an attempt to reach him
• Her system of communication with a multitude of flashing lights throughout the programme pays homage to the ending of Close Encounters

E.T: Extra Terrestrial 

• The show pays many great references to the classic Steven Spielberg's ET with the story of a lonely American boy befriending an alien in need
• The landscape of a suburban town in the forest with boys dashing around their bikes and many chaotic houses with supernatural creatures hiding without their parents knowing a few examples of the references
• The relationship between Mike and Eleven directly resembles the powerful friendship between ET and Elliott 

Introduction to Long Form TV Drama

Institutional Context

1. US network broadcasters must satisfy advertisers and hold market share that is controlled by federal regulation
2. The impact of this on context is a reliance on highly formalised genre conventions which meet mainstream expectations but conservative drama

US Cable TV

• Launched in the 1970s HBO was the first US national subscription channel 
• Major US players include: FX, Showtime and AMC
• These subscriptions based cable channels can take more risks with their context 
• By the 2000s 'water cooler' moments were created

Trouble with UK TV Drama?

• UK broadcasters have failed to compete with US cable channels so have moved towards LFTVD in order to allow cable and subscription channels to take more and more risks
• Terrestrial channels rely heavily on genre-based, formulaic drama
• SKY Atlantic has helped harness the success of LFTVD within the UK

Subscription VOD (video on demand)

• Content viewing via a TV still dominates the UK
• 3/4 of UK households have a personal video recorder to uptake but it has since stagnated and then reduced due to technology such as the planner etc
• Use of time-shifting has increased
• Growth of SVOD web based channels is considerable with Netflix dominating this sector with 24% of the UK market and 5 million subscribers, a 10 %  increase since 2015-16

Why do audiences love LFTVD?

• High quality drama
• Multiple episodes
• Content can be dark, difficult and innovative
• Attracts the best quality actors and writers from around the world
• Time shifting makes it easily accessible
• Rise of binge watching
• Keeps people invested
• A lot of creativity 
• Lots of different companies competing
• Streaming services will allow them to be more niche
• Can play with the theme and character development in unique ways 
• State of the nation TV and Cultural Zeitgeist

What does TV Drama need?

• Various Locations
• Stock Characters
• Multiple Narratives
• Generally one hour episodes
• Dramatic cliff hangers
• High production values

What does it mean?

• has a number of episodes in order to create a narrative 
• technological change within the industry has helped its growth
• how audiences consume and interpret their LFTVD
• values, attitudes and beliefs through representations
• Considering economic context behind the large budgets

Its coming home