STRANGER THINGS - LESSON 1: 80s CONTEXT + GENRE
WHAT WAS THE ATMOSPHERE LIKE IN THE 80S:
1//The cold war ended, concern shifted to China
2//Pollution Persists
3//Electronic Innovations
4//1981 tax cut + Reagonomics
5//Tense relations with Iran
6//War on drugs
7//Developments in the space program + shuttles
8//Spread of HIV/AIDS
9//Cable TV goes mainstream - MTV, ESPN
10//Rise of Yuppie culture
E.T. was the highest grossing film of the decade, made by Stephen Spielberg.
The bestselling book of the 80s was Stephen King's IT. They made it into a film in 1990 and remade it in 2017, starring one of the cast of Stranger Things, Finn Wolfhard, who plays Mike.
GENRE IN STRANGER THINGS:
Sci-Fi, Coming of Age, Thriller, Crime, Love, Buddy
It is important for Stranger Things to expand it's TA because people pay for Netflix, a very genre-reliant platform. If they don't appeal to multiple genres, not many people will watch it. It is a multi-genre show, about exploring genre rather than belonging to a genre.
INTERTEXTUALITY IN STRANGER THINGS:
A big influence on Stranger Things comes from other 80s texts and so it has become one big Hybrid genre.
SOCIAL CONTEXT:
The episode intertextually reflects 80s family and gender relationships and is set within a spielbergian, mostly white, world of suburban family life, representing mothers as figures struggling to hold the family together, fathers as absent or incentive and distracted, and young boys as establishing a fierce loyalty and masculine camaraderie in the face of a hostile world. Mike's teenage sister, Nancy, is represented in contradictory ways, she anti-stereotypically excels at science while still fitting the stereotypes of the teenage girl (reflecting theories such as Gauntlett). The episode shows the influence of social anxieties about the consequences of scientific experimentation.
CULTURAL CONTEXT:
The episode shows the influence of the cultural icon of the american small town community developed by Hollywood cinema, not least in the 80s. This representation has global recognition (by international audiences used to being positioned as Americans), given the global success of the Hollywood blockbusters of that era.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
The 'enemy within' and random attacks on the innocent. The unregulated secret response of the government.
POLITICAL CONTEXT:
The episode reflects anxiety about the power of the central state in relation to the local community: the episode represents a shadowy world of possibly sinister enforcement agents, suggesting an all-powerful secret state, whereas the local police, by contrast, are represented in a humanised way - they are god natured but made lazy and complacent until forced into action. However, the representations are perhaps deliberately stereotyped for intertextual effect - to recreate the world of 80s films - which may suggest a more polysemic reading.
ECONOMIC CONTEXT:
The episode reflects the continued success of streaming services such as Netflix who need to maintain the brand with innovative and original programming.
HELPFUL LINKS:
E.T. Trailer (1982)
IT trailer (1990)
Stranger Things Trailer (2016)
Stranger Things Intertextuality
1//The cold war ended, concern shifted to China
2//Pollution Persists
3//Electronic Innovations
4//1981 tax cut + Reagonomics
5//Tense relations with Iran
6//War on drugs
7//Developments in the space program + shuttles
8//Spread of HIV/AIDS
9//Cable TV goes mainstream - MTV, ESPN
10//Rise of Yuppie culture
E.T. was the highest grossing film of the decade, made by Stephen Spielberg.
GENRE IN STRANGER THINGS:
Sci-Fi, Coming of Age, Thriller, Crime, Love, Buddy
It is important for Stranger Things to expand it's TA because people pay for Netflix, a very genre-reliant platform. If they don't appeal to multiple genres, not many people will watch it. It is a multi-genre show, about exploring genre rather than belonging to a genre.
INTERTEXTUALITY IN STRANGER THINGS:
A big influence on Stranger Things comes from other 80s texts and so it has become one big Hybrid genre.
SOCIAL CONTEXT:
The episode intertextually reflects 80s family and gender relationships and is set within a spielbergian, mostly white, world of suburban family life, representing mothers as figures struggling to hold the family together, fathers as absent or incentive and distracted, and young boys as establishing a fierce loyalty and masculine camaraderie in the face of a hostile world. Mike's teenage sister, Nancy, is represented in contradictory ways, she anti-stereotypically excels at science while still fitting the stereotypes of the teenage girl (reflecting theories such as Gauntlett). The episode shows the influence of social anxieties about the consequences of scientific experimentation.
CULTURAL CONTEXT:
The episode shows the influence of the cultural icon of the american small town community developed by Hollywood cinema, not least in the 80s. This representation has global recognition (by international audiences used to being positioned as Americans), given the global success of the Hollywood blockbusters of that era.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
The 'enemy within' and random attacks on the innocent. The unregulated secret response of the government.
POLITICAL CONTEXT:
The episode reflects anxiety about the power of the central state in relation to the local community: the episode represents a shadowy world of possibly sinister enforcement agents, suggesting an all-powerful secret state, whereas the local police, by contrast, are represented in a humanised way - they are god natured but made lazy and complacent until forced into action. However, the representations are perhaps deliberately stereotyped for intertextual effect - to recreate the world of 80s films - which may suggest a more polysemic reading.
ECONOMIC CONTEXT:
The episode reflects the continued success of streaming services such as Netflix who need to maintain the brand with innovative and original programming.
HELPFUL LINKS:
E.T. Trailer (1982)
IT trailer (1990)
Stranger Things Trailer (2016)
Stranger Things Intertextuality
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