Stranger Things Character Representation

Representations

Write a paragraph on each of these areas

Teenagers

In Stranger Things, Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas have been shown in a very geeky light. This is due to them playing a role playing board game downstairs, creating own campaigns, staying after class to use geeky equipment and having a lot of pop culture references which no one else but them get. However, Johnathan is presented as more of an adult due to his duties of cooking breakfast, taking extra shifts at work and getting his little brother, Will, ready for school. Nancy is the typical nerdy student whom studies and sticks to the rules; however, with the bad influence of Steve Harrington, the high school ‘Jock’, she is slowly putting Steve as her main priority rather than studying and going to class.

Family life and relationships

Mike Wheelers family life is the perfect definition of a 1980s white suburban, middle class household. With heterosexual white parents and two healthy sisters the family can be classes and privileged. His father is a typical Dad, who leaves all the household duties to the mother and just sits back and relaxes while at home. Will Byers is from a loving family whose parents have split but has a male role model to look up to, his brother. The family seems to financially struggle, due to John taking extra shifts at work, as well as Joyce working night shifts. The monetary issues has little effect on the families happiness; however, Will is presented to be an outlier in the group and doesn’t quite fit anywhere due to his quirkiness. Hopper used to have a family, however at the end of the episode it was revealed that Hoppers daughter died and his relationship with the mother is unknown.

Mothers

Joyce Byers is a hard working committed mother, however, cannot carry the whole load of the house, which is why she has delegated house duties to John due to her working late night shifts. Although financially unstable, Joyce still finds the money to spoil the kids, such as taking Will to a show which he thought he couldn’t go to. This shows her strong affection to her kids although it may not seem that way due to her always working.

Absent fathers

Jim Hopper is somewhat of an absent father as he previously had a family but doesn’t like to mention the fact his daughter died. Will Byers father is an absent father in the fact that he split with Joyce. Unlike Joyce, Mr. Byers has moved on and started a new life in a city with another woman, most likely younger due to her brief moment on the phone.

Police

Jim Hopper is a lonely, isolated officer. He has late nights and passes out on the couch opposed to sleeping in a bed. He wakes up with a cigarette and uses alcohol as mouthwash. These late nights cause him to come to work early, however he is the Sheriff which may show he believes he has more authority than the other policemen. Due to the death of his daughter he plagues himself with alcohol and cigarettes and lives a boring life. The police is shown to be more of a community service for the town as the worst thing that has happened in the city was a resident getting attacked by a bird as the bird thought her hair was a nest.

Government – Scientists

The government is represented in a very mysterious light. Episode 1 only shows brief glimpses of what appears to be the government but isn’t totally obvious as to who they are. They appear to listen in on the whole city, with workers just listening in on peoples conversations whilst smoking. Their main focus seems to be capturing Eleven and will go through killing innocent people just to do so. This makes the government seem corrupt; however, they have appeared to of created a monster, which already killed one person and has taken Will Byers.

Supernatural

Supernatural activity occur throughout the first episode. Some sort of creature is features briefly throughout the episode, however never fully shown. The creature has been distinguished from eerie sounds it makes, as well as glowing eyes. Will Byers crashed his bike due to seeing this creature in the middle of the road. Supernatural is further represented through the lightbulb constantly flickering, which seems to be being controlled by the creatures presence, as well as the weird telephone exploding in Joyce’s ear.

Stranger Things Characters

Character	Information
Joyce Byers	Major or Minor Character? Major Stereotype?  Single Mother Characteristics? -        Anxious -        Caring -        Unorganised Contribution to Narrative?  Mother to Will Byers, the missing kid. Wants to know what happened to him.
Jim Hopper	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? -        Lazy -        Lonely -        Leader Contribution to Narrative? Sheriff of the town. Currently leading investigation on the Missing of Will Byers.
Mike Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Nerdy teenager Characteristics? -        Nerdy -        Courageous -        Smart Contribution to Narrative? Friend of Will Byers. Forces group to go searching for him.
Dustin Henderson	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Nerdy teenager Characteristics? -        Nerdy -        Scared -        Outgoing Contribution to Narrative? Friend of Will Byers. Afraid of whatever took Will.
Lucas Sinclair	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Nerdy teenager Characteristics? -        Nerdy -        Brave -        Smart Contribution to Narrative? Friend of Will Byers. Follows Mike into the woods to search for Will.
Will Byers	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Outlier Characteristics? -        Quirky -        Awkward -        Outsider Contribution to Narrative? Focus of whole narrative, kid gone missing.
Eleven	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Supernatural hero. Characteristics? -        Quiet -        Scared -        Dangerous Contribution to Narrative? Is the only one that appears to have the powers to get will back.
Jonathan Byers	Major or Minor Character? Minor Stereotype? Caring older brother Characteristics? -        Helpful -        Outlier -        Caring Contribution to Narrative? Is Will Byers older brother, seems to be the fatherly figure of the Byers house. subverts teenage role
Nancy Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? Minor Stereotype? Geeky student. Characteristics? -        Smart -        In love Contribution to Narrative? Brother of Mike. Currently flirting with Steve Harrington.
Steve Harrington	Major or Minor Character? Minor Stereotype? Nerdy teenager Characteristics? -        Nerdy -        Scared -        Smart Contribution to Narrative? Subverts typical Jock
Barbara Holland	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?
Benny Hammond	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?
Mr Clarke	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?
Connie Frazier (Social Worker)	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative? Subverting female role
The Scientists	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?
Ted Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?
Karen Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? Major  Stereotype? Lazy police officer Characteristics? Contribution to Narrative?

Stranger Things Links

Scene by Scene
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aJ13cONdae2NH1OQN9MT0NiR1T2IEsxAMt8ozDtBJy0/edit?usp=sharing

Industry https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DKcvKnSWZvZXUU4h_3mObZCjs5QFhMcCQDkQZsHRi-8/edit?usp=sharing

Representation https://docs.google.com/document/d/121UzR6cCeh6KCm3bYVKzySjEH4PL86o6TE7Cy0CsMZw/edit?usp=sharing

Stranger Things Essay

How are different social groups represented in the sequence you have analyzed? What role does the use of media language, signs and signifiers have in constructing and presenting these representations as real? 

In the TV Drama Stranger Things, there are many representations featured throughout. One of the main representations in the storyline are teenagers and the different types. There are two different types of teens one being the pre-teens, who are Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas and are represented as the stereotypical nerdy, excited, prepubescent youths. We can imply this because throughout the first episode before Will goes missing, they are all playing a board game getting heavily excited and enthusiastic about being together. This shows how much they enjoy hanging out with their friends and then be with their families just like the stereotypical young teen. We can also know they are enjoying hanging out with each other by their facial expressions and the close-ups used by the camera to show their faces lighting up with interest after every game movement. Concentration was another expression on the boy's faces suggesting they had a serious side to them making them all very similar and with a close friendship. The teenage representation is shown again through their use of language when they shout at one another the word “pussy”, which is a word often used when throwing an insult and potentially showing power. By using this term, they show their ages because ‘pussy’ is most commonly used by young teens to show the power of opinion. This reinforces the audience how close and honest friends they are. When Mike’s mother tells them to stop playing later on in the scene, they are represented as a stereotypical grumpy teen. This shows that when told what to do the boys moan are not happy due to their age and the fact they are having fun hanging out.

The authority in the town is another representation featured in the drama and is through the Sheriff. He is represented as the typical lazy sheriff who sleeps, smokes and gives off a laid back persona. This is because in one of the opening scenes the camera slowly rises and it shows the sheriff laying on the sofa with a mess all over his house and being late for work. This instantly makes the character seem real as he fits the stereotypical lazy, unorganized sheriff making the audience feel like they know him. The lighting also helps represent him because it is dull and the weather looks miserable. However, due to the fact it's fragmented throughout the episode, our opinion changes about him and we find out he lost his daughter changing his representation to a more softer, caring character. This makes the audience feel sympathy for him and shows the series may have more to offer and find out.

The other type of teens represented is the older, more mature ones showed through Nancy and Steve. Nancy is represented as the typical ‘girl next door’, unpopular high school girl who is always studying and always wants to make her grades. This is shown through her fashion taste, wearing long skirts and high necks, being represented as a teen who is well dressed and cares about her appearance.  It is also shown by the slow panning of the camera on her body in order to show off her 80’s styled clothes and her innocent face. However, Steve is the complete opposite ‘bad boy’ rebellious teen, who in the storyline is trying to get with Nancy. He is represented as this through his clothing choice; roll necks, clear up, gelled back hair and a repeated smirk throughout the first episode. Steve is represented as a ‘trouble maker’ teen because in the narrative he distracts Nancy from studying and is a bad influence on her. This is a stereotypical real representation of teens because many incidents like this happen all the time within the youth making the characters more realistic to the audience.