The history of stranger things

 The duffer brothers

The duffer brothers were born in 1984 and began making films in the third grade on a Hi8 camera. They moved to orange county California in order to attend chapman university in film studies where they both graduated in 2007. After writing a number of short films, a script of theirs was picked up by warner media for the film Hidden in 2011. the brothers directed the film in 2012 and were later hired by Director M. Night Shyamalan to write for his Fox drama Wayward pines. 

Stranger things

After discussing the movie as a jumping off point they said a lot of their stories and ideas were based off of cold war experiments and the supernatural being more grounded in reality. This is where the idea for stranger things came from as the monster to appear in the show is not some spiritual demon but rather a lifeform from another dimension disturbed by experiments. Furthermore the character of 11 is based loosely on the CIA experiments program MKUltra which was a plan to use psychedelics such as LSD in order to establish control over a persons mind. 

Production and distribution

The show was produced by 21 laps and was an original Netflix series so paid for them and distributed by them exclusively. In the US it has been ranked as the most popular digital series only a week after its release however exact figures are not know as Netflix is notoriously cagey about their figures.

Netflix

Netflix has over 167 million with a standard price of £5.99 and additional 'premium' prices can go up to £13.99. CEO Ted Sarandos has championed the production house 'Netflix originals' by committing $17bn to originals in 2020. $2bn more than the previous year.

comparison of genres

 Stranger Things

• Sci fi
• buddy 
• Thriller
• Love
• Coming of age
  
  

The Killing

• Thriller 
• Detective
• Nordic Noire

Nordic Noire, also known as Scandinavian noire, is a genre of crime fiction set in the Scandinavian countries. The stories are normally set from a police point of view and tackle dark crimes like murder, kidnapping and rape whilst reflecting tones of racism and misogyny in daily Scandinavian society. The genre is in contrast to the typical English country house murder mystery akin to Sherlock Holmes or Gosford park.

Stranger things

• The show represents the cultural; icon of a American small western town community
• The shows intertextuality shows the 1980s Spielbergian tv family of a mostly white, suburban life with a mother trying tov hold the family together and a detached or absent father figure with children banding together and becoming loyal 
• The show embodies the idea of 'an enemy within' in a post 9/11 world which there audicenc3e will be more aware of terrorism
• The show from an economic stand point also reflect the success of streaming services and the 'new age' of television as the show is somewhat a flagship for the new medium

Feminist theory

Talk about the theorist. 

Give examples of the case studies. 

Ay how the theory applies to media. 

Say how it does not.  

 

How to approach question one 

First, describe a typical male and female. 

Female- Smaller, caring, maternal, more emotional.  

Male- Stronger, aggressive, taller, more immature, sports 

 

Lisbet Van Zoonen Feminist theory 

Her theory says that our idea of gender identity come from the media and it influences the clothes we buy our children, the sports we let our kids play and how we overall raise our kids. Looking at films in the past which depict women as damsels in distress who need protecting and men being action hero's shape the way we see masculinity. Zoonen also believes that identity is not fixed, and changes based on the cultural context as what it means to be masculine will change based on time and location for example, women will have a vastly different gender identity compared to the UK. The next part of Zoonens theory is that women are objectified in the media, they can be looked at as an object instead of a person someone without feelings or something to be sold. In particular, women's bodies are used as ways to push products and catch people eyes and lusted over. In her view, women are often viewed in society as maternal, domestic as the stay-at-home mother who cleans the house and cooks the food. She thinks men are more viewed as individuals suited to power and politics. She says that men's bodies are seen as spectacular showing that their bodies are something they have worked hard on and are meant to respect it. 

The Sun 

After the death of the woman, instead of using a respectful image, they have plastered a giant picture of her in a bikini to get attention through sexual attraction. 

Oscar Pistorius 

Chose an image of him running and even referred to him as the ‘blade runner.’ 

News lesson

 Three news headlines

1. Families distraught over their dead children's names being used by undercover police officers

2.

3.

Two Media theories 

1. Stuart Halls representation theory

2. David Gauntletts' Identity theory

One statistic

1. 80% of the newspaper industry is controlled by 3 companies

Klay Shirky's End of audience theory

• Basically says the idea of an audience that mindlessly enjoys what they can, He believes that audiences are far more active and thanks to the introducing of technology has made use more expecting of entertainment instantly and now expect more interaction with our entertainment. Things like newspapers and magazines are declining as they are much less interactive. The news is brought to us in completely different ways and as newspapers are in competition with one another by offering services that will give them the edge over rivals. Audiences no longer want to be at the bottom of the hierarchy when it comes to entertainment, they now want to directly communicate with the top of the hierarchy telling them what they like and don't like. Shirky believes that audiences are gaining more of the power in the media.

George Gerbner's Cultivation theory

• Media is able to build up a reception of a group of people and this will eventually grow into a characteristic of that group to society and can lead to stereotypes
• If you see a characteristic portraited constantly shown you will eventually associated that with the group it is aimed at.

News Industry- Macro information

• Due to a decline in print news, newspapers have gradually moved more digitally over the past 10 years

question 4- Evaluate the usefulness of one of the following theories in understanding audiences for online newspapers such as the guardian and the daily mail (10) Shirkey end of audience theory or Gerbner's cultivation theory

1. summaries the theory's and what they mean for websites- briefly

2.Outline one way these theories helps us to understand audiences from our case study websites. give examples for each to back up the points

3.Evaluate one way that way audiences work does not apply to the theory.

The Killing Context 3

•  The show was globally distributed across Europe in countries like Germany and Holland and the shows success is largely attributed to another Nordic Noire show Wallander which came before it.
• There are three series in total with most being set in the Danish military and following themes of rape, torture, kidnapping and murder, typical Nordic noire conventions.
• The show was critically acclaimed and received BAFTA awards and Emmys
• Novels of the series were produced by Macmillan
• The show received an American adaptation

The different worlds of the characters overlap in the show with it showing not only the murder cases, but also the domestic world of both our protagonist Sarah Lund and the domestic life off the victims family the Brik Larssens. This is done to ground the show in reality and show the impact things like murder can have on a person's life. Furthermore the integrate the political element of the country into the show to give the show more depth and spread out the narrative.

What genre is the Killing

The bridge

• Setting: Metropolitan area in both Denmark and Sweden
• Characters: tension between the two cops from Denmark and Sweden
• Appearance: Use of natural lighting and less darkness
• Weather: mostly clouding bleak
• Storyline: deep interact look at serial killer and criminal masterminds
• Use of color: no bright shining colors rather plain dim
• Language: both in Danish and Swedish

Mammon

• Setting: More rural forests, villages, churches
• Characters: Seems to be a link of family ties and political figures
• Appearance: Dark murk appearance with low lighting
• Weather: Gray bleak skies void of any sunshine
• Storyline: Uncovering corruption and revealing the truth while secretive people try to stop them
• Use of color: Very little bright colors accept red, use of blood 
• Language: Secretive and threatening

The Legacy

• Setting: in a large house and surrounding area
• Characters: These siblings who have clear experienced some trauma along with there mother
• Appearance: More earthy aesthetic
• Weather: More sun than most of the other noire shows
• Storyline: Seems to be about abuse and dark family secrets
• Use of color: use of white backgrounds making it seem almost pristine
• Language: secretive and aggressive along with the mothers nurture

The killing is targeted at 25-55 year old's in a group called ABC1 and is gender neutral however does lean slightly to females with the use of a female protagonist. The shows audience is culturally literate and understand the conventions of the Nordic Noire genre. In the UK, the BBC4 audience are known to expect well written quality original dramas which this applies.

As a result of the success of the Killing, the Nordic noire genre has seen a risen in popularity spawning many British shows 

The Killing characters and context

 Character adjectives

Sarah Lund- cold, methodical, enthralled, rational, careful

Theis Birk Larsen- caring, emotional, protective, reasonable, aggressive

Inspector Jan- dismissive, comedic, unreasonable, laid-back

Pernille- emotional, protective,  

Nanna- secretive, terrified, vulnerable

Mayor Bremer- corrupt, 

Troels Hartmann- corrupt, passionate

Men are perhaps portrait as more one dimensional compared to the women in the story

3.6.1.5.4.7.2

1. Nanna runs away from her pursuer

2. Sarah Lund moves out of her office

3. Pernille calls Theis to fix her dishwasher

4. Politician Troels Hartmann visits the grave of his dead wife

5. Lisa text Nanna

6.Theis shows Vagn his new house

7.The body of nanna is discovered in the boot of a car

still 1. Nanna, a 19 year old student, is hiding in the woods from her pursuers.

Still 2. Troels Hartmann and his associate Rie, who are having an affair, are engaged in passionate eye contact after returning his watch

Still 3. Theis and Pernille are enjoying each others company whilst Theis attempts to fix their dishwasher.

These three stills are linked through Nanna as the 1st still is her, the 2nd still is of her potential killers and the 3rd is of her parents

context for the show

• The show is set in Copenhagen, Denmark
• Bleak Dark settings deliberately chosen (Looks more like a typically rainy British city rather than a glamorous European capital.
• Originally broadcast in Denmark in 2007, the show was picked up by BBC4 and showed it weekly on Saturday past watershed
• First shown in a double bill over 10 Saturdays
• Decision to schedule on BBC4 based on its educated culturally ware target audience
• "BBC4 is the best place to showcase the best television from around the world and when language isn't a barrier" - Richard Klein (former BBC4 controller)

News Lesson- Regulation and the press

the regulatory body of the press is considered weak and has little to no clout in stopping papers, For example, the daily mail ran a story of a murder. In march 2021, they ran a story on the murder of Sarah Everard, in which they constantly pinned the murder on the police officer who was suspected to have commuted the crime. In which, they gave the mans name, address and many other details which would normally result in complaints.

The daily mail is a very pro-royal paper, one of the main reasons is because of their owner, Viscount Rothmere

Stuart \hall- representation theory

'Meghan Markle's public image has been tainted by the media's constant bashing of her and constructed villainous persona'. I believe that Meghan has been targeted due to many factors such as her gender, her race, her nationality and her personality all clashing with right-wing views.

stereotypes often come about when the dominant hegemonic group are in power. The hegemonic group in our society is typically middle to upper-class, middle-age white men. Because these groups have less experience with others, when representing them they will tend to show them through there own perspective with a lot of these being negative. for example, women are normally shown as weak with strong women being bashed as too aggressive whilst ethnic groups such as black can be stereotyped as uneducated and violent.

The Killing

 The Killing 

 Tv crime drama produced in Denmark.

Initial observation: more natural lighting. gritty noire setting, female protagonist, murder/crime drama, political figures, police drama, tension. All of these are aspects of the Nordic Noire drama. 

Nordic noire: explores corruption, rape, misogyny, racism, police, shootings, child abduction and other dark and seedy parts of society. It will also typically be written for the police point of view. The protagonist will also tend to be a complex and unconventional hero, standing out from the gritty setting. Shows like the killing explore parental grief in harrowing detail.

Media language- Not shown the whole body which allows us to imagine what the cause of her death might be.

Racial tension- constantly mock Sweden even getting the police chief a mock Swedish sex doll before she departs.

misogyny- he police chief is a woman which is very uncommon, the forensics are very dismissive of prostitutes. Main character is shown to be more cold and methodical, subverting from the common gender stereotype of a woman.

political- politician is shown to have clear grief in his past. politicians are normally portrait as corrupt or liars. Makes it clear that they live in a democracy. Someone is trying to blackmail a politician a key convention in dramas. Plays back into the convention of corruption

Nana's family- seem like a loving family portrait as happy and caring. Her dad is well respected and seems to care about his friends. feel the emotion loss of a child

Music- intense music fitting with the ton of mystery. Music swells with the reveal of the car symbolizing its important

Mise en scene- wise shot shows the extend of the search for Nanna. The constant bleak Danish sky plays into the Nordic noire type. 

Characters in the killing episode 1:

Jan Meyer

Troels Hartmann- Politician, linked to the case of Nanna, campaign associates car found at the crime scene

social, political and cultural context

 Genre

Genre is the word given to the subsidiaries of entertainment like books, movies and television and are defined by the the different tropes and conventions they posses as well as emotions they create. for example text in the Horror genre will typically include darkness, mystery, murder and convey the feelings of dread and fear.

 

This image defines the group or buddy genre mostly as the it shows 4 best friends sitting around a table playing. It also represents a coming of age story with the character. The camera angle tried to encompass all 4 friends at once show their importance to the story. There is also a light switched on November wills head giving the audience a foresight into what the main plot point is going to be. 

 

 

This image best describes the coming of age genre, the camera work deliberately isolates the two on screen to give you a sense of togetherness, making the older man come off as a father figure with eleven. There is also shuttle use of miss in scene with the two condiments bottles between the two characters 

 

 

This still represents the high school genre best as it has the stereotypes of a high school all in on scene with the nerd, the jock and his group and  the love interest. In this scene Barbara is quite distanced from the other character no only showing her drift from her best friend Nancy, but foreshadowing her fate later on. 

 

This still is best defining of the love genre or rather the teenage love genre. This can be seen in the camera angle as it focuses on the character closely to show all facial expressions. The dialogue also shows a lack of trust between the two love interests. 

This still best shows off the thriller genre and is best combed through the look on Joyce’s face. This ominous lack of lights furthers the tension as she answers the phone with a look of desperation on her face.