Wednesday 15 March 2017

Stranger Things and audience appeal

One of the keys to the continued popularity of Stranger Things continuing popularity is its ability to simultaneously address a range of audiences. This makes it an excellent example of a text to make reference to in the MS1 exam. Here are a few examples of how to apply audience theory to a key scene.


Key scene - going to school


This scene starts with a montage of establishing shots, positioning the audience in a typical US high school in the mid-1980's. This opening montage makes heavy use of referential codes, playing off the knowledge that the audience has of 80's teen movies. The use of natural, warm lighting may provide gratifications of escapism for UK viewers, a country not known for its good weather.


After an initial tracking shot, the camera settles on the iconographic BMX bikes of the younger teenage protagonists. The low angle shot positions us as somebody much smaller and younger, and provides the escapism of nostalgia for the older target audience.


Stranger Things is not all about nostalgia, and many of the themes of the show focus on the issues affecting young people. The young, teenage protagonists meet a group of older children who begin to bully them. The use of high angle shots here emphasise how vulnerable the protagonists are. The bully's use offensive and racist language, which anchors the audience, helping to realise that they are the villains of the episode.

Though it may seem odd, this scene can also provide escapism for the younger target audience. The protagonists stay together while being bullied, and see the encounter as more of an annoyance than a real threat. In this way, the scene provides a utopian solution for the very real issue of discrimination, as it allows the audience to escape in to a narrative where this issue has been downplayed.

Later on in the narrative, the protagonists have their revenge on the bullies in a scene that is likely to provide many uses and gratifications for the younger target audience!

After the younger characters escape their situation, the scene cuts to another establishing montage. This time the location is another iconic teen movie setting, the lockers in the corridor. Nancy and Barb discuss Nancy's new boyfriend. The situation is instantly recognisable to older teenage audiences, as they are able to identify and relate to the idea of two girls gossiping about boys. Nancy and Barb present      the audience with a binary opposition. Nancy is smaller, more stereotypically attractive, while Barb is larger and less stereotypically attractive. This reinforces the different roles of the characters (Nancy the protagonist, Barb the helper or sidekick) and allows the audience to learn something of the two character's personalities, once again providing gratification through information.



Nancy proceeds to the toilets with her boyfriend Steve. This heated kissing provides sexual gratification for the target audience, through the pleasure of seeing two young characters in love (or lust). The dominant reading of this scene is that the audience find Nancy and/or Steve attractive. However, audiences may negotiate this scene in several ways. Audiences may believe that Nancy is too good for Steve, not good enough, or even take an oppositional reading and simply find the whole scene gross and off-putting.

It's important to note that Stranger Things simultaneously targets multiple audiences, using casting, shot types, music and costume to anchor the audience into certain expectations. However, it is more that possible for the audience to pick and mix the pleasures and uses that they want to get out the text. For example, younger teenagers may be far more invested in the exploits of Mike and Eleven, and may find the romantic story arc completely not interesting. Likewise, the older male target audience may appreciate the nostalgia encoded within the detailed costume and mise-en-scene, identifying with the younger characters, but also investing in the character arcs of the adult characters. One of the biggest debates in Media Studies is around how active audiences really are. Stranger Things is an excellent example of how a variety of different audiences can negotiate media texts in a variety of different ways.