ST Representation Essay

In Stranger Things, several different social groups have been represented, in different ways. The most explicit representation, is of teenagers. We see many examples of conventional representation here. For example, we see the common representation of ‘nerds vs bullies’, in the middle school, where the boys are teased by some bullies. This is particularly conventional, and is playing on the norm that in a school environment, whoever is not ‘trendy’ or ‘with it’ are consistently singled and left out. We see the boys as stereotypical nerds through many different ways, such as their passionate interest in Dungeons and Dragons, as well as being avid members of the school’s AV Club. Nancy’s character provides us with another representation, from the perspective older teenager. In this case, this is also quite conventional. For example, we see the scene where Steve, the stereotypical boyfriend of Nancy sneaks into the house. We see Nancy trying to study in her dimly lit bedroom, and the two of them end up spending more time together. We see some common attributes of this age group here too, the fact that the both of them are easily distracted from what they should be doing, and the conventions of the typical teenage romance.

We also experience some of the conventions of potentially fragmented (and potentially dysfunctional) families, whose activities and common interests are separated. If, for example, we take Mike’s family. When Mike tries to persuade his mother to allow for them to stay for longer, we see Mike’s father, who seems to be in a completely different place of mind to the main subject. The response “listen to your mother” almost makes it seem as if he is in a different place to the main subject, and hasn’t listened to anything which is going on – I.E. in his own world, trying to get the TV to work. We also see this happening with Nancy and her family, leaving her family’s dinner table rather abruptly, once she wasn’t allowed to see Steve. This helps to further solidify this representation of the dysfunctional and fragmented family situation.

To conclude, especially in the first episode, it would appear as if Stranger Things is building the audience’s thoughts and viewpoints on the group of characters. This might explain why the show, at this point is sticking to the more conventional representations of this social groups.