Miss Wellings

In terms of genre, how far can Stranger Things be considered post-modern?

Stranger Things contains conventions of Drama, Horror and Fantasy, it could therefore be
considered a hybrid genre. Post Modernism is a concept which questions the labels made by society
and can be applied to media concepts, genre specifically. In Stranger Things Season 1 Episode 1,
genre may be immediately apparent to the viewer (in the form of an action code) through macro
aspects such as the narrative/plot supported by micro aspects of media, though there may not be
consensus agreement on this.

It is evident that Stranger Things is conventional to the horror genre through the consistent dark use
of mise-en-scene; low key lighting/isolated locations (where the victims are caught), through the
non-diegetic sound motif to imply the antagonist (alien) is near to scare the audience and the use of
editing with a mixture of exaggerated long takes and fast short takes to demonstrate suspense and
panic. An example of this is when Will is taken. Within this scene, it begins with a long take of
isolated Will (young boy) riding his bike (prop) within the dark woods (location). The use of the long
take implies that he is alone and foreshadows that something wrong may happen soon. This makes
us as an audience feel concerned and scared for this character; through the use of the wide shot
showing he is completely alone and highlighting the isolation of his wilderness location, and non-
diegetic hyper real sounds of the crickets that adds to this. The lighting is low key which is an generic
theme within horror series (such as American Horror Story), as often at night we have less ability to
see what may be around and therefore more opportunities to scare one another, which is what the
Duffer brothers in this case took full opportunity of. The preferred reading of these conventions
would suggest that Stranger Things is not post-modern, as all of these examples are recognisable
horror tropes.

Nonetheless, we can also argue that it subverts a post-modern reading of genre via these
conventions (media theorist Steve Neale states that for a horror to be successful, we must have a
balance between conforming and subverting generic conventions to keep the audience engaged).
This could be arguably how Stranger Things has become so successful and why the Duffer Brothers
storyline follows a hybrid genre. This has been demonstrated via merging key aspects of different
genres; the Demogorgon signifying sci-fi and the constant jump-scares, choice of dark mise-en-scene
conform to the horror genre, as you could suggest that the genre is hybrid, it utilises conventions
from both genres. For example, ellipsis is constantly used to announce the appearance of the alien
(we never see him) this is shown during the opening laboratory scene and when Will is taken. The
disappearance creates a restricted narrative which the audience is left to read as either a horror or
sci-fi convention as usually we see the antagonist in both; e.g. Jack Torrance the Shining and the
Xenomorph in Alien. This creates narrative tension and keeps the audience emotionally invested.
Furthermore, using Buscombes Semantic/Syntactic approach to genre we need to look at film
genres inner forms as opposed to their outer forms which is arguably a post-modernist approach.
Therefore Stranger Things outer forms could demonstrate genre clearly in terms of the familiar
themes of friendship, family and love. All of which are stereotypical to generic horror and sci-fi
conventions. This is shown when Mike, Dustin and Lucas disobey their parents in the hope of finding
their best friend; similar to relationships shown in films Like IT, Stand By Me, The Gate and Gremlins.
This makes sense as by the Duffer Brothers own admission they were trying to emulate horror films
from the 80s and Steven King novels adapted for television and film.
Miss Wellings

The character Eleven arguably subverts generic conventions as she is a sympathetic monster. This is
shown through the ellipsis (a motif attached to monsters within this episode) when Eleven disposes
of her attackers in the diner scene. This makes her character unpredictable which correlates with
French philosopher Baudrillards position that genre is not important in terms of narrative
engagement as he doesnt like labels.

In conclusion, I believe that Stranger Things Season 1 Episode 1 conforms and subverts its genre
expectations in different ways but that is why it is so successful and therefore ties in with Steve
Neales theory. It is useful to follow generic conventions so expectations are clear for the audience
and to gain preferred reading, however I also believe this is supported and achieved via the
subversion shown through the character Eleven who is opposed to generic conventions. This is vital
to the continued engagement in a long form serial drama such as this.

Level 3 (10 Marks)