ST character social representations

Stranger Things Character

Teenagers: Pre-teen VS old teens, not stereotypical semiotics i.e. the nerd, popular, dumb etc. Some don’t act as normal teenagers i.e. Jonathan acting as a father figure for his family.

Family life & relationships: covers a variety i.e. close bond between Joyce, jonathan and will compared to Mike’s parents relationship which is distant. Difference between class and wealth in the families. Four boys friendship, almost like brothers, argue but count on each other. Nancy and Steve have stereotypical relationship at first, popular boy goes for quiet, nerdy girl e.g. to all the boys i’ve loved before and high school musical.

Mothers: Mikes mum karen is the head of the house, runs the family, cooks and cleans, is the person her children come to to ask about things. Whereas will’s mum Joyce is scatty, all over the place, relies on her children to keep the house in order however both mums keep the family close-knitted and together.

Absent fathers: Will and jonathan have a father yet he does not live with them demonstrates how jonathan has to step up as the father figure in the house for will and joyce i.e. making breakfast in the morning. on the other hand mike's dad seems careless and boring “listen to your mother” almost like he is absent as he doesn’t contribute much to the family.

Police: Very laid back, don’t take will missing at first seriously, stereotypical police - eat doughnuts and play games.

Government: classic 80’s films, always unknown as to what they are doing and trying to achieve, seen as the enemy and bad people to associate with.  

Character	Information
Joyce Byers	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, the first episode revolves around her missing son in which she is desperate to find. Stereotype? I wanted view joyce as a stereotypical mother, who usually do the cooking, cleaning and looking after the children. She relies on both of her sons so she can go make a living for them. Characteristics? scatty angry strong bond with her sons messy tom-boy Contribution to Narrative? Joyce Byers is the mother to Will byers, the boy that goes missing, for a large part of the first episode we watch her frantically search for her son which shows she would do anything for her boys.
Jim Hopper	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, after will is taken after he falls off his bike, Hopper is in the scene that follows. Stereotype? Jim Hopper can be viewed as a stereotypical sheriff, eating doughnuts, smoking and playing card games and overall not caring about the problems in hawkins. Characteristics? lazy grumpy careless smart leader Contribution to Narrative? Hopper is the second person joyce comes to for help, we watch him try to unravel the truth as to what exactly happen to will being a large contributor to the narrative.
Mike Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, wills best friend and looks after eleven. Stereotype? suburban area,stereotypical nerd, gets bullied by popular kids, an outsider but is independent and leader to his group of four. In which being president of the AV club and managing the D&D game along with always being positioned in the middle and slightly in front of the other boys. Characteristics? Intelligent curious caring sensible leader Contribution to Narrative? Mike contributes largely to the narrative, with it mainly being in his house and focused a lot on his family, along with eleven, the supernatural character living in his basement, mike is also the first person out of the boys to admit he is worried about Will. Takes charge
Dustin Henderson	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, part of the four boys Stereotype? stereotypical nerd but somewhat stands up to bullies when they try to tease him about his condition which he then educates them on, argues back. Characteristics? funny goofy cute clever quick-witted naive optimistic Contribution to Narrative? Apart of wills friendship group, adds the humour back to the dark series, light-hearted and a likeable character, wants to help look for will as well.
Lucas Sinclair	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, part of four boys Stereotype? stereotypical nerd, enjoys the AV club and playing dungeons and dragons but we still see individuality. Could be seen as one of the more stronger, braver ones, says swear words and argues a lot with dustin. Characteristics? pessimistic devious strong - minded argumentative cheeky mischievous Contribution to Narrative? Cares about the missing of will, mirrors what the audience is questioning by asking himself, quite against the belief that there is supernatural and something unusual is going on.
Will Byers	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character, what main storyline line revolves around Stereotype? ‘not like other kids’, but still stereotypical nerd but he does not have the typical american household. Characteristics? vulnerable sensitive insightful honest ‘i rolled a 7’ loyal protective innocent brave clever Contribution to Narrative? The whole plot of the first episode and series revolves around finding will and what took him. He is the second person to encounter this supernatural force and is a character audience care and are fond over due to his sweet innocent nature that he didn't deserve to be taken.
Eleven	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character Stereotype? no stereotype, represents E.T. being an unusual, peculiar character, has power i.e. stops fan. Not typical young suburban girl with long curly hair and pretty dresses. Characteristics? quiet shy hungry solitary curious hesitant smart Contribution to Narrative? aside from will going missing, the character adds another sub-plot to the episode as to who and where she came from and what exactly is she. it adds more mystery for the audience and is another character audiences can love and bond with. continuously exciting to see what the audience will learn about her next
Jonathan Byers	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character Stereotype? classic outsider, bullied by popular students, angsty student with a camera but father figure for his brother Characteristics? responsible sensitive caring protective quirky quiet shy Contribution to Narrative? Older brother of Will and supports his mother throughout. In this first episode jonathan is viewed as a vital character to wills life and who he loves dearly. Subplot love triangle with nancy and steve, provides romance theme to show.
Nancy Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? a MAJOR character Stereotype? stereotypical suburban high school teenager, good grades and teacher pets but breaks away from this stereotype with popular boy steve and when she disobey her parents. Characteristics? intelligent shy giggly hard working studious argumentative Contribution to Narrative? provides a romance plot to the story, a teenage girl that the teenage audience can relate to, is mike's older sister part of the american dream household when in fact it's not
Steve Harrington	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? stereotypical popular jock, fluffy big hair,   Characteristics? slimey rebellious romantic cheeky Contribution to Narrative? Is nancy's love interest which causes her to go against her mother's wishes.
Barbara Holland	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? classic nerd, enjoys studying but tries to fit in by following nancy Characteristics? studious sweet innocent Contribution to Narrative? is Nancy's best friend, she tries to keep her grounded instead of doing the wrong thing with steve.
Benny Hammond	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? a butch cook yet friendly at the same time to his locals and eventually eleven Characteristics? kind hearted strong quick to judge nice caring Contribution to Narrative? is the first person to find eleven and we watch him try to figure out as much about her as we do, he asks the questions the audience want to hear.
Mr Clarke	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? studious teacher, emjoys educating his students Characteristics? intelligent likeable supportive friendly resourceful caring Contribution to Narrative? Helps the three boys, even though unaware, he wants to help and teach them as the caring teacher that he is
	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? classic stereotypical evil leader of the government Characteristics? manipulative calculative ruthless ambitious Contribution to Narrative? controller or otherwise ‘papa’ to elven, he’s the person the audience hate, the villian DR MARTIN BRENNER
Connie Frazier (Social Worker)	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? typical evil assistance Characteristics? sweet at first emotionless mean loyal Contribution to Narrative? person to kill benny, villain sidekick, fakes identity
The Scientists	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR characters Stereotype? more creepy and unkown figures compared to the typical scientist Characteristics? brave creepy intriguing Contribution to Narrative? First people to go explore what took the scientist at the beginning
Ted Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? not the powerful father stereotype but allows his wife to take control of the kids and household Characteristics? laid-back oblivious critical trusting Contribution to Narrative? creates the sub-plot for mikes family life, not a true nuclear family
Karen Wheeler	Major or Minor Character? a MINOR character Stereotype? typical housewife, looks after children and household but is more strong and makes most of the decisions compared to husband Characteristics? overbearing protective suspiciosus dubious Contribution to Narrative? tries to protect her children, is the one keeping control

Codes and Conventions of ST

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rI2rcm-x1_DyMWJYd5jF-TZqT0OnTA1u/view?usp=sharing

STATEMENT OF INTENT

My idea for my two magazines is to show the ethical side of the make-up and fashion world, products that are animal cruelty free, organic etc. in my first edition, I intend to use a female model with large curly ginger hair who will be in a pool of water with a shoulder-less swimming costume. I plan to use a mid-shot for this photograph as it allows the audience to get a full view of her face and hair. The next edition I plan to use a model with half a face of make-up and half a face of a less drastic more natural looking make-up. I will use a turtle neck in black with a gold chain to make it simplistic but still editorial so that the audience can keep the focus on the make-up. My magazine is called ‘BELEZA’ which is translated to ‘BEAUTY’ in Portuguese and is targeted to 16-25 culturally sophisticated mainstream individuals. The reason I chose the name ‘BELEZA’ as it translates to beauty and after reading the magazine the audience will be able to see that beauty isn’t just a full face of make-up, beauty is within, beauty is confidence, beauty is animal cruelty free products, and that everyone is beautiful…

The magazine will feature strong women who are typically ‘different’ and ‘diverse’ who love fashion and make-up but choose to do it all the correct way, by using brands that are organic, animal free, have an ethnic diverse range. By doing this it won’t only focus on the 16-25 target market but will follow the culturally sophisticated route to attract a wider range of audience as the topics covered in the magazine will attract audiences outside of the target range. On the two front covers, I plan to instruct and direct the models to have natural relax facial expression to allow the focus to be on the model’s make-up, hair, style and diverseness. I will be using a mid-shot for both covers to allow the focus to not be too distracted by other things that are happening in the shot but to focus on the fashion to ensure I stay in the ‘fashion magazine’ genre.

The company that makes ‘BELEZA’ will be Bauer. Bauer’s mission statement is “Winning Together Through Passion, Innovation and Speed”, which is why I have chosen to include all types of women who aren’t typically the ‘norm’ and highlights togetherness for all and unity of everyone, no matter their race, gender, religion etc. I have chosen two women that suit the ideas of my magazine covers as the first one, a girl with big red curly hair, spread all around in the pool and a round face; and the other to have straight hair and a more chiselled facial structure to show unity as they are complete opposites. Also, that they are females shows empowerment for females and equality that hasn’t always been there for women.

I am choosing bright lighting for both shoots as it brings warmth to the photographs. This is important as it brings strength to the two covers to show that all women have strength, and everyone should be confident conveyed by the two strong models who look completely different. The reinforced representation of strong, independent women will attract my target audience as they are in the age range, they are mainstream and culturally sophisticated, who are oppressed more in terms of genders, so will enjoy the success of women and the power they contain. The target audience is also of AB categories, therefore will be interested in reading about female successes, empowerment and equality of all. I will be using the water a s a background for my first shoot as it compliments the model’s eyes and has an overall harmonious affect for the cover. The second cover will have a white background to contrast to the models clothing and necklace and will compliment her hair as it is ginger and will shine and be brighter with the warm lighting and white background. Both these covers will suit the colour choices of each masthead and cover-lines for each front cover.

On my website, I am using a very sophisticated, editorial design to really tie in the fashion aspect of the magazine genre and attract the target audience as they are culturally sophisticated. On my website, the masthead will be slightly different to my masthead for the actual covers, just to reinforce that it’s the website not the actual magazine and also is has a bold(er) font on the website to ensure that it is visible to the reader that that is the name of the magazine. My website has very pastel, soft colours to make it stand out from other fashion magazine websites that are typically black and white, and shows that my magazine is different and because it has colour it shows differentiation in looks which is what I want to portray to the audience that being different is okay and it makes you unique. My website and magazines will be launched late autumn/ early winter so will include features covering aspects that affect these seasons and occasions that happen during them such as Christmas, Thanks-Giving and new year. Overall the website, has an artsy, editorial feel to it which most magazine websites don’t include which gives mine differentiation.

SUMMER HOMEWORK

Intro to context – in the exam you may be asked to refer to economic, political, social or cultural context. These of course tend to overlap. Here is a taster for you to research and summarise. We thought economic would be a bit too boring for the summer holidays but we’ll return to it.

Big news and current events:

·        Syrian war: 15 march 2011- current: 13.5 million syrians needing humanitarian assistance.

·        Immigration: immigration act 12 may 2016: introduces new sanctions on illegal workers

·        Joe cox:16 june 2016: member of parliament stabbed

·        Brexit: referendum: 23 june 2016: promised by cameron. Leavers: 52% and remainders: 48%

·        Cameron resigns: 24 june 2016: running for leadership - theresa may - michael gove - stephan crabb - andrea leadsom - liam fox

·        Theresa may: 13 july 2016. Two days after becoming leader of the conservatives. 

·        Charlie gard: 4 august 2016: 28 july 2017: born with mdds at great ormand street.

·        Trump election: november 8 2016: trump: 306 vs clinton: 232

·        Football sex abuse: november 2016: footballers abused by managers and coaches

·        Westminster bridge: 22 march 2017: terrorist attack

·        Manchester: may 22 2017: terrorist attack at ariana grande’s concert

·        London bridge: 3 june 2017: terrorist attack

·        Borough market: 3 june 2017: terrorist attack

·        General election: 8 june 2017: conservative: 297 seats. Labour: 227 seats. Liberal democratic: 8 seats. Green party: 1 seat

·        Grenfell tower: 14 june 2017: fire started from fridge: 71 died; investigation ongoing 

·        Queens 90th: 10-12 june. Royal babies: george, charlotte louis

·        Finsbury park mosque: 19 june 2017

·        Nhs: doctors strikes: junior doctor strikes 2017. Privation: private treatment is not the answer: september 2017 

·        Royals: engagement: announced: 27 november 2017

·        (hashtag) ‘metoo’ campaign: movement against sexual harassment and assault - spread virally october 2017

·        Windrushscandle: 2018: political scandal - concerning people wrongly detained etc. Deporting from the uk

·        Youth aggression zeitgeist: in london: acid attacks: 2016 - 395 attacks. 2017 - 465 attacks. Stabbings: 2016 - 1749. 2017 - 80 died

Zeitgeist: the zeitgeist is a concept from 18th to 19th-century german philosophy, translated as "spirit of the age" or "spirit of the times". It refers to an invisible agent or force dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.

Disability:

-the para-olympics was covered by the media the most it ever has been in the 2016 rio olympics. It was shown on the bbc and also on channel 4. This shows that the para-olympics is just as important as the olympics. 

-coronation street, they showed a storyline about a child getting sepsis and having to have his leg amputated. This highlights to parents and carers the importance of ensuring your child is safe and healthy. The media, especially newspapers and magazines covered this as it is a common thing that happens, but a lot of people are unaware of it.

Regionalism:

-towie stars used to be seen as stupid, vein and fake. However, especially on social media, tommy mallet, pete wicks and chloe sims have made successful businesses which all have been publicised positively and cuts down the stereotype of a typical 'stupid' essex person.

-made in chelsea stars typically are portrayed in the media as rich, posh and stuck up. However, when made in chelsea star georgia ‘toff’ toffolo entered the i'm a celebrity jungle, she became the nation’s sweetheart, and shortly after she appeared on celebs go dating. She stopped the stereotype of made in chelsea stars being stuck up.

-ex on the beach stars tend to gain bad publicity. They are known for getting drunk, having sex on tv, and a lot of swearing. The media tend to criticise them for everything they do, however they are all quite successful as they all have a brand they own or represent. Many stars then go on to being on other shows or becoming social influencers.

Class:

-in the media, especially newspapers, 'chavs' are known for being rude, of low social class and not very clever. They are stereotyped as wearing tracksuits, carrying knives and doing drugs. They are represented in a negative way, and recently, have had a lot of criticism due to the increase of knife crime in london. 

-abc1 is typically upper class / middle class people. A is doctors, lawyers, bankers. B is teachers, nurses, computer programmers. Finally, c1 is shop managers, office managers and social workers.

-beyoncé and jay-z's recent album 'the carters' has been publicised both positively and negatively in the media. The positive of it was that they are a family unit, they have brought together their solo careers to create a new album. However, the negatives were that they are presenting themselves as being severely upper class, making it hard for normal people to relate. The media has criticised them as they have made themselves look above everyone, however they are actually no better than an average family, as jay-z cheated on her - showing they're not untouchable.

Age:

-following recent stories in the news, e.g. Knife crime, bullying on social media and grime and drill music, have shone a negative light on the younger generation. They are being publicised as negative people, as they are causing reality stars to commit suicide due to commit suicide and also knife and gang crimes have increased dramatically. However, the stereotype is unfair and incorrect as it is only a small portion of people like this. 

-elderly people are represented in the news as vulnerable and poor. There have been lots of recent stories about abuse in care homes for the elderly. This makes it seem as though all elderly people are vulnerable and incapable.

Gender:

-#metoo is a movement against sexual harassment and assault. It spread virally in october 2017 as a hashtag used on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.

-lgbt stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. After india willoughby and courtney act entered the big brother house at the beginning of 2018, it caused an uproar in the media, especially social media, as people were unclear on gender types and identities.

Ethnicity:

-following the release of the song 'this is america', the media went crazy about the music video and its hidden messages. Childish gambino plays america himself, using violence and the use of entertainment as a distraction. As he says 'this is america' he shoots a black man, this represents the use of gun crime in america. The video highlights black lives, and their history in the us, childish gambino's dance movements represent those of jim crow who was commonly used for minstrel shows. His dancing is a way to take the audiences eyes of what is happening in the background (the crimes). He is hinting that this is happening in america today, and that it needs to change.

-the carters recent song and music video 'apes**t' shows them as being of high importance, regardless of their ethnicity. They are stood in front of the mona lisa, which could be because 'they' are similar to the mona lisa in the way that people come from all over to see them. Later on in the video, during jay-z's verse, he is stood in front of a painting of a french tragedy, where a naval boat crashed - it symbolises where beyoncé and jay-z are in their relationship right now, after he cheated on her.

Sexuality:

-netflix: sophia burset (laverne cox) in orange is the new black is transgender woman. The show is increasingly popular, and her story line grabbed the media as she took the change from male to female, and her journey was very heart felt and emotional.

-tv drama: sonia fowler - eastenders - became a lesbian, after being straight and having a child. The show took this as a chance to publicise how this does happen, and how people who do this are normal, also showing you are allowed to be true to yourself.

-tv drama: rana - coronation street. Her change from heterosexual to lesbian took the nation by surprise as she is a muslim. In the show, her parents disowned her, but others accepted it and the media took this as an opportunity to show that this can happen and although muslim guidelines are strict about adultery and sexual relationships, she should be allowed to be her own person.

DIRT (JUNE EXAM)