Stranger Things - Gender (Representation)

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GENDER REPRESENTATION:
Masculinity: 

Jim Hopper
  • Rough
  • Scruff
  • Heightened masculinity
  • Laidback/he takes it easy
  • Authoritative/Maybe a bit rude  
  • Dismissive/irresponsible
  • Manliness is about responsibility and doing the right thing.
  • Demeaning jokes; to be virile is a key masculine trait.
  • ''Morning is a time for coffee and contemplation'' - don't bother me and don't hassle me.
  • All the men in that scene are lazy and it's the woman who is nagging.

Mr. Wheeler
  • ''You see what happens when...''
  • Formal attire
  • Men are easy-going, men don't worry about stuff.
  • He doesn't care about children's lives.
  • Both him and Hopper want to abdicate responsibility.

Mr. Clark 
  • Frail - Weakness
  • Can't control class
  • Adult nerd?
  • Teacher
  • He cares / in touch with his emotions / happy to discuss emotions 
  • whereas the other two men don't want to.
Jonathon & Steve
  • Jonathon had to take on a logical father figure; he doesn't want to be too emotional.
  • Jonathon's desire - to take care of family
  • Jonathon was allowed to maybe define his own identity
  • Steve's desire - to get with Nancy
  • Steve does encompass some of Hoppers traits
Gauntlett:
  • Gender is less fixed than times gone passed
  • Our conceptions of masculinity and feminity have changed
  • We can use Stranger Things to back up what he's saying.
Gauntlett also speaks of how modern media (media 2.0) allows people to express and explore their identities.  In a way, Stranger Things is more of a ''internet show'' than a TV show that a lot of people watch on their TV.

Some watch on their phone/laptop by themselves; different from broadcast TV when you watch it with your friends/families as a community.

The first episode shows us patriarchal power (Jim Hopper - authoritative figure) and entrenched gender roles (housewife characters, etc.); different from how we are now.

Gauntlett argues that now we see multiple different types of gender representations that are apparent in Stranger Things.

Eleven:

  • Not fixed clear gender roles
  • Gender is not something that defines them
Feminity:

Joyce Byers
  • Very emotional
  • Stressed
  • Emotions - Weak (?) [Patriachal Dominant Ideology]

Mrs. Wheeler
  • Housewife
  • Caring for her kids; in a fairly safe way.

Social Services Woman
  • Lacking in emotion
  • Logical
  • Cold
  • Opposite to what women should be.
  • Mise en scene - Wearing a Suit
  • Quite Masculine in terms of its mise-en-scene
Objectification - Female gender is most commonly objectified, turned into an object for the male gaze. Nancy is not just there to be looked at,  her character goes beyond that.

Virgin and Whore; Barb fits into the virgin trope, expect nancy to be whore but she's more rounded.
Final Girl Trope:
  • Sex = Death
  • If Nancy becomes sexually involved with Steve Harrington it will lead to her demise but Barb will survive due to her virgin-ness
  • Subverts when Barb dies 
 Nancy:

  • Fits into final girl archetype, but she takes on a more complex role
  • Not a typical Hollywood teenage girl
Agency: Capability of deciding on your own destiny, making your choices. The female characters in Stranger things have agency to an extent 

Van Zoonen/Hooks:

  • Representation of women reflect the patriarchal society of 1980s America
  • Evidence - subordinate roles of the female characters within the narrative
  • E.G. Housewife Mrs. Wheeler, Whore single mother Joyce, Florence the secretary.
  • Maybe Eleven/Joyce/Nancy reflects the more cultural contexts, progressive representations reflect the world we live in now.
  • Problematic, why doesn't it reflect the 80s? 
Mrs. Wheeler then becomes a more cougar type character, the sexual tension between her and younger character Billy. Links to 1970s film The Graduate; older female character seducing a younger man - negative - objectifying her body, positive - empowering her (giving her agency)


Judith Butler:
  • Gender performativity - how gender is a performance.
  • We learn our gender roles and that's how gender is constructed.
  • Gender trouble - when people don't fit the specific mold of a gender 
Eleven & Gender:
  • Forced to perform a gender by the boys who tell her to perform a gender
  • The pink dress they pick out (stereotypical)
  • Long blonde hair - E.T. reference 
  • Eleven does not fit ''look at her'' - she's not right, she's not female
  • The fact that they call her ''El'' to feminize her gender-neutral name. 
Will Byers & Gender:
  • ''Sensitive'' - lack of masculinity
  • Even the way he's dressed
  • does not conform to gender 
  • Hints about his sexuality
(Hooks) Intersectionality - should not define people down to their gender, a cross-section of class and ethnicity which come together.

Wheelers & Byers 
  • The stressed-out persona of Joyce Byers is down to her social class; worries about their economic future.
  • The social class just as important
  • Jonathon V Steve - Class is also important, socio-economic status as well as gender.

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