Life in east Germany 1980

When initially split in 1949 West Berlin was very relaxed in regards to the border and censorship, Citizens were allowed to openly travel in and out of East and West Berlin and exchange goods and messages.

With the rise and success of capitalism in the West, The communist east slowly introduced more and more restrictions regarding the exchanging of goods and visitation. It was decided to introduce a wall when it was discovered more and more people were migrating from the East to West.

Because of the immense success of capitalism in the West, Eastern Berlin implemented much more aggressive censorship which lead to the eventual complete ban of Western products, Media and news.

These new restrictions made life in East Berlin a lot more harder than that of the West.

Private life in east Germany was very restricted due to the Stasi who were the city's secret police. The Stasi were constantly spying on the people of West Berlin to find any eastern spies or talk of escape or revolution.

Along with a restricted private life the citizens of West Berlin were also restricted to what they could wear with jeans being banned as they were considered a symbol of eastern capitalistic success.

Censorship was also heavily forced upon western citizens as everything from what they could wear to what they could listen to in regards to music was heavily restricted. Music was heavily restricted and monitored to be pro communist party. Even with how little there was all media was also monitored and policed to be pro communism and only show the greater things of life in the East.

Book's were also heavily policed as they promoted creative thinking and carried a lot of western creative capitalistic ideas. A list of books banned by the state were released and anyone found with the books would be punished with prison sentences

Essay homework

What meanings are created in the sequence you have studied and what do they tell us about narrative, character development and genre?

-       There are parts in the stranger things extract that show a meaning of female empowerment. We see female empowerment throughout the episode through the use of camera angle, acting, dialogue and make up. We first see the biggest show of female empowerment when Joyce is in Hoppers police office demanding they search for her son. Joyce is presented to be powerful through the use of dialogue. Joyce uses very aggressive and to the point language when talking to the male police officer. Language such as “Look” shows us the Joyce is the person taking control of the conversation and telling Hopper where to look and what to do, she is the one in charge and giving demands in the conversation.  We also see Joyce questioning and challenging what Hopper says. When Joyce say’s “What about the other time” she is challenging hopper as he tries to close the conversation, BY challenging Hopper Joyce keeps the power in the conversation and keeps control of the exchange between the male police officer and mother in need.

We see even more examples of female empowerment later on in the episode towards the end when a Connie Frazer introduces herself to Benny. Once again, we see Benny try to take control and close the conversation however through the use of dialogue the female character takes control and stops the conversation from being closed so she can get what she wants. Connie says, “So, where is she?” this is a very direct and to the point line of dialogue and it shows that Connie isn’t bothered by Benny being in the way.

After showing power by taking control of the conversation we see another form of female empowerment when Connie shoots Benny without any hesitation. The use of acting empowers Connie to be aggressive and fearless as her facial expression is that of a calm woman. This challenges a lot of stereotypes usually associated with women and aggression. The use of editing as well was used to make a flash as the gun goes of showing that females can be just as loud and aggressive as men.

Within seconds of the first killing we see the young girl Eleven kill two Agents without any hesitation either. This rapid explosion of female aggression really shows how much the show is challenging female stereotypes commonly found in most forms of media.

Women are also portrayed as powerful through the use of make-up, Throughout the episode all the women we see are represented with little make up on. Commonly we see women in media dressed up with a face full of make up as they are playing the innocent pretty princess stereotype, Women stereotypically objectified for men so they are covered in make up so they can impress the male characters. There is an opposite representation in the stranger things episode as the women are caked in makeup and aren’t earing any revealing clothing. They are wearing minimal to zero make up and respectable covered outfits.

This portrayal of female empowerment directly challenges Van Zoonens theory of media patriarchy. Van Zoonen believes the media portrays women to be lesser than men and objectified in Media. This episode of stranger things shows women to be dominant to men and not objectified in any way. If it through the use of dialogue by taking control of a conversation our killing a man, woman are presented to be fearless, aggressive and strong characters.

Representation essay

How are different social classes represented in the sequence you have studied?

After the opening credits we are shown a representation of a working class family and home, We are introduced into this family home through the use of Joyce Byers character, Joyce is a working class single mother who works in a grocery shop. This working class mum’s social class is presented as struggling economically and at home. We know the family is struggling economically due to the fact Joyces son has to work extra hours in order to bring money in to help out with the bills. The working single mother’s social group is presented to be poor and in economic struggle from the start of the Stranger Things episode. THIS IS GOOD YOU’RE JUST MISSING THE CAMERA, EDITING, MISE EN SCENE, SOUND TO BE SPECIFIC ABOUT HOW YOU KNOW THIS – was it the dialogue, her way of being, Jonathon?

We can also see how little time the family has by looking at how the house is set up. The house is extremely messy, neglected and run down suggesting Joyce has little time to clean and neither do her sons who are working or at school. We know Joyce works long shift as she isn’t home to help Will the night before school and she is rushed to get to work the morning after. This means she works late and starts early and it often makes her tired. We know she is tired as she has woken up late and is unprepared. YOU NEED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION SO LINK BACK TO IT OTHERWISE YOU’RE JUST DESCRIBING

This representation is a more positive representation as while it does show her to be unprepared and rushed it also shows us how hard and long she works for her family. It shows us that the single mother is working class and gives up her own time to help out with her own family, She puts others before herself. HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS GIVE EGS ALL THE WAY THROUGH

Single mothers are also shown to have strong bonds with their family as Joyce puts a lot of trust and pressure on her older son. She relies on him to bring in money for the family and to check on Will and make sure he is ready for school. EXAMPLE  It also shows that Joyce’s hard working characteristics have been passed on to her eldest son. This suggest they spend a lot of time to gather and have gained a lot of trust from that. This is understandable as a single mother would rely on her oldest son to do jobs her ex husband would potentially do such as bringing in extra money and looking after Will.

From the sequence I have studied I can tell that single working class mothers are extremely hard working and loving. Joyce is used to represent single mothers and is shown to be hard working as she works long hours and gets little time to her elf. We also know that she is loving as she has a strong relationship based on trust with her oldest son.GOOD CONCLUSION SO IF YOU CAN TELL US HOW YOU KNOW ALL THIS USING CAMERA, EDITING, MISE EN SCENE AND SOUND YOU’LL BE FINE

Fandom task

	What is the product? Give an overview.	Who is it by? What demographic/ psychographic can the fan be defined by?	Where can you find this product? Which platform?	Which features of the drama’s content does the product focus on? What does it suggest is the main appeal of the TV drama?	How have other fans responded to the content? Give examples of how they respond?	Are the fans targeted by the TV drama’s creators in any way?
Fan-made product 1	A home made Demogorgon outfit, with working mouth piece	Made by a male costume artist fan	You tube and facebook, and conventions	Focuses on the shows most evil character/monster	Fans have liked and shared the video over social media
Fan-made product 2	Reddit forum	A community page for sharing all things Stranger Things	Reddit - Online	Everything - The online community is a place where fans can post what ever they want	Its been extremely popular with 350 thousand members
Fan-made product 3	Conventions	A place where fans meet and talk about stranger things, fans can dress up and show off home made props or outfits	Live events around the world such as comic-on	Usually meet and greets with the actors and fans and focuses on what the actors think about their characters and the show	Fans enjoy the events and turn up in the thousands to share their costumes and meet their favourite actors and characters