Timed Essay Question 3

Why do long form television dramas from different countries offer different representations?

In this essay I will be discussing why long form television dramas from different countries offer different representations, I will be referring to television dramas Stranger Things and Deutschland 83.

Stranger Things is a Netflix original Sci-Fi, horror drama show set in the early 80s and is accessible through the TV streaming service Netflix. Netflix is a global network that allows people to stream movies and TV shows using the internet, ad free and recommend new shows and films based off the viewers history. They are available on almost every platform such as TV, laptops, PlayStations, and phones. Netflix also has exclusive content and have social media accounts that often interact with their audiences. To access what Netflix has to offer you must buy the subscription to the service, however it is affordable for most. Netflix’s programmes, like Stranger Things often play into the cultural industries theory, they play it safe and stick to traditional and globally accepted views to maintain a global reach and to make sure they have a large viewing that earns them money. The representations offered are very much a global representation, so you don’t have to be American to understand the show. Stranger Things is an entertainment driven product and can be followed along from most countries providing you have an account for Netflix. Stranger things deliberately targets a primary and secondary audience for their product to reach a wider audience, the primary audience is young people around the ages of 13-21, whereas the secondary audience is older and is targeted by the many intertextual references to the 80s, such as the Demogorgon is a reference to the Alien films, the pizza order by the boys in the first scene is a reference to ET and the shot of the type writer used when typing about Wills disappearance is a reference to a scene in Jaws. Within the first 35 days of release Stranger Things received a viewing of 14.07 million in the US alone.

Deutschland 83, however, is produced by a much smaller company compared to Netflix called Walter Presents. Walter presents is a part of Channel 4s all four streaming service and specialises in foreign language drama and comedy with English subtitles. It was one of the highest rated foreign language dramas in UK history and had drawn 1.5 million viewers overnight in the UK. Deutschland 83 is a television thriller, drama, however, unlike Stranger things, Deutschland 83 is based on a real historical event, The cold war in the 80’s. Since this is an espionage themed drama, we have a lot of tense scenes like when Martin tries to break into the Generals office to take photos of the Americans plans and he fumbles with the locks. This means the representations shown are more accurate in terms of real people and ideology. In turn the primary target audience for the show is more the older generation and people who were alive when these events happened, these people will have a better understanding of the events and will therefore, have a better understanding of the representations.

Although Stranger Things and Deutschland 83 are different genres and have different ideological viewpoints, both have a narrative that sets up a Binary opposition of good vs evil. Stranger Things sets up the town against the evil Government, and in Deutschland 83 you have the good east Germany set up against the evil west Germany.

Stranger Things presents a traditional and conservative ideology. As the western ideology is more dominant globally, Netflix often uses this to ensure a global reach as most of the audience has grown up exposed to the western view and has therefore cultivated it as part of their identity. This means the audience is more likely to have a preferred reading of this text. Examples of this ideology being present is the representation of family life within the show. Karen Wheeler is introduced in the first episode and fits in with the stereotype of women in the 80s. Jeremy Tunstall’s Gender theory suggests women are usually present in the media as one of these four categories, domestic, sexual, consumer or marital. Karen Wheeler is the responsible, mature, typical stay at home mother, she sticks to her gender roles and the conservative ideology; we as an audience automatically assume that she stays at home and looks after the children, cooks, and cleans as the husband works and earns for the family. It appears that the only authority and power she has comes from being a mum, it seems her husband often dismiss her and even the children appear to argue with her. The workspaces we see are often male dominated in the show, the only woman we see in the police station is a secretary and in the scene she appears in when Jim Hopper, the towns Sherriff, appears at work, he is rude and quickly dismisses her in this workplace he holds the power. As well as this in the school and the Government facility both are run by a man with high levels of authority over the people who frequent their spaces. Having said this there is certain identities within the television programme that challenge the stereotypes slightly such as Nancy Wheeler, who is both sweet, studious and rebellious, she is hardworking and challenges the stereotype of girls in the 80’s as she studies in the field of science and is a grade A student.  

Deutschland 83 presents an Eastern Ideology and shows us a historical television drama from a socialist viewpoint. The main protagonist is East German, and the ‘good side’ is the Germans, when often in media we see the western viewpoint in which the Americans are the protagonists. Deutschland challenges Jeremy Tunstall’s Gender theory as the first woman we are introduced to, Lenora, is a woman in a political position meaning she has power and a high paid job, and the main protagonist, Martin, is a man shown to have less power than Lenora. However, some stereotypes remain, for instance Lenora is shown to be working for another man who is higher up than her and therefore has more authority and power over her. Deutschland is a text that challenges their audience, having been released to an audience that holds a western ideology, having a preferred reading of this text is unlikely. The older part of the audience is unlikely to accept this text as they lived and experienced the cold war themselves and will have a western view of the events, however the younger audience may be more open to question ideologies from the past. Stranger Things ideology is more likely to be accepted by both the primary and secondary audience as Stranger Things has the traditional ideology, however, there are identities that challenge the stereotypes within this ideology, such as Nancy Wheeler who is represented as a smart nerdy girl who is also liked by most and appears to strive for more in life than being a mother. The text offers a small look at those who challenge the traditional identities within the text.

In conclusion long form television dramas from different countries offer different representations due to the intended audience and based on the dominant ideology or views in that country.