THEORISTS

 PAUL GILROY

• Ethnicity and post-colonialism
• Post-colonialism- the world after the colonies have gone
• Talks about the scattering of African culture after the colonies (African diaspora)
• Slave trade led to African culture being scattered over the world due to them being transported and sold- transatlantic culture
• Britain and France have not yet come to terms with the fact that they are sulking empires- post-colonial melancholia
• 'Us and them' approach to the world- "You seen me but you didn't really look". " Everyone's on top while we're on the bottom"
• Inbuilt white superiority in western culture
• Media can either reinforce racist narratives, or challenge them

Applying Paul Gilroy to Lupin:

  Babakar Diop                Assane Diop            Raoul Diop

• "Is it true that black people cant swim?"
• The black janitor goes unnoticed
• Assumptions of Babakar stealing the necklace from the Pellegrini
• When Babakar goes to help the Pellegrini's with their car, one of them locks the car door
• Assane is told the auctioneer didn't expect 'someone like him' to purchase the necklace
• Babakar is falsely accused of stealing the necklace

10 marker given at end of paper 2 is 'Evaluate the usefulness of this theory':

• Gilroy's theory is helpful in Lupin, maybe 8/10

Applying Paul Gilroy to Stranger Things:

    Erica Sinclair               Lucas Sinclair              Calvin Powell

• Lucas referred to by his friends as 'midnight'
• The police officer is black and has a higher paid job than most white people in Hawkins
• Lack of racial representation

Limitations:

• Lucas doesn't really fit Gilroy's theory as he is just one of the boys and isn't treated differently
• Lucas referred to as 'midnight' by the boys, however each boy in the group gets bullied (e.g Mike being called frog-face), so it isn't that much of discrimination
• Therefore, Gilroy's theory could be seen as not very useful and possibly 3/10 in Stranger Things

Applying Paul Gilroy to news:

In this front cover, Paul Gilroy can be applied because: 

• Aligns with traditional British values (Brexit, politics)- Britain not thinking about the colonial past
• 'Us and them' approach to politics

SONIA LIVINGSTONE AND PETER LUNT

• Regulation allows people to see certain things
• If a product fails to fit the regulatory standards, it can be banned
• Regulation should act in the public interest
• Technology has made it difficult to regulate anything- easy to accept, or pass age restrictions. There is no way of regulating this
• Media content must consider harm and offence and how they might affect audiences
• They work with Ofcom- television regulation company

Applying Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt to Stranger Things:

• The show includes horror, violence, disturbing creatures, themes of trauma (abuse, bullying, death)
• Despite being led by child actors, the content is mature raising questions about age-appropriate access
• Rated 15+

Applying Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt to Lupin:

• The show deals with sensitive themes such as racism, police corruption, class inequality, crime
• Portrays illegal acts in a sympathetic light, which might concern regulators

Applying Sonia Livingstone and Peter Lunt to News;

• Makes sure people aren't manipulated by the news
• IPSO keeps articles up to date and reads complaints incase they need to be taken down
• A limitation of a regulator is that many people don't report news articles to IPSO (don't have time, cant be bothered). The regulator is meant to regulate, so by only having 10 reports a day, they continue posting similar stories until they get caught

DAVID HESMONDHALGH

• Big cultural industries (TV, radio) rely on big hits to cover bad things
• Media industries follow a capitalist pattern of concentration and integration
• Concentration- ownership of industries tends to be in the hands of fewer, powerful people
• Integration- companies horizontally integrate(buying competing companies) to eliminate competition. They also vertically integrate to reduce risk and increase efficiency.
• Pull marketing- going to watch a movie because you recognise the actors
• Success is difficult to predict in cultural industries- producers rely on repeated narratives that work to cover the cost of failures. This further reduces risk.
• Horizontal and vertical integration
• Repetition over innovation
• Potential for diversity

Applying David Hesmondhalgh to Stranger Things:

• Produced by Netflix- a major global player in cultural industries
• Mixes familiar genres (sci-fi, horror, 80s nostalgia) and recognisable archetypes (the nerds, the jock, the outcast) reducing risk by giving audiences what they already know and like
• Repetition- the show’s success has led to multiple seasons, merchandise, games, books, and spin-offs. This is an example of franchise building- maximising profit across platforms- a classic cultural industries strategy

Applying David Hesmondhalgh to Lupin:

• A more political and socially conscious show than Stranger Things, but still uses the familiar crime thriller format, which is a low-risk genre
• The show uses existing intellectual property (Arsene Lupin)- another way of minimising risk
• Appeals to both French audiences and global subscribers
• Features a black lead and tackles race and class- showing that diversity can be profitable, but it is still packaged in a slick, entertaining format that doesn’t threaten mainstream audience expectations

Applying David Hesmondhalgh to News:

• Adverts can be put in the news to promote actors in recent movies 

ROLAND BARTHES

• Study of signs
• Explores how signs convey meaning and how they are interpreted by different cultures and individuals
• Everything has a meaning- e.g hearts convey love
• Semantic fields- connotations of something (e.g someone hugging a product shows that they really love the product)
• Proairetic code- signifying to the audience that something will happen (e.g someone opening a lunch box indicates that they are going to eat their lunch).
• Enigma codes- any engaging part of a media text that will make people want to read on
• Cultural codes- Have to be from a certain culture to understand the code, and people from outside of this culture may not understand it

Applying Barthes to Stranger Things:

• Hopper’s badge, gun, uniform, and empty beer cans suggest ideas around power and masculinity
• Establishing shot of the Wheeler household suggests the ideas of family and home 

Applying Barthes to Lupin:

• Marie Antoinette’s necklace suggests wealthiness and femininity
• The name ‘Lupin’ links to the thief

Limitation of his theory when applied to long form TV drama:

• Does not account for the importance of other media language elements in creating meaning
• May result in readings that do not reflect the potentially diverse meanings and values audience members may construct

TSVETAN TODOROV

Stories have a certain structure

They start with a status quote, something that happens to disrupt this, one thing leads to another and at the end a new status quo emerges.

If the structure isn't there it doesn't feel like a story and just a collection of events.

Equilibrium to disequilibrium to new equilibrium

Studied 3000 stories

He is a rival of Levi Strauss

Applying Tsvetan Todorov to Stranger things:

•Disruption of equilibrium when Will goes missing

•New equilibrium when Eleven is introduced

Applying Tsvetan Todorov to Lupin:

•Disruption of equilibrium when the necklace is stolen

•New equilibrium when Assane wins the bid of the necklace

STEVE NEALE

Genre theory

• What genres are and how/why they are created, change, increase, or decline
• He thinks that genres are made up of repetition (e.g common features of a horror film such as darkness and jump-scares are repeated in other films)
• Genres evolve overtime and are shaped by audience expectations and industry demands

Applying Steve Neale to Stranger Things:

• Typical conventions of sci fi/horror: parallel dimensions (upside down), government testing labs, monsters (demogorgon)
• Typical conventions of teen/coming of age: friendship groups, love triangles, high school drama
• 1980s references: music, clothing, pop culture, technology

Limitations- blending multiple genres (sci-fi/horror/teen/coming of age/nostalgia), characters like Eleven subvert stereotypical roles 

Applying Steve Neale to Lupin

• Typical conventions of crime/heist: master thief with disguises, police pursuit
• Typical conventions of mystery: investigations, twists, identity games 

Limitations- black protagonist reinterpreting a white classic figure, setting in Paris with racial commentary, emotional backstories tied to themes of class and injustice, technical modern heists (security cameras, social media)

CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS

One way stories build meaning is by creating a series of binary

Binary opposition- complete opposites e.g. good vs evil, dark vs light, happy vs sad.

Applying Levi-Strauss to Stranger Things:

•Binary opposites such as Steve and Nancy

•Opposition between upside-down and normal world

•Opposition between science and supernatural

Applying Levi-Strauss to Lupin:

•Opposition between rich and poor

•Opposition between black and white characters

•The difference in the way that Assane is treated when presented as poor vs rich

JEAN BAUDRILLARD

• The idea that society has moved beyond modernism
• Postmodern society is organised around simulation

Applying Jean Baudrillard to Stranger Things:

• Presents a simulated version of the 80’s based on the media, not reality. This idea of the 80s feels more authentic to viewers than the actual time did- hyper reality 
• Stranger Things doesn’t portray reality, but a hyper real world consisting of memories

Applying Jean Baudrillard to Lupin:

• Assane Diop becomes a living simulation of Arsene Lupin. The boundaries of fictional identity and real identity blur completely

STUART HALL

• May apply to a wide range of media products, including LFTVDs
• Draws attention to the range of possible audience readings
• Assumes that there is one dominant meaning to which the audience responds
• Media doesn’t just affect reality- it constructs through stereotypes, signs and language

• Encoding- producers encode meanings into media 
• Decoding- audiences interpret those meanings in different ways
• 
  
• Preferred reading- accepting the intended meaning
• Negotiated reading- partly accepting, partly resisting
• Oppositional reading- reject the intended meaning

Applying Stuart Hall to Stranger Things:

• Eleven subverts typical female role by being powerful, emotionally complex, and central to the narrative challenges gender norms
• Reinforces typical masculine roles- hopper being strong, powerful, protector, vs the more emotional, nurturing boys
• The government is presented as untrustworthy (Hawkin’s lab)

Preferred reading- viewers admire the power of friendship and love the classic 80’s setting

Negotiated reading- some viewers may enjoy the plot, but criticise the lack of diversity or slow pacing

Oppositional reading- others may see it as glorifying a white male dominated version of the 80s that overlooks ideas of racism, sexism, or economic inequality

Applying Stuart Hall to Lupin:

• Assane Diop is a black man in a society that often ignores or criminalises people like him. His use of the Lupin persona allows him to challenge racial and class stereotypes
• The show exposes racial bias- shown with how Babakar Diop was treated

Preferred reading- viewers admire Assanne as a clever, modern day hero who uses intellect over violence, whilst exposing social injustices

Negotiated reading- Some viewers may enjoy the show, but feel Assanne still fits into the ‘charming criminal’ stereotype

Oppositional reading- others may resist the glorification of theft or think that the show oversimplifies racism and injustice 

DAVID GAUNTLETT

• Media is no longer about simply giving singular, fixed role models. Instead, it offers a wide range of tools, images and narratives that people use to construct and explore their own identities
• Audiences are active- they pick and mix elements from media to shape who they are
• Modern media presents diverse, shifting, and complex characters, encouraging people to think differently about gender, race, and roles in society.

Applying David Gauntlett to Stranger Things:

• Eleven is a powerful but emotionally vulnerable girl- challenging gender norms
• Will and Mike deal with sensitivity and emotional depth, pushing against toxic masculinity
• Steve goes from arrogant jock to caring babysitter figure- showing growth and transformation
• Viewers may use these characters as identity models to explore who they are or who they want to be. Characters such as Eleven and Max show resilience, loyalty, and independence- qualities that audiences may look up to
• Stranger Things challenges stereotypes by making female characters strong and powerful, and male characters emotional and empathetic

Applying David Gauntlett to Lupin:

• Assane is inspired by Arsene Lupin, showing that the media can inspire real-world self-construction
• Assane’s identity as a black man in France is central- he re-defines what a ‘hero’ looks like especially in a genre often dominated by white characters

LIESBET VAN ZOONAN

• Gender is not natural or fixed, it is created through repeated media messages
• Women are often shown in a passive, emotional, or sexualised way, whilst men are active, dominant, and rational. Some media challenge these roles, showing women as powerful and complex. Others appear as progressive but still rely on old gender stereotypes

Applying Liesbet Van Zoonan to Stranger Things:

• Eleven subverts gender norms- she is powerful, central to the plot, and not sexualised. However, her power is often linked to trauma and emotional instability- reinforcing ‘emotional girl’ stereotypes
• Max is a tomboy who doesn’t fit into female stereotypes and is independent and strong
• Nancy begins in a ‘girlfriend’ role but becomes more active and independent as the show progresses
• Male characters such as Will, Mike, Steve are allowed emotional depth- crying, caring and showing fear. This softens traditional masculine stereotypes
• However, characters such as hopper still present very masculine qualities 

Applying Liesbet Van Zoonan to Lupin:

• Assane Diop is a man of emotion, intelligence and style- not a typical hero
• But he is still a ‘hero’ role- active, in control, clever, and dominant
• Claire is often positioned as a caring mother figure and emotional anchor
• Claire isn’t given much agency compared to Assane- fits a more traditional, passive role
• Some women such as Juliette are presented as powerful, but manipulated or decieved by Assane, reinforcing male superiority in control

BELL HOOKS

• Oppression is interconnected- race, gender, class and other identities combine to create different experiences of discrimination or privilege
• Media often supports white, patriarchal, capitalist views
• Black and minority women are often underrepresented or misinterpreted in mainstream media
• The oppositional gaze encourages audiences (especially black women) to look critically at media that doesn’t represent them fairly- rejecting dominant meanings

Applying bell hooks to Stranger Things:

• Lack of racial diversity- the cast is mainly white, reflecting a white-dominated perspective
• Lucas is one of the only black characters, and although he becomes a main group member, his role is often secondary or comic relief, especially in earlier seasons
• Erica becomes more prominent later on, but still serves as a supporting, sometimes stereotypical ‘sassy’ sister
• Men are often placed in positions of power (e.g Hopper and the government scientists)
• Female power (e.g Elevens powers) are often linked to trauma and isolation- not empowerment

Applying bell hooks to Lupin:

• Assane Diop is a black man navigating a white-dominated, upper-class French society. His experiences are shaped by racial class-based justice
• Assane’s fathers death shows how black bodies are devalued by institutions- aligning with hooks’ critique of systemic oppression
• Assane used intellect- not violence, to challenge white authority, reclaiming power through knowledge and identity
• Women are largely defined by their relationship with Assane and are not shown resisting oppression in the same way
• There are a few black female characters, and none with significant narrative or power- a key point of critique for bell hooks’s theory

JUDITH BUTLER

• Gender is not something we are, it’s something we do repeatedly (through behaviour, clothing, speech, etc)
• Society teaches us to be male or female
• When people break stereotypical gender roles, they experience gender trouble

Applying Judith Butler to Stranger Things:

• Eleven has a shaved head, wears masculine clothes when first met, doesn’t talk- disrupting typical feminine behaviours
• Later, she experiments in the mall scene with more feminine looks- showing that gender identity is fluid and performed, not fixed
• Characters like Mike, Will and Jonathan often show emotion, fear, and empathy- pushing against traditional masculine performance 
• Steve goes from the ‘cool guy’ to the ‘babysitter’- pushing against masculine expectations

Applying Judith Butler to Lupin:

• Assane constantly performes roles (disguises, accents, clothing)- highlighting how identity is constructed
• As a black man in a white elite world, Assane adapts how he speaks, acts, and dresses- not just for disguise, but to fit or subvert expectations
• His masculinity is complex- sometimes dominant, other times emotional, caring, and vulnerable (especially with his son and father)
• Claire performs traditional feminine roles- mother, caregiver, emotionally supportive
• Female characters are generally less active in subverting gender norms- may conform to stereotypical expectations of femininity

JAMES CURRAN/JEAN SEATON

• Media is controlled by a small number of companies. These companies are driven by profit and often reproduce dominant ideologies (e.g white, capitalist, patriarchal views)
• Concentration of ownership- limited creativity and diversity

Applying James Curran and Jean Seaton to Stranger Things:

• The show presents a mainstream, white, American vision of the 1980s- aligning with patriarchal views
• Profit over diversity
• Risk of people not liking it is minimal- it plays into fan-favourite genres (sci-fi, horror, teen drama) and avoids deep political critique
• The show centres on a white male dominated world with limited diversity

Applying James Curran and Jean Seaton to Lupin:

• Produced by Netflix, but created in France- part of Netflix’s global strategy to produce local content with a global appeal
• Uses well-known IP (Arsene Lupin) and blends genres (crime, thriller, drama), to attract broad audiences. It is easier to attract audiences because there is more genres that will likely appeal to audiences
• Offers a more diverse narrative than many mainstream shows- black protagonist fighting systemic injustice, themes of race, class, and inequality
• Still shaped by Netflix’s need for marketable, global content- the show balances its progressive message with action and entertainment
• Lupin pushes the boundaries of what mainstream media can show, but still operates within a commercial structure that limits how radical or critical it can be 

ALBERT BANDURA

• Theory that media can implant ideas into the mind of audiences
• Audiences acquire attitudes, emotional responses and new styles of conduct through modelling. 
• Bandura's 'Media Effects' theory has been applied to video games, and the effects that violent games may have on its users.
• He believed that media representations of transgressive behaviour, such as violence or physical aggression, can lead members to imitate those forms of behaviour.
• May apply to a wide range of media products, including LFTVDs
• Supports the arguments of those who think TV should be regulated to avoid harm
• People, especially children, learn behaviours by observing and imitating role models in the media. This includes aggression, gender roles, problem solving, and moral behaviour

• Attention- the viewer notices the behaviour
• Retention- they remember it
• Reproduction- they are able to copy it
• Motivation- they are motivated to imitate it, especially if it is seen as ‘cool’ or ‘heroic’ and rewarded

• The bobo doll experiment- Bandura demonstrated how children imitated violent behaviour shown by adult models in media- even without being rewarded directly

Applying Albert Bandura to Stranger Things:

• Violence shown in young protagonists (eleven’s powers, fighting with bullies, death)
• Eleven often rewarded for aggressive responses (defeating enemies, protecting friends), making her a powerful role model
• Bandura would suggest that younger viewers may imitate character’s violence if they admire the characters, see violence presented as cool, or view the responses as positive or heroic
• Characters like Max and Eleven don’t follow typical feminine traits, and Mike and Will show emotion, which isn’t typically considered a masculine trait
• Stranger Things provides different role models for different behaviours. Some are positive, but the use of violence to solve problems could influence real-world imitation

Applying Albert Bandura to Lupin:

• Criminal behaviour presented as heroic
• He is shown as successful, attractive, and morally justified- which could make his behaviour seem admirable or worth copying
• Assane frequently lies, manipulates, and uses disguises to achieve his goals
• Bandura would argue that if these behaviours are rewarded (he gets away with it, helps people, wins), then audiences may interpret this as acceptable- especially younger viewers

STUART HALL

• Reception theory
• 3 types of audiences

Preferred (dominant-hegemonic)- Audience fully accepts the intended meaning of the text

Negotiated- Audience partly agrees with the message but also questions or modifies it based on their own experience

Oppositional- Audience rejects the intended meaning and interprets the text in a completely different way (often critical)

Encoding- Producers encode media with certain values, ideologies and meanings

Decoding- Audiences decode them differently based on their culture, background, age, gender, ethnicity etc

Applying Stuart Hall to Stranger Things

• The show promotes ideas like friendship, bravery, loyalty, and self-sacrifice
• A nostalgic view of white, middle-class, small town America
• Heroism through teamwork and resistance against oppressive institutions (e.g the lab, the government)

Preferred- viewers enjoy the 80s nostalgia, see Eleven’s power as a metaphor for strength and trauma, see the characters as heroes. Accept the show’s mainstream values (good vs evil, friendship saves the way)

Negotiated- Viewers enjoy the sci-fi but may believe that there is a lack of diversity or find the 80s nostalgia exaggerated or unrelateable. They may accept some messages (heroism) but reject others (idealising suburban America)

Oppositional- viewers may criticise the show as reinforcing white, patriarchal, capitalist values, erasing non-white experiences and ignoring the real 80s issues (racism, poverty)

Applying Stuart Hall to Lupin

• Encodes meanings such as racial injustice, class inequality and the power of intelligence over brute force
• Assane presented as a modern-day Robin Hood figure
• Celebration of black french identit, challenging elite white structures

Preferred-  viewers accept Assane as a clever, charismatic hero exposing injustice. They support and understand the show’s messages about racism, class, and corruption in France.

Negotiated- viewers may admire Assane but struggle with the idea of a criminal as a role model, or find the critique of French society too simplistic. They agree with some messages but question the framing.

Oppositional- some viewers (especially more conservative ones) may see the show as glorifying crime, promoting anti-establishment values, or being too political. They reject its progressive messages and focus on the law breaking.

HENRY JENKINS

• Fandom
• "If it doesn't spread, it's dead". Memes, fan art, videos, and articles circulated about competition between both franchises, driven by wildly juxtaposing subject matter.
• Fans act as 'textual poachers'- taking elements from media texts to create their own culture.
• Jenkins prefers the term 'spreadable media' to terms such as 'viral' as the former emphasises the active participatory element of the 'new' media.
• "If it doesn't spread, it's dead". Memes, fan art, videos, and articles circulated about competition between both franchises, driven by wildly juxtaposing subject matter.
• Fans act as 'textual poachers'- taking elements from media texts to create their own culture.
• Jenkins prefers the term 'spreadable media' to terms such as 'viral' as the former emphasises the active participatory element of the 'new' media.
• Audiences are no longer passive consumers- they are active participants who engage with, create, and share media content

Applying Henry Jenkins to Stranger Things:

• Fandom is huge- they produce fan art, fan fiction, cosplays, theories about the show
• Huge social media presence and fan hype, especially after a new season drops
• Merchandise, books, comics, games, etc- expanding the narrative across platforms
• Fans engage with and build upon these stories- expanding the Stranger Things fandom
• Textual poaching- fans rewrite storylines and use the original text to explore narratives that the show leaves underdeveloped.

Applying Henry Jenkins to Lupin:

• Fans engage in online discussion, theory sharing, edits. 
• Viewers from different regions bring localised interpretations and discuss the show’s relevance to global issues
• Global streaming allows diverse audiences to engage in participatory culture, even with non-English media