Stranger Things Scene Analysis

Benny's Death Scene
S1EP1 38:50 - 40:30

In this clip the scene is set in the back of Benny's kitchen with kitchen appliances and props forming most of the mise en scene. The scene is mostly dark tones and colours contrasted by Eleven in a bright yellow t shirt perhaps establishing her significance in the scene. Through the dialogue Benny is constructed as a strong protective almost father figure for Eleven. The scene shifts once someone knocks on the door because we move from mostly over the shoulder shots of Benny and Elevens conversation to a close up focused shot of Elevens worried face to signify that someone arriving at the door is disturbing to her and incites worry to the audience. When. Benny opens the door to the social services woman we hear crickets and a radio which is a peaceful moment that contrasts harshly with what is about to come almost tricking the audience into thinking there will be a resolution. Once invites the woman in the scene shifts as she pulls out a gun and shoots him. We see this through Elevens point of view so we can understand the further trauma she is seeing and going through. As soon as the trigger is pulled fast music begins signifying adrenaline or panic to the audience because this was non diegetic sound that the characters could not hear. Having Benny die shows us that it is dangerous to be close or associated with eleven because she is wanted by the government. This sets us up for later when the boys become her protective of her as we worry the same thing may happen to them. Most of this scene is a mid shot to show the focus on the body language and facial expression of the characters as we see elevens worried face and her body spring into action signifying she is being chased. As eleven runs away she pushes through numerous doors before she is confronted by two smartly dressed men, emphasizing their status and the fact they are not the same as Eleven, pointing guns at her which we see through her point of view, again signifying her vulnerable state as now she is alone without Benny to help her. We then see a tall man with White hair (Dr Brenner) come through the main door with two more men behind him in a triangle formation signifying his importance. The characters hear a large static sound from the back kitchen making their heads turn as the shot closes up on their face emphasizing that they think they know where Eleven is at this point putting her in danger. This also conveys that perhaps the sound is familiar to them like it is normal and they associate it with Eleven which is puzzling to the audience because it is not a regular earthly sound. We then see a mid shot of Dr Brenner walking through the back kitchen with plates and doors crashing showing the state of chaos. He finds Eleven is gone and the two men threatening Eleven with guns lying on the floor dead. This also establishes the children in the film as intellectually superior to the adults as she can outsmart the government officials. This subverts the normal power structure of society giving the power and control to those you wouldn't expect like children, becoming a social commentary of the government. This also links to the idea that the duffer brothers were heavily influenced by their interest in the cold war and the secrecy surrounding the government during this time period. This is reflected by the mystery surrounding Dr Brenner and why he wants Eleven as it is known many secret corrupt government experiments took place during the cold war. Following this moment Dr Brenner runs outside looking confused as he stares outside the shot widens onto the vast forest demonstrating that Eleven has successfully escaped the government again and will not be easily found in such environment as the forest has many connotations of being lost including the first moment in the episode when Will Byers last known location to the characters is in the forest before he was lost.

Mike,Lucas And Dustin Arriving at School The Day After Wills Disappearacne
S1EP1 12:20 - 14:00 

The scene opens with a wide establishing shot of Hawkins middle School with Mike, Lucas and Dustin riding their bikes into school. The school, students, a large yellow school bus and the water tower make up most of the mise en scene for the beginning of this scene. The establishing shot sets up the context for the scene establishing they are arriving for a normal day at middle school, this also emphasizes the youth of the boys because it places them in a setting associated with children. Stranger things is set in the 80's and uses many forms of intertextuality from the 80s. A large focus of stranger things is the comradery of the children as seen in many 80s classics such as 'it' and 'et' which the duffer brothers took inspiration form. As the boys are riding into school peaceful background music can be heard to imply the boys have not learned of Wills disappearance and it is still just a regular day to them. We then have a close up shot of the bike rack, with the first of the four slots being empty signifying wills absence, the boys are clattering their bikes into it which can be heard as well as the school bell ringing. The close up of the bikes also suggests the importance of it as we know that Will fell of his bike and left it in the forest which will be their last know place that will was. The bikes are an important element to the boys as it is their mode of transport and they are used frequently throughout the series which is also a reference to other 80’s movies such as ‘the goonies’ which the duffer brothers also took inspiration from. The school bell ringing suggests to the characters that will is late or not coming because he has not arrived. We can tell by the dialogue of the boys that Mike is worried about wills absence because it is not normal for him not to show up. This emphasizes Mikes intuitiveness as he is the only one who seems worried setting us up for later to expect Mike to be the one who takes action to find Will. The boys are wearing youthful, casual clothes expected of the 80s. Next, we have a conversation between Mike, Lucas, Dustin and their bullies. This is a mid-shot as they allow the viewer to pick up on the character's movements and gestures. Body language is important to conveying emotion, and the medium shot remains close enough to capture that emotion. We can see through eh boys' facials expression they are unhappy during this exchange as in particular a racist remark is made to Lucas which again establishes us into the 80s when racial prejudice was still normalized. Some moments of this scene are through a point of view shot so the harsh words of the bullies are more impactful to the audience. As the bullies exit the scene we have another mid shot of the boys as they walk away conversing about how Dustin can’t fight evil with his cleidocranial dysplasia and referencing superpowers which is another intertextuality reference to the 80s as the craze of sci fi spread. This is also ironic as we know later Dustin is able to fight evil against the demagorgans and the mind flayer later in the series.