EVALUATION AUDIENCE: GERBNER

Gerbner’s cultivation theory suggests that repeated exposure to television shapes audience perceptions, reinforcing dominant ideologies and normalising particular worldviews. Though developed in a pre-digital era, it remains useful for exploring how long-form TV dramas communicate social values, particularly through recurring themes and character types established in their opening episodes.

In Stranger Things Episode One, the depiction of government secrecy, the supernatural threat, and the vulnerability of children fosters a fearful worldview. Will’s sudden disappearance, the ominous lab, and the aggressive military personnel suggest a world where children are unsafe and institutions are untrustworthy, elements that could support mean world syndrome. Similarly, the portrayal of Eleven as a frightened child pursued by violent agents reinforces the idea of systemic cruelty. Meanwhile, the focus on family unity, loyal friendships, and parental concern (especially Joyce’s panic and Hopper’s growing unease) affirms traditional social values, potentially contributing to mainstreaming. However, the show’s 1980s setting, nostalgic references, and genre-blending invite ironic or distanced readings. Gerbner’s model assumes homogenous messaging and passive audiences, which does not account for the show’s intertextuality and complexity.

In Deutschland 83 Episode One, fear and mistrust also dominate. The East German government manipulates Martin into espionage, isolating him from family and identity. The show presents both East and West as ideologically compromised: the H.V.A. are coercive (even drugging and kidnapping Martin), but the West is shown indulging in materialism and naïveté. The recurrence of surveillance, control, and deception, especially in scenes like Martin’s initiation or the training montage, may encourage long-term scepticism toward state power. The danger is more political than supernatural, but the underlying message is similar: the world is unstable, and authority is suspect. This repeated framing could influence audiences’ long-term attitudes, aligning with Gerbner’s concept of mainstreaming around distrust and geopolitical anxiety. 

Gerbner’s theory is helpful in showing how LFTV dramas like these introduce recurring anxieties, government secrecy, personal vulnerability, ideological conflict, that may shape viewers’ worldviews over time. Both shows use repetition of visual cues (e.g., dim lighting, enclosed spaces, reaction shots) and thematic motifs to normalise fear, threat, and institutional failure. However, Gerbner assumes uninterrupted, long-term viewing of consistent messages. Today’s fragmented, personalised media environment makes such uniform influence less likely. His theory also overlooks how representation and media language, such as the stylised editing in Stranger Things or the use of irony in Deutschland 83, shape how meanings are constructed. Moreover, audiences now engage critically and actively with media texts, resisting or reinterpreting the ideologies presented. This limits the applicability of cultivation theory in contexts where viewer agency is significant. 

In conclusion, while Gerbner’s theory offers insight into how LFTV dramas may reinforce certain fears and values, it underestimates the interpretive complexity of contemporary texts and the active role of modern audiences. Yet its assumptions about audience passivity and mass exposure limit its relevance to the complex, fragmented, and interpretive media landscape of contemporary television.