The Netflix hit show Stranger Things is entering its sophomore season and the world is waiting in anticipation. But why is it so good!
CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS SEASON 1! Stranger Things is an instant classic among Netflix viewers. Fans praised the show for an engaging storyline, unforgettable characters, subversion of conventions and expectations and, most of all, its celebration of the 1980s. But how it can be nostalgic, yet be unique?
I am beyond excited this week. Halloween is right around the corner and the Netflix hit series, Stranger Things, is coming back with a brand new season, new friends, new scares and more 80s goodness! Granted I never grew up in the 1980s, I never made my existential debut until 1993. However, my love for learning history, whether it be fiction or non-fiction, starts to develop to the point where I do yearn to experience time periods before mine.
So why am I so nostalgic for this series inspired by a decade I was never even born in? The answer is easier than you might think.
CHAPTER ONE: STARTER’S GUIDE
Created by the Duffer Brothers, Stranger Things is a science fiction horror television series about the residents of the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. Season 1 begins with the mysterious disappearance of a local boy named Will Byers and divides into four separate concurrent stories:
1. The Boys
Will’s equally nerdy best friends (Mike Wheeler, Dustin Henderson, and Lucas Sinclair) discovers a young but powerful girl named Eleven in the last known sighting of Will. With Eleven’s help, the boys try to find their lost friend.
2. Joyce
Will’s mother Joyce is convinced that he is alive and is communicating with her using lamps and Christmas lights to reveal his location, ignoring those who believe she is going crazy over the loss of her son.
3. The Teens
Mike’s older sister Nancy goes to a party at her boyfriend Steve’s house with her best friend Barb, who disappears that night. Teaming up with Will’s older brother Jonathan, the two discover it was a monster kidnapped Barb and plot to kill it.
4. Hooper
Local police chief Jim Hooper gathers search parties for Will but uncovers and investigates a government conspiracy surrounding Will and the shady Hawkins National Laboratory.
Unlike some shows that take a detour into another unrelated subplot, all the four stories of Stranger Things are progressively crucial to solving the primary conflict: Where is Will Byers? They are evenly balanced and paced by being given an equal amount of screen-time before switching between each other before ultimately converging.
CHAPTER TWO: THE CONVERGENCE
I know there are those of you are reading this and wondering (or complaining) why am I now talking about a web television series rather than a movie this week. I knew I have to talk about Stranger Things that I am dedicating one entire blog post.
There has been recent films that draws from countless 1980s films in recent years that came out before Netflix acquired the license for the show, such the 2011 Steven Spielberg-inspired Super 8, the 2015 Canadian superhero adventure Turbo Kid, and even the over-the-top Swedish martial-arts short film Kung Fury.
However, the Duffer Brothers did something radically different with Stranger Things than a filmmaker can do with only two hours.
Having been set in the decade of the 1980s, the show immersed itself into the popular culture of that era so well that it actually transcends the typical formula. To demonstrate, here’s just a handful of 1980s things I caught while watching only the first season:
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Aliens
Jaws
Dungeons and Dragons
The Goonies
Marvel Comics (X-Men and Fantastic Four)
Halloween
Stephen King’s Firestarter, Carrie, IT…etc.
Star Wars
Eggos
Witness
The Clash
All of the things among many more were used, mentioned, re-enacted, or emulated throughout and within the context of the show. Some of which, such as the Dungeons and Dragons board game, are used as plot devices and character details.
CHAPTER THREE: THE DIVERGENCE
The greatest irony of Stranger Things is that while it does retread familiar grounds of the genres it portrays (like partying teenagers getting killed by a monster), the show subverts expectations of said genres that not only gives surprises viewers, but also proves why Stranger Things can be made now as opposed to thirty years ago.
As I mentioned before, all the characters of the four concurrent plots of Stranger Things are initially set up as the archetypical characters appearing in 1980s genre movies. The plots supports this by giving them a different film style to them:
For instance, the Boys story has a sense of child-like wonder and brotherhood similar to that of E.T. and The Goonies, but the Teens are inspired by teenage romance dramas like The Breakfast Club before changing into a slasher movie resembling Halloween or Friday the 13th.
These archetypical stories and characters are already familiar enough to audiences, whether or not they seen E.T. or Friday the 13th since both of those films impacted our culture. However, the Duffer Brothers used those as a jumping point to build a connectivity between the audience and the characters before revealing their true colors.
In a typical teenage romance movie, Nancy (the pretty girl) dates the bully and pretty boy Steve Harrington who picks on the loser Jonathan Byers. Jonathan would go through an ordeal, overcomes it and mans up and wins Nancy’s affection over Steve.
But that doesn’t happen.
In fact, it is Steve who undergoes a character arc and struggles to better himself for Nancy. Jonathan was never really pining for Nancy to begin with. He only paired up with her after she learns that Jonathan took a photo of her best friend, just before she vanished.
Another example is the character of Jim Hopper, Hawkins’ local police chief. Early expectations suggest he would be an unlikeable character, being late in meeting with Joyce to investigate more about her missing son and subsequently ignoring her pleas for help with the causal demeanor as he does with his routine of morning cigarettes, doughnuts and coffee (“Mornings are for coffee and contemplation”). Think Chief Brody from Jaws, minus his loving family.
Speaking of family, you learn rather quickly about his personal loss and grief that left him damaged. He eventually becomes resolved in his mission to uncover the truth, to find Will to reprimand for his pain, and protect the Boys from the conspiracy that they unknowingly get wrapped into.
But the characters aren’t the only thing that Stranger Things subverts from the mundane. Typical science-fiction movies would have one or more scientists delivering this long expository monologue and breaking down every single detail of what’s going on in scientific explanation with big, complicated words, blah blah blah and now you’re bored and I’m sorry.
They instead used the Boys’ knowledge of current popular culture, including the Dungeons and Dragons board game, to explain the extra dimensions and the creatures that reside within it, although they do have a middle school science teacher named Mr. Clarke explain the same thing using the Acrobat and the Flea example to the Boys.In other words, Stranger Things made the science accessible to a general audience without any elaborate needs to explain everything. It’s called having fun.
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION
Overall, Stranger Things became a fan-favorite show largely due to its focus on its unexpected emotional development and break from the mold it was initially based on. In other words, it created something so nostalgic and yet something so fresh and new. Personally, I cannot recommend this show enough. It quickly became one of my favorite shows of last year and I have high expectations for Season 2, continuing the dark misadventures of Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and the rest of the gang.
I wanna know what you guys have to say about Stranger Things. Do you like it, do you not like it? Tell me why in the comments from the Upside Down below. If you enjoy my breakdown, be sure to share it with your friends over a Dungeons and Dragons campaign. And if you want more 1980s goodness, I wrote another editorial about Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and late sequels, which you can find right here!
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