STRANGER THINGS: When have I seen this?

July 2016. Everything came to a refreshing, though scorching, hot halt for the summer. Kids were out of school, people were coming and going back from their vacations, everything seemed a little slower and quieter. Then, everybody started spending nights terrified and enthralled by Will’s disappearance and his mother’s on-the-verge-of-madness desperate cries for help to find him, WHEREVER he was. And we all felt very comfortable with that world, straight up or upside down.

Why did this newcomer series, a weird mix of terror, science-fiction/fantasy, and comedy become such a phenomenon?

It really all comes down to one element. NOSTALGIA. The Duffer brothers tapped into the generation Xers need for escapism from adult life and reminiscence of simpler times, as well as the younger public’s curiosity towards pre-internet interactions and way of life. In the media, and especially movies, each generation feels this nostalgia for past generations that they didn’t experience (people in the 80s were constantly going back to the 50s: Back to the Future, Grease, Crybaby…). Maybe it’s because it’s the parents’ generation and it feels safe and cozy, or maybe because it’s a way of escaping for a while the responsibility of building the future and live in uncertainty. The fact is, we all feel it, it is part of how we process the changes we see in society.

The genius of Stranger Things is that it is the first series to use the same genre elements as Steven Spielberg in E.T. or Richard Donner in The Goonies: we’re following a group of kids, friends and elder siblings, as they go on a dangerous ADVENTURE. It is thrilling and exciting! There are elements of comedy, terror (the general fear of children kidnappings, the alien abductions and experiments, the industrial medical secrets, the Alien Xenomorph look-a-like monster) and a mix of science-fiction (the experiments going on in the compound from which Eleven escaped, the Mind Flayer) and fantasy (scary creatures such as the Demogorgon), creating a perfect sense of action and adventure.

Mike, Dustin and Lucas, joined by Eleven, Nancy, Jonathan, Steve and Max are just normal kids and teens, going around on their bikes or in their cars, until they become the only witnesses of something really extraordinary, that sets them on a journey to strength, resilience, loss, cooperation, courage, and responsibility. Innocent children transforming into active heroes. Entertainingly growing up.

An interesting element is the focus on a female lead, Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown) that was rare in those adventure movies from the 80s. The series respects the coherence of the timeline and the genre, the single mom (just like in E.T.), the group of guys with the presence of an elder sister and the no-nonsense chief of police. But the series format allows all characters to evolve and for the weakest, less experienced to find their strengths, while the strongest, hardened by life find their weaknesses and reconnect with their emotions.

It’s a tale of always becoming more human and collaborative to fight inhumanity.

Thanks for reading, it’s been a pleasure.

Unknown

“I’m on a curiosity travel, and I need my paddles.”- Dustin

Season 2, Episode 3 “Curiosity voyage”