Stranger Things

This week, I decided to finally sit down and watch Stranger Things, the extremely popular sci-fi drama starring Winona Ryder and break out star Millie Bobby Brown. In this show, we're taken for a ride from our real world, into the “Upside Down”, following a diverse set of characters of all age groups and personalities. I enjoyed watching the pilot episode so much that I kept going through the series. With a name like "Stranger Things", it seemingly has such a simple concept, a story about some strange things. Yet, when you dive deeper into it, you see that the name takes on a whole other meaning. When you think you've seen the strangest, there will always be stranger things that you may not be able to see, or even be aware of. With that, I was drawn into the weird concept and story of the show.

While watching, one of the main cinematic tools used in this show is the use of location. There may be minor spoilers ahead, so here is your first and last warning. Our story sets in the small fictitious town of Hawkins, Indiana, a seemingly quiet and ordinary town, in the mid 1980s. One of the more stranger things that occurs in the town is the existence of the Upside Down, a dark world that seems to parallel the town of Hawkins. Some points are more parallel than others. Will, kidnapped into the upside down, learns how to communicate with his mother through lights she hangs around her house. This puts an emphasis on the parallel worlds of Hawkins and the Upside Down. In the same sense Will’s mother first didn’t know if he was alive, to believing he was there and that it was possible to bring him home, viewers are able to figure out the mystery alongside the characters. Two of the other characters, Will’s older brother Jonathan and friend Nancy, eventually find a way into the upside down through a tree in the woods surrounding Hawkins. From an audience perspective, it causes us to be anxious for our characters, in that we know something they don’t, that there is a way out.

In addition, I found it interesting how we’re taken back to the 80s to set the story. The characters aren’t able to just text friends letting them know they’re safe, they can’t search up why strange things are happening. The kids in the show use walkie talkies for messages and are constantly worrying about their friends. Winona Ryder was one of the biggest names to be cast in the show, probably on purpose as she had been such a huge 80s star. All aspects help to enforce the idea of living in the past and add an exciting element for 80s movies fans, like myself.

Stranger Things I believe to be such a great show, as it has small elements from every genre: horror, thriller, sci-fi, and a little romance. That said, there is something in it for everyone, as long as you don’t mind being hit with the next stranger thing.