Why STRANGER THINGS Is the New HARRY POTTER

When I sat down to watch Stranger Things season four, I quickly noticed that it reminded me of nervously turning the pages of J.K. Rowling’s prose. The sense of closeness between the two series stayed with me all the way to the finale of this part of the season.

The phenomenon

Is it true that Stranger Things is coming back on Friday? – my fifteen-year-old nephew asked me a few years ago. I’ll watch it all at once, he added. I myself refused a friend’s invitation to a house party, saying that unfortunately, my weekend was already booked because I would be watching the series. She understood.

Her boyfriend took a day off work to watch the new season. I call my thirty-five-year-old brother. He tells me he’s just waiting for the evening to order pizza and start the first episode. Is it out already, the whole season? I have to remind myself what happened in the previous one,explains my sixty-year-old mother, who keeps up with the adventures of the kids from Hawkins.

All these conversations, anecdotes, and nervous countdowns became the foundation for writing this text. I quickly realized that I felt the same kind of excitement as when, as a teenager, I waited in a night line at the local library to get my copy of the new Harry Potter installment, run home, and start reading as fast as possible. Stranger Things is also an international and intergenerational phenomenon whose new installments lead to worldwide excitement and a race to see who will devour the latest season first — something that, of course, the distribution model proposed by Netflix encourages.

A pop culture mix

Of course, the word phenomenon can be linked to more titles than just Harry Potter and Stranger Things, but there are more points of contact. Let’s start with the very concept, which is a fairly simple but very satisfying mix of pop culture tropes. Harry Potter was based on (mainly) British stories in the fantasy spirit, creating a world of wizards and magical creatures that was as unique as it was familiar.

Stranger Things is (mostly) 1980s fantasy molded into a delicious whole. It’s easy to find Stephen King’s books here, the work of John Carpenter, The Terminator, Aliens, or the Nightmare on Elm Street series. It’s a trick as old as the blockbuster itself. After all, Star Wars worked on a similar principle, combining its creator’s youthful passions into a unique work.

The chosen one

Another classic motif is, of course, the motif of the chosen one. In Harry Potter, it was the title character — the boy who lived. Harry was destined to fight the powerful and malevolent Lord Voldemort, and everyone around him, however much they loved him and wanted to protect him, was aware of it. In Stranger Things, it is, of course, Eleven. An innocent child and a killing machine in one.

Although her friends and guardians struggle with it, in the end, they always send the teenage girl to fight the forces of darkness. In the fourth season, the motif of the chosen one is stated almost explicitly: the fate of Hawkins and the entire Earth depends on Eleven.

Children and their coming of age

Of course, both Harry and Eleven are not the only child heroes of their series. On the contrary, they are surrounded by a group of peers that grows and matures with each book or season. Coming of age is a significant element of both series. At first, we see innocent children who gradually become teenagers entering adulthood. First loves, broken hearts, serious choices.

It’s hard to forget the excitement that came with reading about Harry’s first kiss; it’s equally hard not to follow the romantic entanglements of the teenagers from Hawkins with flushed cheeks. And alongside them — the actors growing up on screen. There probably hasn’t been a series like the Harry Potter film adaptation in this regard — and after it, one like Stranger Things. In my mind’s eye, I can already see the actors’ reunion decades from now, just like the one Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and the rest of the Potter cast received.

Love, friendship, and inclusivity

The previous point leads us to another one. The true strength of both series lies in the values they instill in young viewers. The famous friends don’t lie is the very motto of Stranger Things. The characters survive successive cataclysms and attacks of evil forces thanks to cooperation, friendship, and mutual devotion. It’s the love for their children that motivates Joyce and Hopper. It’s the bonds of friendship that save the kids’ group.

I would mention here the beautiful, tear-jerking sequence from the finale of the fourth episode of the latest season, but due to spoilers, I will not. Those who know, know. Of course, it was exactly the same in the adventures of Harry Potter, where friendship and love (literally, the magic of love!) ultimately defeated Voldemort.

And all this with the sense that it doesn’t matter what you look like, who you are, or where you come from. The creators of Stranger Things managed to create a truly beautifully inclusive group of friends. The same values stood behind J.K. Rowling’s books — regardless of the British writer’s media activity in recent years.

Structure

And finally, the structure itself. Both stories are largely based on successive investigations conducted by teenage heroes (in Harry Potter’s case, mainly in the first three volumes) and on the resulting adventures, problems, and dangers.

Each subsequent book or season is also a very clever exercise in building the sense that everything is part of a bigger plan, a well-thought-out whole, and even the smallest, most insignificant events from the past can find their impressive conclusion in the later installments of the franchise.

So? Would you agree with me that Stranger Things stands on the map of contemporary pop culture as a new Harry Potter?