Looking Back at STRANGER THINGS, S1: A Wonderful Journey

Imagine that films manifest themselves in the form of children. Now imagine that The Goonies meets its friend Close Encounters of the Third Kind, high-fives E.T., and cheerfully smiles at Twin Peaks. They meet in their home base, located in the basement, where adults deprived of imagination are not allowed. From the top of the stairs leading to the children’s headquarters, the father of one of the aforementioned proudly looks down. Just an aging gentleman fascinated by Stephen King’s books, looking like John Carpenter’s twin brother. Stranger Things

Although Christmas is still far away, the house with a basement is decorated with Christmas lights, and atop the roof proudly glows a red neon sign – Stranger Things. Can you feel it? Well, let’s go further.

Season 1 is an eight-episode series that draws heavily from the classics of 1980s cinema. Stranger Things is a nostalgic journey to a time without the internet and smartphones, when kids happily rode bicycles, built secret hideouts deep in the forest, and invented fictional scenarios for their daily adventures. The Duffer brothers’ series child was created with passion, with longing for times and realities that will never return. Stranger Things is full of little Easter eggs, like the The Thing poster hanging on the wall, appearing in one of the first scenes and then periodically before the viewer’s eyes until the end credits.

The kids play Dungeons and Dragons, constantly referencing the beloved The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, a giant Millennium Falcon lies in the pile of toys, and a trip to the cinema to see a film not allowed for the youngest, Poltergeist, evokes shivers of excitement.

The intertextuality of Stranger Things also manifests itself (and even primarily) in the story, the way it is told, and its archetypal characters. I will start with the story, which unfolds in the small, sleepy, and typically American town of Hawkins. In Hawkins, it is boring, nothing happens, and in the last four years the most serious incident was an owl attacking the head of one resident – the bird mistook the victim’s hairstyle for a nest. The action is set in motion by the mysterious disappearance of a boy named Will, who did not return home after meeting his friends (to be precise, after a ten-hour Dungeons and Dragons session, of course). The missing boy’s mother quickly panics, and the entire town feverishly begins the search.

What Stranger Things does not lack! There is a group of kids for whom friendship is the highest value in life, and finding the missing buddy becomes a priority of the utmost importance regardless of all dangers. There is the town sheriff, Hopper, who initially raises doubts about his competence and involvement in the investigation, yet quickly proves to be the right person in the right place. There is a mysterious monster whose presence (though certainly not appearance!) we learn of right at the start of the first episode.

There is a mysterious person with supernatural abilities who must flee from evil people. The evil people, of course, are government agents and scientists conducting horrific experiments (MK Ultra ring a bell?). There is also Will’s brother – Jonathan, a school outsider, who over time is accompanied by a well-behaved and exemplary teenage girl who has a crush on the sly school heartthrob. The fates of the characters eventually intertwine, and with each episode, strange occurrences in the town increase. We know all this, right?

As mentioned in the third paragraph, Stranger Things was created with extraordinary passion, which is felt in every frame and every sound. Although the Duffer brothers offered nothing new, indeed – they used story patterns, archetypes, and overall stylistic elements that have been overused to the point of exhaustion – all elements were recreated (or reworked?) so naturally that the jaw drops, losing half its teeth, and the heart races due to true, sincere emotions, which have become increasingly rare on small and big screens.

Emotions are the keyword in Stranger Things – with the characters we experience the full spectrum. The joy and carefreeness of children, fear (even terror) of the unknown and dangerous, the tragedy of Will’s mother and brother, the dramatic history linked to Sheriff Hopper’s past. And believe me, there is much more. The characters are one-dimensional (though in a few cases we are surprised), but this serves to present certain values and aligns with the conventions of 1980s films. Stranger Things wonderfully glorifies the strength of childhood friendship, which forms unbreakable bonds, brings joy, and gives the power to overcome all barriers, the strength to face the greatest dangers.

Great credit goes to the cast, which was chosen superbly – the young actors, thanks to extraordinary naturalness, simply b e c a m e their characters, Winona Ryder made a wonderful return as Will’s emotionally fragile mother, and Sheriff Hopper elicits sympathy from the very first scenes. The music also adds immense value to the production – both the era-specific tracks (fans of The Clash will be happy, oh, they will) and the original score composed for the series (just listen to the synthesizers in the brilliant opening credits, and everything becomes clear).

Stranger Things is a wonderful, nostalgic journey. It is not about multilayered plot, complex characters, or breaking new ground in cinematography. The most important thing is the sincerity of the emotions coming from the screen. The Duffer brothers took a huge risk – juggling clichés and drawing heavily from classics could have ended in disaster or pretentious mush. All references, old motifs, were used flawlessly, and every wink to the audience evokes a broad smile. Netflix’s work is not perfect, it is not a masterpiece. But it does one damn thing well – it reminds us where the magic of cinema lies.