Quarantine has afforded a rare opportunity for me to re-watch things. It’s been few and far-between that I’d do this, for most of my adult life, and it’s not terribly common for me to be impressed by something enough to watch it again, either. It’s not that there aren’t plenty of good reasons to be a couch potato, but there are just too many things to watch… If I’m going to stop all of my little projects and actually watch anything, I’d like for it to be another notch on the belt for films watched. It’s probably also that I’m maybe an old soul, and there are just some things I don’t like about modern film/movies. For one, I don’t like cell phones. They’re too “meta” for me. Cell phones and people surfing the internet, even if it is during some nail-biting action sequence — it just immediately takes me out of the film. So I guess I’ve presented you with Exhibit A of why Stranger Things has been such a welcome, and anomalous entry in the list of video entertainment that I like to watch.
It’s not that there aren’t plenty of Netflix series that aim for nostalgia, but I haven’t found one that seems so much like it was tailor-made for me. I have to say, part of my enthusiasm comes from the normalization of psychic phenomena. Granted, the portrayal of it is exaggerated, of course. There are still enough connections to psychism in the reality of how some of it works. For instance, remote viewing and astral travel don’t generally cause someone to bleed from the nose, and it’s not necessarily important to have white noise in the background, although it probably helps for some. The hard part is actually being accurate at it in a way that is practical, and especially in getting the full picture. But I digress. Telekinesis, while not as widely documented as remote viewing, is still a concept worth thinking about — If not about the material realm, then the subtle roots of it that exist within the spiritual realm.
For those who have watched the series, could that be what the Upside Down is, to some extent? It’s not exactly, to me, but it’s a great metaphor for a film. The idea that hell is not demons and fire and brimstone, but a dark, empty wasteland of slime, derelict rot, and ultimately, bottom-feeding salamanders soullessly scrounging for their next meal — it just seems more apt a designation for hell. It could be that the physical world is a heaven that is corrupt by the overlapping seepage that happens when we let The Upside Down in. Throughout the series, the dichotomy is clear-cut, in a town that doesn’t know crime at all, and hasn’t yet been ravaged by culture-less big stores or malls, at least not from the outset. I especially love how the writers portray a domino effect that could come from one single lie, even a well-intentioned one.
Another thing that really impresses me is the valiant attempts on the part of The Duffer Brothers to keep the plot going while also portraying the after-effects of trauma in a way that doesn’t just fall into basic action hero tropes. It’s almost as if the aftermath is partially the cause of another trauma, if you will, on the part of the cast in Season Two. I love how this extends also into the inevitable fear of change, and all that comes with it, as it is parsed out in a nuanced, delicate, and eloquent way. The creation of some of the villains, the things that caused them to be that way, are thoughtfully addressed, not to mention some elements that portray them as not exactly 100% evil, and more something that was haphazardly molded by chance in an unbalanced, destructive direction.
The fact that all of this is condensed into a sci-fi/horror/nostalgia/thriller hybrid, with notable homages to The Thing, George Romero, probably also some team-kid movies like Monster Squad — it makes for a fantastic viewing experience over and over, for me and obviously others. I can forgive the minor plotholes and inconsistencies (if these smaller monsters can see everything, then why would they even combine into one big monster, instead of several little ones?), because I find in the franchise overall, a renewal of a sense of honor that is not too contrived or convoluted, and it doesn’t come with the revenge/macho bravado tropes that has permeated much of the 80s. Revenge is a side effect of taking care of business, rather than the end goal.
In a sense, a lot about Stranger Things has more than a hint of revisionism, while also being much more condensed about pacing and depth than the various outmoded models that preceded it. The soundtrack, which makes careful choices with synthesizer scores in not being too retro-cheesy, but keeping one foot in the John Carpenter style, while the other foot well-planted in contemporary soundtrack trickery, particularly with sound design and intricate stereo panning — it’s a perfect mixture. I do think I’d be a bit more realistic in terms of dealing with racism of the time, and maybe I’d have someone other than Steve Harrington receive a truly bruising beatdown after they get their asses kicked by alien monsters or Russian killers. Other than that, Stranger Things has been a welcome reprieve for a person who likes mostly older and weirder stuff. If there weren’t a Season 4 clearly in the making, I’d be satisfied with the way Season 3 was wrapped up.