Why Stranger Things works so well

Now the whole act of repackaging old 80s nostalgia was decently last executed in the 2011 movie Super 8. JJ Abrams had managed to channel a Steven Spielberg throwback story using every homage motif in the book to create something seemingly new. And so we do live in an era where everything is a gritty reboot of franchises previously established during a bygone decade. Thus putting us in the age of flourishing superhero movies and the resulting spin off TV shows.

After the recent success of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ was when film makers and writers understood the merits of retelling the same story with a shift in tone and delivery. Suspiciously what followed next year was the Netflix Original show Stranger Things. The promo for the show itself was stuffed with so many 80s references that it was tough to imagine how they would manage to create something original. Theoretically there seemed to be nothing much to offer apart from an E.T. rehash.

But after finishing all the 8 episodes of the season (yes, binge-watching being the only way) I realised what a treat it was to witness the same story/-ies being retold. Using a mish mash of all 80s Horror & Sci-fi tropes, it achieves an output of something throughly entertaining.

If you’ve seen the show, then the title track is already playing in your head by now!

Now lets back up a little.

As kids growing up in India in the 90s, we were a decade late with a lot of content and technology we grew up with. Things that influenced us heavily in our growing years. Using VHS tapes and audio cassettes heavily while the west has moved on to CDs. Playing 8-bit video games on the TV even till the early years post-millenium, while the first Playstation was released in 1994. TV shows and cartoons that came a couple of years late since cable TV was sort of a privilege. And the only Hollywood we were exposed to were either the really popular big budget flicks(Jurassic Park,Independence Day) that came out in theaters or the classic VHS movies from the local video rental shop.

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This was the time I got to watch movies like Poltergeist, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T and The Thing. Movies which established a template for what Sci Fi was. Something Bollywood could not even come close to offering.

Fast forward to the current year where a show managed to capture all the nostalgic tropes and nuances creating a near perfect Stephen(Spielberg and King) love child.

So what do we have here…

A rag tag group of kids (ET, Stand by me,Goonies) protecting a girl with special abilities(Carrie) against the government(Firestarter) in order to help a friend trapped in another dimension(Poltergeist) facing a monster(The Thing, The Mist)…meanwhile a high school love triangle(Sixteen Candles) surrounded by every stereotype in the book (The Breakfast Club) culminates to a final boss battle with the monster(Nightmare on Elm Street). Now all this would be a terribly hectic concoction for a movie. But space it out in 8 episodes giving each character and circumstance some breathing space and well as Carl Weathers would say it:

Also shout out to other references: Tonnes of Alien references with the hazmat suits and the general ambience of the Upside-Down world. Mr.Wheeler’s resemblance to George McFly from Back to the Future. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings nerdgasm all around.And the weirdest, the Upside-Down world for El looks a lot like the bizzare world from Under the Skin:

With a lot less nudity and more monsters [from Under the Skin (2013)]

Coupled with a neat soundtrack filled with synth-heavy melodies intercut by songs from bands like The Clash, Toto, The Bangles, Joy Division etc. helps in setting the tone which has the potential to easily go anachronistic.

All said and done, the show does have it’s own share of issues: some fluctuating character motivations, the Scooby Doo-esque ability to waltz into restricted areas, the blurring line between homage and rip-off. But all of these can somehow be forgiven under the reason that it does not attempt to create a highly polished product at the cost of losing integrity to the source material. Source material that spans a decade.

And so we eagerly wait for the next season. And for those who are yet to watch the show…