#dustin on the bike has made me wonder if there was originally a scene of carl cycling but they cut it. which would have devasted real carl

[micahdotgov]

some photos from the all the president's men blu-ray features i haven't seen posted before

[cherryblossomshadow]

Stranger Things And Intertextuality (A Response To The Nerdwriter)

Highlights:

Mike, Lucas, and Dustin frequently settle arguments by using pop culture metaphors to communicate more clearly. Dungeons & Dragons, the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars have given them a code of ethics and a communal language

Dustin: We couldn't agree on what path to take so we split up the party and those trolls took us out one by one and it all went to shit

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Mike: You really wanna fight the demogorgon with your wrist rocket. That's like R2D2 going to fight Darth Vader

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Dustin: Nancy maybe Lucas: What if it's the chief Dustin: Lando Calrissian! Lucas: Would you shut up about Lando!

A language older generations are not fluent in

Chief: You said he takes...what? Mirkwood? Mike: Mirkwood yeah Chief: Have you ever heard of Mirkwood? Deputy: I have not that sounds made-up to me Lucas: No, it's from Lord of the Rings Dustin: Well, the Hobbit

Using pop culture to communicate also ends up becoming a very literal part of the story as well. In the first episode we see Joyce and her son, Will, plan to go see the film Poltergeist. Later, when Will gets trapped in the upside-down, Joyce figures out a way to communicate with him through the walls, just as the characters in poltergeist do

That shared experience gave them the tools they needed to survive, and that's contrasted with other pairs of children and parents who are completely unable to communicate

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And just as the characters understand each other through pop culture, the references are also used to frame how the audience understands these characters. Eleven speaks very little throughout the course of the show. Instead references are used to characterize her and foreshadow her arc. It's a very effective tactic. The idea is that you relate a character to at least two others from other pieces of fiction and the audience will be left wondering which one the character will lean towards

Eleven is constantly compared to ET both by the camera and in the plot. She's on the run from the government, has supernatural abilities, and is hiding in the suburbs with a young boy whose parents are unaware of her existence. Major scenes include escaping on bikes and dressing up in a wig. The references are so heavy in this direction that I wouldn't be surprised if the original pitch of the series was "What if we made E.T. but E.T. was a young girl?" At the same time, the peaceful innocence of ET is offset by references to two troubled Stephen King protagonists, Charlie from firestarter and Carrie from well...Carrie. Characters who are hunted and/or abused, but who have great supernatural power that they use to cause a massive amount of violence, sometimes to innocent people

Eleven is a dynamic character because there is an internal contradiction within her that is articulated through intertextuality. The references paint a spectrum of possibility for her character, leading us to wonder whether her story will end with a tearful goodbye, or massive violence. Turns out, sort of both

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You can do this with a few of the other characters on the show as well. Is Joyce, for example, going crazy but for good reason, like Richard Dreyfuss' character in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or is she going literally crazy, like Jack Nicholson's character in The Shining In bringing new meaning to familiar tropes, The Duffer Brothers are able to overcome The Anxiety Of Influence

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Stranger Things takes the most familiar elements of 80s films and boils them down to their most essential elements, fashioning a sort of mythic 80s that sanitizes both that time period and its pop culture. The characters are archetypes we've seen a hundred times before, but care is taken to put a little twist on each of them. For instance, horror movies often have this weird puritanical attitude about sex where the last survivor is always a virgin. In Stranger Things, she's the first victim

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You don't have to reinvent the wheel to be original. Embrace and understand tropes, and then twist them in new ways. Intertextuality and influence are inescapable. That's why you need to master your influences, or your influences will master you

[eggowaffles11]

Chapters One and Two

What many fans don’t know about the Stranger Things series is the inspiration behind it. Although the show certainly takes elements from 80s sci-fi/horror classics such as The Goonies, ET, It, and Poltergeist, the sinister events that took place in Montauk, New York is the true inspiration behind Stranger Things. Legend has it, young men were kidnapped for top-secret government funded experiments that brainwashed the victims and trained them to combat “commies” during the Cold War. The original title actually was Montauk, but the Duffer Brothers ultimately decided to set the series in the fictional town Hawkins, Indiana. 

Chapter One: The Vanishing of Will Byers sets the stage with a wide shot of Hawkins Laboratory on November 6th, 1983 (The Lab is based on Brookhaven Laboratory on Long Island that was shut down due to illegal activity and allegedly has an underground tunnel that leads to Montauk.) 

The opening scene sets the tone with a man in a white lab coat running for his life down a flickering hallway, is swept up into the ceiling and vanishes. Who or what was chasing him?! The first of many questions. 

The main characters, aka motley crew of 12 year olds, are first introduced during their heated campaign of Dungeons and Dragons (which perfectly showcases their collective nerdiness). Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), and Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) bear a striking resemblance to The Goonies crew with their 80s attire and playful character dynamic. Their bikes with headlights are a wink at ET, and several pop-culture references are made (Xmen comics, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars). 

On his way home, Will is chased by a shadowy figure that is unknown to the audience and they both vanish without a trace, thus coining the title The Vanishing of Will Byers. His disappearance becomes the driving plot line of the series and leaves the characters (and viewers) wondering where is Will Byers?

The characters begin to launch their own investigations. Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) Will’s mom (who is already a strung-out mess) seeks the help of the disinterested and self-medicating townie chief Jim Hopper (David Harbour). Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) Will’s older brother begins his own little search as he struggles to navigate through high school (he’s the outcast suffer-in-silence type). He sheepishly watches his crush Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) fall for the stereotypical high school jock Steve Harrington (Joe Keery). 

In the meantime, the lab is revisited and that flickering hallway is now a dark abyss. There’s something very strange happening behind the scenes in Hawkins. 

A new character is introduced- a mystery girl with a shocking appearance (barefoot, tattered hospital gown, shaved head). Who is she? Did she escape from the lab? How is she connected?

Meanwhile, the boys are going about their typical day at Hawkins Middle when the school bullies (ah, classic 80s bullies) force Dustin to “do the arm thing.” Dustin’s character is very similar to Chunk in the goonies, who is forced to “do the truffle shuffle.”

The plot lines intersect when the boys begin their search for Will in the woods, but they accidentally find the mystery girl instead (this scene is very similar to when Elliot finds ET) and the episode wraps.

Chapter Two: The Wierdo On Maple Street opens with the boys berating the mystery girl with questions in Mike’s basement (to which, she replies with a blank stare). Dustin and Lucas want nothing to do with her, but Mike shows her kindness and compassion. 

Mike’s relationship with “El” (The nickname he gave her when he saw “11″ tattooed on her arm) is very much like Elliot and ET’s relationship. He is protective, hides her, feeds her, and teaches her. While El is exploring, she points out Will from a picture. This leaves Mike and viewers wondering How does she know what Will looks like? Is she connected to all of this?

When Dustin and Lucas return to find Mike is still hiding El, they think he is insane. Mike is convinced she knows where Will is, and Dustin is curious, while Lucas remains skeptical. (Lucas is the voice of logic and reason that the show needs because the audience can’t easily believe any of this sci-fi stuff is true, and he isn’t too quick to think so either. Lucas thinks and says out loud what the skeptic inside everyone is internally thinking). A big aha moment in this scene is when El slams the door shut and locks it with her mind. She’s telekinetic! (And her nose bleeds, what’s up with that?)

Now that she has the boy’s (and viewer’s) attention, Mike asks her if she knows where Will is. El, a girl of few words, demonstrates by flipping the Dungeons and Dragons board upside down. She then places a figure onto the center of the board (representing Will) and says “hiding.” When Mike asks “from what?” she places another figure (the demogorgan) beside him. This is the first real hint at where Will might be and what might have taken him. If you look back to the beginning of episode one, there’s a major foreshadow. Will admits to Mike, “The roll.. it was a seven.. the demogorgan.. it got me.” 

More sci-fi elements come into play when Joyce is home alone and the lights begin flickering, she receives mysterious phone calls, and the stereo beings blasting Should I Stay Or Should I Go? (This is inspired by Poltergeist where people in another dimension communicate through the TV, this episode even blatantly refers to the movie Poltergeist).

Meanwhile, Jonathan is out searching for Will in the woods when he comes across a party at Steve’s house. He begins photographing Nancy and Barb who is sitting off by herself (kind of creepy, kind of romantic?) This is the first time the supposed “demogorgan” is seen by the audience. Barb and the creature vanish, and the episode wraps.