#popular media usually borrows from Shakespeare but at least with Stranger Things it’s clearly direct and intentional

[booksandpaperss]

I was asked to explain what I meant when I said that Stranger Things season 4 was meant to mimic Act 4 of a Shakespeare tragedy, and I said I was too tired to explain but then I of course immediately listed out the reasons, so here’s a watered down version of what I mean by this bc I am a high school senior struggling mentally but I’m also a Shakespeare nerd:

General goalposts that tell you you’re in Act 4 of a Shakespeare Tragedy:

-it becomes apparent that the previous 3 Acts were only a slow buildup filled with clues and that things hadn’t actually started to “get real” until now

-more characters start dying

-the true purpose of a main character’s arc is revealed

-endgame is set up and foreshadowed

-something goes horribly wrong and shit starts hitting the fan. Things haven’t gone completely off the rails yet, but you can tell they’re going to

-the main character’s plans take a huge a left turn

-it becomes a apparent that the true end result tragedy of it all has not been what you as the reader had been previously lead to believe in the first 3 acts

-absolutely nothing is resolved. Maybe some questions are answered, but more are created because of them, and it’s clear things are only going to get worse before any resolution is reached

Any of this sound extremely familiar? Bc if you were paying attention to the season like most of you claim, then all of it should. Season 4 was, essentially, meant to be like a tragedy. To quote the duffers, it was their “Empire Strikes Back season” (which fyi Star Wars also draws a lot of inspo from the Shakespearean Tragedy structure, like most popular media. This is far from unusual). The main characters were supposed to screw up big time and make detrimental mistakes, and character arcs were never supposed to be resolved in the slightest. It wasn’t meant to be like the previous seasons where everything at the end stayed relatively rounded out and contained. If season 4 is like Act 4 of a Shakespeare Tragedy, then season 1-3 are like Acts 1-3. A steady build with clues layed out for the finale, but nothing explodes in the characters faces yet.

Now, do I think this intention for season 4 could’ve been carried out better? Absolutely. Volume 1 was well done, but with volume 2 it feels like the duffers took the aspects I just listed out and pasted them into their story with Elmer’s glue. This is probably because they wrote volume 2 without the rest of the writers room, and don’t get me wrong I don’t think it’s bad, I just think it could’ve been less clunky, but I’m getting into a different conversation now.

The point here is that once you understand the intent that the writers and the duffers had with season 4 in this context, the writing choices themselves make a lot more sense, and you should be able to see and understand how season 4 set up season 5 with the potential to be an absolutely amazing finale with a good payoff to what we’ve now established was the literal Tragedy of season 4.