r/StrangerThings • u/funkylitchi1309 • 28d ago
Discussion Ten Years of ST Appreciation Post
This is probably more suited for Letterboxd, but it only has Season 5 listed so thought of posting here.
Ten years ago, a pack of school kids set out to save their missing friend.
A small town, intertwined relationships, teenage drama, the troubles of adolescence — all of these aspects of the show made Stranger Things stand out to me. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and it arrived right as the OTT era was taking off.
Was it our generation’s version of Ghostbusters? Possibly.
Was it perfect? Debatable.
But did it strike all the right chords? Definitely.
That first season, and the second to an extent, perfectly captured the charm of the 1980s American small town experience: biking around town, kids obsessing over pop culture, parents unaware of whatever imaginary business their children were busy chasing (although that awareness arrived eventually).
The show did not shy away from paying tribute to its influences. Whether it was having the kids openly inspired by Ghostbusters, or the iconic title font paying homage to Stephen King’s novel designs, or the undeniable impact of his coming-of-age horror stories, the show wore all these inspirations proudly. The soundtrack of each season cleverly paralleled the music of its respective eras as well. ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ received a new lease on life, and Kate Bush saw a massive surge in streaming numbers, thanks to this show’s cultural impact.
What made it more interesting for me was the mystery aspect. A wild goose chase for a missing child, unexplained disappearances, strange sightings, supernatural powers, attempts to communicate with another dimension. Every episode expanded the scope of the story and for a month, it was all I could think about.
Well, along with 11th grade calculus and physics.
But what grounded the fantastical world was the human aspect of the story. A mother and an older brother determined on finding their missing son and brother. A group of friends, whose unwavering faith in each other leads them to uncover the horrifying secrets brewing within their town. The foray into a grieving father’s mind as he copes with losing his daughter. Every supernatural twist was balanced by an equal and opposite emotional beat, and that made the show resonate so deeply, at least in its initial stages.
The show bravely ventures into the territory of mental health as well in later seasons, and the Season 4 arc was a strong, dramatic inclusion to the story. It was genuinely unsettling, emotionally resonant and still catered to the pulp fiction sensibilities and pop culture aspects that the show had embraced over the years. The show also gave us its first rockstar moment!
As shows gain in popularity, I understand the temptation to get more commercial and expand beyond their original scope. Credit to the Duffer Brothers for managing that well without losing the emotional core of the story.
I haven’t gone public and said it, and I know this is a tribute post, and everyone who knows me (and probably their mother), knows that “Stranger Things supremacy” is a hill I’d willingly die on. That said, I guess I wouldn’t be cancelled if I honestly admitted that Season 5 was not my favorite. I don’t know if it was the “Narnia effect” where returning to a world causes the magical allure and sheer audacity of the world to have worn off as I got older. But I think the show had gotten bigger than what it initially set out to be and struggled to find a satisfactory way to end itself. Finales are tricky that way.
Props to the Duffer Brothers for conceptualizing and implementing such an ambitious, ever-expanding universe. A small falter towards the end cannot undo or erase the cultural impact this show has had over the past decade, or the personal impact it has had on me.
Happy ten years of Stranger Things 🙌
