Stranger Things

[82_28]

It actually did begin in the lounge. I forget who started the OP. Obviously I can check. We just didn't wanna spoilerize it. Then it turned up here.

[Burnt Hill]

It actually did begin in the lounge. I forget who started the OP. Obviously I can check. We just didn't wanna spoilerize it. Then it turned up here.

Yea I know, its all good.
More a critique of the series than an actual logistic concern.

[Novem5er]

This thread started off with some people analyzing the show for RI specific contents (i.e. MK-ULTRA) and the connection between the show and real life issues. I suppose that's why it got brought over to General. Hell, the Secret Sun blog found syncs between the show and the Turkish coup (not links, but syncs, mind you).

However, I think series discussion about real-life issues died kind of quickly. Not that there isn't stuff there, but it's kind of superficial, relying more on TV/Movie tropes than actual occult knowledge. Still, I liked the show a lot

[utopiate]

MK Ultra evokes the specter of LSD and here we are with Tim Leary's goddaughter in a lead roll...interesting.

[Novem5er]

^^ yeah that is an interesting sync, purposefully or not. I think Winona Ryder is so iconic of late 80's, early 90's Hollywood that they'd include her if she were related to Donald Trump.

Here's a little news about where they are going with the show for Season 2 (not officially announced, but 100% happening):

IGN: Netflix the same thing last year with Sense 8. They had a panel here and didn’t announce the renewal and then a few weeks later they did. Regadless, let me ask you some ‘where you might go’ questions. Where do you see the show picking up, timeline-wise? Of course, you have to deal with the kids clearly getting older.

Matt: Yeah, you have to do the Harry Potter thing. You have to jump a year. Because like Gaten [Matarazzo], his voice has already dropped quite a bit, to the point where we couldn’t even do ADR with him. We had to pitch it way up. It’s dropped. He’s grown. As much as I would love to have it be Christmas right after that, it’s just not feasible, so we’re going to skip a year. They’ll be a year older and all their changes they’re going through, we’ll take that into account and kind of work that into the show.

Ross: It’s also just exciting having these initial conversations about it because the jump allows us to say “what happened in that year?” It actually opens up a lot more storytelling possibilities. These characters have changed and the audience has to sort of fill in those gaps of what went on in that year. To us, it’s exciting. So the fact that we have to make this jump, because of the kids, we’re trying to use that to our advantage.

More random questions at the full interview here: http://www.ign.com/articles/2016/08/02/stranger-things-creators-on-how-season-1-ended-and-where-season-2-will-go

[brekin]

I think one of the things these type of shows/stories deal with in a oblique/unconscious way is puberty.
Often the "magic", "freaky powers", "uncontrollable urges", etc. are just a screen for developing sexuality and the requisite disruption and lessening of conscious control. I think that is why they are probably popular to with adults in kids because they take something that is problematic, dominating and instinctual and repackaging it as the person having power, or trying to, harness this usually "primal" energy. It is more innocent if such themes are split into Cronenberg body-id ness and the flight from that in white light telekinetic mental-superego powers.

I doubt the Duffer Brothers considered any of this, but the source material they shop from with is riddle with it (which those creators and borrowers may have not even considered), so it comes over in the transfer. A lot of Freudian symptoms/conditions break out (with their requisite paranormal explanations) during times of sexual phase transitioning.

[Code Unknown]

I doubt the Duffer Brothers considered any of this

Really?

[Code Unknown]

Secret Sun gets pretty deep with the syncs in Stranger Days, tying in to the coup in Turkey, of all things. What do you all think of Secret Sun?

Corny, boring, over-certain comic book dweeb.

[brekin]

I doubt the Duffer Brothers considered any of this

Really?

Really, really.

[Novem5er]

Secret Sun gets pretty deep with the syncs in Stranger Days, tying in to the coup in Turkey, of all things. What do you all think of Secret Sun?

Corny, boring, over-certain comic book dweeb.

Good to know. It's one of those blogs that I forget even exists until a random link sends me there. I'll read a few articles and think "huh" and then forget about it again

I think one of the things these type of shows/stories deal with in a oblique/unconscious way is puberty.
Often the "magic", "freaky powers", "uncontrollable urges", etc. are just a screen for developing sexuality and the requisite disruption and lessening of conscious control. I think that is why they are probably popular to with adults in kids because they take something that is problematic, dominating and instinctual and repackaging it as the person having power, or trying to, harness this usually "primal" energy. It is more innocent if such themes are split into Cronenberg body-id ness and the flight from that in white light telekinetic mental-superego powers.

I doubt the Duffer Brothers considered any of this, but the source material they shop from with is riddle with it (which those creators and borrowers may have not even considered), so it comes over in the transfer. A lot of Freudian symptoms/conditions break out (with their requisite paranormal explanations) during times of sexual phase transitioning.

In the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pubescent Harry is literally playing with his magic wand under the covers, and has to hide it as soon as his muggle family come to check on him. I remember an interview with director, Alfonso Cuaron, where he basically came out and said the same thing as Brekin, above. By the way, Prisoner of Azkaban is by far the best Harry Potter film, and certainly the first one to bring it out of Chris Columbus "kid movie" territory and into a series that a lot of grown people have enjoyed, too; and I think it started with that slightly subversive opening scene.

[brekin]

Secret Sun gets pretty deep with the syncs in Stranger Days, tying in to the coup in Turkey, of all things. What do you all think of Secret Sun?

Corny, boring, over-certain comic book dweeb.

Good to know. It's one of those blogs that I forget even exists until a random link sends me there. I'll read a few articles and think "huh" and then forget about it again

I think one of the things these type of shows/stories deal with in a oblique/unconscious way is puberty.
Often the "magic", "freaky powers", "uncontrollable urges", etc. are just a screen for developing sexuality and the requisite disruption and lessening of conscious control. I think that is why they are probably popular to with adults in kids because they take something that is problematic, dominating and instinctual and repackaging it as the person having power, or trying to, harness this usually "primal" energy. It is more innocent if such themes are split into Cronenberg body-id ness and the flight from that in white light telekinetic mental-superego powers.

I doubt the Duffer Brothers considered any of this, but the source material they shop from with is riddle with it (which those creators and borrowers may have not even considered), so it comes over in the transfer. A lot of Freudian symptoms/conditions break out (with their requisite paranormal explanations) during times of sexual phase transitioning.

In the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, pubescent Harry is literally playing with his magic wand under the covers, and has to hide it as soon as his muggle family come to check on him. I remember an interview with director, Alfonso Cuaron, where he basically came out and said the same thing as Brekin, above. By the way, Prisoner of Azkaban is by far the best Harry Potter film, and certainly the first one to bring it out of Chris Columbus "kid movie" territory and into a series that a lot of grown people have enjoyed, too; and I think it started with that slightly subversive opening scene.

Yes, I think one of the Spider Man movies was pretty blunt about Peter's shooting of webs in his room. Whereas, Stranger Things mines the old for girls "with great powers comes headaches, fatigue and bleeding".

Its an obvious metaphor, but what does it mean for the non-teenage audience? Maybe that is the nostalgia hook, the "land before puberty"?

Reel Women: The Horror of Coming of Age

Read More: Reel Women: The Horror of Coming of Age | http://screencrush.com/reel-women-the-h ... ck=tsmclip

Coming of age is horrific enough on its own: all the new hormones, feelings and the ability to draw attention (whether wanted or not) from the opposite sex. Coming of age is particularly troublesome for young women, as evidenced by numerous horror films. The horror genre provides a perfect natural metaphor for what we go through as teenagers, from first periods to curious feelings about the opposite sex.

'Carrie,' which hits theaters today, retreads the same territory as Brian De Palma's 1976 film, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name. A sheltered girl named Carrie, raised by a religious zealot mother, horrifically experiences her first period in the school gym shower -- she has no idea what it is because her mother never explained it to her, and the other girls in class cruelly toss tampons and maxi-pads at her as she cries on the floor. From there, Carrie discovers that she has telekinetic powers and can move objects and people with her mind. While she has no control over what's happening to her body as a young woman, she finds solace in her ability to control everything else around her.

'Ginger Snaps' and 'Jennifer's Body' similarly use the idea of supernatural powers as a metaphor for coming of age -- when a girl's body begins the process of becoming more womanly, the change can feel sharp and sudden and painful. All the new attention from her male peers can make her believe that she holds power over men, both young and old. As with any power, it's what you do with it that matters.

Ginger in 'Ginger Snaps' begins transforming into a werewolf, while her slightly younger sister remains unchanged. The film comments not only on what it feels like to have all these new hormones and bodily attributes that you don't quite understand, but how it can affect a sibling relationship when one sister goes through puberty while the other lags behind. Extrapolate that idea to friendship, where one or a few girls blossom while others wonder when their time will come, and 'Ginger Snaps' is an accurate depiction of the coming-of-age experience for most teens. For Ginger, her changes are like most, but exaggerated: she frustratingly shaves her legs to no avail, she finds that all the boys in school suddenly want her when just a week ago they openly mocked her, and her mood swings are off the charts, alienating her entire family.

While 'Ginger Snaps' is a fairly blunt assessment of puberty and sibling bonds, 'Jennifer's Body' ups the ante. Megan Fox's Jennifer Check has already gone through puberty when we meet her in the film, and while she blossomed into your typical high school pretty girl, her childhood BFF Needy has remained more homely. Jennifer keeps Needy down by controlling what her friend can wear when they go out and mocking her relentlessly for being "dorky." Though Jennifer is a beautiful girl, her need to ridicule others, especially her best friend, is merely a way for her to supplement her own self-esteem. By keeping Needy around, she can make sure that there is always someone a little lesser-than to make her look a little better-than.

When an indie band tries to sacrifice Jennifer to the devil in exchange for instant fame, she becomes a bloodthirsty demon -- and thus Jennifer goes from figurative man-eater to literal one, using her looks to lure boys in and seduce them before tearing them to shreds and consuming them. And when Jennifer doesn't eat, she begins to lose her glow: her skin looks dull, her hair lifeless, and her attitude even crummier than usual. She needs boys to make her beautiful, a comment on the way girls are socially trained to rely on men to feel whole. But 'Jennifer's Body' flips the script and gives Jennifer the power -- it's not the emotional beast she needs to feed, but the very real demon inside of her. Young men are only temporarily useful and quite dispensable to Jennifer, who is taking full control and ownership over her newly discovered powers.

In each of these films, teen girls are granted supernatural powers at a time when their bodies -- internally and externally -- are changing and developing. It's been said that puberty turns teen girls into monsters, and these films take the literal approach, mining the real horror of the experience for fictional horror, and crafting clever metaphors for what this experience does to ourselves and those around us. It's a time when young women feel as though they have no control over what's happening to their bodies, and these films give them powers they can control -- but these powers, just like their new physical attributes and feelings, can be dangerous when you have no idea what you're supposed to do with them.

http://screencrush.com/reel-women-the-h ... ck=tsmclip

[82_28]

It will be interesting if they use the exact kids if they do a sequel series. Kids that age move quickly into puberty. I don't know how they could use that exact cast of kids without it becoming overkill. But who am I to say? It just seems like they have mined the era for all the era is worth. Ever wonder why there wasn't a Donnie Darko 2?

[brekin]

It will be interesting if they use the exact kids if they do a sequel series. Kids that age move quickly into puberty. I don't know how they could use that exact cast of kids without it becoming overkill. But who am I to say? It just seems like they have mined the era for all the era is worth. Ever wonder why there wasn't a Donnie Darko 2?

There was, sort of.

S. Darko is a 2009 science fiction drama film directed by Chris Fisher and starring Daveigh Chase, Briana Evigan, and Ed Westwick. It is the sequel to the 2001 cult hit, Donnie Darko.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Darko

[Nordic]

There's a show on Amazon right now called Gortimer Gibbons, with a cast who is about 12 years old or so, and when they picked it up for a second season they spent a whole straight year making at least 2 more, because of that very issue. The kids are changing so fast they knew they couldn't have a hiatus between 2 and 3. I have friends that worked on it last year.

[82_28]

Alright. Read the Secret Sun stuff from Knowles and it's all about him. I don't mind, write what you wanna write -- heaven knows I do. Just try not to be such a know it all. Clearly him and I have similar interests. He's just a dick about it.