"Stranger Things" on Netflix
Jul. 30th, 2016 11:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sasha_featherStranger Things is an 8-episode show on Netflix. It's a fun horror show that takes place in 1983 and is reminiscent of movies such as E.T., the Goonies, and Gremlins.
In the first episode, we see a group of four boys, around age 12, playing D&D in a basement. On their way home, one of the boys, Will, takes a shortcut home and in a scary scene, is nabbed by a mysterious monster. The remaining three boys decide to help search for him in the woods and run into a girl with a buzzed hair who barely speaks. The show follows this crew of kids, the police chief, and some towns people and they investigate the disappearance of the missing boy and try to track down the monster.
Content notes: child endangerment; flashing lights; scenes of bullying
I loved the 1980s nostalgia, which clearly is aimed at my generation: music, clothes, and references to the original Star Wars. In 80s movies we often got to see working class and poor people, and here we see Will's mom, played by Winona Ryder, as a stressed-out single working mom of two boys, living in a run-down house. Will's best friend Mike is more middle-class, and another character is rich enough to live in a house with a pool and drive a nice car. The villains are government people and evil scientists, and the heroes are kids. Adults, as a category, are not to be trusted, although the affable middle-school science teacher is a good source of resources and information. Friends are people you do anything for, and you tell the truth, and you can fight with them but you make up afterwards. I loved all the kids in this show. Nancy, Mike's sister, is especially great, as is Eleven, the girl who escapes from the government facility.
It's scary, but in a tolerable way: we don't much see the monster until the end. The real villain is Dr. Brenner, after all-- a government scientist who is doing bad shit. There isn't much blood or gore.
What I didn't like:
The one slightly chubby kid, Dustin, of course is the one who gets food "jokes" and makes comments about food. (eye roll)
There aren't enough girls or women vs. the amount of men and boys.
There are a few slurs: "queer" and "pussy" etc. Mostly this seemed unnecessary.
In episode one, Nancy's boyfriend Steve is extra creepy: she tells him "no" repeatedly and while it's not explicitly about sex, he ignores her states nos and crosses boundaries that she's trying to enforce. Luckily this is mostly limited to the first episode.
Nancy and Barbara: I hated the narrative's treatment of Barb, Nancy's loyal friend. Barb accompanies Nancy to a small party and tries to stop Nancy from what she views as a bad decision (having sex with Steve); but Nancy decides to go ahead and do it anyway. She tells Barb to go home without her. (Nancy is also violating curfew and lying to her parents here, but all the kids in the show seem to do that.) Scenes of Nancy and Steve making out are intercut with Barb at the pool, first sitting and looking sad, then getting snatched by the monster.
Although "teenagers having sex" is a staple of horror movies, it's a problem; and here it seemed particularly anti-feminist. Nancy claiming her desires and doing what she wanted was linked, directly by intercutting these scenes, to her best friend getting taken by the monster.
Overall this is a clever, suspenseful, and well-done SF/horror show. Recommended.
In the first episode, we see a group of four boys, around age 12, playing D&D in a basement. On their way home, one of the boys, Will, takes a shortcut home and in a scary scene, is nabbed by a mysterious monster. The remaining three boys decide to help search for him in the woods and run into a girl with a buzzed hair who barely speaks. The show follows this crew of kids, the police chief, and some towns people and they investigate the disappearance of the missing boy and try to track down the monster.
Content notes: child endangerment; flashing lights; scenes of bullying
I loved the 1980s nostalgia, which clearly is aimed at my generation: music, clothes, and references to the original Star Wars. In 80s movies we often got to see working class and poor people, and here we see Will's mom, played by Winona Ryder, as a stressed-out single working mom of two boys, living in a run-down house. Will's best friend Mike is more middle-class, and another character is rich enough to live in a house with a pool and drive a nice car. The villains are government people and evil scientists, and the heroes are kids. Adults, as a category, are not to be trusted, although the affable middle-school science teacher is a good source of resources and information. Friends are people you do anything for, and you tell the truth, and you can fight with them but you make up afterwards. I loved all the kids in this show. Nancy, Mike's sister, is especially great, as is Eleven, the girl who escapes from the government facility.
It's scary, but in a tolerable way: we don't much see the monster until the end. The real villain is Dr. Brenner, after all-- a government scientist who is doing bad shit. There isn't much blood or gore.
What I didn't like:
The one slightly chubby kid, Dustin, of course is the one who gets food "jokes" and makes comments about food. (eye roll)
There aren't enough girls or women vs. the amount of men and boys.
There are a few slurs: "queer" and "pussy" etc. Mostly this seemed unnecessary.
In episode one, Nancy's boyfriend Steve is extra creepy: she tells him "no" repeatedly and while it's not explicitly about sex, he ignores her states nos and crosses boundaries that she's trying to enforce. Luckily this is mostly limited to the first episode.
Nancy and Barbara: I hated the narrative's treatment of Barb, Nancy's loyal friend. Barb accompanies Nancy to a small party and tries to stop Nancy from what she views as a bad decision (having sex with Steve); but Nancy decides to go ahead and do it anyway. She tells Barb to go home without her. (Nancy is also violating curfew and lying to her parents here, but all the kids in the show seem to do that.) Scenes of Nancy and Steve making out are intercut with Barb at the pool, first sitting and looking sad, then getting snatched by the monster.
Although "teenagers having sex" is a staple of horror movies, it's a problem; and here it seemed particularly anti-feminist. Nancy claiming her desires and doing what she wanted was linked, directly by intercutting these scenes, to her best friend getting taken by the monster.
Overall this is a clever, suspenseful, and well-done SF/horror show. Recommended.
