Stranger Things
- Jim Hopper
Fake book covers and conspiracy theories
"A declaration of love to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King." This is the description the Duffer brothers offered when seeking a broadcaster for their series Montauk, now known as Stranger Things. One of the items they created for their pitch was a fake book cover that was strikingly reminiscent of Stephen King's book Firestarter and was intended to convey the mood of the series: a blend of the 1980s, horror and mystery. The whole thing was called Montauk, by the way, firstly because the film Jaws is set in this region, and secondly because a number of conspiracy theories have become established about this location.
Stranger Things and its prototypes
From zero to a hundred in ten episodes. That's a pretty good description of the meteoric rise of brothers Matt and Ross Duffer. All they had on their CV was one feature film (Hidden), when they launched a series that immediately put them at the pinnacle of the pop culture world. We are talking, of course, about Stranger Things, probably the most important Netflix IP since House of Cards. A remarkable achievement, but let's be honest, it was always going to be, wasn't it? The blend of horror, science fiction and 80s charm is just too good! It's as if Stephen King and Steven Spielberg sat down together to relate the adventures of Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Elfie (Millie Bobby Brown), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) and Will Byers (Noah Schnapp).
The core elements of Stranger Things read almost like a list of 80s cinema highlights. A supernatural incident plus a group of young adolescents plus authority figures as their nemesis. If this doesn't immediately bring to mind E.T., The Goonies or Close Encounters of the Third Kind ... we can only imagine that's because you haven't seen the films. The Duffers, on the other hand, don't just loosely shape their creation around these iconic prototypes, they actually transpose quite a few iconic scenes into the Stranger Things universe. (And set to some pretty good music.)
Aliens and other monsters
Let's start with the most obvious examples. We have a group of kids whose quasi-leader is called Mike. They are in the middle of an adventure that is far too big for them, as you can see from the fact that they are only travelling by bicycle. Oh yes, and at some point, a member of the group disappears. This is a 1:1 match with The Goonies by Chris Columbus! And while we are talking about bicycles, when Mike, Elfie and the rest escape from government agents on their bikes, it's more than just an homage to the infamous scene from E.T.
Remember the end of Season One when Hopper (David Harbour) and Joyce (Winona Ryder) finally find Will in the Upside Down? And Will is trapped in a disgusting and sticky slime and used as a kind of incubator? This is strikingly reminiscent of the scene in Aliens when Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) saves Newt from becoming a host for the aliens. What about the beginning of Season Two, when Will wakes up and is drawn to the door by a strange light, behind which hides a nightmare creature? The precedent for this scene is clearly Close Encounters of the Third Kind, when young Barry is also captivated by a mysterious light behind the front door.
When Joyce sits down with doctors to find out what's wrong with her son, it's just like in The Exorcist when Chris MacNeil talks to a group of psychiatrists. And in both cases, the kids are possessed by something supernatural. When the friends decide to take to the deep and wander through maze-like tunnels, it's a nod to Stephen King's horror classic IT. When Erica (Priah Ferguson) crawls into the Starcourt Mall air vent at the urging of Robin (Maya Hawke), Steve (Joe Keery) and Dustin, it's a reference to Die Hard. Or in Season Four, when Robin and Nancy (Natalia Dyer) pose as psychology students and visit Victor Creel in the psychiatric unit. The rules for this meeting are almost word for word the same as for Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
Phew, and those were just some of the most obvious examples. Other films the Duffer brothers have referenced include Carrie, Frankenstein, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Jaws, The Thing and quite a few others. If you want to find out more, we recommend this video, in which the Duffers talk about the many references in the first three seasons.
Now it's our turn!
Since Stranger Things combines so many films, Matt and Ross surely won't mind if we do something similar with our Stranger Things merch. Except that our Stranger Things merchandise focuses directly on the adventures in and around Hawkins. Which, of course, in turn means that we are indirectly honouring the aforementioned 80s cinema hits, but that's getting too philosophical now ...
So let's cut to the chase: if you want to express your love of the 80s or your favourite show, all you have to do is click through our Stranger Things shop. Are you looking for a Stranger Things T-Shirt? We've got the perfect thing! Yes, including the Eddie (Joseph Quinn) Hellfire Club long-sleeve top. How about a Stranger Things Funko Pop Figure? We have these along with several Stranger Things mugs. If you're more into Dustin and would like a cool snapback, we can supply those too, and the same applies when it comes to stationery. To cut a long story short, we have pretty much everything when it comes to Stranger Things merch. Kind of like how Stranger Things has pretty much all the elements of 80s cinema.