Netflix is a common household name across America and beyond. While the site boasts many movies and television series, one of its most notable and original series is the television show Stranger Things created by brothers Matt and Ross Duffer. Started in 2016, the show has run two full seasons so far, and a 3rd is planned to be in the making soon.
The first season of Stranger Things is set in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the year 1983. The show follows many characters and the interactions between them as the show progresses. In the beginning of the story, Will Byers and his friends, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, are playing games late at night before having to return home to their families. As everyone heads home on their bikes, Will spots a figure and crashes his bike. Will continues running home on foot, but once he gets home, his brother Johnathan and mother Joyce are still at work, and he mysteriously disappears. As Will's friends and family realize he's missing, they start to look for answers. Will's family gets the police department involved, and his friends frantically search for him in the woods. Instead of finding Will, his friends find a girl with supernatural powers, Eleven, who's escaped a sinister government program, which the rest of the characters later find is also responsible for Will’s disappearance. As these main characters search for Will and the truth, other disappearances and strange occurrences begin happening. In the final episodes, the main characters go up against a monster created by the government program, travel through a strange world to find Will, and evade government agents trying to track down Eleven. The season ends with the monster killing the government agents, Will's mom and the police chief rescuing Will, and Eleven defeating the monster.
Many themes and concepts relevant to our course questions are emphasized in Stranger Things. The themes of trust and truth are seen throughout the season. This is coupled with the cultural fear of corrupt government that is found in the show to make a statement about America's faith in its government and their honesty. The pop-culture references pervasive in every episode and the cultural fear of “otherness” is shown throughout the first season of the show. This is shown in the way the other characters at the high school treat Johnathan, who's poorer than the rest of the school and keeps to himself, and the way the main characters, notably Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, treat Eleven because of her unusual behavior and appearance. “Other” characters being cast out displays the culture of conformity that was regarded as the norm in the 1980s.
In adapting this story, it's important to consider what to change and what not to change. The setting of a small town means that characters are more likely to know other people in the story, and makes it feel like the characters are much more connected to the location rather than just existing in it. The fact that the time period is set in the 1980s gives the setting a familiar feeling to many and allows for callbacks to popular culture. As well, the 1980s were a time of conformity, so this theme is seen often. In adapting this work, the location of a relatively small town should be kept the same, as it helps the amount of characters involved in the story remain manageable. However, the time period could be changed to something more modern to relate to new audiences, or sometime older for a different twist. The concept of many main characters which interact with each other as they follow different parts of a larger story helps the story remain fresh, and helps build up the world the characters are in because much more points of view on the story are seen. This also helps display the theme of truth and trust, because as certain characters will often withhold information from the other characters, or characters get into situations where others in the story might have helpful information. The detail that the Will is a child makes the reader more concerned, as children are more defenseless than adults, so it adds to the horror. Eleven looking and acting “other” is an important point because it helps emphasize the theme of conformity, and helps drives the story. These details should remain the same in adaptation, because they make up part of the essential pieces of the story, and drastically changing them would change themes and story essential to making Stranger Things what it is. The themes of trust and honesty are seen throughout season one, and are central in the progression of the story. As well, conformity, and “otherness” are also seen as common themes in each episode. In adaptation, one might want to simplify some of these themes in order to focus more fully one theme, since the adaptation I will be making will likely be shorter than a whole television series, and it would be difficult to manage to fit enough story in to cover these themes thoroughly. In adapting Stranger Things to a more modern setting, social media could help convey the themes relating to conformity, and “fake news” and truth in social media relate to the themes of honesty and trust.
In adapting Stranger Things, I will take the story and characters and write them into a much more modern setting. Having much more advanced technology will add a new twist to the characters' search for the truth. Considering this adaptation will likely be significantly shorter than the television series, I will be focusing on one theme closely rather than many from the original show. Focusing on the theme of truth and honesty, incorporating modern social media and technology into the story would bring with it the idea that the things the characters record aren’t even real. In an adaptation set in such modern times, a “monster” could be easily fabricated on video and it might lead other characters to think the creature hunting them is a hoax. Writing this adaptation, I hope readers question if the creature is even real at all, or the truths the characters assert are even truths.
The first season of Stranger Things is set in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, in the year 1983. The show follows many characters and the interactions between them as the show progresses. In the beginning of the story, Will Byers and his friends, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin, are playing games late at night before having to return home to their families. As everyone heads home on their bikes, Will spots a figure and crashes his bike. Will continues running home on foot, but once he gets home, his brother Johnathan and mother Joyce are still at work, and he mysteriously disappears. As Will's friends and family realize he's missing, they start to look for answers. Will's family gets the police department involved, and his friends frantically search for him in the woods. Instead of finding Will, his friends find a girl with supernatural powers, Eleven, who's escaped a sinister government program, which the rest of the characters later find is also responsible for Will’s disappearance. As these main characters search for Will and the truth, other disappearances and strange occurrences begin happening. In the final episodes, the main characters go up against a monster created by the government program, travel through a strange world to find Will, and evade government agents trying to track down Eleven. The season ends with the monster killing the government agents, Will's mom and the police chief rescuing Will, and Eleven defeating the monster.
Many themes and concepts relevant to our course questions are emphasized in Stranger Things. The themes of trust and truth are seen throughout the season. This is coupled with the cultural fear of corrupt government that is found in the show to make a statement about America's faith in its government and their honesty. The pop-culture references pervasive in every episode and the cultural fear of “otherness” is shown throughout the first season of the show. This is shown in the way the other characters at the high school treat Johnathan, who's poorer than the rest of the school and keeps to himself, and the way the main characters, notably Mike, Dustin, and Lucas, treat Eleven because of her unusual behavior and appearance. “Other” characters being cast out displays the culture of conformity that was regarded as the norm in the 1980s.
In adapting this story, it's important to consider what to change and what not to change. The setting of a small town means that characters are more likely to know other people in the story, and makes it feel like the characters are much more connected to the location rather than just existing in it. The fact that the time period is set in the 1980s gives the setting a familiar feeling to many and allows for callbacks to popular culture. As well, the 1980s were a time of conformity, so this theme is seen often. In adapting this work, the location of a relatively small town should be kept the same, as it helps the amount of characters involved in the story remain manageable. However, the time period could be changed to something more modern to relate to new audiences, or sometime older for a different twist. The concept of many main characters which interact with each other as they follow different parts of a larger story helps the story remain fresh, and helps build up the world the characters are in because much more points of view on the story are seen. This also helps display the theme of truth and trust, because as certain characters will often withhold information from the other characters, or characters get into situations where others in the story might have helpful information. The detail that the Will is a child makes the reader more concerned, as children are more defenseless than adults, so it adds to the horror. Eleven looking and acting “other” is an important point because it helps emphasize the theme of conformity, and helps drives the story. These details should remain the same in adaptation, because they make up part of the essential pieces of the story, and drastically changing them would change themes and story essential to making Stranger Things what it is. The themes of trust and honesty are seen throughout season one, and are central in the progression of the story. As well, conformity, and “otherness” are also seen as common themes in each episode. In adaptation, one might want to simplify some of these themes in order to focus more fully one theme, since the adaptation I will be making will likely be shorter than a whole television series, and it would be difficult to manage to fit enough story in to cover these themes thoroughly. In adapting Stranger Things to a more modern setting, social media could help convey the themes relating to conformity, and “fake news” and truth in social media relate to the themes of honesty and trust.
In adapting Stranger Things, I will take the story and characters and write them into a much more modern setting. Having much more advanced technology will add a new twist to the characters' search for the truth. Considering this adaptation will likely be significantly shorter than the television series, I will be focusing on one theme closely rather than many from the original show. Focusing on the theme of truth and honesty, incorporating modern social media and technology into the story would bring with it the idea that the things the characters record aren’t even real. In an adaptation set in such modern times, a “monster” could be easily fabricated on video and it might lead other characters to think the creature hunting them is a hoax. Writing this adaptation, I hope readers question if the creature is even real at all, or the truths the characters assert are even truths.