Nosebleeds, Flipped Trucks, and Alternate Realities, or: How Stranger Things Set the Bar for the 'Other'

Talking about Spielberg's classic sci-fi phenomenon E.T. is especially difficult for me... mostly because I haven't seen E.T. That said, I do know that this film is a cornerstone of Amblin Entertainment, responsible for films such as The Goonies, Gremlins, and even Super 8. All involving kids, these movies combined fantasy and hints of terror to entertain it audiences. But what I can talk about with some bias is the 80's horror genre, consisting of films such as Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and The Evil Dead. Decades later, I would argue these films are not particularly scary, but are representative of a time in cinema where horror was celebrated. Today, I admire these films for their campiness and dated fashion choices.

Let me set a scene for you all: it is 2016. It is the middle of the summer, and we are being subjected to reboots, sequels, and spin-offs out the wazoo. Wherever we turn, nostalgia is prevalent, pulling us back into a time period, urging us to indulge in that Independence Day sequel (spoiler: I didn't). Uniqueness is a diamond in the rough. Where can we turn to successfully feel like our nostalgia is paying off? But more importantly... how can we ensure that the time period from the 80's, with unabashed horror and fantasy mixed together, somehow stays alive?

In strolls Stranger Things, another entry into the Netflix canon. Created by the Duffer Brothers, this series tells a simple story: a young boy goes missing due to unforeseen circumstances (could it be aliens? could it be the government? Too soon to tell), and his friends and family rally around this boy's disappearance to uncover the answers. And get this! It takes place in rural Indiana in the 1980's. Heralding back to films such as E.T. and The Goonies, the show manages to encapsulate the time period, without ever choking on its use of nostalgia. Rather, it uses the wheel to further reinvent itself.  And you want to know something? It works.

I could go into an extensive review of the series, complimenting the Duffer Brothers for taking us back to the 80's. I could fawn over the cast, particularly Winona Ryder, who plays the missing boy's mom. Seriously, she plays every single scene she is in for the audience in the back and she goes for broke in all eight episodes. I have tweeted and posted endlessly about side character Barb, but she's for another day. I could especially reward the main child actors, who manage to create whole, well-rounded characters and carry this story with ease. But this is not what I want to write about. All you would have to do is go to Metacritic and read reviews to your heart's content. Because this blog will work in tandem with my school's independent study, I wanted to make this a bit more scholarly (and don't worry- once school actually starts, we will be getting into nitty gritty scholastic).

"Other." What exactly does this word mean? In school, I hear it thrown around carelessly. At first, I came to view it as: if you are different, you are the other. And while that is true in a sense, I have since come to realize that there is so much more nuance to be unpacked from this singular word. In 1959, Kenneth Burke coined the phrase Other, or the concept that there is a distinct binary between the majority and the minority. Essentially, the Other functions as that minority, as those who have been historically and consistently marginalized. Anywhere you look, and the process of "Othering" is there: racism, sexism, homophobia, and the list goes on. In other words (no pun intended), in some capacity, we have fallen victims to being the Other.

And if you take a quick look at Stranger Things, we are subjected to a world surrounded by those who have been marginalized. We see a mother who many feel is unhinged. We see a police officer, consumed with his own grief. We see three boys, viewed as outcasts at school, who are bullied and shamed for their appearances and social status. It's there, we all see it. One character, however, challenges the downtrodden writings of the Other. And she comes in the form of Eleven.

Eleven (played by Millie Bobby Brown)

Named as a science experiment gone awry, Eleven escapes from a government facility that is training her to use her mind for evil, and finds the boys who are trying to locate their missing friend. Speaking only a few words total in the first season, Eleven is a pure mystery. She knows little in the way of social cues, and she also has an affinity for Eggo waffles. Yet, she has the power to make things move with her mind. When this happens, she starts bleeding from her nose and ears and she loses stamina. Matched with being the only person who knows how to find the missing boy, we as an audience need Eleven. She takes us on this journey with her; her fears and anxiety seem practically palpable. She is an outsider, even to the characters in this show. But that is precisely where the beauty in Eleven lies. Conveying so much with so little, Brown manages to create this young girl who is struggling to feel accepted from others as well as with herself. She does not know who she is, and season one takes us on this slow quest towards self-acceptance.

Therefore, the Other is established in a sense. Clearly, Eleven is different from everyone else. But there is a strange power that lies dormant within her, and I actually did not try to make a joke here. Sure, she has powers that move things (some of which include entire trucks), but it is this inner struggle she experiences- as seen through the blood leaking from her nose and ears, that truly demonstrates this character's inner struggle for acceptance. Who is she? It's hard for us to know, because she doesn't even know. And there is unique beauty in that revelation. It is coming to terms with her uncanny abilities that we, as audience members, recognize how the Other can take many different forms. Here, in Stranger Things, Eleven is a central figure of empowerment. How refreshing it is that someone so marginalized, misunderstood, and cast aside can still enrich its viewers (in the series and outside of it) to take a look at their own distinct differences.