Stranger Things: Attack Of The Killer Nostalgia
The ’80s nostalgia media can be too diverse to be considered a genre, so it must be part of a larger subculture. The 1980s touch all cultural spheres, with the greatest example being Stranger Things, which has its bootleg videogame version of Scarface from Grand Theft Auto.
Stranger Things remixes the ’80s just like hip-hop uses samples and repurposes songs. There’s a bit of Stand By Me, a little bit of The Terminator, and a lot of ET. It combines all sorts of familiar ideas, imagery, and idioms to create something that you would have to admit is original. The characters also touch upon 1980s pop culture at every opportunity, so it’s hard to imagine the show even considering this. The show clearly and concisely declared its intentions when it dressed up as Ghostbusters Halloween for the main gang.
The lovable children protagonists understood the different monsters in their town using the lens of 1980s pop culture (specifically Dungeons and Dragons). Still, this fourth season took it a step further and allowed them to fight the monsters with today’s culture, Kate Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill.”
This is a great idea, regardless of whether it makes sense in the universe. I would have been unjustifiably happy to bring this idea to the table. Is it possible that some of the nostalgia from the 1980s seems a little gratuitous? This can’t be gratuitous if it’s essential to the plot.
It begs the question: What other retro memorabilia could those Hawkins children use to keep away monsters in the future?
This is a simple one: After the various investigation strands have been merged to create a period soundtrack, Dustin & Murray invent a kind of the infernal machine that makes monsters disappear. What substance is it that they can use to fuel it? Oh no! New Coke is just as good as the original, even though it’s not as tasty.
This was not my original idea. Back To The Future’s initial draft featured DeLorean traveling through time on a combination of plutonium, coca-cola, and other substances. Season 4 offers many close-ups of Jif peanut butter (not confused with Jif bathroom cleaner).
You could either do this with a fiction writer as well as Stephen King, or you could name Stephen King. Perhaps as Stephen King himself, because he is a fan. Stranger Things was inspired by King’s Stand By me from the beginning. However, it is possible to run into King in the world it has created.
This would be a collection of classic King moments. Hawkins finds him, and then he crashes his car in front of Hawkins. Then, when the snow starts to set in, it becomes The Shining. King and the gang hide in an abandoned hotel with a dark past. King is possessed by ghosts and goes crazy with an ax. They bring him back to the Mi’kmaq cemetery so that he can finally deal with the monsters and write a book about it.
What does he do with the monsters at the end? Let me ask you a question: What was the original It-oh God No. Book? Oh, Jesus. We can’t. Hammers, kill the monsters with hammers. That’s what we’re doing.
There is always the possibility of turning it into a horror story he’s been writing. This might work better as a backup if King is unavailable. R.L. Stine visits.
