It was the summer of 1985, and the joyous atmosphere of Independence Day hung over the town of Hawkins. The playground was crowded with people, and the large commercial center just built not far away showed an irresistible magic against the backdrop of fireworks. Directly below the commercial center, a secret base built by the Soviet Union is conducting some kind of experiment in an attempt to draw power from another world. Horrible creatures lurk in the darkness ready to kill and stop our hero, a group of teens just entering adolescence, who plan to save the world once again. This is the world of Stranger Things, and before you go back into it, hold on to the handrails.
After a year-long hiatus, Netflix's "Stranger Things" star is back. Since its first appearance in 2016, the show has become more and more influential, setting off a wave of discussion on social networks again and again. It has completed its own metamorphosis, going from being a no-show in its first season to becoming a top hit on Netflix, especially in "House of Cards" because of the Kevin Spacey scandal. And the moment that hastily ended.
The success of "Stranger Things" seems a bit bizarre. Compared with other popular Netflix series, it is too simple, as ordinary as the twelve thirteen-next-door teenagers in my own series. It doesn't have star producers like Orange Is the New Black and Sense8, or The Crown and Narcos There are enough eye-catching historical events as a background. The only thing that deserves praise is the nostalgic feeling of the 1980s, which is delicate and rich.
In the process of watching "Stranger Things", there is always a wonderful feeling of traveling through the tunnel of time and space. In a way, it's a cross between Stand by Me and ET: The Extra-Terrestrial, with a touch of horror and horror. In the long summer, a group of teenagers rode their bicycles to travel together in the originally peaceful town. They discovered some amazing secrets, resolved the conspiracy by relying on their deep friendship, and survived the growing pains.
Elements of the classic pop culture of the 80s are carefully arranged in each small bridge. From Ghostbusters costumes to Star Wars dialogue, from the board game Dungeons & Dragons to communicating with one another via walkie-talkies and radio Audience nostalgia. For those who grew up in that era, it was a decoction with precise medicinal effects, allowing them to relive the time of the past. For viewers born later, this becomes a delicate lens, reflecting the shadow of the past.
The third season of Stranger Things became more ambitious after a slightly slumping second season. The failure of the second season was blamed on the paediatric plot and too flat story development, so in the third season everything became bigger, more expansive, and more eye-catching. Time shifted from Halloween in 1984 to Independence Day in 1985, and the protagonists had just stepped on the threshold of adolescence. The love that was originally indestructible is rapidly disintegrating. Small groups are broken apart, and single-line narratives become multi-line gangs that don’t come together until the very last moment.
More adult elements were added to the plot, which also darkened the entire episode. The monsters that were still in the shadows have finally become real images, and they have been rampant from the beginning. The flesh-and-blood flesh and the violent scenes that appear from time to time even make people wonder if this is a B-grade horror film, those Do the small characters on the screen have enough psychological capacity ? As the villain, the Soviet side is no longer just a harmless scientist, and even has a Terminator-like killer who is doing evil in the small town. The nostalgic elements of the 1980s are still there, Day of the Dead playing in the cinema, American Pie playing in the background from time to time, and even the shaggy hair and fitness of most of the actors The brightly-colored sculpts during sex can still bring back some fond memories, but they are quickly overwhelmed by other exciting images.
After removing these superficial sensory stimuli, the unreasonable plot and setting that have continued since the second season have not been eliminated, but have continued to expand and intensify . During the Cold War, such a huge Soviet base was placed underground in a small American town, undiscovered by anyone. At the critical moment of the decisive battle, the two characters hid in the toilet and fell in love, it seemed that it was just to add a few jokes that the audience was happy to see. The settings of different dimensions and superpowers have never been explained, as if they exist naturally. Instead, it all goes well with the popular '80s movies that the show draws from.
If you've become a Stranger Things fan over the past few years, season three has certainly lived up to your expectations. Every season of it will give you a feeling of deja vu, and it will interpret the story according to the routine. At the end, some characters will pay a small price, sacrifice themselves, and complete the task of saving the world. The forces of evil were temporarily defeated and retreated into darkness. Then at the start of the next season, brand new characters will join the small group and continue to repeat the process over and over again. (Can you imagine how the entire team has grown to eight or nine by the end of season three?) In this sense, Stranger Things is like Marvel's "sweet water" superhero franchise , using the same The recipe is repeated with fresher ingredients every time to make dishes with good taste. They always have a habit of having a good start, and then gradually lose themselves in the process of trying to maintain this good.
This isn't the first time a Netflix series has felt this way. Does anyone remember what the industry was like back in 2013 when Netflix announced it was going to make its own series? PBS shoots soap operas day in and day out on a few relatively fixed subjects, from lawyers to doctors, from middle-class family life to the criminal investigation of urban police. Unit dramas with fixed plots dominate the world of the small screen, and you can still keep up with the plot if you don’t watch a series for weeks or even seasons. Netflix claimed it wanted to change the status quo, and at first it did. The first two episodes of "House of Cards" brought in David Fincher, and with sharp editing, restrained graphics, and a serious storyline were refreshing for everyone, but that didn't hold up.
The later experience of House of Cards is strikingly similar to Stranger Things today. After losing the support of David Fincher and the original work, the political drama has become a "political farce". In order to cater to the audience's expanding appetite, they can only stimulate the audience's nerves with more exciting and unreasonable plots. Unable to close until the end. Another prime example is 13 Reasons in 2017. In the first season, this youth drama reflecting the theme of school bullying won a lot of applause by relying on ingenious narrative skills and rich inner monologue. The second season, which was no longer planned, was full of vulgar plots and exaggerated plots, and the speed of the fall was surprising. Not to mention Black Mirror, which was acquired from the UK. After the producer changed to Netflix, the overall quality was very different from before, and the road of self-plagiarism is gone. Today, "Stranger Things" is far from that point, but it has already revealed a small clue, and it seems to be walking the old road of its predecessors.
Since streaming joined the battle for the small screen, the entire TV series industry has swelled several times in size. The number of episodes produced and broadcast on various platforms exceeds 500 each year, and the audience is no longer only competing for the dramas of other families, but also the lace news and video games on social networks, but also each audience themselves. time. TV show producers are struggling to figure out where their audiences spend their time. Compared with traditional producers, Netflix, which was born in streaming media and has the genes of an Internet company, has unique advantages. It knows your favorite subjects and your favorite bridges. It analyzes your every mouse click, knowing every time you pause, every fast forward, which boring passages to skip, and which engaging episodes to rewatch. Streaming media relies on the data composed of 0s and 1s to recommend programs to you, and also analyzes these data to find new love and give up old love.
The power of big data is so powerful that it is hard to resist. But all of this is cold data after all. While creating one after another popular series, it also produces a lot of mediocre products. There are many episodes on Netflix every month, but there are few works that make people memorable. Works like Altered Carbon and Lost in Space have eye-catching gimmicks like cyberpunk and a space odyssey, but their mediocre and boring stories make them quickly forgotten in the database among.
That's why "House of Cards" and "Thirteen Reasons Why" fell, and it's what made "Stranger Things" what it is today. Its success in the past was due to the fact that big data found a selling point such as the retro feeling of the 1980s, but now it has gradually become its slave. After the analysis of big data, what is left is only pleasant sensory stimulation, and the repeated stimulation will make the numb taste buds become more and more waited, just like the bloody monster in the drama, who only knows how to devour A living creature with all the activities around it.
At the end of the third season of Stranger Things, it was a farewell. After three years of adventure, some characters decide to say goodbye to the peaceful town and start a new life. The protagonist Eleven reads the letter left by the sacrificed adoptive father, with mixed feelings. This heart-warming letter tries to tell the characters and the audience on the screen that there is a price for growth and sacrifice. Only by discarding some familiar things can we usher in final maturity. Perhaps such a transformation is also needed for "Stranger Things" itself. It no longer relies on more feelings, stronger monsters, different dimensions and superpowers, and no longer thinks about how to better repeat itself. We know the story will continue, the adventures of Hawkins will continue, and we just hope that it will usher in its own maturity when it returns next time.
This article was first published on the official account of Deep Focus DeepFocus, and the text and pictures have been slightly changed.
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