It’s 1983. It *was *perfectly normal.
So was Barb getting eaten.
Yeah, it is. Someone actually getting killed outranks slurs any day of the week, at least in places which aren’t the SDMB or Tumblr.
And as Eyebrows of Doom says, it was 1983. That sort of thing was considered completely acceptable then.
How’s this for nostalgia - in the scene where the people were removing things from the kid’s house, towards the end, there was a 1 second image of the board game Dungeon! being carried away. It brought back memories of playing that obscure game - think table top D&D lite - and I went out and purchased it the next day. Played it with the kids and it’s great fun.
I need some context here. Why are you so up in arms about, I guess, other people getting up in arms about Barb getting eaten?
As I said, he should have some pretty severe permanent damage to his insides. But the show had him recover too quickly and start talking. Yes, they had him recovering in the hospital but it looked like nothing more than getting over a bad flu with no apparent permanent damage, other than coughing up a little slug. That’s why I say it was too much of a happy ending.
Barb deserved to die for wearing those pants. She had it coming.
You almost had us all fooled but now you have revealed yourself to be a communist spy. Looking back it was obvious. Noone is THAT capitalistic and Rah Rah America!!! Fuck Yeah!!! You almost had us fooled Yuri. Almost.
If you are immune to shock or don’t have internal organs, bullets don’t really have as much kinetic force as a baseball bat.
9 mm bullet has a muzzle energy of 500-600 joules.
.357 bullet has a muzzle energy of 800-900 joules.
AR-15 has a muzzle energy of ~2000 joules.
The force a bat exerts on a baseball that is hit into home run territory? Something like 12,000 to 15000 joules. Of course those kids weren’t barry bonds but still you get the idea.
Immune to piercing, not bludgeoning.
This has been on my “To Watch” list since it came out, but I only got around to it today; started watching it about 6:00 AM, was going to catch an episode or two before going to bed (I work nights), and instead stayed up and marathoned the whole thing.
I couldn’t stand Winona at first, but she (or her character) grew on me as the series progressed.
The child actors weren’t any more annoying than their earlier peers were back in the 70s or 80s, so I just chalked that up to part of the experience; and I thought that the kids did quite well overall, with the kids playing Eleven and Will doing best.
I like that a lot of the characters are stereotypes, and yet aren’t altogether stereotypical; as someone pointed out upthread, there were little character inconsistencies (in a good way!) with their respective stereotypes that kept the characters interesting.
I think that the genius of the series lies in several key elements:
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The blender treatment/mashup of several movies and shows; they took the very best elements of those movies and shows, and put them together in a viable pastiche, using subtlety when subtlety was called for, and then smacking us in the face when that was needed.
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The 80’s look and feel. I think that the 80’s are a vastly underappreciated time period, though I may be somewhat biased.
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Acting: I think we got, overall, very credible performances out of the cast. Yes, Winona was screechy and hysterical; she was supposed to be, as a single mother with some preexisitng emotional issues who just lost her youngest. Yes, her hysterical screechiness got real old, real fast.
But then something happened about half-way through the series: I began to seriously sympathize with her character, especially after she stopped reacting and began thinking proactively about how to contact Will, and began to work, especially with Hopper, to get him back. In this regard, she stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other “Moms” of the genre, like JoBeth Williams in Poltergeist.
In summation: they took a little-bit-of-this-and-a-little-bit-of-that, which we already knew and were familiar with, and dropped it masterfully into a blender. They took the results and dressed it lovingly, respectfully, in period costume. Nancy Wheeler’s “Trapper Keeper” Notebook! I had one of those!
And they then turned the entire thing about 1/2 degree off of “true” to subtly bring it all into its own focus, and spare it from being merely derivative.
Did they hit every “mark” exactly perfectly, every single time? No. Few shows do in their very first season. If you have doubts, go back and watch season 1 of The Sopranos; yes, it is very good, but not as good as it’s going to get.
I’m going to watch this again, to see what I missed the first time around; and I’m paying attention, in a way I haven’t since the end of Breaking Bad and Justified, to see what’s happening with upcoming seasons.
I’m betting that, now that the writers, directors, and acting talent have had time to “shake down” a bit and get to know one another better, to have seen what works and what doesn’t, we’ll get an even better second season.
I watched this last weekend, finally. Very enjoyable, though a little gross for me. And I shouldn’t have watched the first two episodes while home alone.
I had some plot quibbles, but am trying not to think too hard about them.
My wife has been nagging me to watch this series with her for months now. (She won’t watch anything scary by herself.)
We just watched the first three episodes in one binge. I don’t think we’ve ever done that before with a series. We’d keep watching but decided to take a break to bathe and shower today. 
I think it’s great. It’s the closest to an '80s vibe that I’ve seen onscreen since the actual '80s. (For comparison, The Goldbergs, which is supposedly set in the '80s, doesn’t have an '80s feel at all to me.) Also, I was just about the exact same age in 1983 as the kids in this series, so it feels like looking back in time for me.
I attended three different middle schools in the early '80s, in Tennessee, Texas, and California. (I was an Army brat, so we moved around a lot.) I think they were pretty widespread by then. I never attended a junior high.
I grew up in Iowa, went to a rural school district. They changed to the middle school concept right when I was going into the 6th grade, so that was 1975. (I remember it so well because when I was in 5th grade, the 6th graders still lorded over the elementary building, and I was looking forward to being top-dog the next year and getting to be a crossing guard. Instead, in a year we 6th-graders went back to the bottom of the heap in a 6-7-8 middle school. I never got to be a crossing guard.)
Bolding mine. In answer, probably not; parents dropping kids at school was practically unheard of in my school district in the mid/late 70’s - early/mid 80’s. The only time it happened for me, personally, was if I’d had a dental appointment or such on a school day.
If I had to guess, the school where the show was filmed was either empty/abandoned, or on “loan” of some kind to the production company, and the sign was either missed, or deliberately left alone.
I went to Middle School in Illinois, between Grade School (K-4) and Jr. High (7, 8).
That would’ve been mid/late 70’s.
Our school had a drop off lane as early as 1975.
… so it’s definitely plausible.
WARNING::: POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW!!! Topic: Stranger Things may be plagiarism from another popular series.
So I just randomly did 2 of my favorite things in succession: Binge watch all of Stranger Things, and play old school video games. My game of choice: Final Fantasy I. I’ve played Final Fantasy before…but this time I noticed some striking coincidences.
Before I begin, I think it’s important to define plagiarism.
“Plagiarism - the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.” - dictionary.com
So, in this regard, it could be said that Final Fantasy plagiarized D&D. However, in context, most of D&D is based on ancient myth and lore…so while the monsters might be the same, the story will often differ, as people make stories what they will. Herein lies the problem: The stories have many parallels that have caused me to second guess the originality of the popular Netflix series.
Parallel #1: There are 4 main protagonists, or warriors in both series. In Final Fantasy, you can choose your own names. In Stranger Things, the 4 warriors would be Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin. In Season 1 Episode 1, we discover that Mike is a Master and Will is a wizard. Later on, Dustin identifies as a dwarf while Lucas identifies as a Knight. In Final Fantasy, you have options to start as a Thief, Fighter, Monk, or Mage (Red, Black, or White); which, when evolved become Ninja, Warrior, Master, and Wizard, respectively. Thus, the only one that varies from the game is Dustin the Dwarf, though dwarves do appear as NPC’s in various locations of Final Fantasy.
The worlds. In both Stranger Things and FF, they have “this world” as their home world. In Stranger Things, it is 1983 Hawkins, Indiana, while Final Fantasy, although released in 1987, does not divulge information as to the exact time of their “current world.” What is interesting though, is the parallels of the “other worlds.” Stranger Things refers to this world as “The Upside Down,” while Final Fantasy considers it to be 2000 years ago, wherein the heroes find themselves in a castle. In Stranger Things, access to this other world is explained by a girl named Eleven, who supposedly “accidentally opened the gate.” In Final Fantasy, access is granted to this other world by obtaining 4 crystals and touching an orb.
The end boss (Season 1), Demogorgon vs. Chaos. So, remember that 2000 year ago castle? This is pretty important. Demogorgons didn’t appear in Final Fantasy until the mobile game Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, where FF defines demogorgon as follows: “A strange looking statue which began moving after being possessed by wicked thoughts. Although it was initially meant to guard castles and temples against dark and evil spirits, absorbing them as part of its duties ultimately morphed it into an evil being itself. Having a demogorgon manifest in one’s own property is a sign that someone in close proximity is full of terrible intentions, bringing about great dishonor and shame.” Dungeons and Dragons, as well as Stranger things, define Demogorgon as follows: “Demogorgon is a powerful demon prince. He is known as the Prince of Demons, a self-proclaimed title he holds by virtue of his power and influence, which, in turn, is a title acknowledged by both mortals and his fellow demons.”
Interestingly enough, Final Fantasy describes Chaos as such: “Chaos is the antagonist and the final boss of the original Final Fantasy. He is a demonic monster who maintains a time loop.” Generally speaking, Chaos is defined as pure and complete evil. His early depictions resemble a devil-like being.
Now Now, I know what you’re thinking. How do the Byers, Nancy, Barb, Steve, Murray, Eleven, and all these other characters tie in. Well,one theory is that they are NPC’s. It is not uncommon for NPC’s to have vital roles in continuing the journey. For example, in Final Fantasy’s Mt. Duergar, Grandpa Melnac destroy land with Nitro Powder, and Eleven opens (and later closes) a gate.
Also, sometimes stories that happened in the past affect what happens now. For example, in Final Fantasy, in Lufenia, we are told these people built arships many many years ago. The heroes discover this airship during the course of the game. While the Lufenians won’t be coming with us on our journey, the actions of their ancestors directly affect whether or not we even find the airship today. Likewise, whether Nancy is dating Steve or Jonathan, I believe plays a vital role in whether our heroes can continue our journey. You see, if Nancy continues dating Steve, then Steve is no longer available to help the kids ward of Demodogs; nor does he get involved in the fight with Billy that allows Max to venture with the new gang. This is the least correlated part of the 2 series, and thus offers perhaps a benefit who don’t think there may have been plagiarism involved.
What are your thoughts? Any thoughts from Season 2? Could Max be the Red Mage? How does the Mind Flayer correlate to Final Fantasy? (fyi, the Mind Flayer is a regular non-boss enemy in Final Fantasy, but as of now I couldn’t find a suitable story correlation).
Another way that Stranger Things is clearly plagiarizing Final Fantasy–both convey their narrative to the consumer via the transmission of photons and vibrations in air!
First of all, the idea of non-player characters is not novel to “Final Fantasy.” Second, how is the concept of non-player characters any different from the concept of minor characters in a story?
More generally, almost everything else you point to as similarities are concepts, ideas, tropes, or common plot elements. Most scholars of storytelling will point out to you that there are very few such basic elements of stories that are novel. One of the basic facts of creative arts is the reuse, recontextualization, and transformation of things that came before.
You refer to “plagiarism” in your post, not “copyright infringement,” and there are very important distinctions between the two.
However, I think it’s at least relevant to point out that copyright law explicitly allows the copying of ideas, without attribution or authorization. Copyright law protects only specific expression of those ideas.
Plagiarism is a much broader concept than copyright infringement, as reflected by the definition you quote. However, the concept of plagiarism really only has meaning when tethered to some set of professional standards.
For example, in the academic world of scientific research, there are institutions—such as universities and professional organizations—that define and police obligations to attribute ideas to sources and sanction “passing off.”
In your comparison of “Stranger Things” and “Final Fantasy,” what set of professional ethics or standards are you using as your touchstone?