Student Last Name/ 1 Student Name Professor Sterrantino English 2010-21 12 December 2016 Research Paper Final Draft Stranger Things Have Happened This summer, Netflix released a television series that turned the world upside down. The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things has been critically acclaimed. On IMdb’s web page about the show, it boasts the series’ two HMMA (Hollywood Music in Media Award) nominations, despite it being only a few months old. (“Awards”). The show is scheduled to release its second season in 2017.The series follows Will Byers, a young boy who goes missing one night in 1984. His friends, his mother, a surly police chief, a few high school teens, and a mysterious girl with mind powers team up to find him. The residents of Hawkins, Indiana soon learn there is more to their world and their government than they ever thought (“Stranger Things”). I firmly believe this sensational series was created for a reason. The show is steeped in government schemes, and it’s clear why. While Netflix’s Stranger Things is a fictional television show, it is based on real government conspiracy theories, so I believe the creators of this series are using fictitious characters and plots to send subliminal messages about the dangers of federal and state government. Matt and Ross Duffer, screenwriters and creators of Stranger Things, have claimed many works as their inspiration for the show. Several of these are films directed by the legendary Steven Spielberg. Some scenes are shot-for-shot recreations of famous Spielberg films, and there are even movie posters for their favorites hidden in the show. In an interview with Entertainment Student Last Name/ 2 Weekly, the Duffers revealed that Jim Hopper, the Hawkins chief of police, is modeled after legendary Spielberg character Indiana Jones. (M. Duffer and R. Duffer). The most thought- provoking of their inspirations is perhaps Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. This film too features an unusual main character with mind powers, a group of loveable kids riding around on bikes, and a government agency tracking their every move. Several of Spielberg’s films suggest that the government isn’t always what it seems. E.T. is the most obvious example, with men in sunglasses in big white vans. The synopsis on IMDb tells us they follow kids they suspect are harboring an alien, and listen to private conversations with large, elaborate satellites and microphones. When E.T. is found by these agents, they lock him in frightening machines where they examine and experiment on him, much to the dismay of the alien’s human friend Elliot. The men also examine Elliot, as he is connected in some unknown way to E.T. The alien dies from being away from his home planet for too long. The scientists and agents attempt to revive him, but it’s clear this is for the sake of research, and not E.T.’s sake (“E.T.”). Like the Duffer Brothers, their idol Spielberg is clearly sending hidden messages about the “bad guys” of our government through his films. Spielberg’s Jaws also points towards the dangers of “The Man.” According to IMDb, when the residents of Amity Island are attacked by an enormous great white shark, the chief of police Marcus Brody recommends the closing of the beach. However, the local government and town mayor all insist on keeping the beaches open, as the 4th of July is their most profitable day in tourism for the entire year. Chaos ensues as the shark returns, attacking children and fisherman alike. The massacres could have been avoided, were it not for the local government (“Jaws”). If the government is ignoring dangers simply because of profit in a film, why not in real life? Student Last Name/ 3 Steven Spielberg has tried to leave conspiratorial undertones in several of his films, whether it’s obvious at first glance or not. Stranger Things has reportedly been based on several of these films. In addition, the “bad guys” in the show are remarkably like those Spielberg has created: big, scary men in long white coats driving big, white vans. Clearly, the Duffer Brothers and the other writers on the show are trying to tell us something about those in charge: that they can’t always be trusted. In addition to Steven Spielberg, the two writers also drew inspiration from legendary horror novelist, Stephen King. Known for works such as Cujo and Carrie, his books are renowned worldwide, and most have been made into remarkably successful films. When discussing the fourth episode of the series for an Entertainment Weekly article, the brothers wrote, “This episode is called “The Body.” That’s our not-so-subtle nod to Stephen King’s short story The Body, which was the basis for Rob Reiner’s classic film Stand by Me. We love that story and that film with all of our boyish hearts, and its DNA is written all over the show” (M. Duffer and R. Duffer). In King’s The Body, a young boy and several of his friends go exploring in the woods of Maine, and there discover things about life, death, and fake bodies (“The Body”). This sounds remarkably like the basic plot of Stranger Things. Ashley Hoffman, a writer for Time Magazine said of the characters in The Body, “…their lives are fairly easily compared to our Stranger Things heroes who have a monster, a shady government agency and a bully who is also a budding psychopath on their hands” (Hoffman). Hoffman goes on to say that the show also shares several similarities with Kings’ Firestarter. Eleven, the young hero of Stranger Things, bears a striking resemblance to the lead character in Firestarter, Charlie McGee. Both are young women with untold psychological Student Last Name/ 4 powers. Both were raised by demented scientists for the sole purpose of experimentation. The two even started fires with their minds (hence the title) when they became upset. Charlie is the child of two participants in a research program developed by The Department of Scientific Intelligence. Likewise, it is revealed Eleven’s mother was a participant in the infamous CIA project known as MK-ULTRA (Hoffman). These children’s powers are likely the result of their parents’ subjection to experimentation by the government. In both stories, the young girls are hunted and exploited by the government, to be used as a weapon. There’s no doubt government conspiracy is present in the works of Stephen King and the Duffer Brothers alike. In several of the works mentioned above, King’s novels point fingers towards the “evil” government, and the effect it can have on young people. Every episode of Stranger Things appears to do the same. The creators of the show have admitted to loving King and most of his books. Why, then, should it be surprising that his themes of corrupt government have crept into Stranger Things? Perhaps the appearance of suspicious government agents, dangerous experimentation, and inhumane torture are coincidentally appearing in both writers’ works. However, the more likely prospect is that creators around us are attempting to warn us about the dangers surrounding our government. As it turns out, these men and women drew inspiration from real-life government experiences as well as those coming from fiction. As Jason Guerrasio, a writer for Business Insider says, “It turns out that Netflix’s sci-fi hit Stranger Things resembles very closely an alleged real-life government experiment known as ‘The Montauk Project’” (Guerrasio). Montauk Airforce Station in Montauk, Long Island holds one of the most interesting conspiracies in the United States. The article Guerrasio wrote follows a man named Preston Nichols, who claims Montauk Air Force Station was a government facility which conducted experiments on people, Student Last Name/ 5 investigated psychological warfare, and even released a monster from a person’s subconscious. These events also happen in Stranger Things. In fact, the show was originally titled Montauk when it was taken up by Netflix. The synopsis, printed by Ethan Anderton in Slashfilm, for Montauk’s proposal points directly towards the conspiracy: Described as a love letter to the ’80s classics that captivated a generation, the series is set in 1980 Montauk, Long Island, where a young boy vanishes into thin air. As friends, family, and local police search for answers, they are drawn into an extraordinary mystery involving top-secret government experiments, terrifying supernatural forces and one very strange little girl (Anderton). Although the writers have been coy about whether their series is directly tied to the events in New York, it’s apparent the Montauk Project was a strong influence on Stranger Things. According to Guerrasio, the first experiment Nichols was a part of was called, “The Seeing Eye.” A person could sit in a special chair and see, hear, and feel, like any person on earth. Cameron Duncan, supposed psychic and participant in the Montauk Project, was part of the Seeing Eye when the scientists grew tired of the experiment. The contingency program was activated when he was still in the chair. A big, hairy monster was supposedly released from Duncan’s subconscious, destroying and eating everything in sight before running off (Guerrasio). To fans of Stranger Things, this sounds a little too familiar. Eleven opens a portal to the Upside Down (a frightening parallel world) accidently, when the scientists at Hawkins Lab use her telepathy to spy on Soviet enemies. Eleven can project others’ voices and surroundings through radios and speakers, which closely resembles the Seeing Eye experiment. When she opens the portal, a monster which the children call the Demogorgon escapes, destroying Hawkins Lab, then escaping into Hawkins, Indiana.