Symbolism In The Stranger Things Trailer

One main theme in the in the Stranger Things trailer was light, with the light on Will’s bike flickering before he disappears, the blinding light when Will vanishes from thin air, and the flickering Christmas lights that appear throughout the trailer. In general, light can represent discovery and hope, but in these details in particular the meaning of light changes because they are flickering and blinding. The flickering lights represents discovery of a mysterious or dangerous thing, because the character nor the viewer can only barely see what is being discovered. In “Gothic Light”, Rebecca Stern discusses how candles produce ‘apparition’, allowing “what might go unnoticed in darkness to be seen and thus feared” (Stern, P#). The candles …show more content…
The group of boys (Dustin, Mike, and Lucas) is a representation of the ‘young innocent’ hero that is a common gothic motif, and the girl (Eleven) is a ‘child monster’ as discussed in “Nightmares of Childhood” by David Kinney. All of these children are shown as outcasts, Dustin, Mike and Lucas being shown as nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons in a basement, and Eleven being found in the woods late at night and having telekinetic powers. The age of these children (middle school age) and the fact that they are outcasts open them to unconventional ways to find their friend Will (like with Joyce), because they are unconventional themselves. Nerds and outcasts like these kids are often portrayed as “awkward, intelligent, shy, unattractive social outcasts” (Kinney, 21), yet are “able to embrace a more positive self-perception in high school” (Kinney, 21), because they were able to establish self-confidence not based on others’ validation during middle school. This self-confidence the kids are currently building allow them to be independent in their own search for Will; they are never shown with aid from any adults during the Stranger Things trailer, yet find and take care of a lost girl (Eleven). In addition to this independence, Dustin, Mike, and Lucas are either close to the age of puberty or going through puberty currently. As puberty is a time of constant change for …show more content…
She has buzzed hair, is wearing a t-shirt that is too large, and is soaked from walking around in the rain. In “Nightmares of Childhood”, Sara Alegre describes children in gothic and horror stories as either “victims under the treat of horrific monsters” or “innocent monsters created by irresponsible adults” (Alegre, 105). Eleven is the latter of the two. Even though she is aiding the other kids in their search for Will, she is still a ‘monster’ because she has telekinetic abilities that she could use against those who are trying to find her. We can assume that she was given these abilities by the people who are trying to find her, as during the trailer people in hazmat suits ask “And the girl?” while the leader says “She can’t have gone far.” Eleven herself does not want to cause harm to her friends by being a monster, and although she can control her abilities fairly well she was not the one who decided to have these abilities; these characteristics classify Eleven as an ‘evil innocent’. Alegre writes that an ‘evil innocent’ is a child that”…’abuses its superhuman abilities because it does not yet comprehend the consequences of its acts’” (Alegre, P#). Eleven does not abuse her superhuman powers, but as she is still at a middle school age and only just escaped from the lab where she was kept there is no way that she would be able to fully comprehend the possible consequences her acts could have.