Seeing Patterns Where None Exists

The movie “Stranger Things” is set in a small town where an incident of disappearance of a child sets the mood rolling that rocks the fabric of an otherwise. This event leads to the discovery secrets experiments, weird supernatural forces and a strange little girl with shaved head. The plot of “Stranger Things” fit to be analyzed within the framework of Propp’s31 component theory of narratemes. 

The introductory chapter corresponds to the narrateme of absentation where someone goes missing. In this movie, chapter one deals with the vanishing on Will Byers. This set the storyline of the movie rolling. The disappearance of this child happened while he was on his way home. Will saw something that seemed unusual. Close to the place of disappearance, is government lab that harbors a top secret. 

The next relevant narrateme is on Mediation where the Hero discovers the lack. In the movie “Stranger Things” this represents Will’s friends Lucas, Mike, and Dustin. Upon learning the disappearance of their friends, there are warned by the school authority from investigating due to their safety. The friends discuss what might have happened to Wil and suggested that He may have put himself in danger to protect the three friends. It is then that they decided to carry out a search for their lost friend, which corresponds the narrateme on violation of interdiction. This is characterized by the hero ignoring the warning not to do something and goes ahead in doing it.

The other relevant narrateme is on Departure, where the Hero leaves on a mission. This involves the hero making the decision to act accordingly in the pursuit of the goal. Here, the trio, Dustin, Lucas and Mike, engage in the search of their lost friend. They cross the restricted area of the woods. The friends attempt to talk to talk to the girl they find on their woods. The three friends get acquainted with the strange girl, whom they nickname as El, whom they hide at Mikes house. She recognizes Will from a photo shown to her and later tells them that Will is somewhere hiding from the something terrible which is characterized by the Demogorgon. 

The other element is on acquisition where the hero acquires a magical item. In the movie, “Stranger Things” the magical item is through the mysterious girl, El. While watching a Coca-Cola commercial, the girl gets a flashback that remind her of laboratory, where she was connected to an electroencephalograph machine, where she crushed an empty can through telekinesis, causing her to have a nosebleed. More flashbacks on her power comes when she is by the power lines revealing how she killed two guards. 

Another narrateme that can be revealed in these movies is on guidance where th4 hero is reached the destination. Here, Dustin, Lucas, Mike, and El, follows the cops to the quarry where the body of Will is pulled out of the water. Later, El uses the radio and hears Will speak and sing thereby offering a proof that Will was still alive.