watching Stranger Things like a professor

You guessed it. I’m analyzing Stranger Things. Now, because Stranger Things is full of elements and amazing characters to analyze in all 3 seasons, I am going to narrow myself to the newest installment. I’m very sorry if I spoil anything.

Okay the season starts with black rats scurrying around an abandoned steel factory on a dark night. Rats are symbolic of evil, disease, and decay. Obviously the evil lurking over the town of Hawkins is the “Shadow Monster” from the Upside Down. The monster that was supposed to be stopped in Season 2 when Eleven closed the gate, but survives after it escaped Will’s body. It returns, taking over the rats. Rats are known to spread disease, and although they don’t actually spread the monster to the Flayed (term for those taken over by the monster), they foreshadow the condition of the Flayed and the manner in which it will spread and take control of the town. The rats also symbolize the decay seeping into the town from the Upside Down. Because a part of the monster was trapped outside of the Upside Down when El closed the gate, it starts to kill the town. It spreads like a virus and the Flayed, completely under the monster’s power, decay internally as they intake chemicals until they, to put it lightly, liquify into a goo of sorts that builds the monster into a physical being. Wow this show is terrifying and kind of disgusting. Anyways, the rats are a way of intensifying the evil and spreading decay to Hawkins. They also are the first clue that set Jonathan and Nancy on their quest of discovering the new monster the Flayed who are working for it. A quest that becomes more and more urgent as the audience learns about the impending doom for Hawkins and that starts the spiral of wrong during the seemingly normal summer. Normal is a weird word to use when talking about Stranger Things.

I was going to stop here, but I just have to analyze the scene where Will destroys Castle Byers because it makes me cry. First of all, the rain is coming down in sheets. Now while it’s raining, a lot happens in a lot of ways but I am just going to stay on Will’s issue. He leaves Mike’s house after a frustrating game of D&D. During his fight with Mike, he realizes the hard truth that they are not kids anymore and that life was changing and moving on whether he was prepared for it or not. The rain symbolizes suffering, illness, and rebirth. He has been suffering for the past few years with not only the monster and Upside Down, but the trauma he faced because of it. He is seen at Castle Byers (his childhood hideout) looking over old memories, and then destroying it while his tears mix with the rain. The rain is also a bookend of sorts. It is mentioned in previous seasons that when he and his brother, Jonathan built the fort, it was raining so hard that they were both sick for a week. This time, Will is already sick but with grief and the struggles have plagued him. He feels lost and alone as he destroys the last part of his childhood, Castle Byers. A part of his childhood that was his safe hiding place from the world, that he realizes he can’t return to. Finally, his friends find him surrounded by the broken remains of his castle, reborn in a sense. Not Will the Wise anymore. 

I could go on and on about every scene of the show and every symbol, but I know I need to stop now and I know that I wrote this so fast out of excitement that it probably doesn’t make complete sense 🙂 I hope you enjoyed, and I’m sorry if I spoiled anything!