Removed both of these, since they seem to contradict each other:
- Denser and Wackier: Season three, compared to the first two.
- There is increased luxuriating in the 80s setting, with the costuming more blatant and the women (Karen in particular) sporting much more elaborate, brightly-colored hair, makeup, and outfits. In some mall scenes, some extras look like they're sporting 80s-themed fancy-dress.
- The "Russians under the mall" plot is also a more cartoonish concept, and is a departure from the Stephen King influenced tone of the first seasons, taking cues more from action movies than classic 80s horror literature.
- One-note comedic characters like Murray and Erica are afforded much longer screen-time, appearing in multiple episodes.
- Dustin and Suzie singing the theme tune from The Neverending Story in the manner of a musical interlude — pop-cultural touchstones were previously presented much more subtly.
- Darker and Edgier: Season 3 as compared to season 1 and 2. The stakes are significantly raised with the Soviets attempting to break into the Upside Down. The Mind Flayer has possessed multiple residents of Hawkins, and graphically liquifies them on screen to add their flesh to its own. Additionally, while Steve suffered several Curb Stomp Battles, (at the hands of Jonathan and Billy) and Jonathan and Nancy directly fought the Demogorgon, in the first season the younger kids were seldom in direct mortal danger, and even in season 2 they had little role directly fighting the Mind Flayer or Demodogs. However in season 3, the kids confront a Mind Flayer-possessed Billy several times, and in one such encounter Mike and Max are both attacked and knocked unconscious, (with Mike thrown into a wall) Eleven's leg is badly mauled by the Mind Flayer's flesh avatar, Lucas is finally uses his Wrist Rocket when it counts and later leads the fireworks attack against the Mind Flayer, and Dustin is forced to attack an armed Soviet soldier with a cattle prod to rescue Steven and Robin. For the first time in the series the kids are drawn directly into the conflict, and are literally fighting for their lives rather than skirting around the edges of the larger battle.
These tropes don't apply well to individual seasons of a show, particularly to a show like this, which balances humor with horror. You can probably make arguments that each season was "darker" than the other two as well as "wackier" if you just focus on the humor or horror elements of that season.
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The Duffer Brothers specifically said this season was going to be darker in the lead-up to release, so Darker and Edgier is directly supported by Word of God. And whatever the humor (which has been present from the start) there's thw fact that this season the younger kids were directly involved in the fighting and were in mortal danger to an extent we have never seen before (FFS, Max and Mike both got their heads bashed in by a Flayer-possessed Billy, and there's El's mauling and on-screen surgery). The on-screen death toll is higher, far more of the town's population is killed, and this season is even gorier what with the multiple on-screen meltings.
Edited by Ambaryerno
Strangely enough, I would say both tropes apply equally. There seems to be a polarization into more wackiness in some scenes and more graphical violence in others.
This season had multiple deaths via the mini-flayer digesting town folk. The main town center dying as big business (the mall) killed off revenue, best friend separating for unknown period of time and a main character death(?). Definitely darker and edgier then any prior season.
I think Denser and Wackier combined with Bloodier and Gorier.
Because the season is really wacky. Aside from every antagonistic human character being a ridiculous caricature, the facility under the mall is out of James Bond Jr..
Other than the "mortal danger" (which they've had plenty of before) and the (completely frivolous and quickly swept under the rug) "big business killing off local shops" bit, the "darkness" boils down to "more violence" which... yeah. I don't think "higher stakes" equals Darker and Edgier, especially since this season toned down the Adult Fear and honestly has a more simplistic view of domestic abuse than the last season.
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Was it really denser and wackier? I mean did that many people find it wackier. There where light handed moments, but every season had that. Not every season had Steve going ongoing torture, elevens body horror, Wills emotional breakdown etc. Seems more dark then anything.
Undergoing torture... by a 90's Era James Bond villain which was eventually undercut by a Mushroom Samba and a borderline Home Alone-esque rescue. In a plot thread that's summed up as "those rascally kids pull one over on the mean ol' Commies."
Previous seasons had Barb's body horror and Will's body horror too, you know.
And Joyce and Hopper's plot for most of the season is basically shenanigans intercut with a Knight Of Cerberus occasionally stopping in.
I'll concede Will's fear of the party growing up and growing apart as being a more mature storyline, but I don't think it's terribly edgy and doesn't wind up that dark, either.
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Multiple civilian casualties including families is pretty dark. Including losing a parent, step brother, abduction etc Also it was intentionally made by the creators as it's darkest season
Edited by Tuvok
Serial Escalation does not equate Darker and Edgier.
The very first episode had an incredibly sympathetic character shot in the head in front of a traumatized little girl and staged as a suicide so that his body was found by his friends. Said little girl eventually violently killed the woman responsible along with a dozen other soldiers. The season itself was basically Adult Fear in TV form.
The series has had a lot of darkness since the beginning. Enough that there's not a clear tonal shift here. You can say "ah, but this season has a different dark element that wasn't in any other season" sure, but you could say that about... every other season.
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It does equal DarkerAndEdgier if that was the intent of those behind it.
https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment/nation/stranger-things-3-shawn-levy-interview
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a861519/stranger-things-season-3-darker-new-places/
It is DarkierAndEdgier as it was created that way by those behind it. It also come off that way due to its content. On the other hand remembering Steve "the hair" Harrington infiltrate a russian base under the local mall in a sailor costume definitely is lighter and wackier. So I concede to that, but as per those behind it and a fair amount of audience reaction via social media regarding the hell the kids went through certified DarkierAndEdgier.
Edited by Tuvok
Darker and Edgier isn't an Audience Reaction, though. To be perfectly frank, I don't give a damn how people react to a work... especially since people love crowing on about every new installment of everything being Darker and Edgier. It's like Complete Monster, people seem to think it's some kind of badge of honor.
And looking at the Thrillist interview with a producer, the most telling thing is this line (emphasis mine): "But the alchemy of Stranger Things, the magic of Stranger Things, is the warmth, humanity, and loyalty of these characters. It is the mixture of lightness and darkness. That, to me, is the special sauce. And that is wholly our own and that is the Duffer brothers."
In other words, while there are new, darker elements, it's also explicitly stated that there's a specific "Stranger Things" tone that they're trying to keep consistent.
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Fact remains if it fits the troper then it is a trope. Its a series with multiple deaths, loss and growing up. Stated by actors , writers and producers as DarkierAndEdgier including audience reactions to it being such, for being DarkierAndEdgier. It was made to be such, stated by those behind it to be made as such and treated as such. Walks like a duck , quacks like a duck then its not a dog, its a duck. Also it is the darkest season straight from the horses mouth.
" When asked if they worried the season’s dark twist might be a step too far, the Duffers replied in an email, “We weren’t really worried. Season two was a dark season with a fairy tale ending. We thought we’d flip that on its head and have our ‘fun’ season end on our darkest note yet. We just think it’s an interesting pivot, and pushes the story in exciting new directions..... At the same time, it also needs to crack open the door for an exciting—and tonally different—follow-up chapter.”
Edited by Tuvok
I originally added Denser and Wackier. Whilst I agree that this season does have darker moments, there is definitely a sense of increased wackiness alongside the darkness - with a show like this, that lurches from humour to deep drama, I don't think one cancels the other out. I think the Denser and Wackier entry is relevant and important, and the points I added for the trope do stand (they're factual points) - particularly the point about the increased lionisation of the 80s setting - it's almost a pastiche, versus seasons 1 & 2.
I concur, I orignally did not but on further review Sailor!Steve infiltrating a russian base is definately wackier. I just think as per intended its darkier and edgier as well.
Edited by Tuvok
@Tuvok, absolutely - that's a great example; that whole escapade is far removed in tone and application from the feeling of season 1 (and 2). Should we then add the entry back in? Does anyone else have any strong objections?
All right, now what about Darker and Edgier? The two tropes are NOT mutually-exclusive, and multiple plot points have definitely taken it down that road (to say nothing of Word of God).
I still say "no" to Darker and Edgier and instead the more appropriate Bloodier and Gorier.
Word of God doesn't say the season is the darkest, just that it ends on the darkest note. And the same interview explicitly says that they work to capture the same tone and mix of light and dark, they just swapped the order of the light and dark but were trying to still get the same mix.
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Ends on the Darkest note, multiple deaths of civilians, main character deaths, body horror , seperation, torture literal comments from producers and actors as the darkest season is the definition of DarkierAndEdgier. However I guess we need to see where others would weigh in. I should note Ambaryerno, eroock,and myself concur DarkierAndEdgier. Yourself and Captain Crawdad don’t think it is and lexii thinks its wackier but no word if thinks it DarkierAndEdgier. That’s three to two for the example.
Edited by Tuvok
Does anyone have any suggestions for a trope to illustrate how the US government went from maintaining covert operations in Hawkins, with military police, spying on anyone they wanted, murdering anyone they wanted to... being so oblivious that they don't even realize that their mortal enemy is building an secret facility right next to the remains of their own former test site? They leave the entire oversight, apparently, to Hopper.
Idiot ball, maybe?
Edited by ChrisValentine Hide / Show Replies
Characterization Marches On or Early-Installment Weirdness, maybe? Or Redemption Demotion?
I wouldn't necessarily say Idiot Ball because they were idiots to begin with (the program was comically inept) but it's weird how it went from menacing Big Brother Is Watching to "eh... it's fine. Go nuts."
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....is there another trope for when your operation has been exposed and you can't return due to it?
Removed from Aborted Arc:
- The conflict between the opening of Starcourt Mall and the subsequently dying retail shops is brought up but quickly dropped.
- The Flayed are all eating fertilizer and drinking household chemicals. The Party suggests that the Mind Flayer is trying to create some kind of new substance, and it's also implied that the chemicals were what allowed the Flayed to melt and form a single creature, but this plot point is never elaborated upon and is dropped almost immediately after.
- In a more mundane example, Will spends the first half of season 3 struggling to come to terms with the party growing up. The second half of the season drops this storyline completely and relegates Will to detecting the Mind Flayer's presence instead.
1. I think this was in the series just to establish the mall as "evil," since it's being used to cover up the Russian conspiracy. We're glad that it's being trashed and closed down, because presumably Main Street will get brought back to life. In the end, Steve and Robin get jobs at a local business on Main Street rather than in the mall.
2. The Flayed eat chemicals because they're going to be reconstituted as body parts for the Mind Flayer, which presumably has a different chemical composition than human flesh. So the "new substance" is the Mind Flayer itself.
3. Will's big problem is that the gang is slowly breaking up and going their separate ways now that they're getting girlfriends and changing their social dynamic. In the end, Will has made peace with moving away and leaving the group, as seen when he willingly gives up his D&D materials.
Edited by CaptainCrawdad Hide / Show Replies
1. Fine
2. Where is this explained?
3. I also feel that the subject found a conclusion towards the end of the season.
Edited by eroock
2. It's just implied by the sequence of events: The flayed eat chemicals, then Nancy and Jonathon wonder what they're trying to make, then the flayed form into the Mind Flayer. So they ate the chemicals to be able to make the Mind Flayer. It's not an "arc" that was aborted, just a link in the chain of events.
Edited by CaptainCrawdad
1- The protest was to show how the Mall affected the town. No story there.
2- Wasn't really a plot point. Nor an arc per say. The Flayed were basically infected by an alien biological that needed chemicals to survive. There was nothing to show that that they needed the chemicals to break down to form the larger mind flayer.
3- There was no indication that Will trying to hold on to his childhood was a major arc. Seemed more to show that growing up sucks. Nothing more to be added
I think considering there are only eight episodes and they were pretty full with plot and action there not arcs that where aborted just events and side events that defined the alieness of the flayed and fill out what’s happening around the Town.
Edited by Tuvok
Overlong plot summaries on recap pages
The plot summaries on Stranger Things recap pages have grown to an immense size. Some of these Wall of Text fill six screens before you can reach the trope list. The question of what can be considered an appropriate size for recap summaries was discussed here and consensus was reached that a few paragraphs is enough. Remember, recap pages are no different from any other work pages. They should be primarily focused on tropes. I decided to helm the pruning of overlong episode summaries for Stranger Things. My aim is to keep the summaries within six paragraphs. See the size of Recap.Sherlock S 01 E 02 The Blind Banker for what I am having in mind. Problem is, there are no synopses out there that are about this size, they are either shorter or longer. Anybody here who wants to help with the task of coming up with this size of plot summaries? If not, I am gonna go with the shorter versions available online.
Btw, if you love writing long summaries, I invite you to join www.strangerthings.wikia.com and apply your prowess there.
Can we update the spoiler policy on the page to just season 2 events?
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And spoil season 1 for those who haven't watched any of it?
Edited by eroock
That is what the spoiler warning is for; some other shows on the wiki do it that way ("Beware, only [latest season] spoilers are marked" etc.). Just thinking that it's pretty awkward to write about Season 2 events when some entries still keep the existence of the Upside-Down a spoiler.
I agree. Most shows seem to operate on a policy of only spoiling the most current entry, and it only makes sense because otherwise you end up with a page that's 50% blacked out.
^I think this page's mostly managed to avoid being overladen with spoilers, and that's because of the lack of character and episode tropes. The other advantage to that spoiler policy though is that what's spoilered out is consistent. On this page, some entries spoil Season 1 plot twists but others mention them offhand (eg. the Demogorgon's name being spoilered in No Name Given, but is out in the open in Spell My Name with a "The"; the Upside-Down a secret in Dark World, but mentioned in Trapped in Another World). Both are understandable given the time the entries were written, but I personally find it jarring.
Edited by Synchronicity
To avoid an edit war, what does everyone else think of this entry?
- Take That!: In the same way that the series creators show their appreciation for things by having one of the heroes express interest in it, they criticize other things by having someone with questionable tastes support it:
- Ted Wheeler, who is shown to be out-of-touch on virtually every issue, has a prominent "Reagan-Bush '84" sign outside of the Wheeler house.
- Bob, is a rather boring nerd and lacks the sophisticated geek tastes of the Party:
- Immediately after Jonathon says that Kenny Rogers sucks, Bob comes in to proclaim that he loves Kenny Rogers.
- Bob finds the mainstream comedy Mr. Mom to be hilarious, while everyone else is unimpressed.
Just about everyone in Hawkins seems to have a Reagan-Bush sign. It is a small rural town in Indiana after all.
IMO the examples about Bob are less about disparaging those specific works/people and more about showing that Bob's just generally kind of lame.
- Will's rescue in the season 1 finale is scored to the Moby song "When It's Cold, I'd Like To Die," a song released twelve years after the season takes place from a musician who didn't get his proper start until 1991.
- During the pool scene in "Chapter Seven: The Bathtub," Vangelis' Fields of Coral is played in the background, a song that would not be released until 1996.
It may be a common expectation of period pieces that they will use period music, but it's not actually a mistake for them to use non-period music on the soundtrack. Only the diegetic music "exists" within the world of the show, so only the diegetic music needs to be period-accurate. (Otherwise the use of an original score would be a production error...)
Edited by johnnye Hide / Show Replies
> It may be a common expectation of period pieces that they will use period music, but it's not actually a mistake for them to use non-period music on the soundtrack. Only the diegetic music "exists" within the world of the show, so only the diegetic music needs to be period-accurate. (Otherwise the use of an original score would be a production error...)
That's true. Moby's song is not a song that the characters are listening to, but the audience is.
"Upside-Down" or "Upside Down"?
Currently we have two competing ways of writing it. Which one should we go with?
Sorry if this is out of place but who the hell changed the Season 2 poster to the Season 1 poster!? Also if this is weird I have barely any experience in editing on TV Tropes and I created an account here purely for my love of this website
Where would be the best place for the tropes for the tie-in works? - most other works have pages by now
Working on cleaning up List of Shows That Need Summary