The characters of stranger things they keep evolving. Young people, despite the different threats, usually come out of them well. Only a few antagonists have fallen by the wayside. At least that’s how it was until the fourth season, when one of the characters died and another ended up brain dead.
Perhaps from that aura of invincible, protected from the script, the idea arises that the narrative has been condescending. More tension is needed, one might think. And one of the references that comes up is Game of Thrones and the surprise deaths of key characters. The comparison came to the Duffer brothers, Matt and Ross. It was Ross who said: “We are not Game of Thrones. This is Hawkins, not Westeros”. Although the statement may be a simple answer, it is not without reason. The essence of both narratives are opposite.
That does not have to be bad news, quite the opposite. A detail that enriches the diversity within the options of streaming. You know: “between tastes and colors…”.
Game of Thrones as a paradigm
It is the most important television phenomenon in contemporary history. While it aired, Game of Thrones gathered thousands of people every Sunday who wanted to know how history was evolving and, also, avoid some spoilers regarding the death of the characters. From the beginning to the end, the series laid the foundation for its story: anyone could die and still the narrative would run its course.
During the first seasons, that vertigo in relation to the death of key characters was sustained in a good way with political tensions, negotiations in the shadows, enriched dialogues that, even set in a distant time, even fantastic, could fit today beyond the screen. With the passing of the seasons, that potential was lost in favor of entertainment, memorable combat and impressive staging.
one way or another, Game of Thrones it altered different issues within contemporary television and cinema because, like perhaps few productions, it treated a production designed for another format with airs of the big screen. The leap in quality was evident. That story that initially began as a niche, perhaps only close to the readers of the books, became a pop phenomenon in which everyone applauded from a line of dialogue to the spectacular death of one of the protagonists.
Game of Thrones he left raised the idea that anyone is likely to die; he did it on a global scale, pop, within a narrative context that allowed it: Westeros was, progressively, becoming a land without law. In his favour, from the first season this idea was imposed, with the death of ned stark. Based on that, none of the characters present were unaware of that fate. It was the way that the story found to lay the foundations for what he would later develop without any remorse.
own path of stranger things
ask for something similar to stranger things is to suggest that the story of Netflix contradicts itself. Or mutate into something for which there is no initial justification. Should the stories remain unchanged, ironically attached to their origin? No. But when it comes to such obvious transformations, it pays to be a little more careful to avoid undoing the entire universe built over several years in a matter of a few chapters.
It closes stories of characters abruptly, without a previous framework that justifies them, it would be to subtract weight from the main value of stranger things: the relationships between his characters. A few hours after the premiere of Volume II of the fourth season, social networks were filled with images with the moments shared between different characters. The viewer sees them grow up and, on that journey, becomes an accomplice to their jokes, to the anecdotes shared in an ice cream parlor, to their joys and sorrows.
Turning the viewer’s attention to those who live or die is to blow up a good part of the story, disregarding the option of seeing how those relationships, friendly or loving, mutate due to what happens with one and the other; observe how the perspective of life and the desires of this or that character mark their relationship with those who may not accompany them.
In stranger things It doesn’t matter so much who lives or dies. What is relevant is to reflect a bit of the human condition, of the illusions and fears that the bulk of its viewers have gone through, are going through or will go through.. So it makes sense that the authors of the series defend their idea: “This is Hawkins, not Westeros.”