Stranger Things - A Masterclass in Serial Storytelling
No matter the medium, be it on stage, on screen, or in print, storytelling remains the same. In fact, it could be described very simply.
Successful storytelling is the careful balancing of begging questions of your audience and providing answers to your audience.
No where is this balance more precarious and important to consider than in serial storytelling (meaning, of course, telling stories over a long period of time). If the showrunners of a series force the viewers to ask lots of questions while only providing a handful of answers, then the series will likely become an unsatisfying watch; at the same time, if such showrunners fail to answer certain questions they've begged of their viewers, the shows will also feel inadequate. It's a tightrope. But, if you're able to traverse it skillfully, a viewing experience can be wonderful.
One of the best contemporary examples of good serial storytelling is the Netflix smash series, Stranger Things.
Like everyone else who experienced this series, I loved Stranger Things. I'm a child of the late-90s and 2000s, so films in the aesthetic of this show--late 70s, 80s, and early 90s--dominated my viewing pleasure. Movies like Jaws, E.T. the Indiana Jones movies, Jurassic Park, and the Star Wars films, amongst others had me glued to the screen. The early screen adaptations of Stephen King's stories--like Carrie and the Tim Curry version of IT--had me burying my face in my parents arms. And Tim Burton's early films, like Beetle Juice, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, filled me with a sense of awe and wonder for the morbid and the gothic. All of this work informed the Duffer Brothers' own series, as many analysts have noted.
I missed the initial bandwagon for the show when it debuted, but only because I have a policy of not watching anything on Netflix or any other streaming platform that has only one season available. Why? Because if I like it, I'll immediately want more of it and more of it will be available to satisfy me, and if I don't, I'll be able to walk away from it. And in this case, I'm totally glad I did. While everyone else was waiting for season two with the single-minded insanity of someone in desperate need of a bathroom, I was able to enjoy both seasons back to back for the first time in one go.
It was also when I watched the show--binge style over the course of a week--that I saw why it was that people so desperately wanted the next season. It was all because of how the Duffers chose to tell the story of this series.
Successful storytelling is the careful balancing of begging questions of your audience and providing answers to your audience.
No where is this balance more precarious and important to consider than in serial storytelling (meaning, of course, telling stories over a long period of time). If the showrunners of a series force the viewers to ask lots of questions while only providing a handful of answers, then the series will likely become an unsatisfying watch; at the same time, if such showrunners fail to answer certain questions they've begged of their viewers, the shows will also feel inadequate. It's a tightrope. But, if you're able to traverse it skillfully, a viewing experience can be wonderful.
One of the best contemporary examples of good serial storytelling is the Netflix smash series, Stranger Things.
Like everyone else who experienced this series, I loved Stranger Things. I'm a child of the late-90s and 2000s, so films in the aesthetic of this show--late 70s, 80s, and early 90s--dominated my viewing pleasure. Movies like Jaws, E.T. the Indiana Jones movies, Jurassic Park, and the Star Wars films, amongst others had me glued to the screen. The early screen adaptations of Stephen King's stories--like Carrie and the Tim Curry version of IT--had me burying my face in my parents arms. And Tim Burton's early films, like Beetle Juice, Edward Scissorhands, and The Nightmare Before Christmas, filled me with a sense of awe and wonder for the morbid and the gothic. All of this work informed the Duffer Brothers' own series, as many analysts have noted.
I missed the initial bandwagon for the show when it debuted, but only because I have a policy of not watching anything on Netflix or any other streaming platform that has only one season available. Why? Because if I like it, I'll immediately want more of it and more of it will be available to satisfy me, and if I don't, I'll be able to walk away from it. And in this case, I'm totally glad I did. While everyone else was waiting for season two with the single-minded insanity of someone in desperate need of a bathroom, I was able to enjoy both seasons back to back for the first time in one go.
It was also when I watched the show--binge style over the course of a week--that I saw why it was that people so desperately wanted the next season. It was all because of how the Duffers chose to tell the story of this series.
The novelist Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, once noted that storytelling--and art in general--was very similar to science in that both were based around the ability to observe and articulate patterns. Scientists observe patterns in the natural world, and artists and writers construct artificial patterns. If one looks closely enough, one can see exactly what the storytelling pattern is the Duffers employ in their writing for Stranger Things.
At it's base level, both available seasons of Stranger Things have at their centers a question. This question propels the plot of each season forward, hence why the show is so binge-able. We, as viewers, want to know what the answer to the focal question of the season is.
In the case Season One, the central question is, "What happened to Will Byers and is he still alive?"
It's that simple question that compels us to keep watching, episode after episode--even if it means staying up until two o'clock in the morning on a weekday with work ahead of us. Along the way of course, more questions are raised, mainly on the character level. (e.g. Will his friends find him? Will Will's mother go crazy and get hospitalized before they save him? Will El and Mike get to go to the snowball? Will Nancy break up with Steve and get with Jonathan, with whom she clearly has greater chemistry? etc.).
And, at the end of the first season, that central question gets an answer.
However (and here's the second level of the show's genius), in the final episode of the first season, the Duffers quickly raise several questions that go on to influence and inform the next season--in particular, three:
1. "What about the Upside Down?"
2. "Is Eleven really dead, and if not, what happened to her?"
3. "What's the significance of the thing Will coughed up?"
Of course, these weren't the only three questions raised for season two to resolve. Many of the character based questions--see the long list above--went unanswered by season one's end, so they get carried over to the next season as well. More so, new questions get raised as the season goes along, such as the questions relating to Eleven's real identity and the existence of the other children who possess psychic abilities. But the three questions mentioned above, I think, serve as the driving force of the second season.
Let's address them in reverse order (just for fun).
In the last episode of season one, when Will is along in the bathroom, he coughs up something that looks like the love-child of a tadpole and a turd. This thing resembles the same tentacle-like object he had shoved down his throat when Hopper and Joyce found him in the Upside Down. This of course begs questions. If this is a part of whatever that stuff was Will was entwined into when they found him, what kind of effects does it have on him? Will it have any such effects? The opening episodes of the second season address this.
Next, we have everyone's favorite brown-haired psychic Eleven. Once she faced down the Demogorgon, facing her fear and saving Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in the process, she suddenly disappeared into the cloud of disintegrated Demogorgon. We, of course, were hoping that she wasn't dead (the Duffers kill lots of people on the show, but thus far, no children--though that might change, only they know). It was this desire to know the fate of our favorite monosyllabic, but otherwise mute heroine that likely brought many viewers all back to show when it started again. And, of course, the first few episodes answered this question as well.
Finally, there's the Upside Down. We learn in the course of the first season that it was El who opened the passageway into this otherworldly dark dimension. Thus, when she disappears, that leaves the question as to what will become of that opening. How can non-psionic people contend with it? Can non-psionic possibly shut the gateway? By the end of season two, we of course learn that people without supernatural abilities can only create stopgaps, temporary solutions, and that it's only someone who has the power to open such a gate that can close it.
All three of these questions, as well as many of the previously mentioned character-centric questions, get answers by the end of the second season.
Truthfully, the Duffers could've ended the series with the second season quite easily. Fans got to see many of the hook-ups they wanted in the last episode, Eleven sealed the gateway to the Upside Down, and things were slowly regaining their equilibrium. But do they stop there? Oh no. Because before the finale, they leave two questions lingering in the minds of us the viewers (at least two, for me, maybe more for you, dear reader).
1. "Are there even more people like Eleven out there, and will we see them?"
2. "What will the Mind Flyer try to do now?"
In the second season, in the very first episode in fact, we encountered Eight, a personal capable of casting realistic illusions into the minds of those she chooses. Well, that begs questions. Where are One thru Seven, Nine, and Ten? What happened to them? What kinds of powers do they have? Will we get to meet them? At the very least, will we get to see more of Eight in seasons three? Only the Duffers will get to decide.
They also choose to conclude the last episode with a shot of the Mind Flyer hovering over the version of their school in the Upside Down. It's an ominous image to say the least, like a photo from space of an approaching hurricane. And it too begs questions. Does the Mind Flyer really know where they are in the real world? If so, how? Does it still somehow retain a lingering connection to Will?
Well, we'll just have to wait until next year to find out.
Because of the masterful storytelling the Duffers employ though, I sure we'll all think the next season will be too short, and we'll be hankering for more the minute the credits of the final episode of the next season starts to roll over our screens.
 |
| You've been warned. |
At it's base level, both available seasons of Stranger Things have at their centers a question. This question propels the plot of each season forward, hence why the show is so binge-able. We, as viewers, want to know what the answer to the focal question of the season is.
In the case Season One, the central question is, "What happened to Will Byers and is he still alive?"
It's that simple question that compels us to keep watching, episode after episode--even if it means staying up until two o'clock in the morning on a weekday with work ahead of us. Along the way of course, more questions are raised, mainly on the character level. (e.g. Will his friends find him? Will Will's mother go crazy and get hospitalized before they save him? Will El and Mike get to go to the snowball? Will Nancy break up with Steve and get with Jonathan, with whom she clearly has greater chemistry? etc.).
And, at the end of the first season, that central question gets an answer.
However (and here's the second level of the show's genius), in the final episode of the first season, the Duffers quickly raise several questions that go on to influence and inform the next season--in particular, three:
1. "What about the Upside Down?"
2. "Is Eleven really dead, and if not, what happened to her?"
3. "What's the significance of the thing Will coughed up?"
Of course, these weren't the only three questions raised for season two to resolve. Many of the character based questions--see the long list above--went unanswered by season one's end, so they get carried over to the next season as well. More so, new questions get raised as the season goes along, such as the questions relating to Eleven's real identity and the existence of the other children who possess psychic abilities. But the three questions mentioned above, I think, serve as the driving force of the second season.
Let's address them in reverse order (just for fun).
In the last episode of season one, when Will is along in the bathroom, he coughs up something that looks like the love-child of a tadpole and a turd. This thing resembles the same tentacle-like object he had shoved down his throat when Hopper and Joyce found him in the Upside Down. This of course begs questions. If this is a part of whatever that stuff was Will was entwined into when they found him, what kind of effects does it have on him? Will it have any such effects? The opening episodes of the second season address this.
Next, we have everyone's favorite brown-haired psychic Eleven. Once she faced down the Demogorgon, facing her fear and saving Mike, Dustin, and Lucas in the process, she suddenly disappeared into the cloud of disintegrated Demogorgon. We, of course, were hoping that she wasn't dead (the Duffers kill lots of people on the show, but thus far, no children--though that might change, only they know). It was this desire to know the fate of our favorite monosyllabic, but otherwise mute heroine that likely brought many viewers all back to show when it started again. And, of course, the first few episodes answered this question as well.
Finally, there's the Upside Down. We learn in the course of the first season that it was El who opened the passageway into this otherworldly dark dimension. Thus, when she disappears, that leaves the question as to what will become of that opening. How can non-psionic people contend with it? Can non-psionic possibly shut the gateway? By the end of season two, we of course learn that people without supernatural abilities can only create stopgaps, temporary solutions, and that it's only someone who has the power to open such a gate that can close it.
All three of these questions, as well as many of the previously mentioned character-centric questions, get answers by the end of the second season.
Truthfully, the Duffers could've ended the series with the second season quite easily. Fans got to see many of the hook-ups they wanted in the last episode, Eleven sealed the gateway to the Upside Down, and things were slowly regaining their equilibrium. But do they stop there? Oh no. Because before the finale, they leave two questions lingering in the minds of us the viewers (at least two, for me, maybe more for you, dear reader).
1. "Are there even more people like Eleven out there, and will we see them?"
2. "What will the Mind Flyer try to do now?"
In the second season, in the very first episode in fact, we encountered Eight, a personal capable of casting realistic illusions into the minds of those she chooses. Well, that begs questions. Where are One thru Seven, Nine, and Ten? What happened to them? What kinds of powers do they have? Will we get to meet them? At the very least, will we get to see more of Eight in seasons three? Only the Duffers will get to decide.
They also choose to conclude the last episode with a shot of the Mind Flyer hovering over the version of their school in the Upside Down. It's an ominous image to say the least, like a photo from space of an approaching hurricane. And it too begs questions. Does the Mind Flyer really know where they are in the real world? If so, how? Does it still somehow retain a lingering connection to Will?
Well, we'll just have to wait until next year to find out.
Because of the masterful storytelling the Duffers employ though, I sure we'll all think the next season will be too short, and we'll be hankering for more the minute the credits of the final episode of the next season starts to roll over our screens.
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