What I learned as a writer from the characters of Stranger Things

Just vomiting my thoughts here and maybe I'll organize them later. I just finished the Stranger Things Season Five finale, and let me tell you... my eyes are puffy, my hair is a rat's nest, and my head hurts -- in the best way -- from the emotional roller coaster. Before watching, I was cautiously optimistic when actors said on their press tours that the Duffer Brothers "landed the plane." Well, I can now agree. The Duffer Brothers landed the freaking rocket ship.

If I'm being honest, Stranger Things is the best TV show I've ever watched. I like timeless stories. And they didn't try to make a high-stakes, world-saving story just for the sake of it. They mastered it. They diligently covered the elements of timeless stories, like universal themes, compelling world building, and complex and relatable characters. I could go on for days about any of this. But I won't.

Okay, fine. I will. For just a minute. Characters? Sure, let's talk about characters. I was having a conversation about the characters of Stranger Things with a friend over the holidays. She thought they lacked depth and development. Maybe they do. I'm open to the possibility, because I'm very aware I'm a "chronic five-star reviewer," as my book club calls me, so perhaps I'm a little too positive when standing up for writers' choices.

HOWEVER, allow me to make my case.

I'll probably accidentally drop a couple spoilers, so... SPOILER ALERT.

Mike. Dustin. Lucas. Will. The show's original four. When it comes to writing a core group of characters, I find that the most memorable, dynamic groups are the ones that represent something more. In the case of these four, I think of the mind-body connection: Mind, Body, Heart, and Soul. Each character represents one.

Dustin: Mind (The genius)

Lucas: Body (The athlete)

Mike: Heart (The motivator)

Will: Soul (The purpose... literally the reason this whole adventure started in the first place)

These characters' development -- passions, hardships, self-discovery, etc. -- over the five seasons revolves around these roles. For example, in Lucas' experience, he loses his morals to the jocks he plays basketball with, but eventually comes back to his friends. In Dustin's case, he gets assaulted for defending his "nerd cult," then (SPOILER INCOMING) his knowledge ends up saving the entire world.

Then Max comes along. The mind-body connection needs just that: Connection to others. To me, Max represents Connection, the outsider the group takes in as one of them. They wouldn't have survived if they hadn't let her in. And coming from a broken home, where she didn't know true connection, she needed them.

(With regards to El, I was personally never convinced El was truly, fully part of their group. Physically, she was hardly around. Mentally, she always knew she had a different path, a different fate than everyone else. In season one, it was really only Mike who wanted to connect with her.)

The core group works as a unit because they represent one. Bonus points to the Duffer Brothers for making the mind-body unit parallel to the plot, where minds and physical space are both invaded by the villain.

The show could have stopped the metaphorical stuff with that group. But we also have a symbolic link between the four older teens...

Nancy: Fire (Always the first to take action)

Steve: Earth (Learns to be more down to earth)

Jonathan: Water (Takes care of others -- his mom, Will, Nancy, etc. but must learn to take care of himself too. Water often represents emotional intelligence.)

Robin: Air (I mean, her name is ROBIN. Just kidding. She's also just very . . . sdafkldsnganraogdfgf. Head in the clouds. But BRILLIANT, coming up with the "chaotic"ideas that actually work.)

Joyce, Hopper, and Murray... I'm thinking along the lines of society.

Hopper: Conforms to society

Joyce: Doesn't conform to society

Murray: Questions/investigates society (i.e. his conspiracies and distrust of the Russians and Hawkins Lab)

These three groups of characters make one mega unit. Humans, nature, and society form the world we live in. These characters, these units -- symbolizing the world as we know it -- unite together to conquer evil.

If we want to take it a step further, I would say these character metaphors connect to other devices, like conflict. The four basic conflicts in stories are man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society, and man vs. self. In each season, the groups' conflicts coincide with their metaphorical units. Man vs. Man are the kids/mind-body, who fight people (i.e. Dr. Brenner, those trying to kidnap El in Season One). The teens/classic elements (usually Nancy and Jonathan) fight nature (i.e. demogorgon in S1, possessed blobs in S3). The adults/members of society fight society (i.e. Russians). And in addition, almost every main character fights their own inner demons (man vs. self).

And noooowwwww, for how this all ties into the main THEMES of the show... Kidding. I've babbled enough.

SORRY, ONE MORE THING (for now): WHAT ABOUT ELEVEN?????

To me, El is the Spirit -- the machine, the one who links it all together, who makes it work. The centre of everything. This spirit idea is also a working theory, so I don't want to blah blah blah about half-formed thoughts.

So yeah, in my opinion, the characters of Stranger Things have depth.

Thanks for reading my ramble.