St Parallels - Tumblr Posts
Let's talk about the insane Paranorman (Norman/Agatha) x Stranger Things (Will/Henry) Parallels
"Once upon a time, long ago, there was a little girl. A - a little girl who was different... Who was different from the other people in her village. She could see and - and do things that no one could understand. And that made them scared of her! She turned away from everyone and became sad and lonely, and had no one to turn to. The more she turned away from people, the more scared they were of her. And they did something terrible! They became so scared that they took her away, and they killed her! And even - and even though she was dead, something in her came back. And this part of her, wouldn't go away even after three hundred years! And the longer it stayed, the less there was of the little girl."
Will and Norman are both associated with zombies. For Norman, this is his obsession with zombies in pop-culture and old horror flicks (also similar to Will's own nerdy interests). For Will, this connection is quite literal as he came back from the dead. They're also both called Freaks. In both medias this is heavily associated with the characters' perceived queerness and their persecution, including the metaphor of their stories, is about homophobic oppression.
Norman and Will develop a psychic connection with the 'villain', who is able to send them into trances where they see visions, and eventually even whisper in their ears when the connection becomes stronger.
The 'villain' part is in quotes because, while they both occupy the role of the antagonist within their stories, the line is not so cut and dry. We learn that both Agatha and Henry were young kids (11 and 12 respectively), who started showing signs of magical powers, which led their conformist societies to be afraid of them.
The Puritan courts sentence Agatha to death on charges of witchcraft, where she curses the seven jurors to die and never find rest. Henry's story proves more complicated.... but you can see the parallel. Paranorman is in a way the kids movie version of the Henry/Will plot in Stranger Things.
Paranorman ends with Norman confronting Witch!Agatha at her grave, where he is able to pull through to the little girl that still exists inside of her and wants to be laid to rest.
It had been tradition up until this point that the people with the 'gift' to see the dead would read her a bedtime story to make her go away for another year, her soul still unrested and in agony. Norman's decision to try and talk to her himself is what broke this 300-year cycle, allowing her to pass on peacefully and saving the town from yearly destruction.
...I think we will see something similar in Season 5 of Stranger Things. I don't think that's too much of an unpopular or an undiscussed opinion at this point in time, so I won't push it too much further. Look up other people's posts on the topic; I'm sure they could articulate much better.
But the specific parallels between these two pieces of media are so stark that I wonder if this was another piece of inspiration and evidence we can add to the pile. Especially with the text: society oppresses people with powers for being different // subtext: society oppresses queer people theme they share in common, and the amount of 80s horror references that exist within Paranorman.
will byers' painting in STRANGER THINGS 4 // alan turing's message in THE IMITATION GAME
Let’s suppose the Milkvan “field of grass scene” is real:
I highly suspect that it would be a reference to Star Wars given the multiple references per season. It could also be a nod to Little Women.
The thing is, I am not a Star Wars fan and I have no clue what this means or implies. But I want to put this out there because there would definitely be something there in choosing to parallel their relationship. Does anyone have insights?
Frankenstein is an obvious inspiration for the show, with both Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein referenced here.
There's the whole 'who is the real monster?' dilemma since the start of the show - the creator or the creature - which intensifies this season with Brenner's return and the introduction of Henry.
The Monster in the books is also referred to as the creature, the thing, the demon just like the show...you get the drift.
El watches Frankenstein on TV in season 2, they talk about Prometheus (the book is also called The Modern Prometheus) and create a literal monster from different body parts in season 3.
What's interesting is that the subsequent 1831 edition and movie adaptions made a number of changes from the original novel.
In the original novel, the scientist is Victor Frankenstein. Henry is his childhood best friend, and Elizabeth is a cousin that his parents adopt. His mother Caroline dreams of Victor and Elizabeth marrying one day, but then Caroline dies and Elizabeth becomes the 'mother' of the family. Victor is pretty reluctant to marry Elizabeth given that she's kind of his sister and mother too. He keeps delaying their marriage to create a bride for The Monster.
Not at all weird.
William is Victor's youngest brother, the darling of their family, who is murdered by The Monster. Elizabeth is also described in a similar way. On their wedding night, The Monster also kills Elizabeth.
In the 1931 Frankenstein movie, 'Victor' is changed to 'Henry' Frankenstein because the producers thought the name 'Victor' was too severe for the American audience. Elizabeth is no longer related to him, and she does not die in this movie...but Henry is presumed dead.
The Bride of Frankenstein starts with Mary Shelley the author talking about how she has more story to tell, before picking up the story again. Henry's body is found and he isn't dead. Henry and Elizabeth get married, an old scientist mentor gets The Monster to kidnap Elizabeth to force a reluctant Henry to make him a bride.
But in the end The Monster allows Henry and Elizabeth to leave but sacrifices himself and his bride in a burning castle.
Stranger Things has done this switching too - El is the girl, she's The Monster, but she also gets the Dr. Frankenstein plot, pulled back in by an old mentor.
A lot more to consider here, but all very interesting.
Steve/Dustin/Mike idealizing someone they THINK they love
so I finally got around to watching LSOH (the 1986 film dir. Frank Oz) for the first time today and like... is that you, audrey II?
"Maybe you should find something you care about, too."
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
4x01
"What about us?"
"What?"
4x02