Wisecrack: How Stranger Things Cleverly Teaches Us About The Importance Of Being A Kid

Stranger Things 2 comes out tomorrow, and everyone’s excited to return to the town of Hawkins and follow the story of Eleven and the boys. Wisecrack on Youtube has come up with this interesting analysis of the show and talks about why it resonates so well with kids even if they didn’t grow up in the 80s.

Check it out:

The cool thing about Stranger Things is that, it has this running theme that teaches us the importance of being a kid. Usually when we see movies with child prodigies, they usually act smarter and act more adult-like. With Stranger Things, however, the show fully embraces the imagination of a child, and the protagonists win the day specifically because they’re children.

Because Mike and the boys are so deep into fantasy, they easily grasp the concept of the Upside-Down and are closer than the other adults when it comes to finding Will. Grace Byers, who is an adult, has a hard time trying to explain Will’s situation with other adults because the concept is just too farfetched for them.

There’s also this cool symbolism where toys are used to help characters progress in the story. Mike and the others find the portal because of their toy compasses and Eleven perfectly explains the Upside-Down to them thanks to their D&D campaign board. Grace also uses a makeshift Ouija Board to contact Will, and Jonathan and Nancy face-off with the Demogorgon by basically pulling off a Home Alone.

The video really got me pumped for season two, and now I’m curious if the show is going to continue with this fun theory of the importance of being a kid.

Stranger Things 2 comes out Oct. 27.

See Also: Stranger Things Getting An Aftershow On Netflix Hosted By Community’s Jim Rash