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Bugs: Recent Topics Paging, Uploading Images & Preview (11 Dec 2020)

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× Talk abut Movies & TV here. Just tell us what you have been watching. Have hyper-academic discussions on visual semiotics. Whatever, it's all good.

Stranger Things

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16 Aug 2016 12:13 - 16 Aug 2016 12:13 #232142 by Not Sure
Replied by Not Sure on topic Stranger Things
Finished it last night as well (my wife insisted on a four-episode rush to the end).

I've gotta agree with almost everything above. Really well-executed, great casting. I don't have any trouble with Winona Ryder. She's got the unenviable position of being the scenery-chewer, and she's always acting against the quiet tough guy (Hopper, Jonathan, Lonnie, etc). So she's carrying the scene by being the only one talking. That's gonna be hard, when things start falling flat and the only place to go is "moar crazy-like". I'm with Jeb.

The kids were great, and the overall story was well-executed even through the predictable arcs.

And about Nancy:
Warning: Spoiler!
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 12:13 by Not Sure.

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16 Aug 2016 13:29 #232161 by jeb
Replied by jeb on topic Stranger Things
I want to call out a couple of things specifically. No spoilers, read away newcomers. Look at how these kids played. Riding a bike home at 10PM from a friend's house. No problem. Some bus junkyard the folks don't know about is the hangout spot. Fine. Parents not knowing what their kids are up to. It's just not like this anymore. This is, for good or ill, the most potent nostalgia for me. In summer, my single mother would not know where I was from, say 7 AM to maybe 9 PM unless she saw me come back to eat something. No fucking idea.* That was all over STRANGER THINGS. Adults and their children led very separate lives from about age seven.

As for feeling bad about the nostalgia--that's getting pretty post-modern. This show made me think the way I imagine my Dad felt when he watched STAND BY ME. It hits the notes of adolescent male youth of a certain time perfectly. Why complain about it? It's too understanding of how it was?


*Mom, I was shoplifting M.U.S.C.L.E. figurines from The Fair and then blowing them up with contraband firecrackers with Eric Holmes. He was a terrible influence on me.
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16 Aug 2016 13:45 - 16 Aug 2016 13:46 #232165 by JEM
Replied by JEM on topic Stranger Things
I liked the nostalgia, but felt manipulated by it. The "nods" looked more like lifts, and the homages started to look more like plagiarism.

I did enjoy it.

And yeah, my sister and I would ride our bikes to the top of the town, miles from home without any real worries. These days I read about parents being thrown in jail in the Land of the Free(tm) for letting their kids walk 1/2 mile alone from the park.
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 13:46 by JEM.
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16 Aug 2016 13:48 - 16 Aug 2016 14:27 #232166 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Stranger Things
During the 80s (aged 8-15) I was living in and around military bases overseas. I was in a foreign country that I didn't speak the language of, there were threats of terrorism against Americans frequently, and fear that the Russians might roll in.

Yet, my childhood was much like Jeb's. We were out all the time. We'd cross farmer fields (who, urban legend has it, would shoot you with a salt rifle if spotted) and hang out in the woods where a bunch of old WWII casings and boxes were found. We'd ride bikes off base onto the German economy to go swimming with no phones or way to be reached...nothing but a few deutsche marks in pocket. We'd sneak over to retired, restricted military buildings and hide around in the attics and cellars (it helped that some older teens stashed some stag mags there...) Sometimes we'd check in for dinner.

I currently live in a very safe neighborhood with a watchful, and maybe too busy, FB group. My kid rides his bike to a friend's house two blocks down the street and around the corner...my wife texts when he leaves...and the other mom texts back when he arrives.

:(
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 14:27 by Mr. White.
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16 Aug 2016 14:24 #232170 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Stranger Things
I also want to comment on the 'adults and kids living in separate worlds'.

It seems most fathers I know are looking for games or things to do with their kids. Kids are included in so many activities now. Heck, another dad has contacted me about running a Dreadball league for our boys.

My dad, love him, didn't do jack with us.

The trade off is, when I was a kid I discovered D&D and such on my own. We were finding our way and discovering the world. I don't think there's a game my kid has played that I wasn't already versed in. Here's Dungeon!, kid. Here's Heroscape, kid. Warhammer 40k starter boxes to get them into dad's hobby. Zelda? I played it. How many kids are really making discoveries on their own anymore...getting into something the parents know nothing about?

I can't think of anything.

Sad time to be a kid in some aspects.

But then again, maybe I'm hitting my 'old man' moments where I feel my generation had 'the best'. Likely. Still, I've been aware of this for awhile, so I've purposely not gotten into a Minecraft or a Terreria...solely so my son (daughter's interest coming soon, she's young) can have things that are 'his' and not all dad's. On the flip, he likes me to take part in it with him, but I totally let him take the lead on the discovery and knowledge.

Rambling I suppose, but yeah, Stranger Things...good stuff.
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16 Aug 2016 15:38 - 16 Aug 2016 16:03 #232182 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Stranger Things
So, if our parents had the freedom in Stand By Me and we had the freedom of Stranger Things...what the heck happened? Why aren't our kids having those same adventures?

This isn't on our parents or the kids, this is straight up our generation f'ing everything up...
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 16:03 by Mr. White.

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16 Aug 2016 16:05 #232184 by Colorcrayons
Replied by Colorcrayons on topic Stranger Things

Mr. White wrote: So, if our parents had the freedom in Stand By Me and we had the freedom of Stranger Things...what the heck happened? Why aren't our kids having those same adventures?

This isn't on our parents or the kids this is straight up our generation f'ing everything up...


Its the "thwup thwup thwup" of helicopter parenting that is expected of us all. In some ways good, because being involved with your kids isn't bad.
And in some ways bad, because it removes the growth of independence from children. Making them perpetual grown children fearing the bugaboos that nobody can protect them from, or be prepared to deal with... :/

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16 Aug 2016 16:14 - 16 Aug 2016 16:17 #232185 by Mr. White
Replied by Mr. White on topic Stranger Things
Right, but how did the helicopter parenting happen in the first place? Our parents didn't do it do us and their parents definitely didn't do it to them.

Both generations had movies, television, cold wars, etc. Our parents had the anti-authoritarianism of the 60s, we should have had the freedom and individualism embodied in punk, new wave, and rap. So, what was in the zeitgeist that made our generation decide to buck the trend and actually go with less freedoms for our kids?
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 16:17 by Mr. White.

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16 Aug 2016 16:37 - 16 Aug 2016 16:38 #232186 by Space Ghost
Replied by Space Ghost on topic Stranger Things
I think it was a generation of kids that felt abandoned and neglected too much by their parents. Who else was a latchkey kid?

This is compounded by the perception (right or wrong) that our grandparents (part of the greatest generation) were absent from their kids life do to selflessness and trying to give back to their family; whereas, the 60s really ushered in the selfishness we see in the Baby Boomer generation.
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 16:38 by Space Ghost.

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16 Aug 2016 16:40 #232187 by Gregarius
Replied by Gregarius on topic Stranger Things
My guess would be that it's a pendulum swing away from "latchkey kids." Single parents or working parents started to feel guilty for not being there for their children, so the next wave (not generation) started to overcompensate.

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16 Aug 2016 17:03 #232189 by Jarvis
Replied by Jarvis on topic Stranger Things
I think that's part of it, also 24 hour news always showing the worst that humans are capable of. Look how frequently news of missing/killed children show up and it's no wonder some people hold on too tight to their kids. And once a large enough group does that, it starts becoming the social norm.

I do miss that sense of freedom I had as a kid. I was in that group of be home by dinner/I'm going to play in the woods all by myself generation.
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16 Aug 2016 17:30 #232192 by mads b.
Replied by mads b. on topic Stranger Things
About Ryder. Let's not forget that she plays a role that is annoying. She is supposed to be the village loony as the series begin, and personally I was both charmed and annoyed by her performance. Or rather, by the role she performed. I think she did a great job.

Kinda hated the ending with the bug, though. It felt too much like your average horror-film ending. I would much rather that they'd kept it as an entirely done story. We could of course return to it and I wouldn't mind that, but putting in some foreshadowing feels a bit cheap, I think.

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16 Aug 2016 17:45 #232193 by Gary Sax
Replied by Gary Sax on topic Stranger Things

Jarvis wrote: I think that's part of it, also 24 hour news always showing the worst that humans are capable of. Look how frequently news of missing/killed children show up and it's no wonder some people hold on too tight to their kids. And once a large enough group does that, it starts becoming the social norm.

I do miss that sense of freedom I had as a kid. I was in that group of be home by dinner/I'm going to play in the woods all by myself generation.


Yeah, keep in mind that by any crime statistic or accident level we live in a considerably safer country than in the 1980s.

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16 Aug 2016 19:11 - 16 Aug 2016 19:17 #232198 by Not Sure
Replied by Not Sure on topic Stranger Things

Gary Sax wrote:

Jarvis wrote: I think that's part of it, also 24 hour news always showing the worst that humans are capable of. Look how frequently news of missing/killed children show up and it's no wonder some people hold on too tight to their kids. And once a large enough group does that, it starts becoming the social norm.

I do miss that sense of freedom I had as a kid. I was in that group of be home by dinner/I'm going to play in the woods all by myself generation.


Yeah, keep in mind that by any crime statistic or accident level we live in a considerably safer country than in the 1980s.


Definitely. But Jarvis nails it about the 24-hour news cycle. The perception is that we're all living in a horror movie. It panics the shit out of people (including my wife). I'm not even immune to it, I'm way more aware of what my kids are doing than my parents ever were.

I think it's self-reinforcing as well. My kids aren't out roaming the neighborhood (sometimes I threaten to make them...) and the biggest reason for that is there's nobody out there. It's not like when we were kids, and you'd just go find out who's at the park. Everyone is watching their kids, and socializing is a planned activity.


I think we feel about Stranger things like our parents felt about the parenting in the early episodes of Mad Men. I laughed my ass off when the Sally(?) came in wearing a dry-cleaning bag over their head and saying "I'm a spaceman!", and the response was "you better not have wrinkled those clothes!". Or the picnic episode where they just throw all the chicken bones and Coke cans on the ground, pick up their blanket and leave.
Last edit: 16 Aug 2016 19:17 by Not Sure.
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16 Aug 2016 19:56 #232202 by mutagen
Replied by mutagen on topic Stranger Things

I think it's self-reinforcing as well. My kids aren't out roaming the neighborhood (sometimes I threaten to make them...) and the biggest reason for that is there's nobody out there. It's not like when we were kids, and you'd just go find out who's at the park. Everyone is watching their kids, and socializing is a planned activity.


Whenever I throw my kids out, they are back in 15 minutes because it really is a ghost town out there. Nobody wants to play by themselves in some sad little park. I have some really good memories of roaming the neighborhood and playing tag with the local hooligans. I think all my kids will remember is Minecraft. How depressing is that?

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