Monday, August 29, 2016

Stranger Things and learning how to make the old seem new again

OMG WTF WHAT WAS THAT?? Unless you've been living under a walk you've seen something about this show call Stranger Things. I saw the ads but was all huh, it seemed familiar and I kept thinking Stephen King. So I'm at the gym with my overpriced five inch screen phone trying to watch and I almost pull a Taylor Swift on the treadmill. Okay I'm not going to watch on my cell phone. This past Christmas I bought my dad one of those Smart TVs cuz they don't do cable either. I had mentioned Stranger Things before and my dad was cranky. After almost losing my life on the treadmill my dad owed me. 

So sneakily I started it before he could object. Again even as I waited in jumping anticipation mind was screaming STEPHEN KING, the little girl, the creepy world, and kids. Yet it also reminded me of the 80's Stephen King so I'm thinking someone took one of his lesser known books and did it for Netflix. I'm actually looking up Stephen King's wiki page to confirm my thought. Then it started and I didn't pick up cell phone the entire time I watched the show. ALL. EIGHT. EPISODES.

Because I watched it with my family and they were wimps not up for binge watching we planned two episodes a night. It's one of those shows if you miss five seconds you could miss the most important thing ever. Yes, yes, I'm not the only one in love with this show for too many reasons to list. I grew up in the eighties and I saw almost all the connections, Goonies, ET, Firestarter, more than I had watched cuz I was a kid in the eighties. And I have to tell you when that van flies over the kids I was just as in awe as when the kids' bikes started flying. 

Eight short episodes wasn't nearly enough and I caught myself watching one of those videos that talked about it-but not those explaining ones I hate those ones. What I saw as I watched was him make those connections and more that I hadn't seen one after another. In seeing those things one after another that had been done before yet still seemed new, exciting, and unlike anything I had ever seen. Even though in bits and pieces I had. 

I cannot stand to watch a show and know what will happen next and it's even more annoying when I know the dialogue. It happens alot, a whole hell of a lot and even more so when I read (I have a small circle of writers I like.) Out of all the books I've read and movies and television I've watched. There was only once that I knew what was coming in Stranger Things

And this, boys and girls is what writers have to do every time we start writing a story. Especially romance, boy meets girl some kind of something keeps them from living happily ever after until it all gets sorted and they do end up happily ever after. This is one of the most important reasons to read other stories and see the way they couldn't quite get it done. 

If you can and are able to make a brand new story that no one has ever heard or read of before but that's damn hard. The story doesn't have to be new, all the stories have already been told before. But you can make it new and different from others by bringing your style or giving it your own spin or quirk. You just have to be the one to write it. 

4 comments:

  1. OMG! I binge watched that show in one night. Then I went through withdrawals because it just ends and I have so many questions and concerns. Is everybody really okay? What happens next? I wanted the Sheriff to end up dating the missing boy's mother. LOL. It was a great show and this is a great post. Sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. This will be my next binge addiction. I'm in Season 4 of Vikings and I'm obsessed with The Night Of right now. Thanks for letting us know how exciting Stranger Things is!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I guess I need to add something to my list! But I just don't watch anything. No time!

    ReplyDelete