80s Film Research Homework

The Duffer Brothers created Stranger Things as a homage to 1980s films.

ET

The intertexuality in Stranger Things to ET is the  bike chasing scene. In ET, the most iconic scene is when the young children use their bikes to get away from the police. The police are trying to get ET back from the kids, and the kids are trying to get ET back to his spaceship. In Stranger Things, the young children are also trying to get away from the evil people who are trying to get Eleven. Mike and his friends have been hiding Eleven and keeping her safe from the scientist, and when they find out she is with them, they must get her to safety. The camera shots are mid shots with a mix of close ups.

Also, in ET, the kids find a stranger creature, something they do not understand what it is. Similarly, in Stranger Things, the young boys find Eleven and have no idea who she is or anything about her. But in both films, they take them in and form a relationship. The camera shots are both mod shot.

Alien

In Alien, the scientists are all dressed up in hazmat suits when to go exploring. Stranger Things replicates this when they go looking in the lab. Both places are dark and gloomy and therefore  the scientists use lights and the settings are in the labs too.The shots are long shot too. 

Another similarity between the two, is the scene when the humans are being possessed by the supernatural thing. In Alien, it is wrapped around his head in a hospital-like room with scientists around him, but in Stranger Things Will is being held with the thing in his mouth and around him. 

The Goonies

In The Goonies, the group of young boys have some roles that also are the same as the Stranger Things boys. For example, the leader is Mikey and there is the goofy one who is called Chunk. In Stranger Things, the leader is Mike and the goofy one is Dustin, both roles have similar thinking abilities and characteristics as The Goonies.