Sociosomnia: Stranger Things 4 (Netflix) 🧢

There are so many symbols and archetypes here I can only just scratch the surface. Some are obvious: There's a monster that attacks people with the most emotional pain, whose victims can escape by staying present to the truth of their loving friendships and memories of good times together (It's a pretty on-the-nose metaphor for how the past pain and survival habits create monsters that destroy our lives if we forget to stay present with all the triumph in our lives). There's a hero who loses her ability to perform miracles (a less obvious symbol I take to mean changes in perception, from judgement to loving innocence) because of over-exhaustion, and must face her disassociated memories full of guilt to get them back (again, pretty on the nose for shifting from judgement to love)—only to find out that she's not as guilty as she thought (which is almost always true when we revisit the sins of our past).

Viewers beware, it's still a horror series, so there's death and a lot of gore. But the heart of Stranger Things is always love in a variety of forms—friendship, family, romance. Love believably motivates many of the characters and helps them work together to get through dark times, just like it does for us.

With love, Jordan