Stranger Things, It, and Imagination

            I just saw on twitter a question about Eleven, the psychic little girl on “Stranger Things”.  (MILD SPOILERS are ahead).  The question was, “Why do Eleven's (and Eight's) nosebleeds always start with the left nostril?  This has never made sense.”  (Generally speaking, you should still follow Beth Elderkin on twitter, I come off super condescending to her question in this blog, but she writes articles that are frequently good).

 

I picked this image because it is one of my favorite parts of season 1.

            Now, before I get to answering the question I am going to spell out something important.  This is the sort of detail that DOES NOT MATTER.  It is a visual signifier that has no actual narrative impact beyond telling you, the audience, that a character is doing a thing.  It is no different than Superman’s eyes glowing a different color when he uses his X-Ray vision.  Why that color?  The color doesn’t matter, it is just there to tell you what is happening.

            I would also like to point out that I have not seen the second season of “Stranger Things” yet, I am still watching “Mindhunters” and have a life.  Maybe don’t put things like “… (and Eight’s) …” in your Twitter.  The show has been out a week, that is a spoiler.

            With those two things in mind here is what I am going to teach my readers something the education system should have tried to teach you when you were in school.  I am going to try to teach you to use your imagination.

"Hahahhahahahaha...."

            As far as I know (again haven’t seen season 2) they do not discuss in any detail several things about Eleven’s time in the government facility that gave her the psychic abilities.  Aside from big tanks of liquid, a shaved head, dull looking underground facilities, and Matthew Modine looking somehow both detached and invested the nature of Eleven’s time at the government facility remains somewhat mysterious to the audience.

            The audience also does not get an explanation about how Eleven’s powers work.  Sure, “PSYCHIC” is what Eleven is, but her brain chemistry, whether there are implants in her skull, or if it is magic is never explained.  The source and functional mechanism are unknown.

            Since we the audience have no answers as to what went on in the facility or how Eleven’s powers work we are free to imagine our own scenario for what went down.

            Here is how you use your imaginations kids.  Start with the question, “Why do the psychic characters always bleed from the same nostril when using their powers?”  Now, make up an answer to that.  I came up with two in the half second it took me to read that tweet.

            Answer 1, “Eleven’s powers manifest because of a tumor that rests on the front of her brain, it pushes on her nasal cavity and causes bleeding when she uses her abilities.”  This one comes from my experience with a previous movie about a psychic, “Phenomenon” starring John Travolta.  It is an imperfect comparison because that movie also had the brain cancer make him super charismatic in addition to his super intellect and telekinesis.

            Answer 2, “The facility would regularly do noninvasive brain surgery on Eleven to monitor her abilities and health.  To do this they went in thru her left nostril and it is now a constantly reopening scar.”  This one is not inspired by any other movie, book, or what have you.  But Answer 2 definitely fits with the tone of the show and makes more sense with less explanation.  Also, the idea that her powers would have drawn no blood if not for the facility has a poetic symbolism to it.

 

Or maybe her Indigo Chakra is out of alignment.
Pick your poison.

            This whole thing is perhaps moot.  The Duffer brothers may have a great idea for how to wrap this question up and just haven’t dropped it on the audience yet.  Like fan explanations for the origin of the Borg, what really happened to Ichabod Crane, and why kids like the taste of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (actually that last one has a canon answer), when things go unanswered the audience is free to make up their own solution.

            In fact, offering your own answer to what, how, and why is often the most fun aspect of being an audience member.  When official products and productions start filling in the gaps and removing that participatory element, that is when much of a work’s mystique is lost (see all prequel movies of “Star Wars”).  That is why I am generally down on prequels, side-quels, and other books or mini-series that seek to show “what really happened” or “mystery revealed”.

            Asking questions of simple things that do not affect the plot can be a creative exercise that kicks off a whole chain of strange and interesting ideas.

  

This is from "Sandman" #40.  A comic that deals with the nature and value of mysteries.

             Here is another one I have seen a lot of that I am not going to bother finding a specific instance of, “Why is the killer “IT” clown not just killing the kids?  He is a cosmic monster and he is taken out by a bunch of kids?  Lame.”

            Let’s answer those questions.  Honestly, this one is super easy for me, Pennywise the cosmic monster is just not as powerful as he claims to be.  He is perhaps some grade C- cosmic asshole who picks on kids because that is all he thinks he can handle.  He is physically weaker, dumber, and far more vulnerable than he leads people to believe.  He very much needs a long wind up before each pitch because he does suck.

            The only thing calling Pennywise the “worst thing ever” is Pennywise (and in the book, there is a cosmic turtle, which I am partial to the interpretation that thing might also be a big liar about how important it is).  You are under no obligation to believe the trickster spirit when he says, “Look, I am so totally bad ass you guys, for reals, yo.”  The monster is under no obligation to tell the truth, and if his actions indicate limitations then you should conclude that there are limitations.

 

I mean, would this face lie to you?

            I cannot stress this enough: Don’t point to elements like this and say it is stupid or lame.  Again, none of this really matters, and if you find yourself disliking these sorts of fine details I think you are actually disliking something deeper and finer that you can’t put your finger on and shifting the blame to unimportant but easy to identify things.  Don’t look for things to dislike, instead look for why you dislike something.

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