Something's coming.
Something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you swallowing you into darkness.
What is it?
Boom, boom.
BOOM!
Fire Ball him Will!
BOOM!
We're in deep s**t!
*Wink*
Hello Internet welcome to Film Theory where every week we talk about strange things, but today
We're going above and beyond and talking about Stranger Things and just you wait because next year
I'm gonna go create my own show named strangest things and one up 'em all what you
gonna do to beat that Netflix, create
Strangestest Things?
I don't think so.
But in all seriousness Netflix's smash hit from last year is back for season 2 starting tomorrow.
And based on how quickly people binge watch these shows,
I've got like 30 hours before this theory either gets proven a hundred percent or gets itself completely debunked.
So enjoy the video now then come back this weekend and laugh along with the comments and my abject humiliation.
At being oh so very wrong. Now for those of you who missed season 1 because you only watch YouTube, firstly,
Thank you for giving me a job,
but secondly let me catch up on everything you need to know to understand today's theory. Stranger Things takes place in the small town of
Hawkins Indiana way back in the 80's.
It's the story of a bunch of young outcasts who find themselves another even more misunderstood outcast,
And they all embark on a crazy adventure together.
Uh no not that one, but I do understand the confusion
but I do understand the confusion. You see in Stranger Things, the Hawkins National Laboratory is actually a front organization for the CIA's project MK ULTRA.
A very real and very bizarre government initiative that drugged people in an attempt to develop
mind-control techniques for use in the Cold War. Sounds like a stupid plan right? And tremendously inhumane.
But, in the show it actually works on a young girl named Test Subject 11 who acquires some
swell psychic abilities in the process. Now, as you can imagine being kidnapped as a child been tortured for use as a government tool
kinda sucks and Test Subject 11 escapes at the first chance
she gets. Bad news there for the CIA worse news there for everyone else,
there's a bloodthirsty monster on the loose.
You see the MKULTRA
experiments may just have also created a portal to an alternate dimension earth called the Upside Down
where everything is basically the same only dead, darker, and with a ton of allergens
floating around in the air. So looking for some better air quality or just an Allegra, a monster called the Demogorgon escapes through the
portal and goes on a killing spree throughout Hawkins, until 11 along with her
D&D buddies, traps it in the town middle school and destroys it, and perhaps herself, using her mind powers.
#SMALLTOWNPROBLEM. So that's the basic gist of season 1
But shortly after its release, one fan theory gained a whole lot of popularity, that
11 and the monstrous Demogorgon
are one in the same
IE. That just like the same buildings and locations exist in the Upside Down as they do in the real world maybe people have
equivalents in the Upside Down as well and that the Demogorgon is the Upside Down version of El (11).
It was a good theory with some decent evidence at the time,
But it wasn't a hundred percent convincing. So with the new season on the horizon,
I went in and I did a bunch of digging myself to see what else I could find and ho ho boy
I think you're gonna be surprised! So that's the plan for today: review the existing evidence
suggesting the connection, as well as the additional hints, clues and, science
I've been able to find, that support the idea, then cover the huge hint that exists in the season two
trailers, and what started as an interesting idea becomes a convincing theory by the end of the day. So grab your favorite
breakfast snack of choice and let's begin.
Hey! Except for that one. Leggo my Eggo! First, the existing evidence. The theme of duality is
everywhere in Stranger Things, I mean look no further than the Upside Down itself,
it's a dark version of earth where everything has a mirror image.
That's pretty darn obvious. Then there's the episode one reference to X-MEN comic number 134
"I'll take your X-MEN 1-3- 4!"
A.k.a the start of the Dark Phoenix saga, in which Jean Grey
a powerful psychic mutant, becomes an even more powerful and to be known as the Phoenix.
The story goes that Jean eventually develops an evil alter ego known as the Dark Phoenix,
becoming a super-powered villain that the X-MEN must unite to defeat.
At the end of the series Jean Grey
sacrifices herself to save her friends
Huh. It's an interesting choice of comic, considering that 11, a psychic, might just have an evil counterpart that she too
sacrifices herself to defeat, in order to save her friends. Parallels?
I think so. Even the choice of calling this Mario piranha plant reject monster
the name Demogorgon supports this theory. As we see in the opening minutes of episode 1, the Demogorgon is an actual monster
from the real-life game of Dungeons and Dragons. For those who don't know, since its first appearance back in
1976 the Demogorgon and has remained one of D&D's most iconic monsters, and although a few things about it have changed over the years,
a few design features have always stayed consistent. Specifically, the monster's two heads, sharing one body. One head represents
deception and lies, and the other is madness and insanity.
They are themselves a duality, it's also canon according to Dungeons & Dragons
3rd edition, that both heads are secretly out to destroy each other so you have two connected heads that are trying to destroy each other
Sounds kind of like El and the monster two
Connected entities that are trying to kill one another even the themes of the two heads connect to these characters. EL would be associated with
Deceptions and lies because she's a product of a government cover-up. She was kidnapped
She was used the monster meanwhile seems to lack all rational thought
It's drawn like an animal to the scent of blood it kills indiscriminately
It's an entity of madness that lashes out and everything including Eleven's creator dr.
Brenner which by the way is an interesting scene that to my knowledge no one has picked apart yet when the monster appears at the
school at the climax of the show it doesn't go after the people who are
Literally shooting at it with automatic machine guns it makes a beeline straight for dr.
Brenner. Eleven so called a father who spent his life torturing her as a part of MKULTRA
Up until this point in the show the monster had been attacking anything and everything with abandoned
So why here is it selecting its target, and why specifically Brenner? It only makes sense if Eleven is the
Demagorgon embodying her madness her rage. That's how the monster knows him it has a personal connection to him through El
It kills him because that's what El would love to do to Brenner
But perhaps most blatantly of all are the parallels that happen in the final moments of the season first the Demagorgon raises its hand
Just as El finishes him off El raises her right arm and the monster for no reason does the same right before it
Disappears they are literally mirroring each other and when the monster disappears
So does 11, 11 even says that she is the monster "I'm the monster" coincidence?
obviously not
Oh, yeah
And all of this is without me even mentioning the fact that El is the reason the monster comes to Hawkins to begin with she
Comes into contact with him during one of her telepathy sessions
Which is what opens the rift the Demagorgon escapes through if that doesn't seal it for you. I don't know what will actually yes
I do because I have even more
Evidence to throw into this pile one element most recaps of this theory overlooked is how 11 and this Pan's Labyrinth?
Wannabe share the exact same power set and I say the exact same powers
I mean the exact same
Powers we see multiple times near the end of the season that one of 11s powers is to access the upside down from the real
World without crossing over she uses this ability most frequently to speak with the missing boy Will Byers the monster is
Also able to do this either
Fully or partially crossing over whenever and wherever it feels like even in the original planning phases for the series
It was clear that 11 and the monster were meant to be parallels of each other in the original pilot
script people would bleed from their nose and ears when in contact with the Demagorgon similar to how 11 bleeds from her nose and
sometimes her ears when using her
telekinetic powers even
science supports the connection between the two characters throughout season 1 we see that when 11 has to push her powers to their limits like
when attempting psychic communication between worlds the electricity of the
Surrounding area flickers, or just goes completely out
It's the exact same effect that the Demagorgon has on electricity whenever he's close and surrounded by electric lights
It always causes everything to flicker this electric potential is also something we see come across in the interdimensional
Phone calls that happen in the series Will's mother Joyce repeatedly gets phone calls from her son in the upside down
Calls that get cut off when the monsters near and the calls always end with an electrical shock again showing his electric
Potential convinced no come on. I mean at this point even the characters think she's the monster
Did you ever stop to think that maybe? She's the monster fine fine be a stickler then the biggest clue that?
absolutely proves the connection between 11
And the monster is something that we've all known about since the very first episode of the series and something that has been very
Consciously reinforced in the season two trailers in the beginning of episode 1 the monster shows that it's able to unlock wills door
Telepathically look at how the director frames the shot and shows the monster clearly
To slide the door line and throughout season one we see how El's able to perform similar
telekinetic tricks like making the Millennium Falcon float flipping a car and
Opposite of the monster locking a door so that already shows that both she and the monster possess telekinesis
But I think the creators of the show are hinting at a little bit more than that
here's the key moment in the season 2 trailer I'm referring to we see 11 running through the woods before getting a close-up of a
Sliding door lock just like the one we saw at the very beginning of season 1 and just like before it slowly slides until it
Unlocks but this time we're assuming it's being done by El because it's the middle of the day
And we just saw her running
The show is giving us a direct parallel between the actions of the monster and the actions of El
Which means either the monster isn't dead or at this point El is the monster?
You've got to be convinced right that names the powers the parallel scenes the pop-culture
references even the science everything points to them being one in the same and that has
Huge implications for the story remember like the lore of the Demagorgon as long as one head exists the other
Remains locked in this eternal struggle to destroy each other and as we can see El is
Certainly a part of this season which means we may not be done with the Demagorgon and won't be until El chooses to sacrifice
Herself this time for good or alternatively
She's just the monster now could definitely be that or option 3 the new season has literally nothing to do with any of this
That's probably the one it'll end up being but hey
Oh wait
Even the number 11 reads the same forwards and backwards right side up and upside down boom
done Mike dropped, but hey, that's just a theory a film theory and
cut want some more stranger things or maybe just more of me being a goofball well in either case you're in luck because I'm hosting a
new show in partnership with amazon firetv called
Where I get you up to speed on all the must watch
Biggest shows that are streaming and less time than it takes to toast your Eggo waffles so far
I've covered transparent Curb Your Enthusiasm and of course
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Which I've done a theory about here on the channel so if you want to know what's worth watching or just want to get caught
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Then check out couch land on Amazon fire TV channel link is in the description or better yet
Just click the annotation you see on screen right about now
Or in a few seconds for now they can only appear with 20 seconds left on the video each episode is like three minutes long
So go over there and tell a matpat sent you seriously
Please do it will make me look
Really good to Amazon if you just flood their comments section with how excited you are to have more matpat in your life in fact
You can even do this go over there and comment Matt Pat is so blank
I want to blank obviously you replace the blanks with funny words
Or don't whatever now go watch stream and enjoy and now if you'll excuse me
I need to keep refreshing Netflix
So I can just marathon my way through season 2 see you on the flip side, or should I say the upside down
side
Whatever just click, and I'll see you next week