Stranger Things

Warning: Do not read if you have not watched all available episodes of “Stranger Things” as there are spoilers included in this essay.

There is a common theme that runs throughout the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” It isn’t the monsters or good vs. evil or even the power of friendship. It is the story of fathers and daughters, more specifically Eleven and those that take a father role in her life.

The most obvious is Papa. This is the doctor who raised her since birth. He saw she was special in her abilities and groomed her from a very young age. We see Papa at her birth in fact as the doctor who helped deliver her. He is also the man who keeps Eleven’s mother from her. We learn that he is the one that used electroshock to scramble Eleven’s mother’s mind so she would have no memories of her daughter Jane and thus let her go to be entirely under Papa’s control.

We see the classic love/hate relationship of a daughter growing up and trying to break free of her parent in order to find her own way and discover her place in the world. However, due to Eleven’s unique life as a child and special set of skills, this proves more difficult for her. She rebels, runs away and is brought back home. She tries to run again later but Papa reminds her what the world is like for her and she remains in the underground bunker and continues the Nina project.

Finally, when the Army invades Papa and Eleven are forced to flee together. He carries her in his arms as he would a small child. Then, shot and dying in the desert sand, Papa sees Eleven’s friends arrive to help and protect her. He sees that she can manage on her own in the outside world and he pushes the button on her collar. He has released his hold and control on her and finally let his little girl be her own person.

Then there is Hopper. Hopper aids Eleven after everyone else believes she has died. He sets up a strict set of rules, curfews and punishments. He is after all dealing with a rebellious teenager. Where Papa had her childhood, Hopper gets to deal with puberty. A single father with a teenage daughter and all that entails.

When she breaks the rules and is punished by the loss of television and grounding, she rebels and again runs away but this time she runs to find her sister Eight. She sees a larger part of the world than just Hawkins. She learns of good and evil and that family is not always blood. She returns to her family in Hawkins a little wiser, more mature and to the delight of her friends who learn she is alive.

She makes a new best friend in Max and gets her first kiss from Mike. Hopper then has to deal with a teenage daughter with a boyfriend. It is as difficult for him as it is for her at times. But like many girls, her dad is her hero as she shows when she makes her visual aid for school.

Eleven saves everyone again, loses her powers, regains her powers, loses Hopper, regains Hopper and grows up some more.

Then we have her third father figure (and a lot of theory here on my part) - Henry/Vecna/01.

Henry works in Hawkins lab as an attendant. He has been there for some time. As we learn his back story, we learn that as a young child he discovered his powers but chose to use them for evil instead of good by murdering his mother and sister and having his father convicted of the crime. He ends up in the care of a doctor – Papa. and is assigned the label 01.

But Henry proves more than Papa can manage and so he is implanted with a control chip. He grows up in the lab, sees other children come in and watches Papa. By the time we meet Eleven in the 80s, Henry has grown into a man and has apparently lived there since the 50s.

Eleven’s mother comes to the lab to participate in experiments. It is during these visits she very well could have met Henry. A relationship ensues, she becomes pregnant. Papa realizes that the baby is Henry’s and whisks it away after she is born.

Henry knows she is his daughter and that is why he treats her special. He teaches and advises her on how to strengthen and manage her powers. Papa watches their bond growing with veiled jealousy and a bit of pride that his two star pupils have connected. He also knows that since Eleven has inherited Henry’s powers as well as developed her own, she is the strongest of all the children and shows her special treatment.

When Eleven releases Henry from his control chip, she sees what he is capable of and that he does not use his powers to help people. After banishing him to the Upside Down, Eleven uses her powers for good and helping those she cares about. She does remember what he taught her and uses the pipe to escape Hawkins Lab at a later date. By this time, she has been the sole project for Papa and he has groomed her into his ideal project.

Papa has Eleven open the gate in order to look for Henry. Henry sends various bad things into this world from the Upside Down in order to find Eleven. Hopper stands in the way of both in order to protect his adopted daughter. Eleven can save the world but has to lose fathers in the process. When a girl loses her father she loses a great influence but also finds she can stand alone in the world, so long as she has friends.