It’s a bit of both. As noted D&D plays a big part of it, the kids are basically 80s nerds as it were. Stranger Things plays with nostalgia much more deftly than Ready Player One. It’s does so primarily in two ways, first by being a period piece set in the 80s we get a lot 80s visuals, songs, and references that fit naturally into the narrative. The other way it does this is via scene composition, where many scenes are filmed in a way to be evocative of a scene from a Sci-Fi/Horror film from that time, but by the nature of the medium here they are never called out, a scene may evoke E.T. but it’s up to the viewer to make that connection, as opposed to the pronounced way it is in RPO where the references are frequently called out by name, the bit about Firefly (not even an 80s show) being an egregious example “the Vonnegut was a heavily modified Firefly-class transport vessel, modeled after the Serenity in the classic Firefly TV series.” Cline could have just stopped after calling it a Firefly-Class transport, but he goes on to make absolutely sure we all get the reference, and this is something he does throughout the book.
Some of “the classics” are completely pleasurable to read. The prose alone is enough to make the act of reading it pleasurable, beyond any enjoyment that may come from the plot, dialogue or ideas that are also present. Like any artform, it is extremely subjective, and while I love Willa Cather’s prose, my wife found it it nigh unreadable. We both love Steinbeck, although it definitely isn’t always “fun” to experience his stories.
Geez this movie isn’t coming out until March 2018? I thought it was a holiday release this year or something.
I’ve long realized that I have a problem identifying bad acting in movies and TV shows. When I see bad acting I tend to “Oh, I guess that character is kind of dull or has an anxiety disorder”. I just realized that the same thing happened when reading the book. All the parts like the quoted section came across to me as the narrator being a bit boastful and repetitive.
I wonder if in a few years they will be able to scan my brain and explain this for me: “Ah a small lesion in the K294 area! Don’t be a movie reviewer!”
I’m digging the look of this. I haven’t read the book, but after seeing the trailer, it’s certainly now on my list.
Just hope that Spielberg delivers with this, because it looks like it has potential. Shame that there’s quite a wait, though!
New poster is getting mocked pretty hard across the internet, those body proportions.
Hey, with all the vertical architecture and the repetitive act of climbing ladders, maybe people evolved legs that are twice as long as their bodies!
The perspective is all off, you can see the ladder crossbars are further apart also. Which would be fine if it was in a VR fantasyscape but this is clearly supposed to be in the real world. Wonder how that slipped through?
What in the actual fuck.
Here’s the new trailer:
You really feel the lack of fantasy/scifi culture references in that trailer. Where are the tie fighters, where’s He-man, etc? It’s supposed to be a paean to 80s/90s nerd subculture. It should be jam-packed with that shit, so much so that you blink and you miss Sloth from The Goonies breakdancing with Count Chocula in the background. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a great example of this sort of thing.
Could still be a fun movie, but they’re missing the soul of the book.
Eh it’s loaded with references, maybe not the 80s nerd stuff like the book though. Trailer has Iron Giant, Tracer, Lara Croft, King Kong, Battletoads, Chun Li, a Gundam, Chucky, etc.
Also, I’d argue the book was soulless anyways, but at this point I think my distaste of it is well documented.
Tracer from Overwatch, sold!
…Not.
And even funnier, it’s a Battleborn character around that scene too.
Well that is an extra-obscure reference to be sure.
I assume that in the future of the story there will be edgy losers that will choose to be the most obscure and lame characters possible just to prove their Oasis-peen.
As an 80’s nerd (Vic-20 on) and some time MMO player I really enjoyed the book.
I’ve heard worrying rumours that they have has issues with the rights which seems to be born out by the trailer.
Stilll…Speilberg…
Oh boy, that does not look good.
I wonder (don’t spoil me, just in case) if the story is exactly as boringly straight forward as the trailer shows, or there is some kind of twist, like the founder of Oasis is still alive, the golden egg has a secret, there are aliens, or something.
Major twists! Think George RR Martin meets the Empire Strikes Back!
Nah. It looks fine and adapts the source material to encompass a wider era of retro nostalgia and replace bits that wouldn’t work on screen with other bits.