The Big Picture
- Stranger Things draws heavily from Steven Spielberg’s filmography, particularly Super 8, in its throwback storytelling and homage to 80s adventure and family films.
- Super 8, produced by Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams, tells the story of a group of kids who witness a train crash and discover an extraterrestrial creature. It balances original storytelling with Spielberg themes and homages.
- Both Super 8 and Stranger Things center around groups of preteens going on misadventures, emphasizing the strength of their young cast members. The emotional performances ground the fantastical elements, setting them apart from imitators of Spielberg’s style.
Netflix has had plenty of hits during its tenure, but one stands out above the pack: Stranger Things. The sci-fi drama from Matt and Ross Duffer has barreled into pop culture like a freight train, inspiring everything from haunted houses to a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. (That is not a joke. That is an actual comic that’s being published.) Part of that lies in the way Stranger Things wears its influences on its sleeve; everything from Dungeons & Dragons to 80s horror films is woven into the show’s DNA. But the biggest influence has to be Steven Spielberg. It’s Spielberg’s filmography that helped shape the DNA of Stranger Things, whether it’s films he’s directed or just produced; its cast of young characters pay homage to The Goonies, while the supernatural happenings are a spiritual successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The Duffer Brothers have singled out one Spielberg film in particular that was a major influence on Stranger Things, and that happens to be Super 8. The Duffers touched upon how much of an influence Super 8 was in their creative process when they were guests on the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“We wanted to bring back that more not ironic, sincere, adventure, family storytelling that just seemed to have gone [away] – with the exception of ‘Super 8’, nobody was doing [it]. And ‘Super 8’ was kind of a one-off. I loved ‘Super 8’ but then it was just gone. No one else did it. And I do think there was an appetite – or that’s what I hoped – for this type of storytelling, so that really more than anything is what it is, is trying to stay in that zone.”
What Is ‘Super 8’ About, and How Does It Pay Homage to Spielberg?
Produced by Spielberg and directed by J.J. Abrams, Super 8 follows Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) as he works on making a homemade zombie film with his friends. Keeping in touch with the title, their film is shot entirely on a Super 8 camera. Things go sideways when the kids witness a train crash, and a series of strange events leads them to discover that the train was containing a massive extraterrestrial creature. The alien seeks to escape Earth, and it wants the kids’ help — leading them on a journey to evade the military, who has come to re-capture or kill the creature. They also want to finish their dang film!
Abrams manages an intense balancing act with Super 8: not only does he manage to craft an original story with Super 8, but he also pays homage to Spielberg throughout the film. Once again Close Encounters serves as a major influence; the film even ends with the alien’s craft rising into the sky as the human characters look on in awe. But Abrams doesn’t just limit his homages to Spielberg’s films — he also pulls themes from Spielberg’s works. Chief among them is the idea of a family broken by grief, as Joe struggles to connect with his father (Kyle Chandler) after his mother dies. Joe also starts developing feelings for one of his friends Alice (Elle Fanning), which comes with its own set of complications as his father blames her father for Joe’s mother’s death.
How ‘Super 8’ Influenced ‘Stranger Things’
The Duffers brought their own sense of throwback storytelling to Stranger Things, while also drawing from Super 8. Both projects share one major thing in common: they revolve around the misadventures of a group of preteens, and the major strength of their stories lies with the younger cast members. In Super 8, Joe finds common ground with his friends Charles (Riley Griffiths), Cary (Ryan Lee) and Martin (Gabriel Basso); their film is a way for them to forget their troubles. When the alien takes Alice, Joe and his friends come up with an unorthodox plan to free her.
Likewise, Stranger Things revolves around the friendship between Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) and his friends Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and Mike (Finn Wolfhard). They play Dungeons and Dragons, trade X-Men comic books, and dress up as the Ghostbusters for Halloween. When Will mysteriously disappears, his friends learn about the dimension known as the Upside Down and meet a mysterious psychic girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown). In the same way that Super 8‘s alien is misunderstood, Eleven is revealed to have a dark past as Stranger Things unfolds.The effort the young actors put into their performances helps ground the more fantastic elements of the story in human emotion, and makes both Super 8 and Stranger Things stand head and shoulders above the rest of the projects that seek to ape Spielberg’s touch.
‘Super 8’ and ‘Stranger Things’ Opened Doors for Their Creators
As Stranger Things heads into its fifth and final season (depending on the outcome of the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes), the Duffer Brothers have plans to expand beyond the franchise with future projects under their Upside Down Pictures label, including their own take on the popular Death Note manga as well as an animated series set in the world of Stranger Things. This mirrors the path that Abrams took after Super 8; even though he directed the Star Trek reboot prior to helming Super 8, its success led to other major projects. Chief among them was Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which reinvigorated the Star Wars franchise following Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm. He also served as a producer on hit TV shows including Westworld and Lovecraft Country.
Abrams and the Duffer Brothers are yet another example of creators who managed to build an entire empire off of original projects, while also using the works of Steven Spielberg as influence for said projects. Although audiences may remember Abrams for his work on Star Wars and Star Trek, Super 8 deserves just as much recognition for its part in shaping Stranger Things.
Seasons 1-4 of Stranger Things are available to stream on Netflix, while Super 8 is available to stream on Paramount+.
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