Getting Medieval with Stranger Things
A talk by Dr Cynthia Johnston
The hugely popular Netflix series Stranger Things, which left us teetering seemingly on the apocalypse at the end of S4, is set in 1980s middle America. The series creators, the Duffer Brothers, have laced their work with 80s cultural references to music, from the Smiths and the Clash to Metallica, and to film, perhaps most provocatively with Poltergeist. But the over-arching theme to the narrative is certainly the middle ages. The 80s board game, Dungeons and Dragons, provides the medieval context, and the troubling presence of the Upside Down, in the form of a world ruled by Evil, as opposed to Light, connects the world of Hawkins, Indiana to thirteenth-century Europe.
In this session, we’ll discuss the connections between the series and the medieval world. We’ll examine images in medieval manuscripts from the Museum’s Hart Collection that link these seeming very different worlds without drawing on the powers of Eleven to do so.
Tickets are £5 – please book using the link below – limited availability
Performances – Getting Medieval with Stranger Things – BwD Venues (patronbase.com)