El’s Fight for Freedom – Part One
Disclaimer: The Stranger Things show (and specifically this blog series) has a particular reputation for strong graphic content and emotionally intense scenes. Discretion is advised.
The entire theme of this blog series is about one thing: Freedom. The world tells us that we are just another number. And it’s in fact humbling to note that we are one tree amongst an entire forest. We are indeed one person among 8,000,000,000 people on this earth. But that doesn’t take away our value or potential. It may seem our existence is like a “vapor in the wind,” but it can also be interpreted the other way: We are diamonds in God’s eyes. And no other diamond will share the same beauty as what God sees in you and me. That’s something we can take to heart.
Let’s do a quick recap of the Stranger Things series: An entire 1980s small-town community in Indiana is thrown into disarray when a 10-year-old boy goes missing. This leads to a chain of events in which a small group of locals discovers a dark government agency on the outskirts of town. On further investigation, our protagonists find out that something within the agency has gone wrong. The secrets of the agency involve the experiments of supernatural forces, which escape the premise of the government building. The rest of the story is about a small group of heroes fighting this supernatural force to save their town.
Our hero for today lacks a sense of identity and self-validation. In fact, she is without a name. She was born and raised in a government laboratory and is experimented on daily. As a subordinate, others accuse her of the actions of others. Others blame her for their own failures and evil deeds. They often twist her very worth and character into something shameful.
In general terms, others see her as timid, awkward, overly compliant, and without a personality. She believes without question in what she has been told. She does what is commanded. With all this said, other kids are studied within the lab. Most are older, but there are a few who are younger. They, too, are experimented on. The authority figure of the government laboratory is among the many antagonists of the show. His name is Dr. Martin Brenner. He demands that the test subjects refer to him as “Papa” even though he’s not their biological father. He’s defined as an authoritative figure who symbolizes the manipulative figures in our life. It’s the opposite of self-validation. It’s captivity.
The name she’s been given by the hospital staff is “Eleven” (signifying that she’s “Test Subject #11”). In this blog series, we will refer to her as the name our other heroes gave her: “El.” It’s short for “eleven.”
El is among the most important of our protagonists. She’s the only hero with psychokinetic and telepathic abilities. That makes her among the most significant characters in the show. The Netflix show revolves around her. It’s at this point in the story that El has lost her essential powers. She no longer has psychokinetic or telepathic abilities. This is significant, as our group of town heroes has no chance to save their town without her strength and skills. El is fully aware of this. As a result, El searches for a way to regain her powers. It’s ironic in which El teams up with the institution that traumatized her as a child. After all, they would be the ones who fully understood her powers. If there was a group of people who could get her powers back, it was them.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a type of psychotherapy that aims to help individuals process and heal from traumatic or distressing experiences. In this case, El makes the voluntary decision to work with the agency that traumatized her as a child. This effort has been codenamed “Project Nina” by the institution. To give context: The human mind dissociates from traumatic events. In other words, the physical body pretends the experience never happened. The logic behind the project is to help El regain her memory from her traumatic childhood. In theory, she will remember the “spark” that gave her powers in the first place. Project Nina involves El spending time in a machine filled with saltwater. She would be surrounded by five TV monitors, which replayed footage from her years in the lab. This project is similar to EMDR therapy. It would allow her to ground herself in the present and put all her focus on her traumatic past.
For this blog series, we will walk with El in her journey to remember her past. It’s a journey through the chaotic maze of trauma. We get the chance to observe El’s memories just as El experiences them. We get the opportunity to find out who “Eleven” truly is. The writers of Stranger Things did something unique. You may notice they switch between two versions of El: One is the modern-day El, while the other is the eight-year-old version of her in a flashback. It’s to help the audience avoid confusion. Understand this: As we walk with El in her “dream state,” we will observe El in her age today. But she is instead recalling her events as an eight-year-old girl.
The government laboratory is defined as a typical “cheerful and perfect place,” which is far from the truth. It’s a “hospital” built on deceit and manipulation. One of the hospital staff members stands out from the rest. He’s a friendly administrative assistant named Henry Creel. El is constantly harassed and ridiculed by both the staff and the other test subjects. This catches the attention of the friendly assistant. Henry decides to approach El and have a casual conversation…
The story of El teaches us about freedom. But that freedom is not in reference to physical barriers and security bars. It’s in reference to realizing our own strength and potential. I wanted to write this article because I noticed a recurring traumatic cycle: The failures and immoral actions of others land on the shoulders of El. From season one to season four, El is continuously abused. And from season one to season four, she is repeatedly gaslighted and blamed for the actions of others. Even as a test subject (aka prisoner and victim), she is held liable for the failures of those who abused her. She starts in season one as a victim of childhood trauma. And towards the end of season four, we watch as El grows into a person of strength. She no longer needs others to tell her what to think, feel, and act. She’s her own leader. She’s a person who matters.
No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Matthew 6:24
With that said, we have a choice amongst our problems in life: To use our bitterness and pain either to serve God or to serve Satan. El chooses the side of good. She uses her painful memories and strong emotions as motivation to help others. In the case of Stranger Things, she puts all her effort and powers to save an entire town of people. So, what choice will we make? This is a significant question in our faith. The perfect example of this dilemma is the choice of Jesus Christ. It was Jesus who was pure and innocent. He was without blemish; He committed no sin. Yet, He was crucified between two thieves. It was Christ who was requested by God to give His life for the people who had wrongly accused and rejected Him. We are to be grateful for such. Without Christ, we are nothing. And without Christ, we have no hope or future. Thank God for this opportunity to be set free from our own sin. For being a prisoner within ourselves is worse than being a prisoner in a cell.
At this point in the story, the many test subjects participate in a competition. The hospital’s administrator (aka “Papa) draws two circles on the floor. The test subjects are requested to stand in the circle one by one and use their psychokinetic abilities to push the other out of the circle. To everyone’s surprise, it was El who won the tournament. The other test subjects didn’t like this, as they felt embarrassed to have lost against the one person they had teased and ridiculed. As a result, the other test subjects made a plan to kill El. They planned to do so while the security cameras were off and no one else was in the room. Little did they know, the main authority figure of the lab (Dr. Martin Brenner, aka “Pappa”) secretly set up the opportunity to kill El. Dr. Brenner begins to fear El, as she’s becoming too powerful for him to control. El is set up to be killed. But thankfully, our friendly stranger (Henry Creel) picks up on this before it happens. Henry meets with El and pretends to play a game of chess. As they do so, they hold a secret conversation. Henry explains what’s about to happen and gives El an urgent message: “You need to escape today!” Henry secretly gives El a security card and asks to meet her in the boiler room. The opportunity arises for El to escape, but she makes a surprising decision…
We end the episode with a cliffhanger. El abandons her opportunity to save herself for the sake of saving her friend, Henry. She plans on removing the chip from Henry’s neck and finding an alternate route. With that said, they meet with an unexpected and unfortunate obstacle. El would go on to regret this decision – a decision that would inflict pain on others. A decision whose weight is once again put on her shoulders.
The video clips have been shortened and edited under fair use to highlight parts relevant to this blog’s message. The story’s original meaning remains unchanged.