If the term ‘Upside Down’ doesn’t resonate with you, it’s probably because you belong to the other 95% in the pie chart who haven’t watched Netflix’s latest series Stranger Things. I am not going to make a big deal out of this. I am not going to exaggerate and give you a hard time for not watching it because as much as people will make you sound like a statistical anomaly, let me tell you that you are not. If you haven’t watched it, you are probably busy or new-wave internet pop-culture doesn’t interest you. Either way, you haven’t been living under a rock of ignorance. But, you have been missing a lot.
Netflix, a video streaming platform or a TV Network not on TV, has been producing some of this generation’s greatest shows. From the factually-inaccurate-but-thoroughly-entertaining Narcos to the fantastic sci-fi show masquerading as an homage to 80s alien films Stranger Things; the latter being the latest in their posse. Without giving away too much, not to say that you are going to go back and watch it but because I am a good Samaritan, Stranger Things deals with a real world co-existing with a darker version of it called the ‘Upside Down’. The real world and the upside down world have portals to each other. Delving a little more, the events that happen in the upside down world make an impact in the real world.
Multiple times in the past, I have written about alternate universes in the column — ‘Travelling between parallel universes’, ‘What if you could choose the universe you wanted to live in’, etc. What fascinates me about parallel universes, unlike other sci-fi devices that are too absurd to ever be possible, is that there is a good chance that parallel universes do exist. Stranger Things deals with a simplified and romanticized (for the sake of the plot) version of this concept — the ‘Upside Down’.
Given how this is one of the few sci-fi shows to talk about parallel universes and not the done-to-death time travelling trope, I am going to piggyback on the trend and try to stay relevant — What if the ‘Upside Down’ existed? My theory treads very close to reality while still sounding somewhat hypothetical; the Demogorgon (you should’ve watched Stranger Things. Also, oops, spoilers!) is a monster that haunts the real world in Stranger Things. The Demogorgon in our reality, right now, is Donald Trump.
That’s my attempt at staying relevant and still making sense. Donald Trump is the evil monster. He isn’t the only one, but clearly seems to belong in a darker world that resembles ours but isn’t. Similar to the real world, the ‘Upside Down’ deals with the relative concept of time. Every period in history has had its own Demogorons — seemingly human, too evil to be a product of the real world, and specializing in mass murder or fondly termed – genocide.
Does it ring a regional bell?
When he isn’t writing, the creative producer with The Rascalas watches a lot of ‘cat videos’ on YouTube.
Twitter: @CFLlightsabers