Stranger Things: Review of a Review

A review of the review, so to speak.

I get so flustered when I read things that make no sense to me in the moment; so let's see if I can intellectually work through this review of the show Stranger Things.

Caveat: I'm not going to say that everyone should watch it; each family has to make their own choices for their own family. Based on accurate information.

I will add upfront, there is post at Patheos about the good things in the show: Stranger Things is the most Catholic Thing on TV

The following review is from Women of Grace. My responses are inserted between each paragraph.

MB writes: “I have not seen the massively popular Stranger Things but I’ve heard that it’s quite ‘creepy’. I also know that they’ve put out a Stranger Things ouija board which makes me wonder if there’s anything demonic or problematic with the show itself? Lots of friends have recommended it but they’ve also talked about Harry Potter before so I’m hoping to get a clearer answer on whether watching the show is problematic. Thank you in advance.”

The Stranger Things TV show is indeed problematic on a variety of levels.

For those who have never heard of it, Stranger Things is a recent Netflix sci-fi/horror hit starring Winona Ryder that is based in the fictional Indiana town of Hawkins in the early 1980’s. Hawkins is the home of the Hawkins National Laboratory which performs scientific research for the government. However, the disappearance of a young boy named Will leads the town to discover that the lab is also involved in paranormal and supernatural experiments. These activities lead to the creation of a portal to an alternate dimension called “the Upside Down” which is full of surreal monsters.

Meanwhile, a little girl arrives on the scene at the local diner, dressed in a hospital gown and with a shaved head. Her name is Eleven and she has all kinds of otherworldly powers such as clairvoyance and the ability to move objects with her mind. She was apparently used in experiments at the lab and managed to escape. Eleven, who claims to know where Will is, and is able to communicate with him, is then employed in the plot to find the boy.

There are a variety of disturbing themes running through the show, such as references to a “stronger power,” Eleven’s use of her powers to kill people, premarital sex between the characters, shoplifting, profaning the name of Jesus, and a variety of illicit escapades.

All evil or immoral things that happened in this show - had suitable consequences or the situation is one in which a conversation can be had about how some people are raised in certain ways and don't know the proper truth.

Focus on the Family’s Plugged In, says that although the series does give us a new set of heroic tweens and teens, these kids are also prone to “swear like testosterone-deficient sailors.” They also play Dungeons & Dragons which is sure to set off alarms with parents due to the game’s darker elements. And even though the children are against alcohol and tobacco, the adults in the move indulge with great abandonment.

Adults are allowed to drink and smoke. And it was the 80s - a different time, when more people did smoke as a normal thing. It's culturally and historically accurate. Cussing? Public school teens, some of whom don't have parents who are very involved. They are in need of the Truth and grace - not judgment. Their characters fit.

“When the scene shifts to the high-school set, sex (or the heady, fearful promise of it) never seems far away,” the review states.

The violence is also a factor. “Even though the violence hasn’t been particularly bloody, death is not uncommon. The monsters, and many of the men, are out for blood. And they’re not above spattering a bit of it across the screen.”

As for the games spawned by the show, they do have a new Stranger Things Ouija board which youth are gleefully using to ask the “spirits” to reveal the contents of upcoming shows.

I'm not judging a show by the products created from it, unless they were put out before or immediately at the start of the show.

You have to go looking for those. If you're a family that doesn't do commercials or themes, you probably won't know these exist. I didn't know they existed until I read this review.

We don't go for merchandise in our home anyway, so it's just the show for us, thanks.

In this article appearing on Buzzfeed (caution: obscene language) three teens – including one who says he never plays with the board because he’s Catholic – ask the board a series of questions about upcoming shows. The first question they asked was whether or not there was a spirit in the room, which received a “yes” answer. The three then ask it a series of questions about the upcoming shows, which characters are going to “hook up” and which are going to die.

So were the answers correct? ;)

I think this article was changed from its original - because at one point it mentioned the use of a ouija board within the show itself. Mom sets up strings of Christmas lights and paints letters on the wall under them for her LIVING son to communicate with her. I've had a child who couldn't talk or write with his hand and we used an alphabet chart on a placemat for him to speak to me; until we got a keyboard he could type on. Ouija boards are for connecting with demons though the users generally intend to speak to the dead. SPOILER ALERT: Will's not dead. Ouija boards aren't used to speak to living human beings. Computers, keyboards and pointing to an alphabet chart are.

The show also has it’s own themed Monopoly board game as well as an Eggo Card game.

All in all, Stranger Things is the typical non-family-friendly fare.

And we'll skip the various awesome family dynamics going on here - family that sticks together; family that was falling apart or was fully fractured that healed and came back together. Redemption for some; continued evil choices by others leading to consequences; self-sacrifice out of LOVE.

I would not categorize this show and its alarming by-products as healthy for anyone, regardless of age.

By-products? The only by-products in this household were some awesome conversations about the themes, the plot, what we would do different, what could be next, SAMWISE GAMGEE!, how to hold up under severe mental stress, trauma, separation from family ---- and lots more!



And let's take this back to sanity: Stranger Things is the most Catholic Thing on TV

Religious Education Time and Homeschool Transcripts

This afternoon I was setting up the format for my son’s high school transcript. We live in a state that doesn’t require record-keeping or reporting. We only need to “provide instruction the same number of days as the local public school” with no actual definition as to attendance; so we’ve always just done our own thing for tracking – some years that means nothing in particular other than finishing a resource. We don’t even have set start/end dates, though I basically utilized the liturgical year as our guide for grade level.

As I set up the transcript, I put theology first. It is the most important and I want it counted as a separate subject, even separate from “electives”.

Indeed our faith is key to our entire lifestyle.

The first item I entered was my son’s attendance at the local parish’s religious education program this coming semester.

Legoboy in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium
Age: almost 2

Background TMI: He didn’t enroll in 7^th grade because the curriculum used and the ensuing discussion would have been a waste of his time – redundant for a child coming out of 11 years in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium – he started at age 1! Also there are serious legitimate concerns regarding the teacher for the class he would have been in. Not for the children’s safety or theological teaching, but for personality conflicts and a negative attitude about the atrium. This year, the whole 7^th-9^th grade program has been revamped – and I LOVE IT! It more fully supports children coming out of several years in the atrium as well as honors their natural faith interests at this age. We didn’t do first semester because of personal issues going on – we didn’t know if he could commit. And I am strong on commitment. Fortunately the resource used is one we have already done as part of our homeschool CGS atrium for the oldest children (Altaration). He isn't missing out on much - though I would have liked him to have further exploration and discussion on this program. 

He is enrolling for second semester, because while our family issues continue, we have arrangements for his steady attendance regardless of outcomes. They are utilizing the new YOU program – the updated version of Theology of the Body for high schoolers. I was able to preview the videos online and see the textbook and teacher manual. LOVE IT! I had reservations for homeschoolers on the original TOB for high school, but the YOU is appropriate.

Ok great. Let’s add it to his transcript. Typed in the title of the class, the name of the resource, go to total up the hours. OH. Ok. Hmm.

I’m not sure how many homeschoolers have actually thought this through on a practical level, but have merely responded to it intuitively.


Our local religious ed program is 28 sessions for 1 ½ hour each time. 42 hours of instruction time for the entire school year. Most other parishes in the general vicinity are 45-60 minutes each class, maybe meeting 20-25 sessions. Our local archdiocese would like to see a minimum of 30 hours of instruction time, over the course of an entire school year.

Let’s look at the transcript. To record a credit for a full year, 180 hours of instruction time must be achieved. Public schools have some room for padding this – 48-53 minute classes can count for 1 instruction hour at our local public high school. In a 180 day school year, children can have a certain number of excused and unexcused absences, thus reducing the number of attended hours; as well as school events, fire drills, and other occurrences that cut into this time. Homeschoolers tend to go for recording actual instruction time for the entire 180 hours needed. We are already outside the norm, we don’t usually want to invite any questions on how well we are following the law.

180 hours for an entire year. This is 90 instruction hours for a one semester course. 45 instruction hour for a quarter-year course.

Even our generous local parish does not provide a full 45 hours of instruction time through the entire school year. Not even enough to count for a quarter-year course on a transcript, if using the full clock hour definition.

This is why many homeschoolers intuitively don’t see the value of the parish religious ed program. Because the pastors and the DREs are saying “we are providing less than a quarter-year course of instruction on the faith.”

I understand we parents are fully responsible for our children’s faith formation and that the parish is supposed to be an assist to that noble undertaking. By offering so few hours of instruction (setting aside teacher quality, curriculum quality, scheduling issues, how much we study the faith at home already, setting all that aside! And focusing on the number of hours provided), the parish religious ed program is saying of itself “we don’t value religious instruction enough to provide even the public school equivalent of a quarter-year course.”

At 42 hours, our local parish provides more actual instruction hours than our local public schools do for a quarter length course, considering their usual classes are 51 minutes long but get to count for a full “hour.”

This still leaves me wondering – a quarter-year course on something that is so foundational to our very being.

And it leaves me understanding why those same homeschoolers who say no to the regular religious ed program leap at the opportunity for a 2-hour weekly atrium that meets 30 sessions – providing 60 hours of actual instruction time which is only 16 ½ hours short of a full semester course. These families see something of value – value for their time, their children’s intelligence, their family’s faith formation.

	Official Definition	Public school: don’t usually finish the book; absentee time still counted as instruction time (up to a point)	Homeschool: finish the textbook, add in supplements to fill the time; absentee time not counted as instruction
1 year course	180 hours	51 minutes = 153 instruction hours;	180+ hours
½ year course Semester	90 hours	51 minute classes = 76.5 hours	90+ hours
¼ year course Quarter	45 hours	51 minutes = 38.25 hours	45+ hours

The chart as an image:

A re-formatted version of this post as an explanation to pastors and DREs:
Religious Education Hours - Letter to Pastors and DREs