Christmas Lights
General Info
| Item Name | Christmas Lights |
|---|
Overview
Christmas lights play a huge role in allowing Joyce Byers, played by the impeccable Winona Ryder, to bond with her son Will, who is trapped in the disturbing Upside Down. The flickering of these lights surpasses their decorative appeal and gives off an eerie atmosphere. They represent Will's feeble attempts to reveal his presence from a place full of hair-growing creatures and a chilly atmosphere. Every flicker, every flash of lights conveys an urgent message. Joyce hangs alphabet letter lamps in her living room and these lights transform into an unconventional Ouija board as Will communicates through electricity and guides Joyce through terrifying light sequences.
In Stranger Things, these Christmas lights become a symbol of hope, illuminating a dark mystery and embodying a mother's relentless determination to find her lost son. The mundane becomes magical, creating an interdimensional lifeline between the ordinary world and the upside-down one. The story of these lights is a testament to Stranger Things' unique ability to transform ordinary objects into powerful narrative vessels.
Creation and Development
Creators and twin brothers Matt and Ross Duffer attempted to use Christmas lights as an eerie means of interdimensional communication. The idea came from the image of a children's room, strangely lit by an abundance of Christmas lights. The concept touched on themes of families desperately clinging to hope in difficult times and embodied the ominous tone of the show. They strengthened the usual strings of holiday lights into a beacon of hope, fear, misunderstanding and longing. Initially, they faced budget constraints and production challenges. It wasn't easy to find hundreds of period-appropriate vintage light bulbs. After extensive research and testing to determine the right color temperature and luminescence to evoke an aura of mystery and ghostliness, a lighting solution that can be controlled remotely in real-time was implemented.
The inclusion of holiday lights was not a decorative choice; it was a narrative choice that appealed to audiences with its emotional resonance, encouraging a closer connection between the characters and the audience. The show's success was due in part to these details, which immersed the audience in the 80s era and Hawkins' supernatural world. Christmas lights have become a cultural symbol associated with the language of Stranger Things and its imaginative storytelling.
Cultural Impact
Off screen, these holiday lights have become a social media phenomenon, with fans imitating Joyce's "wall of light" over the festive period. The iconic scene has inspired a wide variety of merchandise, from Halloween costumes to Christmas decorations. Furthermore, it even affected the interior scene with string lights that were creatively used to give the room's aesthetic an ethereal feel attributed to the Stranger Things effect.
To celebrate this cultural moment, Google even introduced a Stranger Things mode on its smart home speakers, where users could interact with their devices like Joyce did with her lights. This instance is a testament to the cultural influence of this prop, and represents an appeal that transcends the series to resonate with larger pop culture.