Season 4 of “Stranger Things” drew a lot of attention to a phenomenon that hit the United States in the 1980s: satanic panic.
Season 4 of “Stranger Things” introduces a new threat to the tranquility of the small town of Hawkins: the Vecna, a creature that begins a madness of murdering teenagers, leaving behind a terrifying scene with disfigured bodies.
It turns out that it all turns to a group of young people who come together to play Dungeons & Dragons, called The Hellfire Club, commanded by a new character, Eddie Munson, played by Joseph Quinn.
The city soon turns into a manhunt for Eddie and the club members, which include most of the series’ protagonists like Dustin, Mike and Lucas, led by Jason Carver, boyfriend of one of the victims and a popular boy captain of the basketball team. , which begins distributing brochures and accusing The Hellfire Club of being a satanic group that would make sacrifices in the city in the name of the devil.
These events are very much in line with what happened between the 1980s, when the series takes place, and the 1990s, when the United States, and subsequently the rest of the world, entered a kind of mass hysteria known as Satanic. Panic, or Satanic Panic. panic. .
The outbreak comes down to people starting to believe that several people were committing brutal murders in satanic rituals. As a result, there have been several arrests, unfair accusations and convictions without evidence, and innocent people have ended up in prison for crimes they did not commit.
This is very much in line with what the new character, Eddie Munson, the prime suspect in the deaths starting to happen in Hawkins, experiences. There is also a real case to which his story refers: that of the “Memphis Three”, specifically the young Damien Echols.
In the actual case, three children went missing on May 5, 1993 in West Memphis, Arkansas. The bodies were found the next day and, given the violence to which they had been subjected, the idea that they had been victims of a macabre ritual began to circulate among the city population, largely made up of Christians.
Thus, the young Gothic Damien Echols ended up accused without any evidence, and was arrested by the police along with Charles Jason Baldwin, his best friend. The police obtained as evidence a confession from Jessie Misskelley, obtained after 12 hours of interrogation. However, in addition to police pressure on Jessie, it was later shown that he had developmental problems and could not be considered a credible witness.
But his confession was enough for the three of them, Jessie, Damien and Charles, to be convicted of the crimes, with Damien sentenced to death, and the two friends to life in prison. Subsequently, the three were granted freedom, after serving more than 18 years in prison. The case of the “Memphis Three” is quite famous and considered one of those that were influenced by the satanic panic.
The Duffer brothers, creators of “Stranger Things”, have already talked about the matter in an interview with the site. Tudum, commenting on the addition of Eddie Munson. “We are always very careful when we add a new main character to the show,” said Ross Duffer, who continued, “We think it’s a very valuable thing to add people. [à série] because we already have a fantastic set of actors. So we only want to add someone if we feel it is necessary to tell the story we are telling. “
“And in this case, something we really wanted to get into this year was satanic panic. So we brought back the documentary series ‘Paradise Lost’ with the Memphis Three, and that brought us back to Damien Echols. We really wanted that character who was a metalhead, he likes Dungeons & Dragons, in the end he’s a nerd at heart. But from an external point of view, they can go along the lines of, “This is someone who’s scary.” That’s where Eddie’s idea comes from, “added Ross Duffer.
Eddie Munson’s fate in the series is still undefined, but at the end of Volume 1 he joined other characters like Lucas and Dustin and just returned from the Upside Down through a portal in the roof of the trailer he lived in. while continuing to be persecuted by the townspeople, who believe he is involved in the murders that took place in Hawkins.
Volume 1 of Season 4 of “Stranger Things” is available on Netflix. Volume 2, which is likely to end Eddie’s story, will arrive on the platform on July 1st.
The post “Stranger Things”: How Satanic Panic is the Focus of Season 4 first appeared on Olhar Digital.
Source: Olhar Digital
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