A fantastic new video turns Stranger Things into a modern-day Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it’s so very true. Stranger Things has dominated the pop culture landscape for a decade now, and it’s finally coming to an end with Season 5. There are so many reasons for the show’s success, and one is the fact that the characters of Stranger Things all play on some of the best pop culture and horror concepts of all. Nobody proves this better than Natalia Dyer’s Nancy Wheeler.
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Jillustrations Studio has proved the point with a fantastic Stranger Things / Buffy the Vampire Slayer mashup on Instagram. The video reimagines Nancy as the star of a very different version of Stranger Things – one riffing on Buffy, complete with that iconic theme tune.
The Stranger Things / Buffy Mashup is So Very Right
Jillustration Studios’ video is absolutely spot on. When Joss Whedon created Buffy the Vampire Slayer, he subverted the common “damsel in distress” trope we’ve all seen a million times before in horror movies. Nancy follows the same archetype; she should be a mere damsel in distress, running in fear from the monsters of the Upside Down, but she swiftly proved she was so much more. When Nancy’s friend Barb was taken by the Demogorgon, it didn’t take her long to start searching the woods around Hawkins for herself.
Over the years, Nancy has evolved into one of Stranger Things‘ best characters. She really is an absolute girlboss, taking charge and swiftly figuring out what the latest monsters are really up to; she was the one who figured out Vecna’s origin story, for example. She was also the one who led the charge into the Upside Down, doing more damage to Vecna in Season 4 than anyone else in a scene reminiscent of Buffy’s escapade with a rocket launcher.
What makes this even better, though, is the fact this video positions many of the other Stranger Things characters as Nancy’s “Scoobies.” She is their leader, the one who puts the plans together, the character around whom their stories revolve. That’s particularly true of Nancy’s two love interests, Steve and Jonathan, but it’s also become true of Robin; the partnership between Robin and Nancy was a highlight of Season 4, and they’ve kept teaming up in Season 5.
Stranger Things is coming to an end, but we’ve recently been treated to a Nancy Wheeler spinoff story – a tie-in novel that feels like the perfect setup for a show in its own right. We can only hope that Nancy’s story really is far from over, and that we’re treated to more of her adventures when Stranger Things Season 5 is wrapped up.
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