Michael Roehmer
English 125
Rhetorical Analysis Essay (Draft)
2/19/17
The Reality of Duality
Duality is defined as the state of being two or in two parts. It represents a contrast between two things that share a commonality but are distinct from one another. The familiar and the unfamiliar, the body and the mind, Hawkins and the Upside Down, Eleven and the Monster. All of these things are essentially reflections of each other but are different in some way, representing a duality. What, then, is the reason for creating or observing these dualities? Similar to a spot-the-difference puzzle, one may not see the truth unless it is pointed out to them explicitly. Without knowing it is a puzzle, the images may look identical, but the fact it is that there is something wrong and it is right in front of us. Why do we not initially see it? As Sigmund Freud might point out, “what is ‘uncanny’ is frightening precisely because it is not known and familiar.” However, what actually frightens us is not something that is solely unfamiliar to us. What frightens us is the duality between what we thought we knew and what we no longer fully understand. Perhaps, then, the reason we do not initially spot the difference in real life situations is because we do not want to accept the fact that something has now become unfamiliar to us. Looking at the television series, Stranger Things, what do Rene Descartes’ studies of duality tell us about the Upside Down, Eleven, and the Monster, and what does this represent?
Descartes begins his meditations on the search for certainty by calling everything into doubt. He does this because anything that can be called into doubt is uncertain and therefore cannot be proven. He begins by discussing human senses and how they contribute to doubt. He has “found that the senses deceive, and it is prudent never to trust completely those who have deceived us even once.” His distrust of human senses establishes a precedent for all other things he must call into doubt. For example, dreams and paintings, although imaginative and new, are all actually based in reality, a product of the senses, which calls them into question. The same logic applies to composite subjects such as medicine or physics. Simpler things become harder to distrust but still can be due to God’s unknown manipulation of our conceptions. Or, in the case of no God, our imperfect senses probably make us even more prone to the development of false conceptions. Descartes, keeping an open mind, must assume that someone “of the utmost power and cunning has employed all his energies in order to deceive.” By calling everything into doubt like this, he contradicts philosophers of the past such as Aristotle, supplanting the old school of thought with his unique claims. He creates a distinction between what is certain and what needs to be called into doubt, establishing the precedent for duality. The difference between what is familiar and what is unfamiliar. While most people take what they are familiar with and apply it to every situation, Descartes tries to take everything on from an unfamiliar perspective. This strategy is one that combats Freud’s understanding of the uncanny which he sees as, “that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar,” and flips it on its head. By first becoming unfamiliar with a situation, one can derive with certainty, the truth or the difference in the familiar.
By using Descartes’ strategy of calling everything into doubt, one may be able to discover some truth behind Stranger Things, a show laden with the unfamiliar. A portal leading to an alternate universe, a girl with telekinetic powers, and a monster that seems invincible all seem pretty far-fetched. The first step, however is calling everything into question. The point of the fictional story in this case is not simply to awe the viewer with fantastical landscapes and imaginary characters. There is an underlying message, but one must be able to strip the fictional layers apart by understanding what we can tell with certainty. What one must try and understand is who each character is and what different elements represent, then one may be able to grasp the true message. The Upside Down is a place that was opened by Eleven when she came into contact with the Monster so it is apparent that they are all interrelated. During a sensory deprivation experiment, Eleven met the monster. Was this a coincidence or a manifestation of her own thoughts? According to Descartes, her deceitful senses were gone due to the experiment and imagination is based in reality, so it is not inconceivable for this to be a subconscious manifestation produced by her telekinetic powers along with its own roots in reality, in theory. The Upside Down is basically Hawkins, only it is nightmarish and home to the monster. Eleven, who opened the Upside Down and first made contact with the Monster, seems to be the only one capable of stopping it. Lastly, the monster mimics Eleven during the final confrontation, and they disappear together. The last words heard from Eleven right before she disappears were “Goodbye, Mike.” (Episode 8) This suggests Eleven understood the ramifications of her actions and might understand the unique connection between her and the monster. Could this suggest, perhaps, a second aspect of the monster?
Descartes begins to formulate his theory of mind-body dualism to create a separation between mind and body in his second meditation. He notes that we are thinking beings which understand our minds clearly but less so of our bodies. This is because our mind is rooted in thought whereas our body is simply an extension of ourselves spatially. Immediately, one notices the deep complexity of such a duality as is the case with many dualities. Descartes then begins to develop concrete certainty beginning with the fact that he thinks which means he exists, concluding “this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true.” This distinction of the mind being necessary for existence rather than the body is due to the mind’s ability to know things that the body cannot perceive. For example, his wax theory seems prudent. When a piece of wax melts, the mind knows it is still wax, however the imagination, an extension of the body, would never be able to tell on its own due to the substantial changes in material properties. The mind can “grasp that the wax is capable of countless changes of this kind, yet . . . unable to run through this immeasurable number of changes in . . . imagination.” Two things are related, mind and body, but are clearly distinct due to this notable difference. This further corroborates the notion of mind-body duality.
Similarly, in Stranger Things, we can observe many dualities that relate but have important distinctions. The first one is the Upside Down and its reflection, Hawkins. Everything is in the same location, the only difference is that one is deemed normal while the other is deemed monstrous. The reason for this is due to the fact that the Upside Down is something unfamiliar to everyone. However, if one compares it to something familiar, maybe one can make sense of it as the characters in Stranger Things are able to do. As Dustin said, it is "a dimension that is a dark reflection, or echo, of our world. It is a place of decay and death, a plane out of phase, a place of monsters. It is right next to you and you do not even see it." (Episode 5) Maybe, then, the Upside Down is not so strange, and it exists to represent something less superficial. The Upside Down, manifesting in Eleven’s mind out of fear serves to represent all that there is to fear in the real world. It has nothing to do with the Monster specifically, but rather the monsters that were the scientists who were experimenting on Eleven. It represents all things monstrous, but it only became distinct to everyone once Eleven brought it to attention. Eleven and the Monster, then, serve to represent another duality. If the Upside Down is a reflection, then it makes sense that the Monster is a reflection of someone, and that someone is Eleven. Developing from the fear and hatred in her subconscious, Eleven manifested both the Upside Down and the Monster. This represents all that is monstrous within Hawkins, and it serves as a pretty obvious display of a spot-the-difference puzzle, something a fictional television series can do. Eleven, being the only counter to the monster, must stop it with her mind. Perhaps this is a nod to Descartes, who would probably agree that in this hypothetical circumstance, only the power of the mind and not the body could stop a manifestation of the mind. And Freud would probably note the familiarity behind Eleven’s uncanny telekinetic abilities. The familiar being Eleven’s imagination and the unfamiliar being the imagination manifested in real life. The duality forces Eleven to destroy both the Monster and herself if they are truly one entity, keeping in mind the mind-body dualism theory of Descartes.
The last meditation of Descartes discusses what truly exists and what does not. Understanding, a property of thought and the mind is certain, however, imagination is illusory. Therefore, it is not essential to life and cannot be a property of the mind. Instead, as stated earlier, it is probably connected to the body. What, then, is the connection between pain and the decision to retreat? This indicates that the mind and body are intertwined in some ways. Nature binds them in certain ways instinctually but sensory perceptions are still skewed. Whereas the body acts in parts, the mind works together, therefore they are separate. Descartes believes “the proper purpose of the sensory perceptions given . . . by nature is simply to inform the mind of what is beneficial or harmful.” He theorizes that only part of the body influences the mind, and that then is what causes the mistakes. Messages that are lost in translation, per se, due to the mistake-prone nature of the body.
Eleven creates the Monster and the Upside Down in her mind. Using a combination of mind and body, Eleven uses her powers unknowingly to develop these monstrous manifestations of her subconscious. As Descartes would argue, it is probably her imagination then that spawned the dangers lurking around Hawkins. Her mind-body connection in the sensory deprivation tank misled her. As her body influenced her, a mistake was made, and her mind created an alternate universe as well as an alternate personality in reality. As Stranger Things progresses, Eleven begins to recognize exactly what happened. That is why she understands what happened to Will, says “The gate. I opened it. I am the monster” (Episode 6) to Mike, and knows how to destroy the Monster. She realizes what Descartes preaches in his meditations. Imagination is illusory and is therefore connected to the body, not the mind. Using this logic, Eleven uses her mind to overpower the monster. This however, destroys the manifestation of her imagination and thus makes her body disappear along with it. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and Stranger Things demonstrates this using its many cases of duality.
The Upside Down, Eleven, and the Monster represent Descartes’ understanding of duality and serve to mirror real-life duality. In life, dualities may go unnoticed, in part because duality is something people do not want to spot. They only want to see the familiar side of things. The unfamiliar is uncomfortable as Freud would point out. In Stranger Things, however, people are able to see a clear manifestation of “the dark side” of things, and it is therefore unmistakable. On a small-scale, the Upside Down and the Monster are monstrous while Eleven is the hero. However, looking at the underlying message and calling the idyllic, superficial side of the story into question, one sees a deeper meaning. One sees Stranger Things as a look into Eleven’s subconscious. This is a girl dealing with fear, pain, and suffering that is able to personify those feelings in real life due to the power of her own mind. In real life, one cannot see inside another person’s mind, therefore it would be ignored. This makes understanding Eleven complex but important because knowing about the monster inside her mind would help others around her fend off the danger that results from it. Even though in real life a manifestation like that created by Eleven’s thoughts cannot occur, the dangers within one’s mind can be very real. Passersby may not be in harm’s way as they are in Stranger Things, but people like Eleven are still dealing with their own “Upside Down” internally. For example, there are people with mental issues who deal with things like paranoia, fear, or loneliness on a daily basis, and the results can be devastating if they don’t have supportive people like counselors or caring friends to help them cope with their troubles. Numerous examples can be seen in the world today of mentally disturbed people whose “monster” came out due to the fact that their issues went untreated, like the Sandy Hook shooter in Connecticut who was a deeply troubled outcast. Had people taken the warning signs more seriously, he could have been greatly helped, and the deaths of many could have been averted. This is just one example that shows how important it is to try to understand people on a deeper level, and help them if needed so that they do not need to face that internal struggle just as Eleven did both internally and externally.