@@NerdEnthusiast Yeah, we're basically conditioned at this point to spot those flags a mile away. So a guess creating a balance in not making it obvious that a character will die. It could just as easily have been Eddie who died if we'd gotten a few more scenes with him that established trauma and him being cursed.
It's very good advice as long as you don't make it obvious. Like the "man hugs his wife and children in the beginning of the story promising them that he will be back soon and then he dies" cliché. Or any character going elsewhere and promising the rest of the group that they will return soon.
The most important part is that Chrissy isn't forgotten after she dies. She doesn't kick the bucket and is subsequently ignored for the rest of the series. She is important to every party, the Hellfire club looks for justice for her, the football kids start hunting Hellfire for revenge, and she's important to Vecna for his plan to bridge the gap between the Upside Down and our world. She receives this interesting and compelling character development, and even after she's gone, she continues to impact the story due to her relationships with other living characters.
@@loco_logic Patrick isn’t talked about enough but he served a big purpose. His death helped Lucas grow and become more empathetic in his arc with Max, and Jason witnessing his death is the reason he went from the somewhat sane “I don’t believe in magic” guy to the crazed satanic panic guy that gets the town in a frenzy and pulls a gun on Lucas
I remember that I first perked up about Chrissy when Max asked her if she was fine and She actually _doesn't_ get aggressive right away. She says she's fine and go away... Please. She is clearly someone who is trying to be polite even if she is not feeling well. Her aggressivness only comes when she thinks Max still hasn't left even after she asked her to _twice_ . The reason this stood out to me so much is that from popculture we are kind of trained to think of the headcheerleader as HeadBisch. especially if she is dating the Sports Captain. But Chrissy, in every interaction we see her seems genuine, sweet, polite and caring. A real departure from "Baddest Bisch in the School"
@@manuelk1853 As he said, it feels cut short. You _want_ her to find happieness, to overcome her struggles, to be friends with eddie... And none of it happens
@@tovi3280 None, I just don't know if there is some sort of Algorithm that picks up on specific words. Don't want to get my channel suddenly deleted (again) becasue I supposedly have had "p****graphic material". Srsly. It happened, i have never gotten my channel back and to this day I hve no idea what they are talking about. No explenation, nothing , just... poof.
Another thing I liked about Chrissy is how accepting she was of someone like Eddie. Despite him being a traditional "freak" architype, she didn't judge him for selling drugs or being weird and trusted him enough to go to him for help. Truly a kind hearted sweetheart that died too young.
As soon as she liked Eddie I knew I would too. Now I can’t get through the fact he’s death…I got to care about a heavy metal D&D master drug seller…and he’s freakin death.
I also love how subtle they were with telling Chrissy’s story. Like if you look at her nightmares, without directly telling you, they’re able to create a succinct picture, that Chrissy suffered from an eating disorder that made her overweight to some extent, and her mother was like tyrannically obsessed with Chrissy’s image, loosening up dresses for her to wear, talking about how she’s GOING to look so pretty and a father who’s in a manner of speaking blind and mute to these issues (literally in the nightmare with his eyes and mouth sewn shut), so likely that he was much nicer to her than her mother was but that he was afraid to stand up to her about it or perhaps couldn’t. Edit: someone pointed out that her eating disorder may more likely be a product of her mother gaslighting and is in fact under-eating, which is even better imo. Contextualized with how they depict her high social status at school, which again, contextually is shown to be the only thing holding her self esteem together in the fact that her toxic home life is being wielded as a weapon against her by Vecna. Like it is aggressively telling you all this with ZERO exposition all contained within the first episode of the season as one of like 5 different main points of view. It is incredibly well done and then in building all this care and sympathy for her, slowly backing her into this corner before she’s like killed in the most graphic, horrifying way is just so impactful.
Point of clarification: Chrissy was NEVER overweight. She was cultivated by her mother to be neurotic over being slim - loosening her dress was her mom gaslighting her into thinking she's fat and will only be getting fatter. That's the source of her eating disorder. And yep - it's very subtle. Very well-defined character for such a small role!
This is an amazing example of show not tell, which is a fantastic writing tool that people forget to use, even in films. Stranger Things used it and they used it well.
@@GainsTuesday are we sure about that? I’m only sort of working off her nightmare mom’s comments and the banquet table full of fly infested rotten food, interpreting those things. Like whether that imagery was communicating that Vecna is like guilting her for overeating or if the fly-ridden food is a representation of her aversion to eating food because of her mother’s gaslighting. I do like your interpretation though since the eating disorder is not a contributing factor to the cause of her trauma, but that her eating disorder is the opposite, a symptom of her trauma that came about from her demon mom, so like she was undereating and not overeating.
@@The_Story_Of_Us I interpreted the rotten food as the visualisation of her relationship with food because of her ED - she sees food as something bad that she doesn't want to eat because it'll make her gain weight.
They honestly had me feeling like Chrissy was going to be a main character that season who’d stick around to the end. Such a well written character considering that she died within the first episode.
i think they also are able to make us feel attached to chrissy by making her story mirror nancy in season 1. where we have a beautiful girl who is with the popular guy, confronted with an evil she does not understand and with which she can't get help from her boyfriend, since he wouldn't understand. then she has to get help from the social outcast whom she learns is not as bad a guy. and then the popular guy, the outcast and the girl work together to stop the monster so by making her story mirror nancy's story it makes us get attached quicker, and then it rips the rug out from under us by the evil being to strong, which results in chrissy dying, eddie becoming a bigger social outcast, and Jason being unable to see the other side of the story.
Nice observation! I had already started to hope that all 3 of them would join the group that knows all the weird shit going on in Hawkins (including Jason, I'd hoped he'd eventually get along with Eddie since there seemed to be some antagonism from the get go.
@@joyc.e.7511 Truth is all three could’ve made good additions to the group - and might have been added if it was earlier in the series - hence the sense of loss. Chrissy would’ve been a great addition, and Eddie basically became a great addition. Jason’s fondness for tone deaf speechifying and self aggrandizement aside, we do see good qualities in him as well. There is the making for him to have matured into either a decent guy - or a cult leader - depending on circumstances. In a way, he and Eddie were both victims of what was a real “Satanic Panic” national narrative surrounding D&D in the 80s.
@@Pathfinder197 yeah I mean the fact is, jason is always acting from the goodness of his heart. and when patrick dies he starts with the satan bullshit because he's genuinely terrified. from his perspective, there's no rational explanation for why patrick died like that, except demonic posession. unfortunately he ends up doing only harm and no good.
it’s so cool that a “good” character or someone aligned with the protagonists can be a support for the antagonist. I love that I not only learn but understand something new every schnee video
Honestly same, I had never even considered a good aligned character to be able to support the antagonist and it's things like this that keep me coming to every Schnee video to keep learning more and more
Her death broke my heart because that scene in the woodland with Eddie was so wholesome and beautiful and I desperately wished for them to team up and develop a deep bond. Even though I'm still upset about her death, I can say I now understand how her death was set up to impact us and the story
To me there's also pregnancy imagery evoked in the bathroom scene. Countless films had the pretty girl in school sobbing in the school bathroom after learning she is pregnant and, on first watch, my mind immediately thought 'ok she just found out she's pregnant'. Pregnancy is something growing inside of them, that they are scared of, whether it's scared for themselves, scared for the future or scared of telling their parents or boyfriend. Whereas in Chrissy's situation, she probably feels like insanity is growing inside of her, with her visions and nightmares worsening and she is also scared of telling others. So she turns to an outsider for help, someone who won't judge her, Eddie.
"I personally at this moment want to see a whole season about the freak and the cheerleader's budding relationship" Welp. That's what fanfiction is for I guess.
I think that we all can agree that Chrissy and Eddie both deserved so much better. I can see Chrissy becoming part of the main cast and possibly getting with Eddie. At least her death was given the respect it deserved. Fly high Chrissy, fly high. 😔
I feel like her innocence and how sweet she was also played a huge part for me, and how genuine her and Eddie's interactions were Gutted they died, even if we only saw Chrissy at the start
Glad to see someone else really appreciated her characterisation. Impressive what the duffers were able to do in only 1 episode. Can’t wait for season 5
Honestly, I feel horrible for Chrissy. I feel more pain for her death than I ever did for Barb. I really don't care about or like Barb, unpopular opinion - which is honestly kind of the result of them not making us care about her like we do for Chrissy.
It was really hard to care about her because Will already disappeared by the time she was introduced. Personally, while watching the show the first time, all I thought about was how Will would be retrieved. Her character is not interesting or important enough to pay attention to.
@@MarcDoesNotKnow Really the only reason I felt bad for Barb was because I felt kinda bad for Nancy? But also, like, I don't understand how Barb is all like "Yeah, Nance, Steve likes you! You should hang out with him!" and then when she wants to Barb is like mad? I stopped caring about Barb like, the sec she started being annoying at the party lol
Barb didn’t exist outside of Nancy. She really doesn’t interact much with anyone else. Her story is integral to Nancy’s and Nancy’s alone, at least emotionally. Maybe if they had flashbacks in season 2 of Barb, there’d be more emotional resonance. Chrissy is part of EVERYONE’S story, even people she didn’t meet. Her death is the inciting incident, it promotes Jason to action and creates Eddie’s dilemma which makes the gang act.She is the first of Vecna’s gates. We also see her torment while she’s alone, as the video says we see her inner and public life. She’s more like Will in the first season than Barb. We see Will playing a game, we watch him try to fight the monster, and we see what Will means to people through interactions via flashback. We are immediately rooting for this kid to survive not only for the sake of others but bc of who HE is. Same for Chrissy. Barb’s death is more like Fred’s or the other jock but with a little more emotion bc of Nancy. Fred’s story could’ve been more interesting bc it’s so complicated and he knows Nancy from the paper and Probably Jonathan too. But the season would’ve probably become over bloated.
@@jackierosas9593 I honestly thought they were going to do more with Fred, given his little friendship he had with Nancy - but I wasn't too surprised that he ended up just being another Vecna victim. Instead, we got Nancy and Robin starting a friendship and I liked that a lot.
That's how Max was able to run away as she suddenly had a way out, she COULD say NO. Every person had to accept their fate, that's how Vecna was able to kill them. The spell only worked if the succumbed. Which was great!
I love how with the tragedy of Chrissy's death, we are also informed of how threatening Vecna's inescapability is as a villain. It makes us hate the villain too for killing and scarring characters we empathize with. The attribute of a hateful villain is a great villain archetype, and honestly one we haven't seen for a while in film/TV. Great analysis!
Im surprised people haven’t talked about this (especially Scream fans) that they had Chrissy go threw a similar route with Casey from Scream. They had Drew be the main spotlight in the promotion, posters, ect making the audience think shes the final girl/main character (the same route from the girl in Psycho) but soon was killed off in the first 12 minutes opening of the film which they did with Chrissy, having her be in a few scenes interacting with the main characters (Max and Eddie) and having a character but soon was killed off in the last 3 minutes of episode 1. Truly excellent writing and one of the reason why s4 is my favorite season.
I loved Chrissy and she seems like the nicest kind of person. Like the rich girl who buys you anything you want because she knows your family can't afford to. And then expects nothing in return, not even your friendship.
I JUST FOUND OUT SOMETHING Chrissy was supposed to see Eddie’s band performance but she died before it happened so it felt like we could of have more Chrissy screen time AND THE SANE THING HAPPENED TO MAX… she was supposed to see a movie on Friday with Lucas but she’s in a coma now!!!!!!
I think this is a good way to use a cliché character or character trope because then you have to do less to make the audience understand them. All they needed to actually confirm was that Chrissy wasn't a "mean girl" type of popular, just that she's actually well liked.
the duffers said that's why they cast grace. she was the only one in auditions who played the character as sweet. everyone else played her as a mean girl
I loved this video! It's a great little guide for writing this kind of character. Can you (maybe in a short?) Contrast Chrissy with Fred? I thought Fred's Vecna curse was weirdly quick, but maybe that's because we already saw Chrissy's experience and we can extrapolate what happened to Fred. His death is a tool to get Nancy into same situation as the other Hawkins kids
I think the main thing that was wrong about that side plot was because it wasn’t as important as it should’ve been. We saw the main threat coming closer and we were left with a cliffhanger just to move onto a completely different setting and characters. It’s difficult to grab interest when the main characters are fighting monsters for Hawkins, while Eleven is just discovering who she wants to be and where she came from.
I've been thinking about that episode because it is so odd. I think the point of El hooking up with the side plot comes down again to 3 points. 1.She learns that anger can increase her power (she didn't remember Henry at this point.) 2.She chooses compassion with the very man who hurt her mother. This is important because of her inner struggles with her concerns that she may be a monster. She only kills when in danger. And 3. Most importantly, every fight she has been in she has sort of no choice but to be the protector. She's been put in the position of people expecting her to use her powers however THEY want/need. She was given the opportunity to walk away to forge her own life with a group that actually accepted her with someone who shares a past ans the weirdness of having powers (vs being alone) and for the first time, El CHOOSES to fight, chooses her Hawkins family. Up until this point, she is reacting to the incidents around her, but the moment she decides the she has to go back because "can save them" she has actual agency in her own life - really for the first time. From then on, she's an equal to everyone else and more -a SELF APPOINTED protector. So however weird that episode was, I think it was important for her to have the opportunity to chose another life and to choose Hawkins instead. Just my thoughts.
I hope in a parallel universe Chrissy and Eddie had the chance to become friends, they look so cute together and we only had a few scenes with them together...
I loved this analysis! Chrissy was with Heather and Alexei one of those super tertiary but cute characters that I couldn't stop thinking of. Could you do an analysis about Billy? I find fascinating how this 80s bully cliche storm ended being one of the most complex antagonists of the show and had such an impact plot and character wise (and how his abuse was so handwaved)
Something interesting I noticed is that the mum was making Chrissy's Cheerleading outfit in her vision showing how Chrissy is literally wearing her trauma associated with her mother.
I agree with everything you said. Chrissy was such a interesting character. Het conversation with Eddie, her nightmares it all made me like her. I was shocked when she died even though I kind of knew it was going to happen. The actress did such a fantastic job making Chrissy likeable. At first you think she's just a typical high school cheerleader but instead they show both through her conversation with Eddie and her nightmares that she has layers. Awesome video man👍 Hope you do more Stranger Things analysing videos 👏
I feel like Chrissy had so much potential as a character. Ik her death basically started off the series but I would have loved for her to stay longer 😭
Great analysis. I was fully invested in the Chrissy/Eddie relationship. The writing of course was a huge part of this, but both actors did such a good job with their characters and had really great chemistry together. Honestly until her jaw and eyes went i was still holding out hope that maaaybe she would live, but instead it was just the most horrifying thing shown on Stranger Things so far!
I'm glad you're covering a wider variety of topics! I LOVE your insights on Arcane, especially since I wasn't familiar with the games until Netflix. But I also know only talking about one thing on UA-cam can be pretty limiting, especially considering all the work that goes into it. Thanks for not letting yourself fall into that rut! Taking that risk to expand despite what made you popular! PLEASE keep talking about whatever you're passionate about because it bleeds into your work and gives me a new appreciation for the things I also enjoy!
I love your Chrissy character breakdown. I totally agree with you about watching a budding romance between Chrissy and Eddie. There's definitely a chemistry. Hoping to see a future project with Joseph and Grace together.
7:35, I feel like this future scene kind-of happens when Eddie plays his guitar in the last episode. Before he started playing he dedicated the song to Chrissy who never did get to see him play. I'm not nitpicking I just wanted to share this connection I saw.
what i find interesting about the cutting a story short thing is that the duffer brothers have said that they might have not killed chrissy off if they had seen the chemistry between her and eddie. i think it shows a weakness of the show that i think you’ve maybe talked about which is what characters they’ve chosen (or not chosen) to kill
Ngl my heart really broke and I was so sad when she died. Not only because of her great chemistry with Eddie but also because she was such a sweet and kind person.
One problem with Chrissy's death is that they gave her toooo much story potential. I actively feel like the story would be more interesting if she didn't die that early because she was so well built up. You need to give them enough story that something is lost, but if you give them that much the story is sabotaging its full potential by ending their story far too early for what it narratively deserves
I read some good advice about this before: if you're killing off a character, make sure that the story without them is more compelling than the story with them.
Except the narrative is far better served by her death than her life. It pushes Eddie into peril and sends Jason and his gang on a path of revenge. Her death is the inciting incident of the season and nothing happens at all the way it does without her going out. The fact that we can sit here and think of what her life should have been isn’t a failing of the story, it’s the tragedy it’s going for. Chrissy turns Jason from sorta douche to full on psycho, and turns Eddie from a lovable coward into a sacrificial hero. These arcs matter to the viewer because you can understand why she was so impactful to the characters… because she was impactful to us. We don’t want her to die because she’s so likable and deserves to live, because of the could-be’s of her potential life, not because that death doesn’t serve the story perfectly. Chrissy’s death means nothing unless we, as an audience, can see the future taken away from her. Just because we want something doesn’t mean the story would be better with it. Pushing her death back just delays the plot, and if you swap her death with the next victim (whose name I’m blanking on) that means that we aren’t as invested in the mystery. Plus, Chrissy’s death makes Max’s scene in episode 4 so much more stressful because we’ve lost someone that we were already invested in and recognize the danger. So the story becomes structurally worse if Chrissy’s death doesn’t cap off episode 1. No amount of adorable scenes between Chrissy and Eddie are better than the momentum her death gives the whole season. It’s why, about 9 hours of show later, that when Eddie dedicated his performance in the Upside Down to Chrissy, it all still rings true. Because almost everything about this season’s Hawkins storyline ties back to her. She’s never forgotten by the audience or the characters. I honestly can’t imagine a better use of a character than that.
"you can't cut a story short if you don't set it up to be long" damn that should be so obvious, but that's a revelation for me. Love your content man, hope you'll analyze more shows! (like Severance!)
This video is basically everything I have been screaming from the rooftops about Chrissy since day one and then some, amazingly done really well thought out video. It has been over a month since I've watched the season and I am *still* so upset by Chrissy being taken from us so soon when her storyline had such promise and intrigue. The way I was able to feel such an emotional attachment to a character in such a short time is miraculous, and is something the show has never pulled off quite like this before. I did want to add that a level of subversion was very much at play too. Stranger Things has always leaned into horror/sci-fi tropes, and with the big bad being, essentially, a slasher killer, Chrissy embodied the "final girl" archetype, she is the type of character that is terrorized by the horror but ultimately survives and is (usually) the sole survivor. Beyond that, we as an audience have (presumably) seen the previous 3 seasons of Stanger Things, we are very familiar with its structure and we can presume s4 will bring new principal characters. Chrissy's scenes were giving her the "new main character" setup, she has just as many scenes as Eddie does in ep1. So we're primed to watch this with the expectation Chrissy will survive the horror, or at least live til the end of the season, and so we're invested. But then... she doesn't, and it sets the tone for the rest of the season, that nobody is safe and the stakes are high
The Eddie and chrissy scene in the woods is like 5 min long and has had such a big impact on the whole story, on how to write good character, or chemistry, oh how much he cared about this 2 over one scene, just a beautiful scene, both actors doing their best work imo. They have more chemistry even just as friends in that one scene than other couples do in full seasons. It was just beautiful to see and then heartbreaking to see her die.
I got so deeply invested in Chrissy's and Eddie's relationship, I thought it was the cutest scene ever and I imediately wanted to see more scenes with them and for them to potentially get together. I was in love with chrissy. And then they just took her away. I was so sad.
I felt so much for Chrissy, I really miss her character. Her writing was so effective that I really did get attached and she was only in one episode. Love Chrissy.
I just hope that after Stranger things is done, the Duffer brothers keep making movies and tv shows for us. These 10 minutes of Chrissy and Eddie, like you said, I would have loved a whole season just about them. The horror, the emotion, the impact of her. This season honestly was so great
I really appreciate your videos; the way you break down concepts to be quick and easy to understand is helpful for my easily-distracted brain, haha. Your analyses have helped me see my own writing from a different perspective, which has improved my stories a lot!
i really appreciate that this video of making me rethink chrissy. i originally was kinda irritated by stranger things making this characters speed of death so fast, but with the comments you had about it, everything else around it makes more sense. I kinda wanna see what more you have to say about the topic of fridging, especially when it relates to chrissy and eddie. I feel like that’s something that really bothered me in this show when i watched it the first time, but after this video, i feel like eddie’s motivation is a more nuanced? Especially since he spent time sulking by himself and later became motivated by a team along with the knowledge of chrissy??? I WANNA HEAR WHAT YOU GOTTA SAY!!! Is fridging bad? Is there a way to make fridging better for your story? how is fridging done “bad” vs. “good”? how do you kill off a character without fridging them?
I loved how they wrote her despite the fact that I was angry that they killed her, I wanted her to last so she and Eddie could be the best of friends. When they interacted and Chrissy says she thought Eddie would be mean and scary, and Eddie responded with “I thought you would be mean and scary”, and her little gasp and look of astonishment as she quietly goes “me?”, just solidified that they would’ve been best friends forever.
I just want to say how much I appreciated this video. It came up on my feed again today and I wanted you to know that two years later I still think about this vid all the time. It was really well put together and makes such good points. Bravo!🥰
I did get attached to the new characters/ones we haven’t seen in a while. Henry Creel/One/Vecna, Argyle, Eddie Munson, Jason Carver, Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov, Yuri Ismaylov, Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, & Wayne Munson.
some good examples of the "write a future that won't happen and then kill them" rule are Junpei and Kokichi from JJK, both could have had futures but were both killed prematurely by Mahito.
Eddie and Chrissy are the only two characters in Stranger Things I've truly loved so far! Eddie Munson has earned a place among the 3 characters I find most relatable, which is no easy task, but he did it! I haven't related to a character like I have Eddie Munson in years! There were even some traits about Chrissy I found relatable. It was no where near Eddie's levels of relatability for me, but still WAY more than the any other Stranger Things characters!
As a nerd, I have found it weird how little I've related to any of the Stranger Things characters, but that changed with Eddie and Chrissy. It made me extra sad both are dead. I found the previous seasons of the show just ok, but season 4 was phenomenal for me, mainly because of Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham! Without them, I think season 5 will just go back to being maybe ok, but not special like season 4 was for me. Season 4 will forever hold a special place in my fangirl heart!
Bro now that you analyzed her deeply I realize I relate to her- body insecures, isolating myself, posable ed (that was more in the past im doing better and I never got one diagnosed), feeling like no one can help me, feeling like I can’t fix anything, and not able to escape dark/bad thoughts (it’s terrifying af when it happeneds)
She isn't just a supporting character for Vecna. She is fundamental to Eddie and Eddie definitely is in the Upside Down. So is Chrissy. So is Max. Everyone Vecna captures becomes part of his world
It's interesting that you mention visually mention Earthbound when talking about the breaks Chrissy receives considering Earthbound is also about psychic powers and also the weird unnatural damage Vecna's victims experience mirrors that of films mimicking Ringu/The Ring, which is also about demented psychic power. Makes me wonder where the original "body crumpled like paper by psychic power" imagery came from.
I feel like the inner conflict part is supported by the setting. In the '80s, it was uncommon for people to feel like they can actually open up to others about trauma and mental health.
I really love the way the Duffer brothers wrote Chrissy and Grace did such a great job portraying the character. It's just so sad that some Eddie Munson/Joseph Quinn stans hate her so much and how they twist everything she says and does.
Eddies and chrissies scene in the woods is such a sweet moment, nothing romantic or awkward, just 2 individuals connecting and sharing a moment between 2 misunderstood characters. I love how they didnt try to make it out as a budding romantic relationship because a relationship between a male and female does not have to be romantic, they can still care for and help eachother without the need of romance being involved. We can share human moments together, we deserve to be able to share human moments together
It's really similar to the way big hero six establishes their characters, the connections between them and the bright futures we want for them before the story really begins.
Crossing my fingers that you make one for Eddie as well. As much as I love him, I need someone to make some sort of analysis for him cause I cannot just accept the ending. I mean, he's most definitely dead (and if he's not, phew) cause the Kas theory makes more sense to be Eleven and I hate that he's dead- but I want you to make some sort of video about cause your videos makes so much sense. Obviously, not forcing you to, but your videos just scratch at that part of my brain that makes me think 'thank gosh I'm not the only one who thinks that way' and 'this is an interesting way to take in this media'. but yeah, great vid. sorry for the awkward end of the comment lol.
My goal in life is to write a piece of fiction worthy of being analyzed by Schnee… Hehe, seriously though, I’ve binged your whole channel and love your deep dives, thank you for the entertainment & writing help!!
"Write a future that will not happen and then kill them" is honestly some of the best writing-death advice I've gotten
Yeah, but you gotta be careful not to make it a “what’re you gonna do after the final battle” kind of thing. That just ends up making it a death flag.
@@NerdEnthusiast Yeah, we're basically conditioned at this point to spot those flags a mile away. So a guess creating a balance in not making it obvious that a character will die. It could just as easily have been Eddie who died if we'd gotten a few more scenes with him that established trauma and him being cursed.
It's very good advice as long as you don't make it obvious. Like the "man hugs his wife and children in the beginning of the story promising them that he will be back soon and then he dies" cliché. Or any character going elsewhere and promising the rest of the group that they will return soon.
@@orianamariasanchezvaldivie2423 girl that a big ass spoiler 🤡🤡☠️
@@kardelenkelek229 wups I forgot AJJSJSSJS
The most important part is that Chrissy isn't forgotten after she dies. She doesn't kick the bucket and is subsequently ignored for the rest of the series. She is important to every party, the Hellfire club looks for justice for her, the football kids start hunting Hellfire for revenge, and she's important to Vecna for his plan to bridge the gap between the Upside Down and our world. She receives this interesting and compelling character development, and even after she's gone, she continues to impact the story due to her relationships with other living characters.
not to mention her impact on eddie
It’s funny because the 2 guys Vecna kills basically do kick the bucket and get subsequently ignored
@@rivalflash4569 lol yeah, Fred and Patrick were pretty much disposable, at least on an emotional level.
@@loco_logic Patrick isn’t talked about enough but he served a big purpose. His death helped Lucas grow and become more empathetic in his arc with Max, and Jason witnessing his death is the reason he went from the somewhat sane “I don’t believe in magic” guy to the crazed satanic panic guy that gets the town in a frenzy and pulls a gun on Lucas
That is the most important part
I remember that I first perked up about Chrissy when Max asked her if she was fine and She actually _doesn't_ get aggressive right away. She says she's fine and go away... Please. She is clearly someone who is trying to be polite even if she is not feeling well. Her aggressivness only comes when she thinks Max still hasn't left even after she asked her to _twice_ .
The reason this stood out to me so much is that from popculture we are kind of trained to think of the headcheerleader as HeadBisch. especially if she is dating the Sports Captain. But Chrissy, in every interaction we see her seems genuine, sweet, polite and caring. A real departure from "Baddest Bisch in the School"
So true and this is why I felt so bad for her when she died...
@@manuelk1853 As he said, it feels cut short. You _want_ her to find happieness, to overcome her struggles, to be friends with eddie... And none of it happens
This is for you Chrissy…
what's the difference between Bisch and bitch
@@tovi3280 None, I just don't know if there is some sort of Algorithm that picks up on specific words. Don't want to get my channel suddenly deleted (again) becasue I supposedly have had "p****graphic material".
Srsly. It happened, i have never gotten my channel back and to this day I hve no idea what they are talking about. No explenation, nothing , just... poof.
Another thing I liked about Chrissy is how accepting she was of someone like Eddie. Despite him being a traditional "freak" architype, she didn't judge him for selling drugs or being weird and trusted him enough to go to him for help. Truly a kind hearted sweetheart that died too young.
As soon as she liked Eddie I knew I would too. Now I can’t get through the fact he’s death…I got to care about a heavy metal D&D master drug seller…and he’s freakin death.
I also love how subtle they were with telling Chrissy’s story. Like if you look at her nightmares, without directly telling you, they’re able to create a succinct picture, that Chrissy suffered from an eating disorder that made her overweight to some extent, and her mother was like tyrannically obsessed with Chrissy’s image, loosening up dresses for her to wear, talking about how she’s GOING to look so pretty and a father who’s in a manner of speaking blind and mute to these issues (literally in the nightmare with his eyes and mouth sewn shut), so likely that he was much nicer to her than her mother was but that he was afraid to stand up to her about it or perhaps couldn’t.
Edit: someone pointed out that her eating disorder may more likely be a product of her mother gaslighting and is in fact under-eating, which is even better imo.
Contextualized with how they depict her high social status at school, which again, contextually is shown to be the only thing holding her self esteem together in the fact that her toxic home life is being wielded as a weapon against her by Vecna.
Like it is aggressively telling you all this with ZERO exposition all contained within the first episode of the season as one of like 5 different main points of view. It is incredibly well done and then in building all this care and sympathy for her, slowly backing her into this corner before she’s like killed in the most graphic, horrifying way is just so impactful.
Point of clarification: Chrissy was NEVER overweight. She was cultivated by her mother to be neurotic over being slim - loosening her dress was her mom gaslighting her into thinking she's fat and will only be getting fatter. That's the source of her eating disorder. And yep - it's very subtle. Very well-defined character for such a small role!
This is an amazing example of show not tell, which is a fantastic writing tool that people forget to use, even in films. Stranger Things used it and they used it well.
@@GainsTuesday are we sure about that? I’m only sort of working off her nightmare mom’s comments and the banquet table full of fly infested rotten food, interpreting those things. Like whether that imagery was communicating that Vecna is like guilting her for overeating or if the fly-ridden food is a representation of her aversion to eating food because of her mother’s gaslighting. I do like your interpretation though since the eating disorder is not a contributing factor to the cause of her trauma, but that her eating disorder is the opposite, a symptom of her trauma that came about from her demon mom, so like she was undereating and not overeating.
@@The_Story_Of_Us I interpreted the rotten food as the visualisation of her relationship with food because of her ED - she sees food as something bad that she doesn't want to eat because it'll make her gain weight.
Yeah, the brothers Duff do such a great job of subverting your expectations of character archetypes. Hopper, Nancy, Chrissy, Eddie, etc.
Grace Van Dien's acting is so organic and convincing, I'm in love with her performance as Chrissy
In 15 minutes of screen time Grace shows more depth and range than her father did during his entire career! 😁
I love how Eddie and Chrissy started an adorable friendship over drugs…
Weed, harmless
They honestly had me feeling like Chrissy was going to be a main character that season who’d stick around to the end. Such a well written character considering that she died within the first episode.
i think they also are able to make us feel attached to chrissy by making her story mirror nancy in season 1. where we have a beautiful girl who is with the popular guy, confronted with an evil she does not understand and with which she can't get help from her boyfriend, since he wouldn't understand. then she has to get help from the social outcast whom she learns is not as bad a guy. and then the popular guy, the outcast and the girl work together to stop the monster
so by making her story mirror nancy's story it makes us get attached quicker, and then it rips the rug out from under us by the evil being to strong, which results in chrissy dying, eddie becoming a bigger social outcast, and Jason being unable to see the other side of the story.
Nice observation! I had already started to hope that all 3 of them would join the group that knows all the weird shit going on in Hawkins (including Jason, I'd hoped he'd eventually get along with Eddie since there seemed to be some antagonism from the get go.
@@joyc.e.7511 Truth is all three could’ve made good additions to the group - and might have been added if it was earlier in the series - hence the sense of loss. Chrissy would’ve been a great addition, and Eddie basically became a great addition.
Jason’s fondness for tone deaf speechifying and self aggrandizement aside, we do see good qualities in him as well. There is the making for him to have matured into either a decent guy - or a cult leader - depending on circumstances. In a way, he and Eddie were both victims of what was a real “Satanic Panic” national narrative surrounding D&D in the 80s.
@@Pathfinder197 yeah I mean the fact is, jason is always acting from the goodness of his heart. and when patrick dies he starts with the satan bullshit because he's genuinely terrified. from his perspective, there's no rational explanation for why patrick died like that, except demonic posession. unfortunately he ends up doing only harm and no good.
@@joyc.e.7511 Honestly I still don't get why Suzy and that other girl how made out with that hippy guy joined to Jhonathan's group and came along.
ngl they would have been a good addition to the cast, specially eddie and chrissie..
it’s so cool that a “good” character or someone aligned with the protagonists can be a support for the antagonist. I love that I not only learn but understand something new every schnee video
Honestly same, I had never even considered a good aligned character to be able to support the antagonist and it's things like this that keep me coming to every Schnee video to keep learning more and more
This is what amazed me about season 4. I got attached to every new character who was eventually killed. Even the basketball guy.
Even Fred? I mean he was a nice guy but also a simp
Ew, even Jason???
EVEN JASON?
Jason or Patrick
@@diamondbaker5331 lmao right? I was WAITING for Jason's death lol
When i watched episode 1 i was hoping so much that Chrissy didn’t die, but deep down i knew that’s what was going to happen.
Kind of makes you think had Eddie been faster would she have been spared from Vecna
same lol
@@def3ndr887 wait i dont get it.. how could Eddie save her from vecna? wouldn't vecna just come for her again even after the drugs wear off?
@@addisonlee1511 it may have bought some time and Vecna might’ve went on to the next victim similar to Max’s case
@@def3ndr887 bur didnt vecna came back for Max? wouldn't he also came back for chrissy tho?
“You can’t cut a story short if you don’t set it up to be long”
This is gold!
Her death broke my heart because that scene in the woodland with Eddie was so wholesome and beautiful and I desperately wished for them to team up and develop a deep bond. Even though I'm still upset about her death, I can say I now understand how her death was set up to impact us and the story
To me there's also pregnancy imagery evoked in the bathroom scene. Countless films had the pretty girl in school sobbing in the school bathroom after learning she is pregnant and, on first watch, my mind immediately thought 'ok she just found out she's pregnant'.
Pregnancy is something growing inside of them, that they are scared of, whether it's scared for themselves, scared for the future or scared of telling their parents or boyfriend.
Whereas in Chrissy's situation, she probably feels like insanity is growing inside of her, with her visions and nightmares worsening and she is also scared of telling others.
So she turns to an outsider for help, someone who won't judge her, Eddie.
"I personally at this moment want to see a whole season about the freak and the cheerleader's budding relationship"
Welp. That's what fanfiction is for I guess.
The way I could drip some fanfic recs about these two...
@@vickytaa1 Only a month since Vol 2 as well. Just imagine when the good ones are actually finished.
I'm actually writing one about how Chrissy and Jason met as I NEED more about them
@@vickytaa1 do it give me the recommendations👀 I need
@@vickytaa1 do it bestie. I read so many by now but it’s never enough 🫶🏼
I think that we all can agree that Chrissy and Eddie both deserved so much better. I can see Chrissy becoming part of the main cast and possibly getting with Eddie. At least her death was given the respect it deserved. Fly high Chrissy, fly high. 😔
she already flied high... (sorry)
@@rafaelaclerici5579 Really 😭🤣
@@rafaelaclerici5579 LMFAO
@@rafaelaclerici5579 ''THIS broke me'' [Chrissy, probably]
I feel like her innocence and how sweet she was also played a huge part for me, and how genuine her and Eddie's interactions were
Gutted they died, even if we only saw Chrissy at the start
Glad to see someone else really appreciated her characterisation. Impressive what the duffers were able to do in only 1 episode. Can’t wait for season 5
Eddie and Chrissy had such sweet and heartwarming personalities.
Honestly, I feel horrible for Chrissy. I feel more pain for her death than I ever did for Barb. I really don't care about or like Barb, unpopular opinion - which is honestly kind of the result of them not making us care about her like we do for Chrissy.
Barb really said "omg Steve likes you Nancy! Wait, you're going to have sex with him? WTF???"
It was really hard to care about her because Will already disappeared by the time she was introduced. Personally, while watching the show the first time, all I thought about was how Will would be retrieved. Her character is not interesting or important enough to pay attention to.
@@MarcDoesNotKnow Really the only reason I felt bad for Barb was because I felt kinda bad for Nancy? But also, like, I don't understand how Barb is all like "Yeah, Nance, Steve likes you! You should hang out with him!" and then when she wants to Barb is like mad? I stopped caring about Barb like, the sec she started being annoying at the party lol
Barb didn’t exist outside of Nancy. She really doesn’t interact much with anyone else. Her story is integral to Nancy’s and Nancy’s alone, at least emotionally. Maybe if they had flashbacks in season 2 of Barb, there’d be more emotional resonance.
Chrissy is part of EVERYONE’S story, even people she didn’t meet. Her death is the inciting incident, it promotes Jason to action and creates Eddie’s dilemma which makes the gang act.She is the first of Vecna’s gates. We also see her torment while she’s alone, as the video says we see her inner and public life.
She’s more like Will in the first season than Barb. We see Will playing a game, we watch him try to fight the monster, and we see what Will means to people through interactions via flashback. We are immediately rooting for this kid to survive not only for the sake of others but bc of who HE is. Same for Chrissy.
Barb’s death is more like Fred’s or the other jock but with a little more emotion bc of Nancy. Fred’s story could’ve been more interesting bc it’s so complicated and he knows Nancy from the paper and Probably Jonathan too. But the season would’ve probably become over bloated.
@@jackierosas9593 I honestly thought they were going to do more with Fred, given his little friendship he had with Nancy - but I wasn't too surprised that he ended up just being another Vecna victim. Instead, we got Nancy and Robin starting a friendship and I liked that a lot.
That's how Max was able to run away as she suddenly had a way out, she COULD say NO. Every person had to accept their fate, that's how Vecna was able to kill them. The spell only worked if the succumbed. Which was great!
I love how with the tragedy of Chrissy's death, we are also informed of how threatening Vecna's inescapability is as a villain. It makes us hate the villain too for killing and scarring characters we empathize with. The attribute of a hateful villain is a great villain archetype, and honestly one we haven't seen for a while in film/TV. Great analysis!
Something perhaps obvious is that Vecna's connection with time is inextricably linked to his connection with inescapability.
Was just thinking of that!! I love the symbolism in this show!
Im surprised people haven’t talked about this (especially Scream fans) that they had Chrissy go threw a similar route with Casey from Scream. They had Drew be the main spotlight in the promotion, posters, ect making the audience think shes the final girl/main character (the same route from the girl in Psycho) but soon was killed off in the first 12 minutes opening of the film which they did with Chrissy, having her be in a few scenes interacting with the main characters (Max and Eddie) and having a character but soon was killed off in the last 3 minutes of episode 1. Truly excellent writing and one of the reason why s4 is my favorite season.
'A Nightmare on Elm Street' is another good comparison. Tina, the first victim, is short for Christina.
@@silenthunteruk True on that as soon as I saw Chrissy’s Nightmare/Death it reminded me of Tina’s Death and Vecna deeply reminded of Freddy
8:37 not him replaying that scene over and over again 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀 KJNFDGFDGJK HE EVEN PLAYED IT BACKWARDS
I loved Chrissy and she seems like the nicest kind of person. Like the rich girl who buys you anything you want because she knows your family can't afford to. And then expects nothing in return, not even your friendship.
I would love if you talked about Eddie and his trauma after seeing Chrissy die
Yes I would absolutely want to see this analysis!!
I JUST FOUND OUT SOMETHING
Chrissy was supposed to see Eddie’s band performance but she died before it happened so it felt like we could of have more Chrissy screen time
AND THE SANE THING HAPPENED TO MAX… she was supposed to see a movie on Friday with Lucas but she’s in a coma now!!!!!!
Did you watch the video
@@mitjamackenzie1219 yes.. why are you asking?
And I think the upside down concert was on Tuesday, the same day Eddie played at the hideout 🥲
@@marvel096and he said for Chrissy 😖
I think this is a good way to use a cliché character or character trope because then you have to do less to make the audience understand them. All they needed to actually confirm was that Chrissy wasn't a "mean girl" type of popular, just that she's actually well liked.
the duffers said that's why they cast grace. she was the only one in auditions who played the character as sweet. everyone else played her as a mean girl
I loved this video! It's a great little guide for writing this kind of character. Can you (maybe in a short?) Contrast Chrissy with Fred? I thought Fred's Vecna curse was weirdly quick, but maybe that's because we already saw Chrissy's experience and we can extrapolate what happened to Fred. His death is a tool to get Nancy into same situation as the other Hawkins kids
good idea! might do that!
I think it’s bc they only had time to develop the curse for one character, when in reality the concept warrants a whole season’s focus.
This is so good,i loved chrissy so much. Also who else got better at writing after watching his videos
Well, I do plan to kill off characters in the first 15 minutes of my script, so this video will definately be helpful to me
Crissy and Eddie are the great tragedies of season 4. When Eddie died, I was literally yelling at my TV "Why couldn't you kill Johnathan?!" LMAO
I'd love to hear you talk about why that one arc with the other "elevens" in season 2 was so bad.
Same here, I loved the idea of their being kids like her, but the execution in season 2 made it so uninteresting.
I think the main thing that was wrong about that side plot was because it wasn’t as important as it should’ve been. We saw the main threat coming closer and we were left with a cliffhanger just to move onto a completely different setting and characters. It’s difficult to grab interest when the main characters are fighting monsters for Hawkins, while Eleven is just discovering who she wants to be and where she came from.
I've been thinking about that episode because it is so odd. I think the point of El hooking up with the side plot comes down again to 3 points. 1.She learns that anger can increase her power (she didn't remember Henry at this point.) 2.She chooses compassion with the very man who hurt her mother. This is important because of her inner struggles with her concerns that she may be a monster. She only kills when in danger. And 3. Most importantly, every fight she has been in she has sort of no choice but to be the protector. She's been put in the position of people expecting her to use her powers however THEY want/need. She was given the opportunity to walk away to forge her own life with a group that actually accepted her with someone who shares a past ans the weirdness of having powers (vs being alone) and for the first time, El CHOOSES to fight, chooses her Hawkins family. Up until this point, she is reacting to the incidents around her, but the moment she decides the she has to go back because "can save them" she has actual agency in her own life - really for the first time. From then on, she's an equal to everyone else and more -a SELF APPOINTED protector. So however weird that episode was, I think it was important for her to have the opportunity to chose another life and to choose Hawkins instead. Just my thoughts.
@@roxanne_ yeah, especially since we got an entire episode with just eleven
I hope in a parallel universe Chrissy and Eddie had the chance to become friends, they look so cute together and we only had a few scenes with them together...
I loved this analysis! Chrissy was with Heather and Alexei one of those super tertiary but cute characters that I couldn't stop thinking of.
Could you do an analysis about Billy? I find fascinating how this 80s bully cliche storm ended being one of the most complex antagonists of the show and had such an impact plot and character wise (and how his abuse was so handwaved)
The way you explain the scenes helps a lot with understanding the mechanic for creating a compelling character.
Something interesting I noticed is that the mum was making Chrissy's Cheerleading outfit in her vision showing how Chrissy is literally wearing her trauma associated with her mother.
I agree with everything you said. Chrissy was such a interesting character. Het conversation with Eddie, her nightmares it all made me like her. I was shocked when she died even though I kind of knew it was going to happen. The actress did such a fantastic job making Chrissy likeable. At first you think she's just a typical high school cheerleader but instead they show both through her conversation with Eddie and her nightmares that she has layers. Awesome video man👍 Hope you do more Stranger Things analysing videos 👏
I feel like Chrissy had so much potential as a character. Ik her death basically started off the series but I would have loved for her to stay longer 😭
Great analysis. I was fully invested in the Chrissy/Eddie relationship. The writing of course was a huge part of this, but both actors did such a good job with their characters and had really great chemistry together. Honestly until her jaw and eyes went i was still holding out hope that maaaybe she would live, but instead it was just the most horrifying thing shown on Stranger Things so far!
I'm glad you're covering a wider variety of topics! I LOVE your insights on Arcane, especially since I wasn't familiar with the games until Netflix. But I also know only talking about one thing on UA-cam can be pretty limiting, especially considering all the work that goes into it. Thanks for not letting yourself fall into that rut! Taking that risk to expand despite what made you popular! PLEASE keep talking about whatever you're passionate about because it bleeds into your work and gives me a new appreciation for the things I also enjoy!
I love your Chrissy character breakdown. I totally agree with you about watching a budding romance between Chrissy and Eddie. There's definitely a chemistry. Hoping to see a future project with Joseph and Grace together.
7:35, I feel like this future scene kind-of happens when Eddie plays his guitar in the last episode. Before he started playing he dedicated the song to Chrissy who never did get to see him play. I'm not nitpicking I just wanted to share this connection I saw.
what i find interesting about the cutting a story short thing is that the duffer brothers have said that they might have not killed chrissy off if they had seen the chemistry between her and eddie. i think it shows a weakness of the show that i think you’ve maybe talked about which is what characters they’ve chosen (or not chosen) to kill
Ngl my heart really broke and I was so sad when she died. Not only because of her great chemistry with Eddie but also because she was such a sweet and kind person.
One problem with Chrissy's death is that they gave her toooo much story potential. I actively feel like the story would be more interesting if she didn't die that early because she was so well built up. You need to give them enough story that something is lost, but if you give them that much the story is sabotaging its full potential by ending their story far too early for what it narratively deserves
true true
I read some good advice about this before: if you're killing off a character, make sure that the story without them is more compelling than the story with them.
Except the narrative is far better served by her death than her life. It pushes Eddie into peril and sends Jason and his gang on a path of revenge. Her death is the inciting incident of the season and nothing happens at all the way it does without her going out. The fact that we can sit here and think of what her life should have been isn’t a failing of the story, it’s the tragedy it’s going for. Chrissy turns Jason from sorta douche to full on psycho, and turns Eddie from a lovable coward into a sacrificial hero. These arcs matter to the viewer because you can understand why she was so impactful to the characters… because she was impactful to us. We don’t want her to die because she’s so likable and deserves to live, because of the could-be’s of her potential life, not because that death doesn’t serve the story perfectly.
Chrissy’s death means nothing unless we, as an audience, can see the future taken away from her. Just because we want something doesn’t mean the story would be better with it. Pushing her death back just delays the plot, and if you swap her death with the next victim (whose name I’m blanking on) that means that we aren’t as invested in the mystery. Plus, Chrissy’s death makes Max’s scene in episode 4 so much more stressful because we’ve lost someone that we were already invested in and recognize the danger. So the story becomes structurally worse if Chrissy’s death doesn’t cap off episode 1.
No amount of adorable scenes between Chrissy and Eddie are better than the momentum her death gives the whole season. It’s why, about 9 hours of show later, that when Eddie dedicated his performance in the Upside Down to Chrissy, it all still rings true. Because almost everything about this season’s Hawkins storyline ties back to her. She’s never forgotten by the audience or the characters. I honestly can’t imagine a better use of a character than that.
@@Zakemaster Well said! 👏🏻
No. That's exactly why her death is so impactful
"you can't cut a story short if you don't set it up to be long" damn that should be so obvious, but that's a revelation for me. Love your content man, hope you'll analyze more shows! (like Severance!)
You always get me thinking about the characters on a deeper level, it's awesome. Keep up the great work!!
This video is basically everything I have been screaming from the rooftops about Chrissy since day one and then some, amazingly done really well thought out video. It has been over a month since I've watched the season and I am *still* so upset by Chrissy being taken from us so soon when her storyline had such promise and intrigue. The way I was able to feel such an emotional attachment to a character in such a short time is miraculous, and is something the show has never pulled off quite like this before.
I did want to add that a level of subversion was very much at play too. Stranger Things has always leaned into horror/sci-fi tropes, and with the big bad being, essentially, a slasher killer, Chrissy embodied the "final girl" archetype, she is the type of character that is terrorized by the horror but ultimately survives and is (usually) the sole survivor. Beyond that, we as an audience have (presumably) seen the previous 3 seasons of Stanger Things, we are very familiar with its structure and we can presume s4 will bring new principal characters. Chrissy's scenes were giving her the "new main character" setup, she has just as many scenes as Eddie does in ep1. So we're primed to watch this with the expectation Chrissy will survive the horror, or at least live til the end of the season, and so we're invested. But then... she doesn't, and it sets the tone for the rest of the season, that nobody is safe and the stakes are high
The Eddie and chrissy scene in the woods is like 5 min long and has had such a big impact on the whole story, on how to write good character, or chemistry, oh how much he cared about this 2 over one scene, just a beautiful scene, both actors doing their best work imo. They have more chemistry even just as friends in that one scene than other couples do in full seasons. It was just beautiful to see and then heartbreaking to see her die.
I'm liking the Stranger Things content.
Same !
this made me really realize how well written chrissy’s storyline was. RIP chrissy
I got so deeply invested in Chrissy's and Eddie's relationship, I thought it was the cutest scene ever and I imediately wanted to see more scenes with them and for them to potentially get together. I was in love with chrissy. And then they just took her away. I was so sad.
This is perfect for an Arcane story im writing, Schnee! And you KNOW there's no shortness of death there.
I felt so much for Chrissy, I really miss her character. Her writing was so effective that I really did get attached and she was only in one episode. Love Chrissy.
That's what good writing does. Someone managed to add a good backstory into a short scene and the actors chemistry just brought it to life.
I’m gonna continue an old webseries I made with my friend as a kid and I’m gonna introduce characters that die immediately so this might help
@@christopherhosein9288 nah that would be promotion
@@cawsomeaolin DO IT ANYWAYS THE PEOPLE DEMAND IT!!
that was seriously one of the most emotionally painful things i've EVER WATCHED EVER.
god what a heartbreaking scenario.
Season 4 is filled with memorable and lovable side characters, chrissy, argyle, Eddie, enzo etc. they are all amazing characters fr
chrissy and eddies chemistry was so good im still salty she died so fast T_T
HellCheer became my Stranger Things OTP! None of the other romances have had even one ounce of that chemistry!
I just hope that after Stranger things is done, the Duffer brothers keep making movies and tv shows for us. These 10 minutes of Chrissy and Eddie, like you said, I would have loved a whole season just about them. The horror, the emotion, the impact of her. This season honestly was so great
I really appreciate your videos; the way you break down concepts to be quick and easy to understand is helpful for my easily-distracted brain, haha. Your analyses have helped me see my own writing from a different perspective, which has improved my stories a lot!
Fantastic analysis, really loving these case study style videos!
Thank you for breaking down how these scenes reached me so deeply.
Thanks for the shoutout!! GoT vs Arcane?? Can’t frickin wait!!
i really appreciate that this video of making me rethink chrissy. i originally was kinda irritated by stranger things making this characters speed of death so fast, but with the comments you had about it, everything else around it makes more sense. I kinda wanna see what more you have to say about the topic of fridging, especially when it relates to chrissy and eddie. I feel like that’s something that really bothered me in this show when i watched it the first time, but after this video, i feel like eddie’s motivation is a more nuanced? Especially since he spent time sulking by himself and later became motivated by a team along with the knowledge of chrissy??? I WANNA HEAR WHAT YOU GOTTA SAY!!! Is fridging bad? Is there a way to make fridging better for your story? how is fridging done “bad” vs. “good”? how do you kill off a character without fridging them?
I loved how they wrote her despite the fact that I was angry that they killed her, I wanted her to last so she and Eddie could be the best of friends.
When they interacted and Chrissy says she thought Eddie would be mean and scary, and Eddie responded with “I thought you would be mean and scary”, and her little gasp and look of astonishment as she quietly goes “me?”, just solidified that they would’ve been best friends forever.
I just want to say how much I appreciated this video. It came up on my feed again today and I wanted you to know that two years later I still think about this vid all the time. It was really well put together and makes such good points. Bravo!🥰
I did get attached to the new characters/ones we haven’t seen in a while. Henry Creel/One/Vecna, Argyle, Eddie Munson, Jason Carver, Dmitri “Enzo” Antonov, Yuri Ismaylov, Chrissy Cunningham, Fred Benson, & Wayne Munson.
Chrissie’s death literally changed season 4’s story. Without her death, none of Hawkins would really know about Vecna
What also helps is the subvertion of expectations. We expect her to be a mean, popular cheerleader but she's actually sweet.
You are so good at this. You said everything that I was thinking and feeling while I was watching her episodes.
some good examples of the "write a future that won't happen and then kill them" rule are Junpei and Kokichi from JJK, both could have had futures but were both killed prematurely by Mahito.
Eddie and Chrissy are the only two characters in Stranger Things I've truly loved so far! Eddie Munson has earned a place among the 3 characters I find most relatable, which is no easy task, but he did it! I haven't related to a character like I have Eddie Munson in years!
There were even some traits about Chrissy I found relatable. It was no where near Eddie's levels of relatability for me, but still WAY more than the any other Stranger Things characters!
As a nerd, I have found it weird how little I've related to any of the Stranger Things characters, but that changed with Eddie and Chrissy. It made me extra sad both are dead.
I found the previous seasons of the show just ok, but season 4 was phenomenal for me, mainly because of Eddie Munson and Chrissy Cunningham!
Without them, I think season 5 will just go back to being maybe ok, but not special like season 4 was for me. Season 4 will forever hold a special place in my fangirl heart!
They really got us invested in the relationship between two new characters who had one conversation with each other
Wow, this analysis was _extremely_ detailed and excellent!! Well done! It's like you were actually one of the people behind the series.
i don't know why the "oh vecna's taking an invisible baseball bat the Chrissy's kneecaps" made me laugh so hard
Bro now that you analyzed her deeply I realize I relate to her- body insecures, isolating myself, posable ed (that was more in the past im doing better and I never got one diagnosed), feeling like no one can help me, feeling like I can’t fix anything, and not able to escape dark/bad thoughts (it’s terrifying af when it happeneds)
Chrissies only purpose is introducong the villain and Eddie as a new maincharacter and this is insanely well made.
Just clicked on it and haven’t watcher yet but just wanted to say, I thought of Mylo and Claggor when reading the title
Oh my gosh, I just watched a video about them lol
She isn't just a supporting character for Vecna. She is fundamental to Eddie and Eddie definitely is in the Upside Down. So is Chrissy. So is Max. Everyone Vecna captures becomes part of his world
It's interesting that you mention visually mention Earthbound when talking about the breaks Chrissy receives considering Earthbound is also about psychic powers and also the weird unnatural damage Vecna's victims experience mirrors that of films mimicking Ringu/The Ring, which is also about demented psychic power. Makes me wonder where the original "body crumpled like paper by psychic power" imagery came from.
This is the best scene breakdown I've ever watched. This guy knows his stuff, story-wise and psychologically.
There was so much potential with Eddie and Chrissy, but the Duffers filmed her death scene before the scene between her and Eddie. They regret it now
And can we talk about the acting???? Grace Van Dien did an amazing job
I feel like the inner conflict part is supported by the setting. In the '80s, it was uncommon for people to feel like they can actually open up to others about trauma and mental health.
I really love the way the Duffer brothers wrote Chrissy and Grace did such a great job portraying the character. It's just so sad that some Eddie Munson/Joseph Quinn stans hate her so much and how they twist everything she says and does.
Literally!
It’s bizarre when you realize just how little screen time and dialogue she had. They really nailed this.
I am hungry for this type of analytical content. So great!
She’s also a support character for Eddie but secondarily
Eddies and chrissies scene in the woods is such a sweet moment, nothing romantic or awkward, just 2 individuals connecting and sharing a moment between 2 misunderstood characters. I love how they didnt try to make it out as a budding romantic relationship because a relationship between a male and female does not have to be romantic, they can still care for and help eachother without the need of romance being involved. We can share human moments together, we deserve to be able to share human moments together
I LOVE that you „subtitle“ everything you say in the middle of the screen i have problems hearing and this helps a LOT
It's really similar to the way big hero six establishes their characters, the connections between them and the bright futures we want for them before the story really begins.
Holy crap! This is such a great breakdown of Chrissy's scenes. Subscribed for sure!
Been watching you for months, love to see more people subscribing!
Crossing my fingers that you make one for Eddie as well. As much as I love him, I need someone to make some sort of analysis for him cause I cannot just accept the ending. I mean, he's most definitely dead (and if he's not, phew) cause the Kas theory makes more sense to be Eleven and I hate that he's dead- but I want you to make some sort of video about cause your videos makes so much sense. Obviously, not forcing you to, but your videos just scratch at that part of my brain that makes me think 'thank gosh I'm not the only one who thinks that way' and 'this is an interesting way to take in this media'.
but yeah, great vid. sorry for the awkward end of the comment lol.
your compressed tightly edited narration wears my ears out.. you never breath.... i have to watch in 4 min bursts.
you should take your own advice about pacing.
i give you're impossible to listen to... should have been a 30 min video.
My goal in life is to write a piece of fiction worthy of being analyzed by Schnee…
Hehe, seriously though, I’ve binged your whole channel and love your deep dives, thank you for the entertainment & writing help!!
Was that an easter egg shounen batto reference?!
Great analysis, loved it!