Reflection on Humanity: Critical Analysis

How can society fight against the core of its existence? How can fear be healed without stripping humanity? After all, is fear not a symptom of being human? As a child is brought into the world, it enters with a cry. At the beginning of an individual’s life, where they are most vulnerable, they revert to their primal emotion: fear. This susceptibility to fear is an inherent illness that transcends societal boundaries and equalises humanity. However, the repercussions of suppressing it are warned throughout Twentieth Century poetry, a time plagued by disillusionment. The poem The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot exposes humanity as the victims of this festering disease. The nurtured growth of the virus allowed it to invade contemporary society. The television series Stranger Things, produced by the Duffer Brothers, highlights the pathogenesis of fear. The series is set within the 80s however it premiered in the 21st Century, foregrounding modern issues and the stagnancy of humanity. As engraved throughout The Hollow Men, fear is a paralysing disease that is numbed by deception; however, Stranger Things reveals that society’s ignorance has catalysed an infestation of the human condition, thereby leaving humans void of humanity. Eliot forewarned that society is both the destruction and salvation of humanity, however time is slowly dissipating.

The poem The Hollow Men serves as society’s plea for redemption as it tears the delicate layer of beauty in humanity constructed by the Romanticists. Through the manipulation of figurative devices, Eliot foregrounds the disconcerting aspects of the human condition that emerged amongst the simmering fear of the Twentieth Century. Through the metaphor, the poet positions readers to grasp the pernicious effects of fear. The deliberate characterisation of the ‘hollow men’ reveals that they are empty not only in the sense of desolation, but they have been deprived of their humanity. However, this emptiness is juxtaposed by the verse, which further implies that the men have attempted to replace their void with senseless distractions. This reflects the destructive nature of fear as the ‘hollow men’ are a microcosm for Twentieth Century society. Furthermore, in order to conceal the side-effects of fear society adopted a façade of blissful ignorance. It is this intricate mask that is exposed through the alliteration within the verses. Eliot highlights the men’s vain efforts to compensate for their emptiness by creating ‘disguises’ to conceal their deficiencies. This is a parallel to the materialistic pursuits and violent propaganda devoured by individuals throughout the Twentieth Century in order to repress their fear. However, the diversions are futile as fear lingers within humanity; this concept is demonstrated through the ‘rat’s coat’ as rats are symbols of disease, which alludes to humans carrying an illness within themselves.

Mankind’s inherent illness has resulted in the hollow men becoming synonymous with scarecrows through Eliot’s extended metaphor. This imagery exemplifies the meaningless existence of the men as the reader is positioned to view them as soulless entities, human only in appearance. By assuming deceptive disguises, people allowed fear to poison the human psyche. This fostered a Twentieth Century society imprisoned by fear as they became desensitised to humankind’s capacity for evil. The poet depicts this construct through the personification and metaphor. The ‘hollow valley’ is a barren wasteland resembling a state of purgatory for the hollow men. This wasteland is representative of war-devastated countries throughout the Twentieth Century, a period so possessed by fear that the human race constantly waged wars against itself. The eyes, however, are established as a symbol of the only source of truth in a world that has become shrouded in deceit. Throughout the poem, Eliot emphasises that the men fear these ‘eyes’ yet know that they are their only chance of reviving life in a time where death was a safe haven from the unfulfilling reality of living. Their absence foregrounds the lack of truth within society and reveals that whilst individuals are afraid of acknowledging their inherent illness, enlightenment paves the only path to freedom. Furthermore, the dying stars are also a symbol of the receding faith for human civilisation. The denial of mankind’s disease was the catalyst for a dystopian Twentieth Century in which the hope of salvation was dying with its people, leaving only the ruins of society. Therefore, in order to escape the shackles of fear society must cease its indulgence in blinding ignorance or continue its descent into oblivion.

During the Twentieth Century, ignorance masquerading as safety had catalysed a post-apocalyptic society inhabited by the living dead. This corrupted world served as a refuge for the ignorant and an abyss of self-destruction for humankind. Through the poem The Hollow Men, Eliot forewarned humanity of the impending dystopia and prescribed enlightenment as a treatment for the irrevocable illness. However, this festering disease was repressed through distractions simulating morphine which only generated mutations of fear. These transmutations have become self-sustained, evading the test of time and infiltrating the 21st century. It has now evolved into a pandemic. The implications of this outbreak within contemporary society are ingrained throughout the television series Stranger Things. Through this series, the Duffer Brothers reveal that fear is a parasite that has intertwined with the human condition and taken siege of humanity. The creators have instilled that this pervasive disease cannot be eradicated, mankind must instead learn to coexist with fear. Resorting to fight or flight is human nature, however when the adversary is the human race itself then the sole option is to regain control. For when humanity is extracted, what is left of human civilisation?

As mankind succumbed to the clutches of fear, the malignant disease began to decay the human condition; this degeneration threatened to extinguish the last vestiges of humanity within 21st century society. The Duffer Brothers make this concept palpable through the exploitation of film techniques within Stranger Things. In Season 2, Episode 6 the creators employ a long shot of a doctor in a clinical mise-en-scene setting in order to embody fear as an illness plaguing the human race. This positions audiences to grasp that the innate disease is contracted upon creation as humans are inexplicably calibrated to be predisposed to fear. Within contemporary society, their susceptibility is a burden that individuals remain oblivious to; this ignorance is a by-product of social conditioning which has indoctrinated them to believe that denying fear’s existence will eliminate it. However, this notion is deluded as fear is an ineradicable disease. The writers foreground this inescapable truth of human existence in Season 1, Episode 8 as Eleven disintegrates whilst killing the Demogorgon, a physical manifestation of fear. Through this mise-en-scene, the audience is warned that attempting to obliterate fear will only initiate the destruction of society itself. Fear and humankind are now mutually exclusive as modern society’s ignorance has enabled the parasite to invade the human condition. Ultimately, the human race has become the host, thus slaying fear is an act of extinction as it will detach them from their humanity. The Duffer Brothers further emphasise fear as a terminal illness in Season 2, Episode 6 through the fast cuts between the monster in Will’s leg and his facial expression. Although Will has escaped the confines of fear, a piece of it still continues to torment him. This scene positions the audience to understand that fear is an eternal component of human nature as it is never truly conquered, it simply loses the power it wields over society. Therefore, in order for mankind to escape the strings of fear they must shed their ignorance and become the puppeteers instead of yielding to the role of lifeless puppets.