June-July 2022 Issue #5 MM | Page 8

The Upside Down Is Soooo 1983

When the Upside Down gang arrives at Nancy ’ s house , they are unable to find two guns kept in a shoebox under Nancy ’ s bed . Instead , they find shoes , though Nancy says the shoes are old . So is everything else in the room . The mirror . Her stuffed animal . The most recent diary entry is dated 1983 , meaning the Upside Down is three years old — or at least , the version of the Upside Down the gang entered is three years old .
Before this moment there was always a question of continuity in the Upside Down : how is it that every location , object , thing , exactly mirrors the Right-side Up ? Is there a monster keeping the Upside Down constantly updated for every change in the Right-side Up ?
The Upside Down always seemed to be frozen in time , but which time has never been fully explored . Nancy ’ s discovery opens up some potential plotines for the next season of Stranger Things ; is it possible to use the Upside Down to travel back in time ? While we don ’ t know if one can re-enter the Right-side Up three years in the past , it does seem possible to access past objects in the Upside Down .
Conceivably , one can also access past people in the Upside Down . If the gang has entered the Upside Down in 1983 , at the moment Will was first captured , wouldn ’ t that mean , technically , Will is also in the Upside Down ( or , rather , Will -3 years )? Wouldn ’ t it also mean that in a short amount of time , Barb will enter the Upside Down . Which means ... justice for Barb !?
Perhaps the upside down is permanently stuck in 1983 ? Still , that seems impossible because we know the gate opened as early as 1979 . ( More on that down below .) Plus , the gate was opened again by the Russians in 1985 , so shouldn ’ t that have given the Upside Down a hardware update ?
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