Scene Is A Metaphor For Battles Won Against Suicide

HOW STRANGER THINGS’ “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”

HOW STRANGER THINGS’ “RUNNING UP THAT HILL”

Sadie Sink’s character Max Mayfield appears to battle her private demons in Vecna in ‘her head’

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“I’m still here. I'm still here.”

Max Mayfield gasps, as she wakes from her trance. Held by Lucas and surrounded by her friends, as she falls back into reality, she appears to convince her friends (and, perhaps, herself) that she is here, she is alive, she is in the present.

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Max’s breaking her trance is no small feat. In her “trance”, she was psychologically held prisoner by the monster Vecna in the otherworldly Upside Down.

His entrapments were drawn from Max’s own emotional scars: her history of abuse, her trauma from witnessing the murder of her step-brother, her survivor’s guilt, her depression and isolation, and her suicidal thoughts.

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In the trance scene (alternatively dubbed as “Running Up That Hill” for using Kate Bush’s haunting 1985-namesake single) Max’s friends blast her favorite song through headphones—desperately trying to reclaim her from the Upside Down.

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In the Upside Down, Max is shown fleeing the clutches of Vecna. She falls and stumbles but gets up, appearing to “run up a hill” to reach her happier present. The strength garnered from the memories recalled by her loved music helps her escape the death trap.

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It can also happens in Dissociative Trance Disorder. Know the causes below!

Netflix’s Stranger Things’ fans may very well recognize the beloved scene.

Many have even interpreted it as a metaphor for overcoming suicidal thoughts and depressed feelings related to death and grief. The scene vividly depicts a depressed person fighting one’s inner demons, emerging victorious, and reclaiming the desire to live again. Even critics have lauded it to be a great depiction of mental health in popular media recently.

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