It would seem that the Duffer brothers, the creators of Stranger Things, are being sued for plagiarism. As a writer and as a human being it can be said that plagiarism is one of the most vile and unforgivable crimes in the literary world since it involves using ideas that don’t belong to those that bring them to the public eye. It’s something that no one who ever creates anything they believe in likes to see, but it does happen. Unfortunately while Stranger Things is its own entity it does share a lot of similarities with the short film titled The Montauk Project, which was created by Charlie Kessler.
The plot line, the characters, and the development of Stranger Things seems to go right along with The Montauk Project and it would seem that the Duffer brothers did indeed rip off Kessler’s story for all it was worth. But The Montauk Project was seemingly based more on real life events and was filmed in Long Island, New York. It was also alluding more to real events that might have happened while Stranger Things was pure fiction. But the idea that the story was taken and used just enough to not be the exact same thing still stands at the moment. The Duffer brothers and Netflix have so far not made any comment refuting Kessler’s statement. Kessler in the meantime is suing for monetary compensation as well as trial by jury. Kessler’s anger is understandable if everything he’s said is true, but it’s a very bold claim and also one that can’t be taken lightly. Accusing someone of plagiarism is considered to be a very harsh and unforgiving blow to that person’s career even if it turns out to be false, as people will tend to look at the accused in a different manner even if they prove that they did nothing wrong.
In this case however it will be an uphill battle for the Duffer brothers since Stranger Things does in fact seem very much like The Montauk Project save for the big, glaring differences. One can only hope that the next season of Stranger Things won’t be affected by this, and that the whole mess is sorted out eventually without making it a huge hassle. But the likelihood of that is kind of slim unless Kessler can be proved wrong or the Duffer brothers are in fact shown to be guilty of the act. If that’s the case however they might not have to worry over the next seasons numbers too much since plagiarizing could damage the show in such a way that the fan base might begin to wonder whether it’s worth the effort any longer. After all season two kind of wrapped a lot of things up for the time being, even if it did add a tantalizing cliffhanger.
This is a mess that the Duffer brothers are going to have to sort out. Kessler is obviously not going away and believes he’s in the right, so at this time there is obvious doubt as to who’s going to prevail. Fans of Stranger Things can only sit and watch until the dust clears and the truth comes out.
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