.

The next snow ball = giving small signs that you like someone is happening while Mike and Will are walking down a hill. Where it became obvious: this is arguably the first time they are flirting in a way the audience has to understand.

This might fit with the theories that there's an in-universe reason for all the 80s references after all, meaning that 80s media has influenced the current distorted story we are seeing somehow. Whether that's Mike and Will making it up as writer and painter and/or it's Brenner editing tapes and memories in some way, I don't know. But ST copied so much from The Thing, it's frankly ridiculous.

But let's start with the most significant scene that introduces The Thing, already in the context of remakes.

Look also how when Lucas says "the original is a classic" we see Mike and Will. The og story?

Mr Clarke also explains to his girlfriend how the special effects are made and we see the poster in Mike's basement. Three times to be exact placed in ST.

This is just to say they want us to refer to The Thing and notice the similarities. And boy, there are so many, it's crazy. Funnily enough: The Thing -> Stranger Things even works for the title!

Photos below the cut, the aliens are truly horrendous, be warned. ST has the watered down versions of them!

We NOW know from S5:

At the end of the song, a man shouts:

If you don’t eat your meat, you can’t have any pudding!

This is obviously a metaphor for conforming: enduring your unpleasant duties first, do what's enforced and expected of you (eating meat, the proper food), only then being allowed something you actually enjoy: freedom and joy (the dessert).

In the finale of S1, Lucas and Dustin are quite excited to find loads of pudding:

Mike doesn't seem so interested:

El seems intrigued but doesn't know what pudding is (this is so sad: she doesn't know joy, only her duties):

Mike explains:

El also wants to eat Eggos, but Mike says no, eat real food:

Eat your meat!

This is where ST first uses this metaphor and it's right before Mike kisses El for the first time. I don't need to explain that that kiss does not look enjoyable, that Mike surprises her with it and she asks him if he's like her brother right before.

Then again in S3, during Mike's first attempted love confession to El, they sit in front of this sign:

Mike tries again to perform his expected obligation to reconcile with her after the break up to become her boyfriend again, and isn't successful this time or any other time really telling El that he loves her.

You can see that the red pipe is coloured in in the VHS version:

Maybe because the tapes are actually the surveillance tapes that are black and white?

And then?

Vance Goodman: "Turn this one up to - yes - eleven. Really, turn it up to eleven!"

Just a random example: