Integrational Nostalgia Within Stranger Things. Romanticism of the Past and Dissatisfaction with Contemporary Culture

Integrational nostalgia within Stranger Things. Romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture

Veronika Licheva

MA Television and Cross-Media Culture University of Amsterdam

Contents

Introduction ...... 2 Literature Review ...... 5 1.1 Nostalgia and integrational nostalgia ...... 5 1.2 Romanticism of the past ...... 10 1.3 Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture...... 14 1.4 Conclusion to literature review ...... 19 Audience research ...... 21 2.1 Method ...... 21 2.2 Childhood Reminiscing ...... 23 2.3 Romanticism of the past ...... 27 2.4 Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture...... 31 2.5 Satisfaction with contemporary culture ...... 35 Conclusion ...... 40 Bibliography ...... 43 Appendix ...... 46 Subject 1 (24 years old, Russia) ...... 46 Subject 2 (23 years old, Cyprus) ...... 49 Subject 3 (24 years old, Lithuania) ...... 51 Subject 4 (22 years old, South Korea) ...... 53 Subject 5 (22 years old, France) ...... 55 Subject 6 (22 years old, Iran) ...... 57 Subject 7 (25 years old, Bulgaria) ...... 60 Subject 8 (27 years old, Bulgaria) ...... 62 Subject 9 (23 years old, Russia) ...... 64 Subject 10 (22 years old, The Netherlands) ...... 66

Introduction

In recent years we have witnessed a growing trend in movies and TV shows that in some way emulate the 80s and trigger nostalgia among viewers. For example, movies such as Baby Driver (2017) and TV shows such as Riverdale (2017) despite taking place in today’s world, carry elements of retro styles that were emblematic for the 80s. Furthermore, according to an article by Quartzy in 2017 alone there have been thirty-four TV spin-offs of old franchises, such as Dynasty, Twin Peaks, and Heathers (King and Smalera, 2017). On the other hand, Stranger Things (2016) is a TV show that takes place in the 80s and according to Variety is a “a horror pastiche set in 1983 that pays homage to Steven Spielberg’s oeuvre” and is Netflix’s latest attempt to appeal to global viewers through the use of nostalgia (Schwindt, 2016). The story depicts the lives of children, teenagers, and adults residing in the small suburban town of Hawkins. The series is a mystery-thriller that portrays the 80s as very mystical times, and shows how the characters discover the reason for their friend’s disappearance near the secret experimental lab located in the woods. In addition to emulating vintage movies, Stranger Things also relies heavily on various pop cultural references from the 80s in order to successfully recreate the mood and style of that specific time period.

With this thesis I will investigate millennials’ readings of the show Stranger Things through the specter of “integrational nostalgia”. The term “integrational nostalgia” refers to people’s ability to feel nostalgic for periods of time they have not lived through when prompted by old photographs, movies, music, etc. This term is also used in Susan L. Holak and William J. Havlena’s article where they further define it as:

“Memories of the past created through personal interactions with others who have lived through earlier periods and events. These memories are a combination of tales of the unexperienced past and the experiences of hearing these reminiscences. With the advent of motion pictures, television, sound recording, and radio, depictions of past events need no longer rely on verbal descriptions and can be much more vivid, imparting a sense of actual participation in an event or era.” (Holak and Havlena 1992, 385)

This thesis will explore whether millennial viewers experience integrational nostalgia when watching Stranger Things by conducting empirical audience research. The research will compare and contrast two different types of nostalgia. The thesis will focus on Holak and Havlena’s definition of integrational nostalgia in comparison to the regular type of nostalgia, which throughout this thesis will be referred to

2 as ‘classic’ nostalgia in order to differentiate between the two. Since the show depicts life in the 80s, millennial viewers will be the optimal subjects for this thesis, since according to the Pew Research Center (2018) they are the generation born between 1981 and 1996, and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. For the purposes of this research, I will be solely focusing on millennials born after 1990 in order to ensure that they have not lived through the 80s. This will allow to identify whether they are experiencing integrational nostalgia while watching Stranger Things.

Furthermore, this research will take a look at how a person’s view of the past is affected by media depictions and mediated memories. The digital age has made it possible for cultural memory to be carried out throughout the decades. These mediated depictions of the past have the power to shape one’s perspective of how specific time periods looked, felt, and were experienced by the people who have lived through them. However, media depictions of the past are not always accurate, and are often romanticized. This thesis will be looking into romanticism of the past by media and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture due to media. The two concepts will be examined as possible triggers that may allow integrational nostalgia to be experienced. The thesis will study whether the millennial subjects are emotionally affected by the portrayal of 80s life in Stranger Things and how that makes them feel about the present. This will help investigate the relationship between romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture as potential motives to experiencing integrational nostalgia.

In the first chapter of this thesis, I will be examining the pre-existing theoretical research on classic nostalgia. Despite the multiple studies on nostalgia throughout the years by researchers such as Fred Davis’ “Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia” (1979) and Erin Sullivan’s “Historical keyword: Nostalgia” (2010), within media studies there has been almost no work on integrational nostalgia. Furthermore, previous studies on nostalgia in media, such as Paul Grainge’s “Nostalgia and Style in retro America: Moods, and modes, and media recycling” (2000), are solely based on textual research, and not on empirical audience research. Also, while there is quite a lot of audience research on nostalgia and the way it is experienced by different people, such as Holak and Havlena’s "Nostalgia: an Exploratory Study of Themes and Emotions in the Nostalgic Experience” (1992), that research has not been related to media or TV shows. Whereas there is a sufficient number of nostalgia research through textual analysis, this thesis hopes to make a vital contribution in the sphere of nostalgia and media research by using audience research. The theories of classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia will then be compared and contrasted, in order to understand the difference between them. Furthermore, a number of proposed

3 concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture will also be explored, as well as their relationship with integrational nostalgia.

In the second chapter of this thesis, I will be examining the results from the empirical audience research and looking at what type of nostalgia do we find with millennial viewers that watch Stranger Things. The results from the interviews will be studied in order to determine if there is indeed integrational nostalgia among the subjects, and what are the reasons for it. I will be examining whether romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture play a role when such nostalgia is experienced, and whether there are other unforeseen concepts that may also be crucial. Lastly, by comparing the findings from the first and second chapter, the research will conclude whether or not integrational nostalgia is experienced by millennials when watching Stranger Things.

To summarize, this study will produce empirical knowledge on the way in which audiences react to Stranger Things and the kind of nostalgia they may be experiencing when watching a show about a time they have not lived. I will be using the aforementioned theories of classic and integrational nostalgia, as well as the concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture to describe the kind of nostalgia these subjects experience and display. By interviewing millennials about nostalgia and Stranger Things, this research will provide crucial insight on audience perception of the past based on mediated memories. It will also give a better understanding of their personal views on contemporary culture. By using Stranger Things as the core focus, this study will provide insights into classic and integrational nostalgia among millennials, as well as how media affect their perception of both the past and the present.

Literature Review

Before delving into audience based research it is important to understand the meaning of integrational nostalgia. Despite the limited amount of empirical research based on experiencing nostalgia for a time one has not lived through, the foundation of this phenomenon is still rooted in all the preceding textual research based on classic nostalgia for a time one has lived through. The two different types of nostalgia have a lot in common. They also possess the two main underlying concepts within this research of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. By interpreting the relation between classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia, as well as the two underlying concepts, one can obtain a better understanding of how nostalgia is experienced vicariously by the younger viewers who watch Stranger Things.

This chapter will compare and contrast classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia. It will also provide knowledge on the two main concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. All of this will be examined with Stranger Things as the main subject when considering how these separate ideas of nostalgia and concepts may affect a viewer who is influenced by 80s representation in media. The chapter will provide a general overview of the main ideas that will be the key points of the audience based research, which will take place later on in this thesis. This will help with the analysis of the interviewees’ answers, as well as understanding when they are experiencing integrational nostalgia.

1.1 Nostalgia and integrational nostalgia According to Erin Sullivan (2010) the word ‘nostalgia’ originated from ancient Greece and was formulated from two separate words. The first one is “nostos” meaning to return to one’s homeland, and the second one is “algos” referring to the feelings of grief, pain, and longing. Originally perceived as an occupational disease among men working as sailors or soldiers, nostalgia was recognized to lead to various mental and physical complications. Most particularly in the United Kingdom, physicians disregarded nostalgia as a mental illness observed solely among the foreigners that lived there. However, in 1781 an army surgeon by the name of Robert Hamilton challenged this presumption by disclosing a case where symptoms of nostalgia were observed in a British recruit. Over the years, nostalgia has stopped being perceived as an illness, resulting in it being removed from the “Nomenclature of Diseases” and proclaimed unfit for medical classification.

Today, even though nostalgia no longer classifies as a disease, it is still a very active element in the sphere of arts and creativity. The feeling of nostalgia is consistently prompted through music, movies, and poetry evoking memories and triggering a longing for an unattainable past. In recent years, most particularly, nostalgia has become a central theme in media and television. Such is also the case with Stranger Things – through its visual and aural representation of the past the show carries with it the spirit of the 80s. By paying homage to 80s pop culture the show prompts nostalgia among audiences, therefore in this chapter I will investigate whether the feeling of longing for the past is experienced in different ways depending on the viewers’ personal history and emotional self-awareness.

Fred Davis (1979) distinguishes three different levels of nostalgic experiences. The first level is described as simple nostalgia, where an individual believes that everything was better in the past and the times were a lot simpler. The second level is the so called “reflexive nostalgia” where an individual analyzes the past critically, and does not succumb to its romanticism or feelings of sentimentality. The third and final level of nostalgia according to Davis is interpreted nostalgia when an individual becomes self-aware of the nostalgic experience itself. In this case, the feeling alone becomes the object of contemplation by excluding any external beliefs or emotions that could have caused it. This is important to keep in mind when researching the ways in which Stranger Things incites nostalgia in its viewers.

When dealing with the ways in which the 80s are perceived by the audience of the show it is crucial to distinguish which level of nostalgic experience each subject is experiencing. To put this into perspective, Davis’ levels of nostalgia can also be applied considering millennial viewers and Stranger Things as an example. For instance, some viewers may be feeling simple nostalgia, because of the simple suburban life that is depicted in the show or because of dissatisfaction with the fast-paced contemporary culture. Others may be experiencing reflexive nostalgia, becoming mindful of how the media may be toying with their feelings through the romantic portrayal of the 80s in Stranger Things. And lastly, some more self- aware subjects may be experiencing interpreted nostalgia, thus fully analyzing how nostalgia makes them feel when triggered by watching Stranger Things. This is an empirical question which will be further investigated in the next chapter where the answers from the audience based research will be inspected.

Despite that Davis’s research solely focuses on classical nostalgia for a past that has been experienced, his ideas and levels of nostalgia can also be applied to the idea of integrational nostalgia. According to Holak and Havlena (1992) a simple definition of nostalgia implies that it is not possible for a person to experience real nostalgia for a past or specific moment in time which he or she has not lived through. However, they go onto argue that throughout their research they have witnessed multiple

6 instances of integrational nostalgia. Furthermore, Holak and Havlena point out that intangible stimuli, like music, songs, and movies, which are reoccurring prompts in Stranger Things, can also trigger integrational nostalgia. One subject in their research also suggests that TV series alone are objects that prompt nostalgia. Photographs of people, places, and events are also a big factor that invokes nostalgic experiences. Additionally, while writing about events that trigger nostalgia Holak and Havlena differentiates between two types of nostalgic events – personal and collective. Personal events are the ones that are connected to the individual and experienced in a small circle, such as birthdays, weddings, vacations, etc. Collective events are the ones experienced by a large group of people or the whole of society, such as sports events, political events, etc. This distinction is useful when thinking about the way in which Stranger Things appeals to the collective memory of both Generation X and Millennials through the use of pop cultural elements from the 80s. All of these factors in Holak and Havlena’s research lead to several subjects admitting they experience nostalgia for time periods they have not lived in, when watching old movies, listening to old music, observing old photographs or vintage objects. Later in the text Holak and Havlena elaborate on the experience of ‘integrational nostalgia’ by explaining that:

Although nostalgic experience is defined to draw from one's lived past, there is an important intergenerational phenomenon. As one generation both privately and collectively reminisces about its adolescence, these memories become, in essence, a new experience for the next generation. (Holak and Havlena 1991, 325)

With this Holak and Havlena suggest that nostalgia can also be a communal experience, where the feeling of the past is transferred, but also changed in the process, as it goes from one generation to the next through a collective memory. This theory is further supported by Michael Pickering and Emily Keightley (2006) who initially based their research on classic nostalgia and investigate how it is used as a tool to articulate the past into the present. They argue that media makes use of the sentimental representation of the past as a form of commercial exploitation. In order to make sense of how this commercial ploy affects people’s longing for the past and how nostalgia has become a profitable business, they conclude that:

Taking it at its simplest, as a specifically modern concept nostalgia has been used to identify both a sense of personal loss and longing for an idealized past, and a distorted public version of a particular historical period or a particular social formation in the past. In much of the most recent work, nostalgia has been closely linked with the notion of collective, social or cultural memory as a way of attempting to explain how memories are generated, altered, shared and legitimated

within particular sociocultural environments, yet in both senses it is connected with the characteristic features of modernity, such as its relentless social uprooting and erosion of time- honoured stabilities, while both the phenomenon itself and commentary on it have intensified proportionately to the acceleration of social and cultural change during modernity and late modernity. (Pickering and Keightley 2006, 922)

While Pickering and Keightley do acknowledge the existence of a collective memory, they also argue that this phenomenon is indirectly caused by modernity, with its uprooting of traditions. As a consequence, the past is idealized and distorted by the media. This feeling of nostalgia may be passed on from generation to generation as a form of social connectedness. It could be argued that Stranger Things can be accused of doing the same, by portraying a romanticized vision of the 80s in order to trigger integrational nostalgia among its younger audiences. The only aspects of 80s life portrayed in the show are those of suburbia, which has become some of today’s most iconic pop cultural elements. Additionally, in Stranger Things the children often make sense of the supernatural activities taking place in Hawkins, by connecting them to characters and narratives from popular books, movies, and games of the 80s. By doing so, the show heavily relies on pop cultural elements from the 80s not only as a way for the characters to communicate with each other, but also as a way of communicating with the viewers.

Even though nostalgia can be culturally specific, Stranger Things integrates within its storyline globally known icons and elements in order to create a universally relevant narrative, thanks to America’s dominance in the global media culture. Furthermore, as the show has also many younger viewers, Stranger Things references 80s pop cultural elements that are still ongoing to this day, such as Star Wars (1977-present), Terminator (1985-present), and Lord of the Rings (1954-present). In this way older and younger generations can equally relate to the same topic, despite having different notions of it. Even though the show does portray some aspects of the Cold War and the secret science experiments that are representative of the 80s, these elements of danger still carry a sense of adventure and amusement to them.

Furthermore, Pickering and Keightley argue that longing for an idealized past can have two outcomes. The first one would be that the real values of the past will not be able to progress into the future, due to the romanticism with which it is portrayed. This means that instances of racism, oppression, war and the lessons learned from these tragic events become suppressed because of media’s images of an idealized past. The second outcome would be complete social amnesia, where no one remembers the past correctly due to its fictitious representation in the media. For Pickering and Keightley today’s society has a media

8 landscape driven by hyper-reality and pastiche. The ways in which media embody the past is a very restricted and narrow representation which aims to only show the ‘good side’. Because of this iconographic and glorified image it is much easier for the current generation to experience integrational nostalgia for a past they have not lived.

While Pickering and Keightley suggest that the past is excessively idealized through both social connectedness and media play, Havlena and Holak (1998) further argue that the experience of nostalgia can also be regarded as a bittersweet emotion. As previously mentioned by Sullivan, nostalgia is an emotion that is linked to sadness therefore one could argue that integrational nostalgia is simply an admiration of the past. However Havlena and Holak suggest that the pleasurable idea of an idealized past can become mournful when one realizes that it cannot be recreated. The mixture of sadness for an unattainable past and desire to experience it is what makes integrational nostalgia a legitimate mental and emotional experience.

This combination of joy and sadness, of gratitude and desire, of warmth and surgency demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon. It appears to be basically positive, but with significant negative components. Along with joy and gratitude, there is a feeling of desire that may stem from the sense of loss. (Havlena and Holak 1998, 223)

This statement leaves the question of whether the sense of both desire and loss may be magnified among those who feel integrational nostalgia when watching Stranger Things. It also offers an interesting query whether these emotions will be present among the test subjects of this research, and what aspects of the show will be the reason for such emotions to occur. Even though integrational nostalgia is a very specific experience and strongly depends on the individuals’ background, in both cases it involves a show about the 80s triggering nostalgia among millennials. It is important to be mindful of this particularity when doing audience research. In this way the investigation will try to determine if the subject is experiencing integrational nostalgia because of Stranger Things’ romanticism of the past or because of his or her longing for the past due to dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. By determining whether the feeling of desire or the feeling of loss is stronger among the subjects, the audience based research will indicate whether the 80s represented in Stranger Things are perceived as appealing or unattainable, or both. Furthermore, this research will also help determine if the subjects feel only either desire or loss, or if integrational nostalgia is a mixture of both. Finding out whether this representation of childhood in the 80s prompts the younger viewers to feel these two different aspects of desire and loss would provide an interesting insight to how complex nostalgia may be as an emotion.

By taking into consideration the previous research that has been carried out about classic nostalgia, one can use this theoretical knowledge in order to achieve a better understanding of how integrational nostalgia affects the younger generation. Also, by taking into consideration Davis’ three levels of nostalgia and Havlena and Holak’s differentiation between desire and loss when experiencing nostalgia, one can attain a better comprehension of how the individual subjects feel when watching Stranger Things. This allows for understanding whether the subjects are aware that Stranger Things aims to appeal to one’s nostalgia for the past, whether they allow themselves to feel nostalgic due to the show, and if that feeling makes them feel desire and loss. However, it is also important to get a better understanding of how media romanticizes the past. This insight is crucial when conducting audience research with subjects who show a fascination with Stranger Things’ representation of the 80s and experience integrational nostalgia because of this particular depiction.

1.2 Romanticism of the past In the last ten years there have been television shows and movies themed around a particular time period from the past. In America some of the most popular ones have been That ‘70s Show (1998-2006) telling the story of a group of teenagers living in the 70s, and the recent Peaky Blinders (2013-present) television series that depicts the life of British gangster in the 1920s. However, this trend is not only dominating the American entertainment industry. For example, in South Korea there is a specific TV show by the name of Reply which deals with different time periods in Korea’s history. So far the director has produced three separate seasons: Reply 1997 (2012), Reply 1994 (2013), and Reply 1988 (2015) all starring a new cast and depicting the quirks and particularities of life in South Korea during those time periods.

Similarly to Stranger Things, all of the above mentioned American and South Korean TV shows depict the past as exciting and frivolous times. By showcasing antique objects, early technology, vintage clothing, old music, and a ‘simpler’ yet adventurous lifestyle it can be argued that these TV shows romanticize the past. According to Paul Grainge (2000) this depiction of the times gone by has become media’s method of inciting nostalgia as a way to both idealize the past and exploit it for commercial use.

In the last three decades of the twentieth century, nostalgia was commodified and aestheticized in American culture as perhaps never before. One may posit a variety of factors contributing to this emergent retro fascination, including diversifying markets for memory, growth of the heritage

industry, the political aesthetic of Reaganism, the demographic size of a baby-boom generation entering middle age and the attendant selling of the “bomber” past, the proliferation of technologies of time-shifting and digital reproduction, and a representational economy of recycling and pastiche. In no singular way, these helped develop nostalgia as a cultural style, a consumable mode as much as it can be said to be an experienced mood. (Grainge 2000, 27)

Grainge’s argument can be easily applied to Stranger Things. The show is a pastiche of 80s cinema, persistently using pop cultural references from the 80s and fully making use of the current retro trend that has taken over the entertainment industry. Stranger Things allows for nostalgia to be a consumable product, offering small bites to viewers with every single episode allowing the sentimental part of their audience to experience nostalgia. Furthermore, when conducting audience based research it is also important to understand how the audience perceives a romanticized show about the past and what meaning they derive from its nostalgic references, in which case reception theory is also useful when considering Stranger Things as a consumable product.

Reception theory provides a means of understanding media texts by understanding how these texts are read by audiences. Theorists who analyze media through reception studies are concerned with the experience of cinema and television viewing for spectators, and how meaning is created through that experience. An important concept of reception theory is that the media text—the individual movie or television program—has no inherent meaning in and of itself. Instead, meaning is created in the interaction between spectator and text; in other words, meaning is created as the viewer watches and processes the film. (Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film n.d., p. 398)

Despite Stranger Things being labeled as a nostalgic show, every viewer experiences this nostalgia in a different way and is triggered by different visual cues. By adopting the idea of reception theory and the answers by the participants, this audience research may be able to determine how meaning is created by the spectator when presented with Stranger Things’ nostalgic visuals. Furthermore, by understanding how each individual subject perceives the show, it will become possible to gain knowledge on how and in what ways integrational nostalgia may be interpreted into a wider structure. By using reception theory to analyze integrational nostalgia in Stranger Things, it will help in assessing the connection between romanticism of the past and nostalgia.

Moreover, as stated in Melis Behlil’s (2005) research the recent technological advancements have allowed cinephiles to completely immerse themselves into nostalgia entertainment, further encouraging the commercialization of nostalgia. Today’s easy access to entertainment through online streaming platforms, such as Netflix where Stranger Things is available, has stimulated media companies to start producing even more nostalgia television. This decision is evident with the recent revivals of shows such as Charmed (1998), Roseanne (1988), Will and Grace (1998) and Star Trek (1966) the series. Additionally, according to Sutanya Singkhra (2005) these so called ‘cinephiles’ take pleasure in media’s commercialization of nostalgia and encourage its romanticism in the form of entertainment, TV shows and movies.

Today’s films, so often the products of cinephiles, have become obsessed with the concept of recapturing lost time, an attempt that may easily be read as a reflection on cinema itself. One can see it as a particular drama of “perfect moments” lost and regained through re-enactments, repetitions; the result of the cinephilia complex, reflecting on itself in the medium of time. (Singkhra 2005, 45)

Singkhra’s statement can be recognized as a critical assessment of how current media solely relies on using old IP’s to appeal to the general audience. And despite the negative connotation of her argument, this media environment of continuous repetition and pastiche still succeeds in appealing emotionally to both cinephiles and the masses. The biggest difference, however, between the current reboots and Stranger Things is that the former takes place in the current times, while the latter takes place in the 80s. The current revivals will not romanticize the past and will not carry the vintage charm of the 80s, allowing for classic nostalgia to be felt only if the viewer has memories of watching the original series.

In order to stimulate integrational nostalgia there are multiple factors to be considered when producing a TV show. Part of the appeal of Stranger Things is the fact that it strongly resembles movies that were shot in the 80s. Stranger Things is not just a show about the 80s, but it is a show that also looks like it was produced in the 80s. For example, throughout the show the storyline of Eleven, one of the characters in Stranger Things, strongly resembles that of the alien in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982). Multiple scenes from Steven Spielberg’s movie are recreated in subtle ways that emulates the 80s classic without over exaggerating the resemblance between the two characters. From framing, to lighting, coloring and the general theme of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Eleven’s storyline pays homage to the work of Steven Spielberg. Furthermore, through this subtle imitation of 80s movies Stranger Things achieves

12 the status of pastiche rather that parody. This difference between pastiche and parody is crucial, since only with the former can one achieve an idealization of the past, while the latter solely mocks it.

When talking about how film does not provide an accurate representation of the past for the sake of romanticism, Frederic Jameson (1998) accuses media to be “historicist rather than historical”. He argues that the entertainment industry places its focus on the visual representation of the past through romanticized imagery, rather than focusing on a genuine representation of the past. Jameson further elaborates on how the past is romanticized through media by stating that “based on the recognition by the viewer of pre-existing historical stereotypes, including the various styles of the period, it is thereby reduced to the mere narrative confirmation of those same stereotypes” (Jameson 1998, 130). By reinforcing these stereotypes about the past, media continues to idealize specific time periods without leaving space for an accurate representation. Jameson argues that this restricted pool of representation simplifies the past to its pop culture rather that the importance of some historical events. By doing so, time periods such as the 80s in Stranger Things are only generalizing the past reinforcing the stereotype of the ‘simpler times’.

Similarly to Holak and Havlena’s integrational nostalgia, Amelia Defalco (2004) also observes the phenomenon of longing for a past that has not been experienced. Defalco identifies it as ‘non-experiential nostalgia’ and similarly to Jameson she credits media’s romanticism of the past as the main reason for this occurrence. For her, non-experiential nostalgia is not due to a collective memory, but due to an idealized image which has altered the association between historical reality and textual representation.

Perhaps non-experiential nostalgia—a longing based on contact with representations, whether they be photographs, films, “history books, memorial tablets, or, for that matter, legend”—lays bare the fundamental textuality of the recollected site, its underlying constructedness. By longing for a past glimpsed only through representation, the two (historical reality and its textual representation) are collapsed and “reality” takes on quotation marks, its inescapable textuality made apparent and embraced. (Defalco 2004, 30)

According to Defalco, experiencing the past through mediated memories can be considered the main cause for non-experiential nostalgia. Namely because movies and shows such as Stranger Things have more cinematic reference than historical, non-experiential nostalgia becomes possible through this romanticism of the past. Wilson Koh (2009) further validates this claim by stating that “the mode has more to do with current perceptions of a generalized past rather than with the authentic re-creation of a

13 complex and specific reality. It simply reflects its producers’ idealized interpretations of the past” (Koh 2009, 737).

According to the research stated above integrational, or non-experiential, nostalgia is partially experienced due to media’s romanticism of the past. However, the possibility of integrational nostalgia due dissatisfaction with contemporary culture must also be explored. That is why it is important to study what may be the reasons for this dissatisfaction with life in the 21st century, in comparison to that of the 80s portrayed in media.

1.3 Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture As the world becomes more globalized the emergence of a mass society and mass culture becomes more evident. In this way the intertextual references in a show about the 80s become a nostalgic trigger to people from all over the world who have followed American entertainment throughout the years. In return, this has led to the self-conscious use of earlier styles in order to garner viewers’ attention. Many scholars point out the relationship between postmodernism and the media industry. For example, Dominic Strinati argues that:

First, the argument is that postmodernism describes the emergence of a society in which the mass media and popular culture are the most important and powerful institutions, and control and shape all other types of social relationships. Popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us. Postmodern theory is an attempt to understand a media-saturated society. (Strinati 1995, 211)

Strinati then goes on to elaborate on this argument, stating that over the years media have played an essential part in creating our sense of social reality, and our significance within this mediated reality. This would mean that for Strinati, whatever is portrayed in media the public accepts as reality and positions its mindset and understanding of the world within this mediated reality. Because of how powerful this global media culture has become our sense of belonging has also been altered. Millennials today can feel like they are part of American culture because of the intense saturation of American music, television shows, and movies that have been present in their lifetime through global media. In fact, America’s dominance on global media has arguably had an effect on Western Europe since 1945, meaning that

14 generations of Western Europeans have grown up within an American mediated reality. When talking about the immense impact that American media have on Europe, Jaap Kooijman (2013) argues that culturally we may feel as if we grew up in America, explaining that:

Politically, Europeans might no longer be Americans, but culturally “we” remain, to use the concept of Chris Keulemans, “Americans we never were,” living within a society that is permeated with American pop culture. As Europeans, we have grown up with Walt Disney, Hollywood, Coca- Cola, and American television programs, and we recognize these pop-cultural artifacts as belonging both to “America” as well as to our own culture in which we have lived all our lives. (Kooijman 2013, 97)

Kooijman’s statement provides an interesting question for this research. As American culture remains the most dominant entertainment provider across the globe, it will be interesting to see if within the audience based research there are subjects who feel a close connection to American media. As the research is aiming to interview subjects from different nationalities, it will be intriguing too see if the interviewees feel as if American pop cultural artefacts also belong to them, and if that is in some way connected to dissatisfaction with contemporary culture.

One of the most prominent names when it comes to postmodernism and nostalgia is that of Frederic Jameson. For Jameson postmodernism has emerged as a reaction against high modernism. To him one of the most prominent practices related to postmodernism is the creation and frequent use of pastiche. It has become popular for movies and TV shows to mimic the style, techniques and particularities of older films. Jameson further suggests that postmodernism is also the high point of individualism, which in return has led to a form of cultural exhaustion. Creatives can only recycle instead of inventing something new, meaning that today’s creatives cannot have their own unique style, and what they do is influenced by creatives form the past. Everything has already been invented, therefore new ideas and combinations are limited. Hence, pastiche is the only solution for the creative mind through the imitation of old styles and genres.

This film is thus metonymically a historical or nostalgia film: unlike American Graffiti, it does not reinvent and picture of the past in its lived totality; rather, by reinventing the feel and shape of characteristic art objects of an older period (the serials), it seeks to reawaken a sense of the past associated with those objects. (Jameson 1985, 5)

Following this line of thought, Jameson also talks about ‘nostalgia film’ depicting specific societal moments from the past that seek to rekindle memories and evoke nostalgia. In this sense postmodernism plays on nostalgia in order to appeal to the reminiscence of the audience. He concludes that such movies that rely heavily on pastiche have no other option but to lean on the past for creative inspiration. Despite the past being long gone and out of reach, one still seeks it through pop culture and intertextual references. “We seem condemned to seek the historical past through our own pop images and stereotypes about that past, which itself remains forever out of reach” (Jameson 1985, 6). Stranger Things from the very beginning has branded itself as a pastiche of 80s movies and TV shows. The series evolves around 80s pop culture and the imitation of 80s film style, evoking nostalgia hence fully supporting Jameson’s theory. The Duffer Brothers have created the show by drawing inspiration from modernist ideas and old concepts of filming. When discussing postmodernism and global culture in his later work, Jameson further argues that our perception of belonging is also altered due to mass media by stating that:

But this is a speculation which presupposes the possibility that at an outer limit, the sense people have of themselves and their own moment of history may ultimately have nothing whatsoever to do with its reality: that the existential may be absolutely distinct, as some ultimate "false consciousness," from the structural and social significance of a collective phenomenon, surely a possibility rendered more plausible by the fact of global imperialism, in terms of which the meaning of a given nation-state for everyone else on the globe -- may be wildly at odds from their own inner experiences and their own interior daily life. (Jameson 1991, 280)

In his research, Jameson continues to discuss how the 50s are portrayed in mass media. He argues that the “reality” of mass cultural representation revolves around a happy small town life, populated by conventional families where normalcy is ensured in their day-to-day life. However, this image is only derived from the way life was portrayed by the media in the 50s; meaning, the representation that that time period created of itself. Despite the fact that this portrayal is derived from a misrepresentation, it still circulates in the media sphere up to this day, leaving generations of viewers with a one-sided image of the past. This can further complicate the way in which people view contemporary culture. By falsely portraying the past as a time when life was simple and joyful, the current generation may feel displeasure with today’s society.

Greg Dickinson (2006) further elaborates on this representation of the 1950s in his research of the movie Pleasantville (1998). He argues that this cinematic representation of suburbia not only cultivates the belief that life was better back then but also breeds dissatisfaction with contemporary

16 culture. Suburban life is presented as a central aspect to the ‘good old’ American lifestyle, which is not possible in today’s metropolitan scene. However, movies such as Pleasantville do not only elicit nostalgia in the way they portray life, but also in their surroundings.

More broadly, however, these films offer a suburban ethos—a dwelling place in which the suburban good life is imagined. These films’ architectural rhetoric, however, is not purely metaphorical. Instead the films offer images of dwelling places—houses, yards, streets, and towns that at once draw on and offer the potential of creating the houses, yards, streets, and towns audiences desire. With suburbia becoming the decentered center of everyday life in the United States, understanding this imagination becomes central to understanding much about many peoples’ everyday lives and desires. (Dickinson 2006, 228)

The 1950s suburbs portrayed in media are more authentic and safer than the present, yet still full of emotion and life. The people of the 1950s are depicted as full of passion and questions about life, trying to figure out where they belong. All of that is lightened by the calm life in suburbia. Such representation of the past are in a stark contrast with similar movies depicting the struggle of dealing with life changing questions and hardships in the 21st century suburbs and metropolitan cities. Some of the most compelling examples being the movie The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) and the TV series 13 Reasons Why (2017). The former is about a father desperately trying to make ends meet in the big city, which is a critique of contemporary American society. The movie refutes the idea of the American Dream today, which has been the pinnacle of American culture since the 1950s. On the other hand, the latter is about a teenage girl in the suburbs trying to figure out life but in the end committing suicide. The TV show disproves the image of the quiet suburban life in the 21st century, portraying the difficulties of being a young adult in a time when society uses online technology the complicate and destroy other people’s lives. These two examples are just a few out of the many ways in which media portrays the hardships of life in the 21st century.

Taking all of the above into account is important when exploring dissatisfaction with contemporary culture in connection to Stranger Things. The observations made by Jameson and Dickinson about 50s movies can still apply to a show about the 80s. The small town of Hawkins in Stranger Things depicts a close-knit community with normal families living a quiet suburban life. On the other hand, the show also presents the viewer with components of mystery and the supernatural. These two elements present the viewer with the charm of suburban life, mixed with an element of danger. The times during the Cold War are displayed as mystical and adventurous, while still remaining in the safety of suburbia.

By combining elements of familiar 80s pop culture and childhood memories, in contrast to the unfamiliar 80s suburban life and adventure, Stranger Things has the potential to elicit integrational nostalgia among the younger viewers. Additionally, Pickering and Keightley further argue that nostalgia is also a response to society’s frustration with contemporary culture, stating that:

It is not only irony that is at play in nostalgic enterprises and experiences. Central to our argument has been that nostalgia can only be properly conceptualized as a contradictory phenomenon, being driven by utopian impulses – the desire for re-enchantment – as well as melancholic responses to disenchantment. (Pickering and Keightley 2006, 936)

This detachment from today’s reality through media’s representation of the past should be taken into consideration when conducting audience based research on the topic of integrational nostalgia. I will investigate whether the subject being interviewed may experience this type of nostalgia for the 80s because of their personal desire to mentally remove themselves from the present. On the other hand, the desire for re-enchantment should also be kept in mind when conducting the audience based research. This yearning for the 80s depicted in Stranger Things may be the subject’s own individual desire to romanticize the past, without being triggered by media, because of their dissatisfaction with contemporary culture.

There are many aspects that should be taken into account when researching the connection between integrational nostalgia and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. However it is important to keep in mind that dissatisfaction with contemporary culture may stem from multiple triggers, such as displeasure that is parallel to Jameson’s idea of postmodernism, where people would look at the past as a time when creativity was in full blossom, and today we are left with nothing but pastiche. Others may feel dissatisfaction with contemporary culture that resonates with Dickinson’s idea of the suburban ethos, where people may feel that a peaceful and joyous life is not possible in today’s frantic society. And others may have feelings similar to the ones described by Pickering and Keightley. They may feel discontent with today’s culture because of their own personal detachment from the current society, and enchantment with the 80s of Stranger Things.

It is also important to consider how the current media sphere is using nostalgia as a selling point to viewers. According to Davis “Not only does the word nostalgia appear to have been fully 'demilitarized' and 'demedicalized' by now but, with its rapid assimilation into American popular speech since roughly

18 the nineteen-fifties, it appears to be undergoing a process of 'depsychologization' as well” (Davis 1979, 4). Nostalgia has been a reoccurring theme in America throughout the decades. Depicting the ‘American dream’ of a calm, happy, and wealthy family, this dream has been the root to media’s portrayal of the perfect life in the 1950s. However, in the end this vision of a perfect life remained only as an image of the past on our TV screens. Today, nostalgia has become part of our daily entertainment feed, giving audiences reasons to remember the past either for romantic purposes or to stir displeasure when comparing it to modern life. Portraying the past in a very narrow way has become media’s way of cashing in on peoples’ longing for a simpler life.

1.4 Conclusion to literature review Classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia are two similar concepts that share a similar theory. They both suggest a longing for an unattainable past, involving a mixture of happiness and sorrow. The only difference between the two is that classic nostalgia is a past that has been experienced, while integrational nostalgia is a past that was not been experienced. This unexperienced past can only be glimpsed through old images, objects, music, or movies and TV shows that represent that specific time period. Stranger Things is a show which depicts the 80s as fun and exciting times, showcasing the many perks of living in a small suburban town as a child. Mixed with various intertextual pop cultural reference form the 80s, this series is a pastiche to the earlier works of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and other famous directors from that period. The show has the potential to elicit integrational nostalgia among millennial viewers by eliciting the feeling of happiness and sorrow through its representation of the past.

Romanticism of the past has been a reoccurring theme in media for many years. Movies and television shows deliberately portray the past as a time when life was simpler in order to elicit nostalgia among viewers. Stranger Things has successfully integrated the use of nostalgia into its storyline in order to achieve its massive success. According to Pat Saperstein “Fueled by social media, this interest in the pop-culture trappings of the recent past, particularly the ’90s, has become a fertile area for TV programmers, who are unleashing a flood of shows over the next year to capitalize on the ever-growing appetite for all things retro” (Saperstein, 2015). The current overwhelming flow of entertainment depicting the past has encouraged media outlets to continue romanticizing the past in order to generate profit. However, this romanticized portrayal of the past is only one sided, and does not accurately represent what, for example, the 80s were really like. Nevertheless, the demand for retro entertainment indicates that viewers enjoy this idealized image of the past.

As part of this thesis I will investigate if there is a dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, and if it is triggered by romanticized entertainment. By discussing the depiction of a ‘simpler’ suburban life, I will investigate whether that image provokes feeling of discontent with the busy lifestyle of the 21st century. TV shows like Stranger Things portray a kind of lifestyle that cannot be experienced today, especially in bigger cities. By delving into the topic of dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, this research will study which aspects of the show millennials believe cannot be experienced anymore in today’s day and age. Furthermore, in addition to answering the main research question, this thesis will also bring up the question if romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture are inevitably connected, or if only one of them is needed in order to experience integrational nostalgia. However, the audience based research will also examine whether millennials are aware of how shows such as Stranger Things portray the past in a romanticized way in order to make them feel dissatisfaction with contemporary culture and make profit out of integrational nostalgia.

Audience research

2.1 Method For this research, a number of ten participants were needed in order to conduct the interviews and study the concepts of classic and integrational nostalgia among millennials who watch Stranger Things. Since I was interested in exploring integrational nostalgia, I selected interviewees that were born between the years 1990 to 1996 in order to ensure that they are millennials who have not lived through the 80s. The participants needn’t be of any particular nationality. In fact, interviewing participants from different countries would be of potential benefit to understanding to what extent the subjects have been affected by America’s dominance in the media sphere. That would also help research if the feeling of integrational nostalgia differs among different nationalities and how one’s environment while growing up can affect their feeling of nostalgia when watching a show about America in the 80s.

Initially, the subjects were to be selected from an online fandom site of the show that is allocated in the Netherlands. However, due to the absence of an official online fan club of Stranger Things in The Netherlands, participants had to be located by other means. In the end, a post on Facebook was published in a group by the name of “Expats in The Netherlands”. The post specified that I was looking for participants between the ages of 22 and 27 who enjoy watching Stranger Things, willing to take part in an interview about the show. The post received a substantial amount of attention with many people responding to it enthusiastically and wanting to take part in the interviews. Over the period of three weeks, ten people were interviewed for this research. Half of the interviews were taken in person, while the other half via Skype call, since some of the participants signified that they would be more comfortable being interviewed in this way. Each interview was audio recorded and later on transcribed.

Out of the ten participants six were female, and four were male. All of the subjects affirmed that they are currently either students or interns as part of their higher education. Five of the participants came from an Eastern European background, three had a Western European background, one from the Middle East, and one from East Asia. All of the participants described themselves as big fans of the show, who have thoroughly enjoyed watching both seasons of Stranger Things and are excitedly anticipating for the next one to come out. Furthermore, all of the subjects confirmed that they have not lived in America, therefore their opinions and feelings regarding the show are entirely based from a foreign viewer’s point of view.

Their impression of the 80s in the United States is entirely based on American media, and its portrayal of that time period through movies, TV shows, and music.

During the interview the subjects were asked various questions. Firstly, the participants were eased into the interview by being asked about the show and which aspects of it they enjoyed the most. Interestingly enough, on multiple occasions the word ‘nostalgia’ appeared in their answers from the beginning as one of the main reasons the participants enjoyed the show. Once it had been confirmed that there are feelings of nostalgia in a participant, the interviewee was then asked additional questions to determine whether the feeling of nostalgia was due to romanticism of the past or dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. Surprisingly, the most common trigger for nostalgia was how the show reminds the interviewees of their own childhood. In the cases where romanticism of the past was present, it was mainly triggered from admiration for 80s music and fashion. The dissatisfaction with contemporary culture mainly stemmed from how technologically dependent society has become, as well as the antisocial tendencies among the majority of people.

Interestingly, in some cases there were subject who felt both satisfaction and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, stating the advantages and disadvantages of today’s society in comparison to the past. Also, surprisingly there were cases when two of the participants said that they do not experience nostalgia at all. During those two interviews the main goal became to understand why there isn’t a feeling of nostalgia among those subjects and in what ways the present is more appealing to them. In both cases the main reason for the satisfaction with contemporary culture was the advancements in technology, which was the main reason why others felt dissatisfaction with today’s society. Both subjects signified that they enjoy the way in which 80s life is portrayed and can appreciate certain aspects of it, but their feelings do not stem from nostalgia and they are happy with living in the 21st century. The overall results from the interviews are presented in Figure 2.1.

Subject Childhood Romanticism of the Dissatisfaction with Satisfaction with reminiscing past contemporary contemporary culture culture Subject 1    Subject 2   Subject 3    Subject 4  Subject 5  Subject 6    Subject 7    Subject 8    Subject 9   Subject 10  

(Figure 2.1)

2.2 Childhood Reminiscing Throughout the research, the most prominent factor for nostalgia among the subjects was the way in which they were reminded of their own childhood while watching the show. The majority of millennials that were interviewed expressed a strong feeling of nostalgia when watching Stranger Things because they view the show as a depiction of their own childhood. They are not only reminded of their own past by watching the children of Stranger Things play around, but also by the lifestyle portrayed by the show, which they feel was very similar to their own. One subject in particular was very specific about the ways in which Stranger Things makes him feel nostalgic.

There are many aspects of the show that make me feel nostalgic about my childhood. First, I would say is the environment. In Stranger Things it is clearly visible that there are forests where kids go to play - you cannot do that today. There are no forests like this left, most of them are already cut down or have some kind of complex built in them. That is one thing I had in my childhood - a lot of undeveloped buildings, area and land where we could go around and play. Second, the kids had bicycles as a way of transport because the town is small and this is something I used to do as well because I lived in a small town. Third, the arcades and the gaming because we did not have personal computers at that time, or at least only rich families could afford them. So all the kids, including myself, would go and play at the arcades. Fourth, the style of clothing. There was no specific style for us, we would just wear whatever was available which seems like what the kids in the show are doing. We never really cared about who is wearing what, it was just something to keep us warm, rather than care about fashion. I guess you could say that times were a lot more free back then. (Subject 1)

This particular subject is very explicit about which aspects of the show make him feel nostalgic. He is fully aware of the feelings he experiences while watching the show and what memories are being triggered. From his answer, it could be proposed that the subject is experiencing Davis’s idea of interpreted nostalgia, where a person fully analyzes how nostalgia makes him feel when triggered. By watching Stranger Things the subject can pinpoint exactly which aspects remind him of his childhood and why he is feeling nostalgic.

Other subjects, though not as thoroughly, also relate certain aspects of the show to their own childhood in the 90s.

I can definitely see the whole nostalgic aspect of the show. The gloomy colors that you constantly see on your screen give off are very vintage and retro kind of look. You also see their way of life, the way they bike all the time. It makes you think about how much different this show would have been if it was set today with the technology we have right now. So they really want the nostalgia to hit you when watching the show by taking you back to a different time. And of course the nostalgia does hit me. I was not born in the 1980s, I grew up in the 90s, but I would always think that the show really takes me back to the days when we would play with specific toys, like the walkie talkies and the nostalgia would hit me hard. I do not think kids these days play around with walkie takies anymore. (Subject 6)

Looking at the child actors, it reminds me of my own childhood – running around the streets all day, playing board games, being very interested in a specific franchise like Pokémon, for example. We also believed in magical creatures and other realms. So the show reminds me of my childhood in a very good way. Now that I think about it, the show does make me feel very nostalgic about my childhood because it reminds me of the kid I used to be. (Subject 8)

The former subject’s idea of the 80s is not based on life itself but rather the memory of the 1980s as presented in media culture. However, interestingly the subject makes a shift in her statement from integrational nostalgia as triggered by media presentation, to classic nostalgia for her own childhood. The same phenomenon can also be observed in the latter subject. In addition, he acknowledges how as a child he had a very developed imagination, which caused him to believe that magical creatures are real. He shows signs of being nostalgic not only for his childhood, but his past self when he used to believe that the world around him was very mystical. Both of the aforementioned subjects also mention playing outside all day as a memory that brings nostalgia not only for the past but also for the child they once were. According to Linda M. Austin (2003) this phenomenon is called “romantic memory” of childhood. While researching various poems and stories about childhood and nostalgia in the 19th century, she suggests that people who are nostalgic for their childhood view themselves as two different people. For them, the child is a completely different persona from their current self. This metamorphosis is brought on due to external conditions, therefore people tend to mourn the loss of their childhood self. Furthermore, Austin argues that by remembering the mentality they had during their childhood, the adult is reminded of the extraordinary perception of life they once had which translates into a feeling of loss of potential. Childhood is a time when one’s imagination is very vivid and the emotions are spontaneous, but that perspective on live eventually fades with the transition into adulthood. Stranger Things has allowed the aforementioned subject not only to tap into their past, but also reminds them of the children they once were and the way they viewed the world around them.

When talking about how in the past children would spend the whole day playing outside, one subject provided very interesting insight. She explained that there is a vast difference between the ways she grew up, in comparison to her younger sister. She recalled a moment when they were watching Stranger Things together, when the topic of playing outside came up during an episode.

When I was a kid I would spend my entire day out with my friends. Now when I look at my younger sister, who was born in 2001, she is on her phone all the time and I feel like she is missing out on a lot of valuable experiences. Even when watching Stranger Things together I had to explain to

her that when I was a child I would spend my days outside playing, but apparently she thought that this happened only in movies. So for my younger sister, playing outside with friends is not even real and she was surprised to find out I had a similar childhood. (Subject 10)

The statement indicates that there could be a crucial difference between Millennials and Generation Z and their perception of the past when watching Stranger Things. This would mean that additional research could be carried out in order to understand how the youngest viewers interpret the past when watching old TV shows and movies. Further research could also answer the question if mediated memories, or integrational nostalgia, have any kind of effect on Generation Z.

While conducting the interviews, some of the subjects seemed to believe that they have experienced the 80s even though they were born in the 90s, because of their country of origin. Some of the subjects blamed their native country’s slow development for the similarities between their own childhood and the one portrayed in Stranger Things.

I may not be as old to feel nostalgic about those times but as an Eastern European, where everything was 10 years behind, it feels nostalgic. So I feel like I have lived in the 80s even though I was born in the 90s. All of the arcades and games were a part of my childhood too. The technology was far behind therefore people lived accordingly. So we did not have the computers we did not have the mobile phones, we did not have all of that progression. So everything America had in the 80s, Eastern Europeans experienced in the 90s. So I feel like I technically lived in the age of the 80s. The arcades, going out with friends, cycling around the whole neighborhood and getting in trouble - this is exactly the childhood that at least I had. (Subject 1)

Even though it may sound a bit weird I do get a feeling of nostalgia. In Cyprus, where I am from, we got everything that was mainstream in America a few years later. So there were aspects to the show that were nostalgic. Also, the show links many things with Dungeons and Dragons and we did that as children as well. The game would often come up in our conversations, and we would communicate with each other by using the game as a reference. I would not say that Stranger Things is nostalgic in a way that it reminds of the 80s, it is nostalgic in a way that it reminds me of my own childhood. Hanging out with friends, riding our bicycles everywhere, and going on adventures. Also, old technology references like using the VHS and dealing with all the cables really reminds me of the old days. (Subject 2)

For these subjects the countries they were born in play a big role in how relatable the show is to their own childhood. They believe that they have experienced 80s technology and pop culture in their childhood during the 90s because of how underdeveloped their home countries used to be. According to David Lipton and Jeffrey Sachs (1990) Eastern and South-Eastern Europe had been suffering from slow industrialization for many years due to the USSR. This would mean that not only technologies, but the general life style have also fallen behind in comparison to the rest of the Western world. Since the Soviet Union officially disintegrated in 1991, a wave of old American technology, movies, music and TV shows hit Eastern Europe in the 90s. This might be the reason why some of the subjects feel like they have experienced the 80s, through the old media that was suddenly made available to them while growing up. Also, because of the industrial lag between Eastern Europe and America, the children of the 90s experienced a childhood that was less technological and more focused on playing outside.

2.3 Romanticism of the past Many of the subjects romanticized different aspects of the past while being interviewed. A majority of participants believed that the music in the 80s was much better. Also, eight out of the ten interviewees praised the soundtrack of Stranger Things for being very unique and successfully emulating 80s music. The 80s are famous for their mixture of dance-pop and rock, which many of the subject indicated as being unique for that time. One of the subjects showed admiration for the music and especially the bands back then, stating that:

I wish I was also able to experience the music and the bands of the 80s. Most of my all-time favorite bands are form the 80s, so they are either no longer alive or simply do not perform so much anymore. I feel like music back then was definitely better than it is now. Even the soundtrack of the series is better than most soundtracks of other shows, since it copies the style of the 80s. (Subject 8)

According to Jameson (1979) the reason why people find old music significantly more enchanting than their current music is because of the way a new song is constantly replayed, stating that “insensibly becomes part of the existential fabric of our own lives so that we listen to ourselves, our own previous auditions” (1797, 137). Current music is repeatedly played on radio and TV, making a song part of our daily lives. Listening to old music offers a form of escape. According to Ian Buchanan (1997) the various music styles throughout the decades have a particular sound to them, which indicate a specific moment

27 and mood in time allowing for that feeling to be conveyed onto the current listener. By listening to 80s music today, listeners can be transported to a time that was not only different in its lifestyle, but also in its sounds. This romanticism of 80s music occurs not only because people believe that music was better back then, but also because there is a certain narrative of life back then that is attached to it. Stranger Things uses this romantic view of music back then, and implements it in its soundtrack. By perfectly copying the peculiarities of 80s music genres, Stranger Things uses the aesthetics of music in order to emotionally impact its viewers.

When talking about 80s music and movies, another subject argues that the music back then was indeed better, but movies were not.

The music for sure was better back then and I wish I could have experienced it in its prime. I believe the music back then had soul, unlike today’s popular songs. But I think we have pretty good movies now, so I do not miss 80s movies. For sure they were great movies for that time period, but I am sure that even one day my kids will see a movie from 2018 and think the graphics are terrible. (Subject 7)

While the aforementioned subject views 80s movies as lower quality products, another subject also complimented the soundtrack, but also praises how magnificently Stranger Things emulates the movie style of the 80s, stating that:

Especially with the soundtrack, I really like the nostalgic feeling of it. Because I am a 90s kid, to me it had all those 80s sounds I grew up listening to, as well as 80s references and clichés. It’s not the first show to try and tap into nostalgia but I think it is successful because it acknowledges that it is a nostalgic show. It is an 80s show that is filmed in a way it would have been done in the 80s if they had the proper technology. It is not only a show about the 80s, it is also aiming to be a show of the 80s. (Subject 3)

This subjects recognizes the show’s attempt to elicit nostalgia through its 80s themed soundtrack. She not only identifies that Stranger Things aims to appeal to viewers through nostalgia, but also appreciates the show’s effective impersonation of 80s popular movies and TV shows. With the help of recent technology, Stranger Things has created a TV show that stylistically belongs to the 80s, but technologically belongs to the 2010s. Throughout the interviews other participants also showed appreciation for the nostalgic vibe of the show. Two subjects admitted to being reminded of their childhood when watching Stranger Things, because of the similar movies they watched as children.

Even though I do not belong to American culture, I was still able to find things within the show that reminded me of my own childhood. You know this funny feeling you get when you watch old movies and the graphic are really bad. With Stranger Things you are still reminded of old movies, but at the same time the graphics are so good. So you experience nostalgia for old cinema, while watching something that is visually much more advanced. After the Soviet Union fell apart in the 90s, all the old 70s and 80s movies from America came to Russia. So watching Stranger Things, reminds me of watching all of those old American movies as a child. Essentially, Stranger Things does not enchant me with the time period it portrays, but rather with the movies of that time that it emulates. So I can say Stranger Things is nostalgic in a way that it reminds me of myself as a child watching all of those 80s movies and reliving those stories. (Subject 9)

I do not know much about the 80s because I was born in the 90s, so for me Stranger Things actually reminds me more of the 90s. I feel like I am experiencing nostalgia for the 90s while watching the show. The alien in the story for me personally is a reference to E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which make me feel nostalgic for movies I used to watch as a kid growing up in the 90s. Also, the whole idea of kids going on an adventure without adults reminds me of other movies I used to watch as well, such as The Goonies. (Subject 3)

These two subjects experience both classic and integrational nostalgia because of the romantic feeling attached to movies they watched while growing up. In its similarity to 80s cinema, Stranger Things carries out a feeling of nostalgia to the grown up for the child that would be fascinated with old fantasy movies. These two subjects feel as if they are children once again while watching Stranger Things. The show has the ability to emotionally transport the viewer back in time and feel nostalgia for both their childhood and 80s cinematography. Another subject also expressed a fascination with the 80s setting that is portrayed in Stranger Things.

The show does kind of make me feel nostalgic, mainly because of the music and the scenes, because they practically scream 80s. The props, the cars, the setting, everything looks like the 80s for me. So I can see why some people would feel nostalgic, including myself. From the age of ten I have loved the 80s. When I was young I thought I was born in the wrong decade and the 80s were my favorite time period. So I am not sure to what extent I felt enchanted by the 80s depicted in the show, since I was already a big fan of them. (Subject 8)

Similarly to Dickinson’s argument about the cinematic representation of suburbia and the way it cultivates the belief that life was better back then, this subject is captivated by the representation of 80s suburbia in Stranger Things. This romanticized view of the 80s is reinforced in the show by portraying Hawkins as the typical small town that is based on multiple clichés about the 80s, but also carries a sense of danger and excitement. The aforementioned subject also claims to experience nostalgia for the 80s, despite being born in the 90s. When asked about where his impression of the 80s comes from and if he believes the depiction in Stranger Things is accurate, he replied that:

I cannot be completely sure since I was not born in that time, but as far as I know how the 80s were I would say it is pretty accurate. My idea of the 80s however mainly comes from movies and photos of that time. I have not heard a lot from older people, so my main impression of the 80s comes from the media. (Subject 8)

Declaring that he feels as if he was born in the wrong decade, this subject is experiencing integrational nostalgia for his mediated memories of the 80s. According to Van Dijk (2007), mediated memories are a mixture of personal memories and collective memories. With the progress in technology, memory and media have formed an interaction. When a child watches movies of a reality before his existence, this images help construct a new reality where the past and the present merge. These mediated memories can cause certain people to feel as if they have lived in a specific time before they were born and experience integrational nostalgia. The captivating depiction of the 80s in Stranger Things, in combination with pre-existing mediated memories, and the subject’s personal fascination with that particular time period have lead him to believe that he truly feels nostalgia for a time he has not lived.

Another subject also admitted to being fascinated with 80s culture stating that:

I am very much interest in the retro culture and most of my clothes are from vintage stores. So I myself am very enchanted by the 80s to begin with and the show really allowed me to indulge into that. I have always felt like I was born in the wrong decade, so the show really resonated with me. It made me want to be a kid in the 80s, with my walkie talkie exploring the woods. It truly charmed me. You would also see their houses, cabins and also their school – everything is so different from the architecture today. So as a person who is really into the whole retro culture and vintage movements, I was very enchanted and it was very visually pleasing for me to watch. (Subject 6)

In addition to her fascination to 80s culture and the suburban like town represented in Stranger Things, this subject also acknowledges the fact that some of the depictions of 80s life in the show may not have been realistic. However she also states that she does not mind it, seeing that she is a fan of the 80s and enjoys the clichés with which that time period is represented in media.

This is TV so of course it romanticizes. At the end of the day this is a sci-fi series which romanticizes the 80s to a large extent because it wanted to catch people’s attention. Also, in order to emphasize that this was happening in the 80s they used a lot of clichés. Maybe the 80s were a lot more technologically advanced than they show us, but in order to emphasize the difference between now and then, they had to make the differences a lot more exaggerated. But even though I am aware that it may not be realistic, I am fine with that because I am a movie addict when it comes to 80s cinema. I like how Stranger Things still give me that good retro vibe and I love all of those 80s clichés. (Subject 6)

This subject is aware of media’s romanticism of specific time periods, however she is not concerned about that. Looking at Stranger Things from the point of view of a consumer, she is happy that the show provides her with the kind of entertainment she enjoys despite the possibility of an unrealistic depiction. The subject does not concern herself with the problem of how media may manipulate the image of the past. The interviewee can be classified as Singkhra’s idea of a cinephile who enjoys retro movies and encourages the use of old IP’s within media. All of the participants who romanticized the 80s depicted in Stranger Things have fond feelings for movies depicting that time period, either because they are brought back to their childhood or they bare a pre-existing fascination with the 80s. This romanticism of the past brings on feelings of integrational nostalgia.

2.4 Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture When comparing 80s life depicted in Stranger Things to current times, many of the subjects felt dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. The main root of this displeasure mainly stemmed from the advancement in technology and how seemingly more complicated life has become. Influenced by the romanticized depiction of 80s life as simple and frivolous, the participants felt like technology is to blame for the loss of that simplicity.

I would have loved to go back to those times when society was not as dependent on technology. If you want to talk to someone today, you just give them a call. But back then if you wanted to

find your friend you had to search for his bicycle in the neighborhood, and once you see it you know your friend is there. Rather than calling up you would have to go to his house first, ask his parents where he is and if they tell you he is out you would then have to search the whole neighborhood to find him. I would have also liked to be there for the beginning of all those franchises like Terminator, and watch those movies from the old perspective. Because the old prospective would rather focus on the storyline rather than the effects. Today everything can be computerized and there is not much of a good storyline. So I feel like old movies have better storylines, even though they used very fake prosthetics which look terrible to us right now, but I am certain that in the 1980s they did not look that fake at all. (Subject 1)

Another subject expressed dissatisfaction with how instead of mostly benefitting us, technology seems to limit us a lot more. For him, life in 2010s is not as simple as the 80s life portrayed in Stranger Things. He longs for the simple suburban life that the people in the 80s seemed to be enjoying according to media’s representation.

When you watch the series you can see how kids in the 80s were so free. Now we have so much technology, that even though it does help us, it also limits us in a big way. I am not saying that life in the 21st century is a very hard, but back then things seemed easier. Almost as if the times were simpler. (Subject 8)

The following subject demonstrates his dissatisfaction with technology through the ways in which it has influenced his relationship with people, as well as the movie industry. For him, the technological advancements have made people lazy in their friendships, making it easy to get a hold of anyone at any time instead of going the extra mile to spend time with them. Other subjects also expressed dissatisfaction in the way technology has influenced the way people spend their bonding time together.

I like the way in which people’s lives were not as influenced by technology back then, as they are now. It may be a clichéd answer, but nowadays even in a group of friends everyone is on their phone and not really interacting with each other. Even though we still interact in different ways today, I feel like people also try to escape through technology instead of enjoying what they are doing right now. Instead of trying to find a common topic with others, or find an activity to do together, people just hide behind their phones instead of facing the situation. So even though there was some technology back in the 80s, its influence on people’s life was not as significant as it is now. (Subject 4)

I think back in the day, the relationships and friendships between people were a lot more meaningful and tighter. For example, you would have to search the town to find your friend and I do not think it works like that anymore. Plus, the fact that there were no cellphones means that your mom could not bother you as much when you were out. Also, with all the technology now, conversation are a lot less meaningful. People will call you for stupid things, or tag you on posts that are not important. So I think it will be a huge advantage not to have all of these shallow technologies in our way. Aside from technology, people back then looked cool. Everyone had their own style, now everyone looks the same as if it is an assigned uniform you have to wear in order to fit in. Not to mention that those clothes are probably produced in some poor country, where the workers get paid almost nothing for their hard work just so that we can look cool. (Subject 6)

The former subjects expresses dissatisfaction in the way his friendships have been severed because of technology, while the latter sees current technology as meaningless and feels as if it limits one’s freedom. The latter subjects also criticizes how shallow today’s society has become because of fashion, despite not knowing for certain if this was also the case back in the 80s. She disapproves of the way in which people today blindly follow fashion trends, without paying attention or caring about where these products come from. The subject criticizes mass consumption in today’s age and the way people cut themselves off from society through technology. She is portraying Pickering and Keightley idea of discontent with today’s culture because of her personal disenchantment from the current society, and enchantment with the 80s of Stranger Things. She then goes on to explain that to her the show has a much deeper meaning that critiques today’s society, stating that:

I believe the actual point of the show is a lot deeper than it seems. Everyone can have their own interpretation of the Upside Down and the whole mind control experiments going on in the secret lab. But ultimately, I relate this to all the unnecessary applications and communication technologies that we have to apply to our lives. Because if we do not integrate them into our lives, we would be considered a ‘weirdo’. For example, if you do not have an Instagram account these days people consider you strange. For me, the Upside Down represent the current times when everyone is cold and distanced from one another. While trapped there, Will cannot be heard by the others, even though he is in the same space as them. This to me represents how technology has distanced us from one another and has negatively affected our relationship with people, in contrast to the 80s when everyone was very close to each other. (Subject 6)

By adopting the idea of reception theory with the answer of this participant, one can see how meaning is created by the spectator when presented with Stranger Things’ nostalgic visuals. For this subject, the Upside Down is an allegory for today’s society which is so cold and distanced compared to the simpler and ‘warmer’ times that she believes the 80s were. For her, through this indirect representation, Stranger Things is in fact a critique on today’s society. Following this train of thought, the destruction and coldness of the Upside Down does not only depict society today, but also the way in which the old simpler life is forgotten today. In the Upside Down we see the whole town of Hawkins destroyed and swallowed in darkness – the small houses, the woods, and the arcade. All of these aspects to 80s life are becoming unfamiliar to today’s society. Most people live in large complexes in metropolitan cities. Kids are not able to explore the woods, because they are either not allowed to or all the trees have simply been cut down. Young people no longer gather together and socialize at the arcades, since entertainment is becoming a solidary activity in the comfort of our own homes. From this point of view, this participant’s argument becomes a very compelling one and allows for further research into the topic of symbolism in Stranger Things.

When talking about things that cannot be experienced in today’s society, in comparison to the 80s, one subject pointed out that schools and education are a lot more different today.

Schools cannot be experienced in the same way today. Not only in the aspect of education, but also in the progression in communication with the friends you make there. Kids today do not hang out as much with their friends from school, they just go home and they start playing video games. So I feel like in the 80s building a friendship outside of school was much more important. Also, education was taken a lot more differently. Today you can search something on the internet and easily find the answer, while before you would go with your group of friends to the library to study together. So I feel as if today people isolate themselves a lot more easily. I also think that education back then was way more interesting. I believe it was a lot more practical rather than theoretical. Because of technology, teachers today are lot more lazy and just show videos in class. While I feel like in the 1980s for biology class, for example, you would actually have to go outside and study the nature around you. People today do not actually educate themselves through their own experience, but through someone else's experience. Also, parents today are a lot more easily scared so they would not allow their children to stay outside like back in the days. News is constantly being updated with someone getting kidnapped or raped and parents of course get scared. But in the 1980s when information would not be so easily available people were a lot

more unaware of the bad things happening so they would let their children play outside all day. Times were not safer back then, just people were not that aware. But because of that, children got to spend a lot of time outside and have a lot of valuable learning experiences. (Subject 1)

This subject blames to advancement in technology for taking away from some valuable learning experiences that in his opinion can only be taught through practice. For him, technology does not enrich education but instead limits it to the confinement of the classroom. For him, education in the 80s was better because in order to understand a specific scientific concept, you had to conduct experiments and go outside in order to receive practical knowledge. For the subjects who see technology as a regression, the world we live in today is deprived of valuable social interactions and crucial ‘offline’ experiences. This sentiment makes them experience integrational nostalgia for a past when humanity was not as technologically dependent.

2.5 Satisfaction with contemporary culture Surprisingly, and in contradiction with the previous section, one of the main reasons why other subject felt pleased with contemporary culture was because of the advancements in technology. They pointed out many benefits to the technology that we have today, and how it has not only benefited us in our long distance communication with others, but has also improved our way of life.

I do not feel enchanted by the 80s, I am happy with the time I was born in. I enjoy fast internet and current technology. I am not nostalgic about not having these comforts back then, I am happy with the times right now. Even the 2000s were nice times, but I would not like to go back. When I think about all the things in the show that I would like to experience, like going to the arcade and hang out with friends, I can also do that today. If I want to play the games that they play in the arcade I can do that from the comfort of my own home. I do not feel like there is something that they can do but I cannot. Even though it might be harder to get together with friends today due to busy schedules, I know that it is still possible. Kids can still hang out today even though it might be slightly changed and modernized. Technically, they are still hanging out and socializing just through different means. You do not have to worry about going out or staying out too late, you can hang out with your friends through video gaming. Also, I feel like society has changed and it is too dangerous to stay outside until late, so even I would not let my child wander around all day

and come back at night. Even now I do not feel comfortable going out at night, and I am an adult male. I think this is what our society is turning into. (Subject 2)

For this subject, instead of harming our connections with people, technology has simply transferred them onto another realm. We are still social, only our way of socializing has changed. For him, having access to entertainment from the comfort of his own home is more superior to the arcades of the 80s. The subject believes that socializing with friends and family through virtual reality gaming is equivalent to meeting up in person and spending physical time together. For him, technology has liberated us and there are multiple researchers to back this up. See for example Emese Domahidi (2014) and her research on gaming as a social experience, where she argues that online video gaming allows the inclusion of offline friends into the gaming world, and helps strengthen the bond through team oriented missions. The aforementioned subject also believes that society has become too dangerous, therefore technology has become the safe way for people to communicate with each other from the safety of their own home.

Other subjects also expressed their fondness of technology, even though they do see some negative aspects to it as well.

I see it as a progression of time. The negative aspects of today’s society are probably not as bad as the negative aspects of the 80s. We make progress and we move forward. Of course it is not only a positive progression, but it is not one hundred percent negative either. Even though because of technology you lose the human connection with other people at the moment, you also manage to maintain a connection with family and friends when you are far away from each other. I also believe that, once upon a time, even if people did not have smart phones to stare at, there were other ways to avoid conversation, like books and newspapers. Honestly, in some situations I am glad I have my phone to escape to, rather than force myself to interact with a person that makes me feel uncomfortable. So I do not really feel nostalgic for the way things once were. Those were nice times but the times I am living in right now are also very nice. (Subject 4)

While this subject does recognize some small negative aspect to technology, she believes the pros outweigh the cons. For her, while technology has slightly affected face to face interaction, it has greatly benefited people who live in foreign countries but want to keep in contact with their friends and family from back home. She is also skeptical about how much technology is to blame about people’s tendency to be antisocial. Her belief is that in the past people would avoid social interaction through other means, and smartphones today have simply made it more obvious. There is also multiple research to back up her

36 claim. See for example Clarity Innovations’ (2009) survey on how there is no evidence that people are becoming less social because of technology. They also argue that some statistics even point towards people’s ability to actively socialize more easily because of technology. Another subject saw both the negative and positive aspects of technology, stating that:

Of course back then technology was not as advanced as it is today, so people were more independent, they were more social, they relied on each other much more. Even the kids playing with each other board games or riding their bikes around town, I do not think that happens much anymore. Everyone is just stuck at home, texting from their phones or computers using Facebook, so that really makes us lose touch with reality. It seems like in the 80s this was not an issue. I am not sure how it makes me feel. I do not think ‘sad’ is the right word since we are evolving, so it might be better for some people. And I definitely do not feel nostalgic. That fact that we can communicate anywhere is amazing! But I think social interaction is very vital especially at a young age, like playing outside with your friends when the weather is nice, so from this perspective it is sad. There are definitely kids that still play outside, but it is certainly dying out. It probably depends on the parents and how much power they have over the technology their children use. Still, I would not give up the technology I have now! (Subject 5)

For him, socializing is vital but only at a younger age. For him having today’s technology is a big plus, and it is the parents’ fault if they do not control how much of it their child is consuming. He also mentions that the advancement in technology is beneficial to some people. This statement is correct if considering people with disabilities or illnesses who rely on technology in order to live normal daily lives. See for example Sabine Trepte (2012) and her research on digital technology, and how the advancements in gaming allow physically disabled people to interact with others and create friendships with the help of a virtual environment. In this sense, online virtual gaming becomes an important support mechanism that was not an option for people who lived in the 80s, for example.

Another subject looked at the matter at hand from the perspective of a woman living in the 80s in comparison to a woman in 2018. For her, being a female today with the freedom to speak up and travel has a lot more advantages than it did back then, stating that:

It does make me sad in a certain way, but there are certainly other positive things we can experience now that we could not back in the day. Especially as a young woman I am happy to be alive now. It is a fact that women back in the day did not have that much of a voice as we do now.

Also, we have a lot more opportunities to travel and study, which to me is very important. Some things we lose, and others we gain with time. That is how progress goes. Some changes are for the better, and I hope more are for the better as time goes on. The series does make the 80s seem cool, since half of the time it is portraying the lives of young people and that is always fun to watch. But I am a history major, so knowing the things that were going on during the Cold War and it is hard for me to distance myself from that. Even though it is debatable, I know that there were some very bad experiments being carried out on people back then, just like it was depicted in the show to some extent. So for me, Stranger Things does portray how life could have been like in the 80s with both the good parts and the bad parts. (Subject 7)

Additionally to being a woman in the 80s, the subject also does not see the romanticism of that time period. Due to her educational background and prior knowledge of the Cold War, she is not swayed by the nostalgic portrayal of the 80s in Stranger Things. As a history major, her outlook on the 80s is objective and based on historical facts, therefore the way in which media portrays that specific time period has no effect on her. The subject’s nostalgia is solely based on how the show reminds her of her childhood in the 90s, and she does not bare romantic feelings for the 80s or feel a strong dissatisfaction with contemporary culture.

When talking about popular culture in the 80s in comparison to popular culture today, one subject shared her thoughts stating that the creative industry is as good as ever. For her, different art forms become more valuable with time namely because of nostalgia. She goes on to explain that:

I never thought that I belong to a different time. I think all people look to the past nostalgically and romanticize it, and do not appreciate their own popular culture that is happening right now. So I think that even if I lived in the 80s I would not have appreciated the culture at that time as much as I do right now looking back at it. Things gain more nostalgic value as time passes on, and I think that arts and popular culture today are becoming of higher quality because of technology, and because we have so much more great art to inspire us than before. It is also so much easier to share it, use it, and get inspired by it. Of course, this also allows for some very bad art to be produced, but our current popular culture is in no way less valuable than it was before. (Subject 3)

This subject is experiencing Davis’ “reflexive nostalgia” where an individual analyzes the past critically, and does not succumb to its romanticism or feelings of sentimentality. Furthermore, for this subject,

38 nostalgia allows art and popular culture to gain sentimental value over time. This also means that creative ideas of the past are much more easily exploited by media, because of people’s natural longing for the past and innate feelings of nostalgia. Whether it is because of classic nostalgia, integrational nostalgia or collective memory, the majority of people are sentimental about the past due to various reasons, one of them being that culture back then was better. This makes them easily influenced by the media that aims to tap into these feelings. However, the aforementioned subject argues that the culture today is a lot more diverse and creative that ever before. Contrary to Jameson’s idea of postmodernism, these respondents do not see pastiche as something limiting, and they believe that the inspiration from old popular culture in combination with technology can only bring forward new and unique creative ideas.

Conclusion

Throughout this research it became apparent that the majority of the subjects did in fact experience some form of nostalgia while watching Stranger Things. The interviews that were conducted proved to be insightful, and allowed to identify the reasons why millennial viewers feel nostalgic when watching a show about the 80s. Romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture did indeed appear to be one of the main reasons the subject experienced integrational nostalgia. However, in addition to these, a new and unexpected factor appeared as the main trigger for classic and integrational nostalgia while watching Stranger Things.

Childhood reminiscing was the most common motive for nostalgia, which is reasonable considering that the time gap between the 1980s and the 1990s is not so considerable. People born in the 90s often grew up with the music, movies, and entertainment of the 80s making that decade seem more familiar to them. Some participants became nostalgic, because they were reminded of the old movies they used to watch as children and the feelings they would convey. Other participants, depending on the country in which the individual subjects grew up in, even believed they experienced the 80s due to the delay of technological advancements in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe. For them not only the entertainment, but also the technologies shown in Stranger Things are familiar and relatable. There were also subjects who became nostalgic for their childhood by looking at the child actors and remembering the kids they used to be. For those subject, Stranger Things became a portal to their younger selves, reminding them of how the world seemed to be so fascinating when they were children. In other words, they have experienced classic nostalgia for a time they have lived. The result suggests that the main nostalgic appeal of watching a show about the 80s is because of personal memories. This makes classic nostalgia the most common type of nostalgia among the millennial subjects when watching Stranger Things.

Romanticism of the past was also a major factor for experiencing integrational nostalgia among the participants. Many of them felt the music of the 80s was much better and generated many bands that to this day remain pop cultural icons. Other subjects felt enchanted by the depiction of suburban life and the simplicity attached to the image of the 80s within media. The carefully crafted image of suburbia within shows about the 80s, including Stranger Things, have created the impression among these millennial viewers that everything back then had a pleasing aesthetic and life was better. Some of the subjects also praised the movie industry of that time, believing it to be far superior to today’s major Hollywood productions due to better scripts and more captivating storylines. This romantic view of the

40 past, which is continuously reinforced by the media, has also played a major role in most of the participants’ views on today’s society in comparison to the 80s.

The main reason for the subjects’ dissatisfaction with contemporary culture is technology. For those participants, recent technological advancements such as smart phones, application and online virtual gaming, do not encourage people to become more social. In fact, they firmly believe that because of technology society is losing touch with reality. In comparison to the 80s depicted in media, they see society today as a lot less social and a lot more solitary. The subjects believe that people are becoming more dependable on technology, and less dependable on one another which is a major negative factor in human relationships. Other subjects also expressed frustration with how easily accessible information has become. For them, this takes away from practical learning and instead enforces only theoretical forms of studying. The subjects who expressed dissatisfaction with contemporary culture because of the technological advancements, conclude that technology takes away from many valuable life experiences and social connections, which is a fairly typical humanist discourse.

Surprisingly, many participants also showed satisfaction with contemporary culture. The main reason for their positive view of the present was precisely because of recent technological advancement. For them, even though technology may have taken away some forms of socializing, society has benefitted from it in many other ways. They enjoy having all sorts of entertainment from the comfort of their own home, and enjoy spending time with their friends through virtual online gaming. Some even saw the benefit of being a woman in the 21st century, and felt like there is less gender discrimination now than back in the 80s. The opportunity to travel in today’s social and technological environment has also been pointed out as a benefit to contemporary culture. Others believed that the internet has helped different art forms progress, and become more easily accessible throughout the world. Even though some of these subjects did admit to experiencing nostalgia while watching Stranger Things, they still believe that all these changes are for the better and progress does require certain sacrifices as time goes by.

The most striking conclusion that can be gathered from the interviews is that there is a continuous oscillation between classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia. In the subject’s answers there was no clear distinction between the two, meaning that the feeling of nostalgia is a lot more complex. The interviewees constantly switched between the two types of nostalgia, often within the span of a single sentence. That would suggest that the subjects do not differentiate between nostalgia for their personal past, and nostalgia for mediated memories, but instead have one undifferentiated idealized image of the past. The literature in the first chapter of this thesis gives the impression that despite sharing similar ideas,

41 there is a clear distinction between classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia. However, this research has shown that for my respondents these two notions of nostalgia are interwoven in their minds. This constant alteration between classic and integrational nostalgia is one of the main conclusions to come out of the overall analysis.

Throughout this research it became evident that mediated memories and media representation play a huge part in the way different generations view the past. The majority of millennials in this study proved to be very familiar with 80s pop culture and often talked about the past with a very definite tone of voice as if they have lived through time period. This confidence about their knowledge of the past may also be because of mediated memories, cultivated in millennials’ consciousness from a young age by watching retro movies and listening to old music. Today these mediated memories are making the participants feel as if they have lived through the 80s and experience both classic and integrational nostalgia in the process as a result of different prompts. Stranger Things is an 80s themed show which has many triggers throughout its episodes, that elicit classic and integrational nostalgia and could cause a millennial to long for both their personal, as well as someone else’s past. Other possible research that could be conducted in regard to integrational nostalgia is if it can be detected among Generation Z, since the time gap between the 1980s and 2000s is bigger, hence there is a bigger difference in lifestyle. In addition, another possibility for future research is the question if a millennial could feel integrational nostalgia for a show that takes place much further in the past. This research has confirmed that when it comes to classic and integrational nostalgia it is not either or, but in fact both can be experienced at the same time, nevertheless this might have to do with the “closeness” of the 1980s for today’s millennials. Therefore, both classic and integrational nostalgia are possible when triggered by a TV show, which portrays a time one has not lived through.

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Appendix

Subject 1 (24 years old, Russia)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? My girlfriend told me about the show. We started watching it when the first season was already out and pretty much consumed it within a few days.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I enjoyed the mystery in the show, especially the one about Eleven’s background story. How was she taken away from her mom, what type of experiments they have done on her and how many more kids there are like her. Also what is the Upside Down and what is the scientific basis behind it. I am very interested in the scientific part of the show.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? Yes, I do agree with those views. I may not be as old to feel nostalgic about those times but as an Eastern European, where everything was 10 years behind, it feels nostalgic. So I feel like I have lived in the 80s even though I was born in the 90s. All of the arcades and games were a part of my childhood too. The technology was far behind therefore people lived accordingly. So we did not have the computers we did not have the mobile phones, we did not have all of that progression. So everything America had in the 80s, Eastern Europeans experienced in the 90s. So I feel like I technically lived in the age of the 80s. The arcades, going out with friends, cycling around the whole neighborhood and getting in trouble - this is exactly the childhood that at least I had.

 Which aspects of the show would you say give you a feeling of nostalgia? Why is that so? There are many aspects of the show that make me feel nostalgic about my childhood. First, I would say is the environment. In Stranger Things it is clearly visible that there are forests where kids go to play - you cannot do that today. There are no forests like this left, most of them are already cut down or have some kind of complex built in them. That is one thing I had in my childhood - a lot of undeveloped buildings, area and land where we could go around and play.

Second, the kids had bicycles as a way of transport because the town is small and this is something I used to do as well because I lived in a small town. Third, the arcades and the gaming because we did not have personal computers at that time, or at least only rich families could afford them. So all the kids, including myself, would go and play at the arcades. Fourth, the style of clothing. There was no specific style for us, we would just wear whatever was available which seems like what the kids in the show are doing. We never really cared about who is wearing what, it was just something to keep us warm, rather than care about fashion. I guess you could say that times were a lot more free back then.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? It feels like I have lived in the 80s even though I cannot really say that I have. But I think that is because where I am from. I am pretty sure that other people from different countries might not feel the same way. It is not because the show portrays the 80s in a very interesting way, it is because I actually feel like I have lived through them because of where I was born.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? They definitely only kept the good parts of the 80s. However, I think in the second season the character of Billy Hargrove portrays the bad aspects of that time. He is racist, reckless, a troublemaker, a druggie, a bully and he is the only one showing those aspects of the 80s. Racism was definitely a huge issue back then in America. Motorcycle gangs also started developing at that time, which made the crime rates rise. So they mostly portrait the fun and good parts and very little of the bad things.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? I would have loved to go back to those times when society was not as dependent on technology. If you want to talk to someone today, you just give them a call. But back then if you wanted to find your friend you had to search for his bicycle in the neighborhood, and once you see it you know your friend is there. Rather than calling up you would have to go to his house first, ask his parents where he is and if they tell you he is out you would then have to search the whole neighborhood to find him. I would have also liked to be there for the beginning of all those franchises like Terminator, and watch those movies from the old perspective. Because the old

prospective would rather focus on the storyline rather than the effects. Today everything can be computerized and there is not much of a good storyline. So I feel like old movies have better storylines, even though they used very fake prosthetics which look terrible to us right now, but I am certain that in the 1980s they did not look that fake at all.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? Schools cannot be experienced in the same way today. Not only in the aspect of education, but also in the progression in communication with the friends you make there. Kids today do not hang out as much with their friends from school, they just go home and they start playing video games. So I feel like in the 80s building a friendship outside of school was much more important. Also, education was taken a lot more differently. Today you can search something on the internet and easily find the answer, while before you would go with your group of friends to the library to study together. So I feel as if today people isolate themselves a lot more easily. I also think that education back then was way more interesting. I believe it was a lot more practical rather than theoretical. Because of technology, teachers today are lot more lazy and just show videos in class. While I feel like in the 1980s for biology class, for example, you would actually have to go outside and study the nature around you. People today do not actually educate themselves through their own experience, but through someone else's experience. Also, parents today are a lot more easily scared so they would not allow their children to stay outside like back in the days. News is constantly being updated with someone getting kidnapped or raped and parents of course get scared. But in the 1980s when information would not be so easily available people were a lot more unaware of the bad things happening so they would let their children play outside all day. Times were not safer back then, just people were not that aware. But because of that, children got to spend a lot of time outside and have a lot of valuable learning experiences.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? It makes me sad that these aspects of 80s life cannot be experienced today. It is sad because the experiences that I had built me as a person. I have memories from my childhood which were a lot of fun but what will kids today remember? What kind of score they got on a video game?

They do not have the kind of memories my generation has. I have memories from every single scar that I have on my body, like the one I got when I fell from a tree. All the adventures, all the dirt and the fun parts like getting your hands dirty, they cannot experience that today and that is sad.

Subject 2 (23 years old, Cyprus)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I got into it because of the hype. Everyone was talking about it so I was a bit skeptical. Usually when people hype something I know I am going to be disappointed but I was not, so that was really nice.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I like how balanced the storyline is, I never felt like something was out of place. Everyone's role and purpose made sense. They blend everything quite well, you never feel like characters do not belong there and it makes sense for them to be in the story. Nothing feels forced.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? Even though it may sound a bit weird I do get a feeling of nostalgia. In Cyprus, where I am from, we got everything that was mainstream in America a few years later. So there were aspects to the show that were nostalgic. Also, the show links many things with Dungeons and Dragons and we did that as children as well. The game would often come up in our conversations, and we would communicate with each other by using the game as a reference. I would not say that Stranger Things is nostalgic in a way that it reminds of the 80s, it is nostalgic in a way that it reminds me of my own childhood. Hanging out with friends, riding our bicycles everywhere, and going on adventures. Also, old technology references like using the VHS and dealing with all the cables really reminds me of the old days.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? I do not feel enchanted by the 80s, I am happy with the time I was born in. I enjoy fast internet and current technology. I am not nostalgic about not having these comforts back then, I am

happy with the times right now. Even the 2000s were nice times, but I would not like to go back. When I think about all the things in the show that I would like to experience, like going to the arcade and hang out with friends, I can also do that today. If I want to play the games that they play in the arcade I can do that from the comfort of my own home. I do not feel like there is something that they can do but I cannot. Even though it might be harder to get together with friends today due to busy schedules, I know that it is still possible. Kids can still hang out today even though it might be slightly changed and modernized. Technically, they are still hanging out and socializing just through different means. You do not have to worry about going out or staying out too late, you can hang out with your friends through video gaming. Also, I feel like society has changed and it is too dangerous to stay outside until late, so even I would not let my child wander around all day and come back at night. Even now I do not feel comfortable going out at night, and I am an adult male. I think this is what our society is turning into.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? In terms of realistic you cannot have too much expectations from a show like that. I think that certain elements may be realistic like the Cold War for example. The whole back story of Stranger Things does make sense like the government running secret experiments in the 80s, taking away babies, and other rumors like that. And how during the Cold war America tried to get the edge on everything, so I like how they implemented that into the story. But I do not feel like the 80s were romanticized.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? Not really, I find the show scary so I'm a happy millennial.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? I do not have a particular feeling about it. I've experienced it, and I do not have any regrets of not doing something I wanted. I have gone through that experience, I doubt that it will feel as good now as it did back then. I still see kids playing out today, though not as often due to technology. But I also think that the dangers that existed back then still exist today. Even though times are changing I do not think they are getting worse.

Subject 3 (24 years old, Lithuania)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? It was a big hype when it came out and a lot of my friends had seen it and were really psyched about it. I also heard the soundtrack and I really liked it so I thought that the show might be good as well.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I am a very visual person because I have done graphic design, so I really like the cinematography, the soundtrack, how things got executed and for me it is all a very stylistically pleasing show. Also, I really like the child actors because all of them are so good. Especially with the soundtrack, I really like the nostalgic feeling of it. Because I am a 90s kid, to me it had all those 80s sounds I grew up listening to, as well as 80s references and clichés. It’s not the first show to try and tap into nostalgia but I think it is successful because it acknowledges that it is a nostalgic show. It is an 80s show that is filmed in a way it would have been done in the 80s if they had the proper technology. It is not only a show about the 80s, it is also aiming to be a show of the 80s.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? I do not know much about the 80s because I was born in the 90s, so for me Stranger Things actually reminds me more of the 90s. I feel like I am experiencing nostalgia for the 90s while watching the show. The alien in the story for me personally is a reference to E.T. the Extra Terrestrial, which make me feel nostalgic for movies I used to watch as a kid growing up in the 90s. Also, the whole idea of kids going on an adventure without adults reminds me of other movies I used to watch as well, such as The Goonies.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? It's very obvious to me that the show takes place in America and not my home country of Lithuania, so therefore I cannot personally relate to it. However, it definitely gives a good nostalgic vibe implementing that it was a good time to live in America. So I do see how the show

would romanticize the 80s but it just does not resonate with me because I do not think I am their main audience. I believe their main audience is American millennials. Even pop cultural references that are supposed to connect with the global audience are still American. I feel like the show is not actively trying to include international people but there is nothing wrong with that. It just resonates with me less on a personal level, since I am from a different country and I have different cultural references.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I don't think the show intended to portray that time realistically because it is a fantasy show after all. I can see them trying to portray the time in the way that people remember it so that it is more nostalgic. Of course people remember the past in a bit of a romanticized way and I think they are trying to tap into that romanticized nostalgic feeling and they are being very obvious about it, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I think the producers of Stranger Things are showing things from the 80s that are really cool, and they really liked and give credit to the originals by referencing them.

 Does Stranger Things remind you of your own childhood in any way? Please elaborate on your answer. I cannot really say that I can relate to the kids in Stranger Things. Yes, we used to ride bikes and I could basically go wherever I want to but I do not relate to them on a personal level.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? No. First thing is there are a lot of bad things happening in the show. Second, I never thought that I belong to a different time. I think all people look to the past nostalgically and romanticize it, and do not appreciate their own popular culture that is happening right now. So I think that even if I lived in the 80s I would not have appreciated the culture at that time as much as I do right now looking back at it. Things gain more nostalgic value as time passes on, and I think that arts and popular culture today are becoming of higher quality because of technology, and because we have so much more great art to inspire us than before. It is also so much easier to

share it, use it, and get inspired by it. Of course, this also allows for some very bad art to be produced, but our current popular culture is in no way less valuable than it was before.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? I think the arcade is a thing of the past which is a shame. I think kids still play outside these days, like I used to but that is only my perspective as a Lithuanian.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? Of course there are many bad things happening and it really depends from country to country. Not everything is perfect, there are many bad things happening. There is new bad things happening with the technologies and the internet, there are old bad things happening like terrorism and the refugee crisis. There is also history repeating itself. But broadly speaking I think that society is improving in a way and even though it may not be a linear progression, it is definitely a progression with its ups and downs. I think society now is better, I am happy with where we are going on a grand scale.

Subject 4 (22 years old, South Korea)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I started watching it sometime around when season two started airing, so of course I started with season one and afterwards watched season two. I learned of Stranger Things, because basically it was really hyped up. Everyone at my university was talking about it non-stop. And you could also feel the big hype over social media. So it happened that during that time I was looking for something new to watch, and decided to give Stranger Things a try and loved it.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I enjoy the fantasy and horror elements because that is something I generally like in any series or movie. It is also very dynamic so it manages to keep my interest, since I have concentration issues when watching movies. If it is a romance I get bored really fast and I never finish the show

but since Stranger Things is so dynamic it kept my interest to the very end and I kept on watching episode after episode.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? The show does have a particular nostalgic atmosphere about it. The overall setting and the soundtrack especially, for me scream 80s and I really enjoy it. Obviously since I am a 90s kid I do not know a lot about 80s pop culture but I can definitely feel the 80s atmosphere and I absolutely enjoy it. I generally like shows that are dedicated to previous ages and pop culture of that time. However, I cannot say that I am experiencing nostalgia myself when watching it. I would say that rather reminding me of anything, I am simply watching and enjoying the show. I am a late 90s kid so a lot of the nostalgia innuendos are sadly lost on me.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? I do not think I have an emotional connection to the 80s in order to feel enchanted by its imagery. I enjoy seeing the way people lived during those times and the things they were hyped up about, but I definitely enjoy the age I am living in right now. So would not say it makes me feel nostalgic but it rather catches my interest. I think the added 80s elements make the general plot more interesting.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I do not think the depiction can be one hundred percent realistic. But I feel like it is also good enough. I can feel myself getting immersed into an atmosphere of America in the 80s.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? Maybe the music. If I had lived back in the 80s, I feel like I would have enjoyed the music a lot more. Also, I like the way in which people’s lives were not as influenced by technology back then, as they are now. It may be a clichéd answer, but nowadays even in a group of friends everyone is on their phone and not really interacting with each other. Even though we still interact in different ways today, I feel like people also try to escape through technology instead of enjoying what they are doing right now. Instead of trying to find a common topic with others,

or find an activity to do together, people just hide behind their phones instead of facing the situation. So even though there was some technology back in the 80s, its influence on people’s life was not as significant as it is now.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? I see it as a progression of time. The negative aspects of today’s society are probably not as bad as the negative aspects of the 80s. We make progress and we move forward. Of course it is not only a positive progression, but it is not one hundred percent negative either. Even though because of technology you lose the human connection with other people at the moment, you also manage to maintain a connection with family and friends when you are far away from each other. I also believe that, once upon a time, even if people did not have smart phones to stare at, there were other ways to avoid conversation, like books and newspapers. Honestly, in some situations I am glad I have my phone to escape to, rather than force myself to interact with a person that makes me feel uncomfortable. So I do not really feel nostalgic for the way things once were. Those were nice times but the times I am living in right now are also very nice.

Subject 5 (22 years old, France)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I just saw it on Netflix advertised as a new show when it came out. So I just pretty much decided to give it a try.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I really enjoy shows which have a combination of reality and fantasy, but not to the extreme like Star Wars for example. That’s just too much fantasy for me! Stranger Things is based in the 1980s and technology is not so advanced, there is weird stuff going on and I like the concept of demogorgons and the Upside Down which combines fantasy with reality. But there are also the real life problems, such as fighting with your parents, going through divorce, stuck in between acting like a grown up and still being a child. All of these aspects in the show also portray real problems that people deal with.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? No, I do not feel nostalgia when watching it. I just remember certain moments or games from the past, like the arcades for example. It also reminds me of the board games we used to play when we were children. But I am too interested in the plot to feel nostalgic.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? No, I do not feel any emotional connection to the time while watching the show. It is just entertainment for me.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I was not alive in the 80s and so I cannot be a hundred percent sure if the depiction is accurate, but I can presume it is very close to reality. Considering that the series is based on an actual building which was located in the middle of nowhere and no one knew what kind of activities took place there, I would say it is probably accurate considering the things that were going on during the Cold War.

 Does Stranger Things remind you of your own childhood in any way? Please elaborate on your answer. The arcades in season two remind me a lot of my childhood. Playing a game while all of your friends watch and cheer you on, that is what reminded me the most of my own past but it did not necessarily make me feel melancholic or nostalgic.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? Of course back then technology was not as advanced as it is today, so people were more independent, they were more social, they relied on each other much more. Even the kids playing with each other board games or riding their bikes around town, I do not think that happens much anymore. Everyone is just stuck at home, texting from their phones or computers using Facebook, so that really makes us lose touch with reality. It seems like in the 80s this was not an issue. I am not sure how it makes me feel. I do not think ‘sad’ is the right word since we

are evolving, so it might be better for some people. And I definitely do not feel nostalgic. That fact that we can communicate anywhere is amazing! But I think social interaction is very vital especially at a young age, like playing outside with your friends when the weather is nice, so from this perspective it is sad. There are definitely kids that still play outside, but it is certainly dying out. It probably depends on the parents and how much power they have over the technology their children use. Still, I would not give up the technology I have now!

Subject 6 (22 years old, Iran)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I actually started watching it way after the initial buzz. I started watching it three, or four months ago and I binge watched it, of course! I think I finished it in the span of a weekend, because I knew the mystery around the series would bug me for days if I did not find things out as soon as possible. I also remember it being heavily advertised on the Netflix webpage. So at first I decided I will not watch it, because I did not want to conform to everyone’s pop standards. But one weekend I really ran out of things to watch, so I decided to give it a shot because the kids seemed really cool.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? When I saw the first episode what kept me wanting to watch more is the fact that when I was a kid this was exactly what I wanted my friendship adventures to be like. I wanted to have friends that would be down to do every little silly, crazy thing, and explore the woods searching for mystical creatures. It really took me back to my childhood and the desire to explore and have an adventure. Also, I really thought that the friendship that the kids had with each other was beautiful. They constantly roast and fight with each other which was funny, but at the same time they really had each other’s backs. If someone did not show up at school they would cover for them and at the same time freak out and worry about what might have happened. For example, when Will disappear they tried everything to find him. Also, since I do video production and I am a very visual person, I thought that the production was incredible. Beautiful filming, amazing gloomy palette of colors that they carried out throughout every season. So I generally loved the story aspect and the production aspect of Stranger Things. And let’s not forget the music. The punk-rock, funky disco music of the 80s is amazing and the soundtrack of

the show does a very good job of matching that. To me it felt like the soundtrack was a character of its own and would intensify the feeling of mystery and gloominess.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? I can definitely see the whole nostalgic aspect of the show. The gloomy colors that you constantly see on your screen give off are very vintage and retro kind of look. You also see their way of life, the way they bike all the time. It makes you think about how much different this show would have been if it was set today with the technology we have right now. So they really want the nostalgia to hit you when watching the show by taking you back to a different time. And of course the nostalgia does hit me. I was not born in the 1980s, I grew up in the 90s, but I would always think that the show really takes me back to the days when we would play with specific toys, like the walkie talkies and the nostalgia would hit me hard. I do not think kids these days play around with walkie takies anymore  Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? I am very much interest in the retro culture and most of my clothes are from vintage stores. So I myself am very enchanted by the 80s to begin with and the show really allowed me to indulge into that. I have always felt like I was born in the wrong decade, so the show really resonated with me. It made me want to be a kid in the 80s, with my walkie talkie exploring the woods. It truly charmed me. You would also see their houses, cabins and also their school – everything is so different from the architecture today. So as a person who is really into the whole retro culture and vintage movements, I was very enchanted and it was very visually pleasing for me to watch.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? This is TV so of course it romanticizes. At the end of the day this is a sci-fi series which romanticizes the 80s to a large extent because it wanted to catch people’s attention. Also, in order to emphasize that this was happening in the 80s they used a lot of clichés. Maybe the 80s were a lot more technologically advanced than they show us, but in order to emphasize the difference between now and then, they had to make the differences a lot more exaggerated. But even though I am aware that it may not be realistic, I am fine with that because I am a

movie addict when it comes to 80s cinema. I like how Stranger Things still give me that good retro vibe and I love all of those 80s clichés.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? I think back in the day, the relationships and friendships between people were a lot more meaningful and tighter. For example, you would have to search the town to find your friend and I do not think it works like that anymore. Plus, the fact that there were no cellphones means that your mom could not bother you as much when you were out. Also, with all the technology now, conversation are a lot less meaningful. People will call you for stupid things, or tag you on posts that are not important. So I think it will be a huge advantage not to have all of these shallow technologies in our way. Aside from technology, people back then looked cool. Everyone had their own style, now everyone looks the same as if it is an assigned uniform you have to wear in order to fit in. Not to mention that those clothes are probably produced in some poor country, where the workers get paid almost nothing for their hard work just so that we can look cool

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? It’s a little messed up. The fact that everything is happening through technology and especially your smart phone. All of the relationships and conversations you are having are bundled up in your little smart brick. I think the point of communication technology was to let people grow their network and prevent them from being alone but ultimately this makes us so much lonelier. In the show they have their big home rotary phones, so you would have to remember their number and call them, have a short meaningful conversation and that is the main purpose. I believe the actual point of the show is a lot deeper than it seems. Everyone can have their own interpretation of the Upside Down and the whole mind control experiments going on in the secret lab. But ultimately, I relate this to all the unnecessary applications and communication technologies that we have to apply to our lives. Because if we do not integrate them into our lives, we would be considered a ‘weirdo’. For example, if you do not have an Instagram account these days people consider you strange. For me, the Upside Down represent the current times when everyone is cold and distanced from one another. While trapped there, Will cannot be

heard by the others, even though he is in the same space as them. This to me represents how technology has distanced us from one another and has negatively affected our relationship with people, in contrast to the 80s when everyone was very close to each other.

Subject 7 (25 years old, Bulgaria)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I found out about the show last year through the internet, of course. Quite a few memes were circulating online, and I thought it might be an interesting show. I streamed it online and finished it in a couple of days.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I do like scarier movies and mystery movies. I like the suspense, and not knowing what will happen next.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? Unfortunately, I did not live in the 80s but I can see how it could be considered a nostalgic series since it represents that decade. For some people it surely can be nostalgic. For me the music played a big part in feeling nostalgic while watching the show. Also the way they would play outside and go to the arcades, I presume those things were quite popular in the 80s, because they surely were popular when I was growing up in the 90s.

 Does Stranger Things remind you of your own childhood in any way? Please elaborate on your answer. When we were kids we used to play more games outside and did not have the internet to make us want to stay at home all day. It was nice to have nothing but your own imagination. I can see that kind of being portrayed in the show, even though they are fighting real monsters.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through?

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? I do not think that the way kids used to behave and play back in the days can be experienced anymore. However, that is normal because things constantly change and we cannot turn back time.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? It does make me sad in a certain way, but there are certainly other positive things we can experience now that we could not back in the day. Especially as a young woman I am happy to be alive now. It is a fact that women back in the day did not have that much of a voice as we do now. Also, we have a lot more opportunities to travel and study, which to me is very important. Some things we lose, and others we gain with time. That is how progress goes. Some changes are for the better, and I hope more are for the better as time goes on. The series does make the 80s seem cool, since half of the time it is portraying the lives of young people and that is always fun to watch. But I am a history major, so knowing the things that were going on during the Cold War and it is hard for me to distance myself from that. Even though it is debatable, I know that there were some very bad experiments being carried out on people back then, just like it was depicted in the show to some extent. So for me, Stranger Things does portray how life could have been like in the 80s with both the good parts and the bad parts. However, I do think kids these days are spoiled. When I got my first phone back in the day, I was the happiest person in the world. Now kids take that for granted and they think their parents are obligated to buy them the newest and most trendy smartphone. Kids today have a lot of privileges, while back in the day we appreciated even the small things a lot more. The show does make me feel nostalgic, but I believe that our progress is for the better not for the worse.

Subject 8 (27 years old, Bulgaria)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? I’m pretty sure I found it myself on the internet. Probably I heard some friends talking about it, or saw some images online, but I cannot quite remember to be honest. I am pretty sure that after I watched it though, I talked a lot about it with my friends so the excitement was really big. I was hooked right away!

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? To be honest, it was the music at first. It has this 80s vibe which I think is really cool and it made me fall in love with the show. I do not know how to describe it, but the music made me enjoy the show on a whole other level. After that it was the monster and the mystery behind it, of course. I kind of like the kids, probably Eleven the most, because she is a badass. The other kids are nerdy, but still quite cool. But again, the music was a big reason why I started loving the show.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? The show does kind of make me feel nostalgic, mainly because of the music and the scenes, because they practically scream 80s. The props, the cars, the setting, everything looks like the 80s for me. So I can see why some people would feel nostalgic, including myself. From the age of ten I have loved the 80s. When I was young I thought I was born in the wrong decade and the 80s were my favorite time period. So I am not sure to what extent I felt enchanted by the 80s depicted in the show, since I was already a big fan of them.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I cannot be completely sure since I was not born in that time, but as far as I know how the 80s were I would say it is pretty accurate. My idea of the 80s however mainly comes from movies and photos of that time. I have not heard a lot from older people, so my main impression of the 80s comes from the media. Actually, now that I think of it, my main impression of the 80s comes

from American media in particular. I do not think I have seen many movies, or music videos from my home country that were filmed in the 80s. Not that there are not any, I just have not found them interesting enough in order to look for them.

 Does Stranger Things remind you of your own childhood in any way? Please elaborate on your answer. Yes, except for the monster. Looking at the child actors, it reminds me of my own childhood – running around the streets all day, playing board games, being very interested in a specific franchise like Pokémon, for example. We also believed in magical creatures and other realms. So the show reminds me of my childhood in a very good way. Now that I think about it, the show does make me feel very nostalgic about my childhood because it reminds me of the kid I used to be.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? I wish I was able to ride my bike around town like a little gang with my friends. There was too much traffic where I lived, so I was not allowed to go wherever I wanted with my bicycle. I wish I was also able to experience the music and the bands of the 80s. Most of my all-time favorite bands are from the 80s, so they are either no longer alive or simply do not perform so much anymore. I feel like music back then was definitely better than it is now. Even the soundtrack of the series is better than most soundtracks of other shows, since it copies the style of the 80s.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? When you watch the series you can see how kids in the 80s were so free. Now we have so much technology, that even though it does help us, it also limits us in a big way. I am not saying that life in the 21st century is very hard, but back then things seemed easier. Almost as if the times were simpler.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society? I am not sure if they cannot be experienced, but it is definitely very hard to find someone willing to do those ‘old school’ things with you. It does make me feel sad though. I think this is a

reoccurring theme of the interview, feeling sad about the past. I miss it in a way. But it also makes me think about how I am going to raise my kids one day. I would not want my future child to close himself in, because of technology. Of course, it might be difficult if his friends are obsessed with technology, but I would not want my own child to be a victim of the 21t century.

Subject 9 (23 years old, Russia)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? One of my classmates told me about the show and I saw a lot about it on social media. My friends were posting about Stranger Things and I think I read a review about it in an online magazine, so I decided to watch it.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? Children whom I do not hate! Finally children that know how to act really well! Also, it is a pretty nostalgic show, but at the same time with a good plot and a really nice atmosphere. It is a bit creepy but not too much. You can dim the lights to get a rush, but it is not overly scary. Also, the music makes it even better. Let’s not forget Winona Ryder – I love her a lot!

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? Yes, I do agree with that statement. Even though I do not belong to American culture, I was still able to find things within the show that reminded me of my own childhood. You know this funny feeling you get when you watch old movies and the graphic are really bad. With Stranger Things you are still reminded of old movies, but at the same time the graphics are so good. So you experience nostalgia for old cinema, while watching something that is visually much more advanced. After the Soviet Union fell apart in the 90s, all the old 70s and 80s movies from America came to Russia. So watching Stranger Things, reminds me of watching all of those old American movies as a child. Essentially, Stranger Things does not enchant me with the time period it portrays, but rather with the movies of that time that it emulates. So I can say Stranger Things is nostalgic in a way that it reminds me of myself as a child watching all of those 80s movies and reliving those stories.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? No, not really. For me it is more a story that I am just watching which from time to time reminds me of my own childhood. So it does not immerse me with the 80s, but with its storyline.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I would expect that the depiction is realistic. From what I have seen in other movies about the 80s, I would say it portrays the time in a very close way in which other movies used to reflect it. So my idea of the 1980s in America is entirely based on its portrayal by other movies.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? If you asked me that as a child, I would have named many things. But watching the show as an adult I think it is terrible how many people are just dying in it. I am too grown up and realize that people will continue dying in the show. However, with the monsters aside, I think the world was really changing at that time, so I guess there was a very mystical atmosphere. That aspect I would really like to experience, but I do not think it was represented in Stranger Thing properly. But living in a time of major transition would have been very interesting.

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? I think the food. I do think that food back then was a bit more natural. I do believe people would just grow food in their backyard, I mean we saw that huge field of pumpkins in Stranger Things. So because food back then was closer to nature, I also believe it was a lot tastier. I guess some people would also argue fashion, but I am not interested in that kind of stuff. Also, as someone who has studied psychology I find the governmental mind experiments very interesting, but I think it is still scary to go through that. I would not want to be a doctor experimenting on people, but I would have liked to live in an atmosphere of conspiracy and mystery.

 How does it make you feel knowing that the aspects you have mentioned cannot be experienced in today’s society?

Maybe it would be better if we were less depended on technology, but then again I need it to communicate with my family since I live abroad. Every decade has its negatives and positives, and I do not think technology is our worst enemy.

Subject 10 (22 years old, The Netherlands)  How did you learn about Stranger Things and when did you start watching it? Actually my mom found it first. Apparently her colleagues suggested the show, and my boyfriend also said it is good so we decided to give it a try.

 Which aspects of the show do you enjoy the most? I like it when it all ends well. I get very easily scared and I do not like scary movies. So I consider Stranger Things very scary. It gives me a nice kick! I enjoy the show, but I am so easily scared, that I am only happy if it all ends well. Since it is considered not too scary, it allows me to face my fears and train myself.

 According to multiple articles and reviews Stranger Things is described as a nostalgic series of the 1980s. Do you also share this view? Yes, I agree with it. I feel nostalgic when watching the show. I also watched the show with my mom and my younger sister, so it is interesting for me to hear stories from my mom about the 80s. She says she does not feel nostalgic when watching it, but likes being reminded of the fashion back then.

 Which aspects of the show would you say give you a feeling of nostalgia? Why is that so? It makes me feel like looking at old photos of myself when I was a child. It also reminds me of how I used to play outside. I was free, and I was always late home, and my mom was always angry.

 Does the show make you feel enchanted by the 80s? How and in what ways? No, I do not feel that way because of the Upside Down. I was relieved knowing that I am sitting on my couch and I am safe from the scary things happening on screen.

 Do you think Stranger Things provides a realistic depiction of the 1980s? Why yes and why not? I am an actress and I do a lot of theatre plays where the plot takes place in different time periods. When we are doing 80s themed shows the clothes we have to wear are very similar to the ones in Stranger Things. Also, the songs that we use in those plays are very similar to the soundtrack of Stranger Things. They would also make us use weird words that were considered cool in the 80s and were very popular in conversations, which I also hear a lot in Stranger Things.

 Do you feel like today’s movies and TV series are missing out on certain 80s experiences depicted in Stranger Things? If so, which ones and why? Since I am an actress, I think the film industry today is much better and much more advanced. I do not think cinema back then was better. I prefer the way it is now.

 Are there certain moments depicted in the show that you wish you could have lived through? Roller skating discos! I wish those would come back. It looks like so much fun!

 Do you feel like there are certain aspects to 80s life that cannot be experienced today? Which ones and why? When I was a kid I would spend my entire day out with my friends. Now when I look at my younger sister, who was born in 2001, she is on her phone all the time and I feel like she is missing out on a lot of valuable experiences. Even when watching Stranger Things together I had to explain to her that when I was a child I would spend my days outside playing, but apparently she thought that this happened only in movies. So for my younger sister, playing outside with friends is not even real and she was surprised to find out I had a similar childhood.