Stranger Things 80s Nostalgia

[Juan777]

Has anyone watched Stranger Things (focusing on Nostalgic value) from Netflix?

I've got various pop-up memories from the 80s that I never knew were there when I watch this show. I get these vivid memories from when I was a kid that come to life when I watch that show. No other 80s themed show or movie, whether it's a modern 80s period piece, or something originating from the 80s has had this effect with me which I find to be very interesting.

Has anyone else had this effect from this show? Is there any other TV show or movies that you watch that stirs up memories from this decade?

 

[d taylor]

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Probably what you are experiencing, is something like. When hollywood makes a move about some one or some event.
Many time the movie character takes the place of the real person.
For an example me not knowing General Patton from life, when i saw the movie Patton, George C. Scott in away became Patton for me. And if i read or heard something about the real Patton, George C. Scoot image would come to mind.

 

[Juan777]

-​

Probably what you are experiencing, is something like. When hollywood makes a move about some one or some event.
Many time the movie character takes the place of the real person.
For an example me not knowing General Patton from life, when i saw the movie Patton, George C. Scott in away became Patton for me. And if i read or heard something about the real Patton, George C. Scoot image would come to mind.

That is interesting. With Stranger Things, there is no character per se that I feel anchored to that is making that type of connection. I think its more atmospheric, the type of music used, the old film stock look (ie making it look deliberately grainy like it was shot in 16mm in the 1980s).

They had this trailer for season 3 which was essentially a mall's advertisement.

When I saw this trailer back in 2018, it really inspired me to go to a library I frequented allot as a child in 1988 and had some moments there. The ad here just brought me straight into that mood. They put allot of attention to detail to make it seamlessly feel like you are looking at something made in the 80s.

 

[d taylor]

Yes, if a story going to have something relating to or about the eighty's its usually has a mall scene some where in the show.

 

[d taylor]

That is interesting. With Stranger Things, there is no character per se that I feel anchored to that is making that type of connection. I think its more atmospheric, the type of music used, the old film stock look (ie making it look deliberately grainy like it was shot in 16mm in the 1980s).

They had this trailer for season 3 which was essentially a mall's advertisement.

When I saw this trailer back in 2018, it really inspired me to go to a library I frequented allot as a child in 1988 and had some moments there. The ad here just brought me straight into that mood. They put allot of attention to detail to make it seamlessly feel like you are looking at something made in the 80s.

That did a good job, they should have had an arcade. That is a must for an remake of getting an 80's atmosphere.

Do they have music in this show from actual 80's groups.

 

[Juan777]

That did a good job, they should have had an arcade. That is a must for an remake of getting an 80's atmosphere.

Do they have music in this show from actual 80's groups.

They have the arcade thing more in Season 2. Its a 4 season run. The attention to detail is mesmerizing. You have the old brick cell phones (ie don't ask me how they allow children to use it since these brick phones were very expensive ($3995 US, today's dollars would be close to $9000 US), and it only allowed about 30 min of talk time (which also had a charge per minute in and of itself)..but they do allot off communication on walky-talkies. The old yellow pages book. The TV-show feels more 80s than actual 80s movies or TV-shows since that's part of the mystique.

The main title theme sounds like a theme song of some out of print 80s VHS B-movie:

Thanks to this TV-show, Kate Bush music "Running Up the Hill" has rated very high in various charts:
In fact, she's doing better after Stranger Things used her music than she did when her songs was originally released in the 80s! They took a song she made and made it feel like something out of the "Never Ending Story' and made it have a deeper meaning.

Kate Bush Just Broke 3 Records - Thanks to Stranger Things!

If you could look past some of the horror/dark elements of the program, this is actually a fun-nostalgic trip into the 80s. I've looked at other 80s themed modern TV shows like the Americans, or movies like Valley Girl (2020) or Wonder Woman 1984 (2020) and nothing would spur on child-hood 80s memories like Stranger Things. Its like it hits all of the right notes and makes my mind click that I really grew up as a child during that decade, it's a lived in experience for me and it was a nice time. Its like it had a sweet-spot of being in a modern society, which perfected its analog tech, that has all of the amenities, without going to a crazy extreme with the digital/internet tech like today where everybody seems plugged-in and distracted to the max and zombified. Everything just seems bright and rosy in that decade and watching a show that puts you into that frame of mind is rewarding.

 

[JuliusSneezer]

Yeah the show hits all the right notes when it comes to a nostalgia piece. Watching the homes and mall scenes, I can’t help the feeling that I’ve actually been inside these places, though they are fictional. But the atmosphere is something that the Duffer Brothers hit a bullseye with. As far as time pieces go, this definitely transports you back to the 80s. It’s almost as if more recent films/tv kinda come off as lazy in their efforts to get you back to that point in time, rather than just showing it to you through a looking glass.

Season 4, in my opinion, was better than 3. Hopefully they finish on a high note with 5.

 

[Juan777]

Yeah the show hits all the right notes when it comes to a nostalgia piece. Watching the homes and mall scenes, I can’t help the feeling that I’ve actually been inside these places, though they are fictional. But the atmosphere is something that the Duffer Brothers hit a bullseye with. As far as time pieces go, this definitely transports you back to the 80s. It’s almost as if more recent films/tv kinda come off as lazy in their efforts to get you back to that point in time, rather than just showing it to you through a looking glass.

Season 4, in my opinion, was better than 3. Hopefully they finish on a high note with 5.

This is so true. They hold the gold standard when it comes to 80s period pieces. When you look at other 80s period pieces like Valley Girls (2020), or the GLOW (TV show), it doesn't present the 80s in any sort of wow or escapist way. The Americans TV-show probably might be take second place since they did a good job in making it feel like you were in the 80s with the Russian spy thing. The thing is that show doesn't turn me on like Stranger Things does. I'm not sure if it has more also to do with the child actors (ie adult cast in the 80s like the Americans may not have the same effect).

That being said, in terms of movies, I like Bumblebee (2018) portrayal of the 80s with it's high-energy end credit song, and the movie US (2019) while it's a contemporary horror, had some amazing 80s flashbacks scenes that were pivotal to the plot of the movie and they did a great job in those particular two movies.