Bringing nostalgia and thrill to modern-day television, “Stranger Things,” created and written by the Duffer Brothers, has opened the minds of many. The ten-year-old show has brought friends and family together to follow a group of teens trying to save the world from monsters, foreign forces and enemies their own age.
It all starts in imaginary Hawkins, Ind., when Will Byers, played by Noah Schnapp, goes missing on his way home from a long day of playing “Dungeons & Dragons,” or “D&D,” with close friends Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin). No one was truly alarmed, as Hawkins is known for being a peaceful, low-crime place to live, except Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder), Will’s mother. As more is revealed about Will’s disappearance, the more secrets are unveiled, including children who hold magical powers and a “gate” leading to another dimension.
Though the plot alone attracted many viewers, the time period “Stranger Things” is set in brought older viewers and revamping iconic music and fashion. The 1980s aesthetic made the characters and setting more relatable for its viewers. Featuring songs including “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” by The Clash, “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush, “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac and so many more, to make the watching experience more realistic. As the show continued, the more the trends and music from the 1980s became popular, influencing the pop culture of today; this included certain hairstyles, makeup looks and vinyl productions.
Jack Allred (11) started watching the show to spend more time with family and believes more teen thrillers are to come.
“The reason I wanted to watch the show was so I could spend bonding time with my dad. I think that ‘Stranger Things’ could impact the future by opening a new world to TV themes, like the teen drama mixed with horror,” Allred said.
Though most television series take time to build an audience, “Stranger Things” had roughly 14 million streams within the first 35 days of releasing season 1, according to variety.com. For the show finale, there were around 31.5 million views within its debut week, not including the 1.1 million views watched in theaters. Reports from msn.com say this places “Stranger Things” in the No. 9 spot for Netflix’s most popular of all-time list. According to new.northeastern.edu, the show has taken part in Netflix, the streaming service “Stranger Things” can be watched on, becoming an industry, not just a distributor; as well as paving a way for more streaming services to thrive. The visual effects and lengthy episodes put the budget for the final season at $50 million to $60 million per episode.
Isaiah Means (9) has not watched “Stranger Things” yet, but could be convinced if he had someone to watch it with.
“I just honestly never sat down to watch any of it. If I had a good buddy, someone who likes that genre to watch with, I believe it would really help the experience. People will honestly go crazy over it in the future, just going off how it was now. People will most definitely ask for more,” Means said.
With that being said, “Stranger Things” has not only affected the markets and industries; the fans and actors are reaping the impacts of following a show for ten years. The show’s heart and humor, mixed with an inspiration from horror movies of the 1980s, is what makes the deeper appeal. It’s the series of redemption and victory, but also friendship prevailing through the unimaginable. The relationships between the characters and its fans made the finale a hard pill to swallow. Watching the actors grow up with their characters made for an emotional season. Though the emotions did not stop at the fans; the original cast of “Stranger Things” had built a family-like friendships through their time of filming. With the main actors, Millie Bobby-Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin and Sadie Sink starting the show when they were only around 12 years old, “Stranger Things” launched their careers. Joe Keery, playing Steve Harrington, started making music during his time of filming and has blown up with his hit song “End of Beginning.” Other actors, like Bobby-Brown, who has launched her own self-care brand, “Florence,” are using their influence to help others.
Charlotte Ward (12) watched the show in its earlier seasons and thinks it will inspire more series to have a nostalgic feeling.
“I watched the first three seasons a long time ago, but seeing all the excitement around the finale made me want to start watching it again. I love the show, it’s so entertaining and thrilling but not too scary for everyone to enjoy. I don’t like anything in the horror genre, but this series is just so good and not scary in my opinion,” Ward said. “I think ‘Stranger Things’ is honestly so unique compared to anything else on TV. It might inspire more series being set in the 1980s because viewers of all ages seemed to love the nostalgic setting.”
Though the adventure is over, “Stranger Things” has become a comfort show for many. Rewatching important, plot-twisting episodes has made the show what it is today and allowed for the impact to be deeper with each minute spent connecting to its characters.
