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We’re finally running up that hill again; Stranger Things is back!
Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s biggest hits. The show has released five highly successful seasons, with the first season airing in 2017. The latest season amassed a whopping 56.9 million views in its first five days of release.
The release of season five has us wondering: is it just the twisty, turny plot that draws us into the show, or is it the 1980s nostalgia that contributes to the pull as well?
To celebrate the release of season five, we caught up with Deakin University film expert Kate Murray to discuss the impact film and television have on nostalgia (and vice versa).
Nostalgia is a familiar feeling for most of us, but why do we feel nostalgia?
A sense of nostalgia can be caused by a range of things, but what is it about film and TV that takes us back to the past?
Merriam Webster defines nostalgia as ‘a sad pleasure in recalling what no longer exists: a wistful or sentimental yearning for the return to or return of some real or romanticised past period or some irrecoverable past condition or setting.’
Murray believes nostalgia is evoked by ‘compelling stylistic and narrative devices in screen media.’
‘Nostalgia draws on familiar imagery and shared cultural experiences, offering audiences both escapism and a more comfortable, indirect way of engaging with present-day concerns,’ she explains.
This helps explain why we feel nostalgia when certain visual or musical cues appear on screen. This can be because of a song reminding us of a time in the past or seeing something on screen that takes us back to a memory from when we were younger.
Nostalgia can also be felt because of issues we are grappling with right now. Murray believes part of why we feel nostalgia today is linked to how modern anxieties shape the way we interpret the past.
TV networks don’t just rely on nostalgia to make a show feel familiar — they use it strategically to connect with audiences on an emotional level.
By tapping into shared cultural memories, networks can spark instant recognition, build loyalty, and create a sense of comfort that keeps viewers coming back.
This isn’t accidental; it’s a carefully crafted marketing tool that shapes how stories are told and how audiences respond to them.
‘The 1980s references in Stranger Things go beyond simply evoking the past to signal contemporary concerns. By adopting a nostalgic lens, the show simultaneously shapes how we interpret past decades through a present-day perspective.’
The use of nostalgia in TV and film is another way networks market the product.
‘Nostalgia is an effective strategy for engaging audiences and generating additional revenue through brand partnerships and merchandise,’ says Murray.
Stranger Things is an example of a show that showcases an era that many viewers of the show didn’t actually live through.
‘While Stranger Things is not a reboot, it has contributed significantly to the revival of 80s fashion, music, and cultural products,’ she explains.
If most of the show’s viewers didn’t grow up in the 1980s, why do they feel nostalgia from watching the show?
‘Beyond the 1980s’ iconic music, fashion, and early gaming culture, this decade’s enduring popularity has been connected to its largely positive representation in pop culture. Most of the show’s viewers are aged 18–29 and did not experience this decade firsthand,’ she says.
As a result, the nostalgia in Stranger Things becomes less about remembering the past and more about how the past is reimagined through a modern lens.
‘Stranger Things is full of 80s music, movies, and retro tech, and while these references might appeal to younger viewers, they’re shaped more by today’s cultural tastes and worries than by actual memories of the decade.’
When considering the show’s popularity, articles by fans and critics alike typically agree that the depiction of the 1980s in Stranger Things — and the nostalgia this evokes — is at the heart of its appeal.
The fascinating blend of horror, sci-fi, and heartfelt storytelling also plays a major role in why we feel nostalgia, even when the content itself is new.
Murray says the show’s appeal goes beyond integrating multiple genre conventions. It’s also about the ways they combine to heighten its emotional impact.
‘Stranger Things engages with Gothic settings, including Hawkins National Laboratory, middle-class suburbia, and the Upside Down, alongside monsters like the Demogorgon, the Mind Flayer, and Vecna. These elements weave together recognisable genre iconography in ways that meet, and occasionally subvert, audience expectations,’ she explains.
Murray believes horror and science-fiction television often invites audiences to enjoy moments where the familiar and orderly world is disrupted.
‘For viewers, there is pleasure in watching the rational, everyday world be disrupted by unfamiliar spaces and monstrous creatures. Drawing on elements of the Gothic, body horror, and the science-fiction invasion narrative, Stranger Things shows how genre media can make us think and feel,’ she explains.
Stranger Things is not the only show that’s used nostalgia to take us on a journey into the past. Murray says there’s another Netflix thriller that has taken our minds by storm.
‘One series that immediately comes to mind and has been compared to Stranger Things is the critically acclaimed Netflix thriller Dark (2017–2020), created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. The show’s intricate exploration of time-travel follows interconnected families from a remote German town across three generations, shifting between 2019, 1986 and 1953,’ she explains.
According to Murray, Dark creates a powerful sense of nostalgia through its characters and passage of time.
‘Nostalgia is central to the show’s world-building, and the meticulously matched casting of younger and older versions of the characters creates an uncanny sense of continuity across decades, making the passage of time palpable. Rather than relying heavily on pop-culture references, this form of nostalgia invites viewers to reflect on their younger selves and consider the lives they might have lived,’ she says.
Dark, Stranger Things, and other shows alike remind us why stories rooted in the past continue to resonate so strongly today.
Associate Teaching Fellow
Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Communication and Creative Arts
Deakin University
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