The Borrowed Nostalgia of Stranger Things

0:20 Hey y'all, and welcome back to Camp Nowhere, a Stranger Things podcast. My name is Lauren. And my name's Joel. We're so thankful that you were here to listen to us process all things Stranger Things. In this episode, we will be focusing entirely on nostalgia, seeking to answer the question how is Stranger Things able to successfully capture feelings of nostalgia, particularly for Zelenio, like Millennial slash Gen. Z mixture and Gen. Z audiences who weren't even alive in the 80s, right? But first.

0:59 Spoiler alert. If you haven't yet watched Stranger Things in its entirety seasons one through 5, be warned. We will be discussing a lot of spoilers, so go give the show a watch before giving us a listen, friends. Of course. And to set the scene and take us back to a simpler time again where we didn't even exist yet. And as a call back to our last episode, here is an Eggo waffle ad from 1984.

1:33 Eggo waffles. What a good idea. You know, Dad, you're the most generous person I know. Most. Unselfish. The most kind, the most considerate. I can almost. Taste it, and above all, the most. Understanding Lego my ego Dad, you shattered my image of you. People change part of this nutritious breakfast. Eggo waffles from Kellogg's half. She definitely wasn't describing Dr. Brenner. Huh. OK, so for our first segment here, we got to define our terms because there are different definitions under the blanket term of nostalgia.

2:11 So we need to identify the kind of this nostalgia we get from watching Stranger Things. I can kick us off with an overall baseline definition of nostalgia. It is a bittersweet, often sentimental feeling of longing for the past, usually for a time, place, or experience that is remembered as happier or simpler than the present. Honestly, even just hearing that definition, I think it makes sense why appealing to nostalgia would be especially effective in TV programs and shows right now. Given the current state and climate of our world today and post pandemic, we have this sense of longing for simpler times.

2:56 Recently, my friend Kat and I grabbed coffee, and we were processing a trend toward that. We've noticed, like a trend toward purchasing physical media again. So like buying CD's. I know I saw a thing recently that the overall sale for vinyls this year broke like a record. Yeah, buying DVD's, Like people are thrifting those things just. She talked about a goal of aiming to give her kids a quote UN quote 90s summer, where there's less screen time, more playing outside, reading books, playing board names, that kind of thing.

3:34 Yeah, definitely grateful for the childhood that we were blessed to have. So yeah, that's a general. That's like general nostalgia. Now we can move into the type of nostalgia we feel when watching Stranger Things, which is called borrowed nostalgia. So that's nostalgia for an era or set of experiences that one did not personally live through, like us. Yeah, taken on from other people's memories, pop culture or historical narratives. This refers to adopting nostalgia for a time period through cultural exposure, media or trends without any personal or like indirect tie, especially borrowing it from pop culture or collective imagery.

4:24 So yeah, like, an example could be someone from Gen. Z that was born in, say, 2007 might feel wistful about the 80s synth pop and neon fashion because they're watching TikTok or Instagram Reels or Yeah. Trends. Yeah. Or like the trends that are there or seeing things in in media such as Stranger Things is like retro reboots or even curated playlist, imagining it as their own vibe despite having no actual like living contacts with it. And another one could be people who love vinyl records such as us, right?

5:14 Even though we grew up during times of like C DS, when we were like the thing, the thing really, I guess at our time was like CDs. We had, my parents had cassettes, we would occasionally use them, but we were mostly like CDs, DVDs and then now we're like with streaming platforms. Yeah, yeah. It's, it's me. I'm people. I'm guilty of that. Not me coping with the pandemic by vastly expanding my own vinyl record collection. But yeah, I think what you're getting at is that Stranger Things doesn't just reference the 80s, it recreates almost the emotional experience of that time period.

5:59 Yeah, exactly. So for this next segment here, we'll discuss how the show recreates the sensory language of the 1980s. So one thing that comes to mind is the use of warm lighting of a small town setting. And like suburban neighborhoods, all of this serves to reflect simpler times. Yeah. So like with the warm lighting, the interiors rely on pools of tungsten lamp light, table and floor lamps and practicals rather than having bright overhead, which is. Brighting, just so you all know, Joel and I really do not like bright overheads to where even in our own house, like we purposefully just put on different table and floor lamps because because.

6:51 They're so bad. But maybe it's because of this longing for simpler times. Maybe that's part of why we do that. Yeah, yeah. And because it looks better. And it yeah, there's that too, but it looks cozier. It does. Yeah. So and that's, yeah, that's what I'm getting at is that it looks, it looks and feels cozier. It feels like it's lived in and even looks a bit hazy, kind of like a memory, yeah. It's like giving Dragonfly in right and Gilmore. Girls and Gilmore Girls all. The cozy like lamps and warm lighting.

7:27 Yeah, Tiffany lamps. Yes, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm learning. I had no idea. What a Tiffany. Lamp was we have. We have a Tiffany lamp that was my grandma's. It's very, very sweet. Yeah. So, yeah, so other examples of lighting, like nostalgia for the holidays, so bless it. So of course you have to mention if you're going to talk about lighting, you have to mention the episode. When is it Holly Jolly? When Joyce puts up the Christmas lights to try to communicate with Will. Yeah, but it's it feels retro and nostalgic because they're the big bulb Christmas lights, not like the modern ones that we have, which just so y'all know, Joel and I don't have the big bulb ones.

8:14 Maybe one day, maybe one day. I've tried keeping an eye out. They're kind of hard to find or just like expensive. But we won't use like the really, really bright LED ones that are more modern because it's just, yeah, it's just too abrasive, you know? But yeah, so warmer big bulb Christmas lights. So Christmas lights or like the Halloween decorations? Oh, like the orange glow inside of the like, you know. Like, yeah, yeah. Jack O Lantern type vibe, yeah. Yeah. And it just has that. I don't really know how.

8:48 That's like in the well. To describe it, but in. Season 2 Like the trick or treat freak? Yeah, yeah. And yeah, it just it helps viewers to feel those memories of holiday traditions with their family, which once again just takes people back to a simpler time. Yeah. And, and to be honest, a time where maybe there was more, obviously this isn't true for every family, you know, but just maybe more intentional connecting, like not as much screen time, you know. Yeah, no phones at the dinner table, that kind of, Yeah.

9:29 But yeah, it's, it's like your biggest worry was whether or not you were gonna find that one, you know, that one green crayon that you were using that's missing like. For sure, yeah. And then, yeah, you've got like the cinematography that contrasts the warm interiors with like a cooler blue moonlight outside it. It's kind of like the Spielberg era family films and signals that 80s movies childhood to viewers who may know that look only from older media. And Speaking of, here is a brief clip of Tim Ives, one of the cinematographers for Stranger Things, discussing how he captured 80s nostalgia in the show.

10:18 Well, the show is so unique in that it's both nostalgic and modern at the same time, so I wonder how you as the cinematographer were able to express that through your work. I mean, what were your initial ideas for it? Well, one of the first things I did after reading the initial project outline was to you. Know watch some of the references that the guys had written to their show before I even had it you know I I. Watched ET every watch, Stand by me, close Encounters and you know. We have a very.

10:52 Spielbergian influence and watching these, these, these movies again, and with my family also, who also had the same responses that I had when I first watched them back in the 80s. It was clear to me that, you know, this was something that we could capture and shoot in a way that stylistically was shot back in the 80s. And and it would it might resonate or I certainly believe it enough that it would resonate with a certain, you know, a certain audience. Wow. Tim Ives. I wonder if there's any relation to Terry Ives.

11:26 Given that the story is fictional, there is definitely a 100% chance that there is no relation whatsoever. But anyway Ives need to move. On Oh my. Gosh, because that warm glow is culturally coded as safety, as home and family, it wraps the horror of the show in like a comforting kind of visual shell. So the show feels like reminiscing about a childhood that was never actually yours. So with the small town setting, Hawkins is introduced as a quiet Midwestern town in 1983, with everything close enough for kids to just go by bike.

12:10 And that taps into the familiar myth of American small town childhood freedom. The town layout, you got like that downtown feel, you've got like your school, your Main Street, you got the labs in the woods just beyond. And that mirrors the geography of 80s adventure movies and Stephen King style paperbacks. So it feels like a place audiences remember from pop culture, even if they've never actually lived anywhere like that. Yeah, that's so true. And this idealized small town is less about being historically accurate, and it's more about reconstructing a really just like a shared fantasy of community and safety, making the nostalgia more about media memory instead of real memory.

13:08 And then we got to talk about the suburban neighborhoods. So the show features the like upper middle class suburban houses, you know, like the Wheelers, alongside more of the modest homes like the buyers, which shows the visual mix seen across the 80s suburb set films. You've got Porsches and cul de sacs and garages. Bicycles. You got bicycles. Yeah. And they're all repeated visual motifs that signal that classic suburban childhood classic, Which classic, which, again, is learned as much from movies as from reality.

13:54 And these neighborhoods embody the idea that suburbia buys order and safety for children. Like that's, I think that's yeah. Like the underlying motive there like. Nothing bad can happen here. Exactly that kind of idea. Right, so then. That creates a problem when. Yeah, when the monsters show up, right? Yeah. Like, so, yeah, when they show up, the show is literally like corrupting the perfect quote UN quote nostalgic image it just invited you to live in. Yeah. Yeah, that's such a good point. Great examples.

14:31 So scholars describe Stranger Things as creating almost a sense of pseudo nostalgia where younger viewers become nostalgic for the 80s through immersion and recreated aesthetics and products rather than, like you mentioned, through their own memories. Accuracy and attention to detail and costuming and props definitely play a significant role in creating that 80s vibe that younger generations like Long. Yeah. So we mentioned bikes, walkie talkies and video recorder tapes, you know? Yeah, yeah. So the boys BMX and banana seat bikes echo 80s adventure movies where kids, like you said, just kind of roam freely.

15:18 So just seeing a pack of kids on bikes activates A cultural memory of, like, childhood independence and autonomy. There weren't smartphones, so parents didn't have a way to, like, track their kids. Yeah, yeah. Some examples include the bikes and friend group echoing like ET the Extraterrestrial and the Goonies. Fun fact here, just a side note. Sean Astin, who played Bob Newby in Season 2, was one of the lead characters in The Goonies, such as Super Sweet and Yeah, And I think he just enjoyed Stranger Things.

15:57 And so they didn't reach out to him. If I remember correctly, he reached out to them saying can you create a role for me in this? Which. Yeah. So Speaking of Bob, oversized RadioShack style walkie talkies kind of give them their own communication network. Recalling that pre cell phone era when technology felt like more tangible, limited, so it was like special which many younger viewers know only from these older films. So here's a clip from Season 2 episode 3, which is called the Pollywog of Joyce calling Bob Newby at RadioShack for his assistance on getting a video recorder tape to play on her TV.

16:46 Video Shack Bob Newby speaking How can I help you? Bob, it's Joyce. Hey Joyce, how you doing? Hey I'm trying to watch your video thingy and it's a tape. It's it's tiny. It's like it's shrunk because it's a VHSC. Not a VHS, you got to find the RFP1U with coaxial cable so you can connect the video insurance and outs. Bob English. Right. Sorry. Yeah, yeah, it did the the coaxial things in the back. So this one just goes into the camera itself. Yeah, yeah. Exactly. It's blue. I think it's working. Just thinking maybe tonight we could, Joyce.

17:26 Bro Joyce was always on a mission and had a bad habit of just hanging up the phone without saying goodbye. Like as soon as she got the answer that she needed it's like bye no bye. Just OK, so because these items are are so incredibly tied to 80s media depictions of friendship and different creative play, audiences quote UN quote, remember this mode of hanging out and problem solving, even if they never use this type of gear themselves. Yeah. I also think about the nostalgia we see with the different arcade games and DND props in the show.

18:09 The time out style arcading cabinets along with home consoles and quarter rituals recreate the arcade as a teen like social hub at a time when gaming was physical, loud and public. It was. It was more of like a sort of a community building thing. Like you go with your friends and you hang out at the arcade. So the palace arcade in the show had popular games like Centipede, Dig Dug, and Dragon's Lair, which we get to see briefly in Season 2 episode 1 called Mad Max to slay the Dragon. Here's the magic sword.

18:53 Jesus, I'm in uncharted territory here guys. No, no, no, no. No, Gen. Z seems to love arcade bars, retro gaming, vaporwave aesthetics, and Stranger Things gives them kind of the cinematic version of that that they can connect with screen accurate Dungeons and Dragons books. The the 20 sided dice and miniatures tap into a specific like geek culture that older fans directly recall and younger fans recognize from 80s stories about like kids who are outcasts. These Ros invite viewers into a shared myth of like, I guess you could call it analog nerd culture, crowding around a table or a cabinet together so they feel this like.

20:02 Sweet attachment to a gaming world they may never have actually inhabited. So here's a clip from Season 1, Episode 1, entitled The Vanishing of Will Byers of It's like that classic scene of the kids playing D&D together. Something is coming, something hungry for blood. A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness. It it's almost here. What is it? What if it's the Demogorgon? Oh, Jesus. We're so screwed. If it's the Demogorgon, it's not the Demogorgon. An army of tropical lights charged into the chamber.

20:40 Chocolates told you.

20:46 Wait a minute. Did you hear that? That that sound? Boom, boom, boom. That didn't come from the tropical lights. No, that that came from something else, the demo Gorgon. OK, so part of the nostalgia with the props, you've got the clothing, the hair and accessories. So the costumes really lean into period accurate details like you got scrunchies, high waisted jeans, all the graphic Tees like pattern shirts, track jackets, windbreakers so that every hallway or mall crowd looks like you're in a living 1980s yearbook.

21:33 Like it's so cool. Character specific looks like I'm thinking about. Eddie's got his vintage metal T-shirt Stevens got on his sailor uniform where he works at. Scoops Ahoy 11 has the, like, the colorful suspenders and scrunchy look in Season 3. Yeah. It blends authenticity with a certain archetype, making each figure feel like an iconic type from different 80s teen films. Like, you know, all the classic John Hughes movies that come to mind, like Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off and etcetera.

22:11 Even viewers born decades later recognized these silhouettes from fashion cycles and media. So seeing them kind of all come together creates the illusion of remembering A coherent 80s style, you know, ecosystem. And so with that, we also got to mention the mall culture and yeah, different consumer objects. So Star Court Mall is built as this full shopping center with like, anchor stores. You got all the neon signs, food courts, you know where you can go get, what is it, hot dog on a stick? And there's like, Jamba Juice or whatever.

22:50 There's an arcade capturing them all. At its peak is a teen hangout and symbol of consumer excess. So scoops Ahoy uniforms, I alluded to that it branded storefronts and product packaging from food brands to toy displays layer in the material details of 80s everyday life, making the world feel like tactile and lived in. For older viewers, this sparks direct memories of like the mall rats culture. I think that's actually what one of the episode titles is called, Mall Rats. Yeah. And for younger ones, it animates A widely circulated idea of them all as this like quintessential teen stage, producing nostalgia for that imagined experience.

23:40 So true, although I think we can all agree that the team wasn't quite as intentional about this for season 5, unfortunately. Unfortunately, yeah, season 5 seemed to be way more about, I know we've talked about this, but about the exposition, and it seemed they weren't as focused on trying to those feelings of 80s nostalgia that we had come to know and love about the show up to that point. Definitely a big bummer. Big bum, big bum big bum for sure but I digress. So another thing that comes to mind are the practical effects and the creature design that were reminiscent of 80s horror films and sci-fi monsters.

24:21 Oh yeah, so so you have the quote UN quote guy in a suit. Monsters. OK so like the Demogorgon was built as a full creature suit with animatronic headpieces worn and performed by the actor Mark Steger. Echoing the tradition of alien, Predator and other 80s man in a rubber monster suit designs. The Duffer brothers explicitly asked for an old school suit based monster to evoke 80s practical effects rather than having like a fully digital creature grounding the show in that earlier filmmaking language.

25:02 That's cool. Yeah, yeah. And for many viewers, especially younger ones that are used to CGI right, this style feels like the the like the classic monster look they know from older movies that generates nostalgia for a physical effects era that they never actually lived through. Wow. OK, I do have to confess something. Yeah, this made me think of So you know, the live action How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Yeah. OK, I no joke, I grew up thinking that like baby Grinch in that movie, that that was an actual baby and was the baby was wearing a suit.

25:43 I didn't realize until much later in life that that was like an animatronic thing. I know. I just thought, wow, what a talented baby.

25:56 Oh, man. So yeah. So they didn't put a suit on a baby. That was more like an animatronic thing. That would make sense, yeah, Yeah. Yeah, I hope I didn't break anyone else's heart out there.

26:11 Anyway. So you've also got the prosthetics and the animatronics. So the Demogorgon's flower like head. So ironic that it's head would look like, you know, it's like cute flower but it's like. It's like it's. Filled with a bunch of teeth. It will eat you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got that flower like head that uses animatronic quote, UN quote petals that open and move unpredictably, giving it the organic, slightly imperfect motion associated with 80s animatronic creatures. And then later, I mean, of course, we got to talk about Vecna.

26:48 So Vecna in season 4 was realized with extensive prosthetic makeup and suit work rather than pure CGI. Yeah. It's like they could have done CGI, but they put in the work. Wasn't it that like that with Jamie Camel Bauer like being prepped for that, that that took? Was it like 2 hours? Like each? No, it was a lot longer. It was more than two hours. I want to say it was like 7 or 8 hours. Like just to prep him. And right. And then he and then he still has to perform his scenes and then it took several hours to take it all off.

27:28 Because he didn't sleep in it, you know? Right. Yeah. Wild. And so. Yeah. And so having that like, extensive prosthetic makeup models the iconic 80s villains like Freddy Krueger or the Jason style slashers. So yeah, here's a clip of some of the Stranger Things cast, as well as the Duffer Brothers talking about Jamie Campbell Bauer and his use of prosthetics to play as Vecna.

28:00 Beckna essentially is targeting people who are experiencing some kind of grief where there's, you know, some troubles that are happening in their lives. So they're emotionally vulnerable and fragile. I mean, it's the first time we've seen a threat that's so human because you've had the Demogorgon and the mind flare, but nothing quite like Beckna. This is really the first time since Season 1 that we're going back to the world of of prosthetics where we're actually having someone in a suit performing on the stage selfishly as as an actor.

28:32 It's so incredibly helpful because it's something real to look at. And especially just his demeanor on set and his performance and the amount of himself that he would bring after being in makeup for something 8 hours every day, two hours to maybe take it off. That's like a full work day for somebody being. Face to face with what is all practical effects and that was all completely him. He feels so in the moment, which is, you know, such AI felt like that was such a luxury. Put it easy to know that like I would actually have something to play off of and someone as amazing as Jamie who's just so talented.

29:08 So that's a win win, not only accomplishing 80s film nostalgia for viewers, but it also gave the actors more to work with, which definitely elevated their performances. These tangible builds let light hit real surfaces with seams, textures and weight that mirror older films so the monsters read like the practical creatures people have absorbed from 80s VHS and cable reruns. And then we've got the blending of practical with modern visual effects. So the effects teams used practical suits and animatronics as the base and then enhanced them with CGI for like extra limb motion or gore or upside down particles that we're so used to, similar to how the late 80s and early 90s films combined in camera tricks with optical effects.

30:05 And because the physical element dominates what's on set, actors interact with creatures the way 80s actors did. So running from something that was actually in the room, right? Which strengthens the performances and sells the illusion I. Mean, yeah, it would have been a lot harder to play off of that or, you know, if you didn't actually have anyone that you were running away from. Right. Well, I mean, we, we saw the documentary of them making Season 5, right? And I think the actors talked about how that was a challenge like in that in the final, like in the final episode where they're like reacting to the giant.

30:50 Yeah, because that was not actually there. Yeah, they're like, I don't know what because. Like where? Like they're like, where do we look? Like when do we? Yeah, yeah. So. That's a good point, yeah. And yeah, the upside downs look where you got the fog, you got the spores and like the tendril you got like the tendrils, like the the roots growing around was developed alongside the creatures to resemble analog era monster world. So recalling like the matte paintings, the fog machines and physical set dressings.

31:25 Yeah, I think what maybe most makes the show feel so nostalgic, though, is the strategic use of music. Absolutely. Not just using music that was popular or recognizable during the time the show was set, but also specifically the synth heavy soundtrack and original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. It deliberately mimics the sound, instruments and emotional grammar you might say of 1980s genre scores and then blends it with modern Polish so it feels both retro but also immediate and relevant at the same and time.

32:07 So echoing 80s horror and fantasy scores. So the main theme of Stranger Things that pulsing minor key harmony slowly building pads closely echoes techniques from John Carpenter style horror themes and 80s fantasy or sci-fi sequences. Because many viewers know those sounds from VHS era films, YouTube clips and retro playlist rather than first run releases. The theme functions like a almost like a memory trigger for a film era they've mostly inherited second hand and then blending retro tone with modern production.

32:53 The composers talk about wanting the score to be equal parts nostalgia and modern synth masterwork, meaning they keep the vintage sound sources but mix and master them with today's cleaner puncher production standards. That combination lets the music sit comfortably next to contemporary pop and streaming era soundtracks while still signaling 80s, which helps the younger audiences feel kind of at home inside a sound world that is coded as the past. Some of our personal favourites, I would say obviously the iconic theme song, but you also have Kids, Star Court and the first I Love You, just to name a few.

33:41 Joel and I really enjoy those. So here's a clip from a Spitfire Audio interview of Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein discussing how they became the main composers for the show. What happens then when you enter the world of television show? Where you know, it leaves your your little private world of what you want to do musically and becomes a part of something else. How did that come about? Initially for the Stranger Things gig, they used the last song on our first LP called Dirge in their trailer. Like the sizzle reel is what they call them.

34:20 It's basically a fake trailer that uses scenes from other movies to kind of convey that the mood of of what they're trying to do. And they had one of our songs in that and that's what they were using to pitch along with the scripts and lookbooks. So when it came when they got the green light and it came time for them to hire composers, they were they didn't really think about who to use. And they're like, well, why don't we just get try these guys that did the song in our trailer. We put together a lot of that content that we had labeled kind of, you know, we knew it never turned into songs to have a cinematic feel.

34:55 Some of it was just drones and moods and textures. We just sent that stuff to them and like, Oh my God, this is like Christmas in July. Well, it was the 4th of July, which is, you know, a holiday in America. A lot of that stuff, like it's like Christmas on the 4th of July because we send them like, yeah, 40 tracks or something. They love that stuff. And they're then they're basically like a lot of that did not like, none of that stuff really got used. But then they, you know, just sort of like, this is great and they wanted to ask for more and more specific stuff.

35:23 OK yeah. Stuff that actually referenced the show, like about the characters and different themes and motifs that would happen even if viewers never lived in that era. The visual language immediately signals that classic adventure. We won't delve super deep into this as it could definitely be its own episode, but we did want to mention it's 80s esque storytelling elements because there are definitely certain themes in storytelling that are really prominent in 80s films. Yeah. And so it's. Like very like coming of age and adventurous.

36:01 Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I mean, like what? So yeah, like what immediately comes to mind is ET Yeah. Because like you, because in season 1, you have the kids biking away from danger and trying to protect a supernatural alien or outsider, right. And so yeah, Stranger Things definitely does that. Like when 11 is wearing a pink dress and a blonde wig. That's like a direct reference to ET. Oh, yeah, yeah. And yeah, like the boys are trying to use that disguise to hide her. Yeah. You've got the movie Stand By Me.

36:39 It's a good one. It's like this friendship centered adventure. You've got the horror elements of like Alien or the Thing where you've got like government paranoia, isolation and yeah. And of course, like, and of course, I mean, I think the very first, is it the very first scene of the whole show? In Hawkins. Lab is in the lab and you have. A guy running. Scientist running in a hallway, Yeah. And so yeah, it's like any government lab hallway chase, like with the monsters or later on with 11 using her powers.

37:18 Feels like a collage of that 80s sci-fi horror. Yeah. And I think, I mean there are reasons why this works. There are many of these true tropes, excuse me, that have been recycled through decades of media, so younger audiences already recognize them, even if it is subconsciously. And Gen. Z may not have been or may have not seen every 80s film, but they've absorbed these tropes through memes, clips and movie kit adventure quote UN quote as a sort of genre, so the familiarity feels nostalgic. Yeah, yeah, that's so good.

38:01 Okay. I think we can move into our next segment, which is called emotional nostalgia, friendship and found family. So this is where the nostalgia pivots from just surface level retro to more of like a a heart level resonance, like resonating with the audience. The show has several, we mentioned coming of age themes that resonate with millennial, zelennial, Gen. Z. There's tight knit friend groups. So they, they even the kids refer to their own group as the party throughout the show. So there's a sense of, oh, they're they're like, they're a group.

38:41 They're a family. There's first loves and awkward adolescence. Learning to slow dance or kiss at the snowball dance comes to mind. Here's a clip of Lucas getting ready for the dance and practicing asking Max to dance in the mirror. Hey, want to dance? We should, you know, get out there, like do our thing. I love this song you. Yeah, I love it, but not as much as I love you, Lukey. Get out of my room. That's so cute I love it. There's also this sense of feeling misunderstood by adults. So like, an example really from Season 1's Episode 2 and three, no one really believing the boys about Will and the the girl like the weirdo on Maple St. Yeah.

39:42 They just felt misunderstood. When Mike, Lucas and Dustin try to explain that Will is in danger and that there's a strange girl with powers, it seems like every adult response is basically, you're overreacting, stay out of it. You don't know what you're talking about. So the kids know more than the grown-ups, but they're treated like they're just playing games or they're just like too young and immature to know what's going on. There's also a sense of adventure and independence we kind of alluded to earlier.

40:14 So again, Season 1, episodes two and three, Hiding 11 and the boys go, they kind of take matters into their own hands and they're going to go investigate on their own and secret. Mike brings 11 to his basement to hide her from the bad men, and the group decides to search for Will themselves. They use flashlights and their bikes, no adult supervision, and they even skip school in order to try to track down the monster. And then there's also overcoming adversity. Like I think about Mike finally standing up to Troy, which was one of the school bullies in season 1.

40:53 And then Elle does the same thing with Angela in Season 4. Yeah, not a big fan of her. So the cast of this show even truly became best friends in real life while filming and doing life together. And I don't know, I really believe that that is a huge part of the show's success. They are forever connected as a found family. And that feeling really comes through, like, undeniably to the viewers, riding bikes together to solve a mystery feels timeless. Even if today's, you know, kids and teens would normally just use their phones for something like that.

41:30 There's something sweet to be said about, like, literally peddling toward your objective. It's intentional moving. It makes you feel like you actually have the power to do something to make a difference in the world. The show has several group hugs and there's like we're in this together kind of moments. So for example, in season 1, episode 6 called the monster, after Elle saves Mike and Dustin from the bullies, the three of them, you remember they like embrace one another and just this purest hug.

42:07 And that scene is actually sort of mirrored in season 4 episode 4, Dear Billy, AKA the best episode of the show, when Lucas, Dustin, Steven and Max all hold one another after the boys just helped save Max from Vecna. Countless scenes of the gang working together, kind of all hands on deck to try to get the mind flare out of Will or to find and kill Vecna. There are several moments where the group chooses each other over like normal life. So like skipping typical high school events in order to focus on fighting these supernatural threats.

42:50 Example in season 3 really episodes 4 through 7, Steve and Robin like blow consistently blow off their ice cream chips repeatedly to decode Russian messages with Dustin and Erica AKA the Scoops Troupe. And meanwhile the younger kids ignore like dates to the 4th of July fair and the fireworks show in order to bike to the mall and fight the mind Flayer fleshy monster thing. In season 5 the kids barely attend classes if at all. I don't know if we hardly ever see that post the gate and the rift having open.

43:28 They're focused more on military evasion, going on weapon runs, doing their like crawl sessions that they would do. And yeah, the group strategies instead of like taking their finals or just experiencing normal teen life. I feel like, yeah, Hawkins Apocalypse kind of trumped everything for them. The early D&D basement scene in Season 1 and the later D&D seen in Season 5 in the finale, It kind of echoes it when Holly and her friends play D&D, kind of, it's like a bookend for the whole thing that the show would end in a way that it kind of similar to how it started.

44:12 So the show starts with Mike in the midst of his childhood and ends with him graduating high school, now passing the baton to his younger sister Holly and her friends. He's entering the adulthood phase of his life when she's still enjoying the carefreeness of being a kid. I feel like we can all relate to that feeling of having to say goodbye to, you know, our childhoods. What Gen. Z is nostalgic for here isn't really the 1980s, It's the idea of a small tight knit crew, intentional Hangouts and meaningfully connecting like face to face that aren't not just through screens in a world where your friends show up in person when things get bad or feel really hard.

44:59 Yeah, yeah. I mean, God made us to be deeply relational people who need that interpersonal connection and that authentic community. So that definitely checks out. Yeah. And so now that we've zoomed in, we can zoom back out a bit in our next segment, cultural recycling and the rise of retro. So the broader cultural moment that helps Stranger Things succeed. So factors include cycles of nostalgia and pop culture, which is roughly every 20 or 30 years. So the 80s, Right? Right. Yeah. So it's like, OK, the 80s.

45:41 So then 30 years from the 80s would be the 20 tens, which is when Stranger Things started, right? Like when it started? Really makes. Sense and so that checks out. Millennials are reviving the 80s and 90s aesthetics. Yeah, we are. Which is wild to me because that would imply that we're eventually going to revive the 2000s aesthetics and the 20 tens aesthetics, and I'm not ready. I don't want. That I'm not ready for that. We should just stick with the 80s. I agree. In the 80s and 90s, yeah. But yeah, millennials are currently reviving 80s and 90s aesthetics and thrifting is becoming even more popular.

46:17 I mean due to inflation in the economy for sure, but also it's just a way to hang out with your friends or your spouse. Yeah. Or like my sisters, like, yeah, that's for us a fun time of connecting together. We get or make our little ice lattes and we go thrifting together and it's like a way to connect, Yeah. Yeah. And a lot of the stuff that you find there is vintage for sure. Yeah. And I mean, I do just want to say though, I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to offend by saying that 80s or 90s is vintage, but unfortunately, we're like, we're kind of there.

46:53 And, and I mean, as someone from that was born in the 90s, like it is wild to think that 90s is considered vintage. So I feel that pain somewhat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, fashion trends are often recycling roughly every 20 years, and so 80s trends like power suits, shoulder pads. Unfortunately, polka dots and metallic fabrics have already resurfaced strongly, appearing even on like 2025 runways from designers such as saint-laurent, Coach and Dior. And not just retro fashion, but also vinyl Polaroid cameras.

47:36 We have a Polaroid pic for like, of us on our fridge. Yeah, we do. Roller rinks. Arcade bars are returning. Yeah, like we've gone to rec bar. Yeah. It's a cute little yeah arcade bar that's just right across the river in southern Indiana. Yeah. And it very much you feel like you're stepping foot into. I imagine what the Palace Arcade would have felt like. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so, yeah, even streaming platforms are exposing younger viewers to the older classic movies. I mean, we, I feel like we've been in a recent era of watching 80s movies, which has mainly been 80s movies that Lauren has seen that I have not seen.

48:23 Just like educating. He needed a movation. I did, I did. And the way that we did that was through streaming platforms granted to be pair. We do have some of these on DVD yeah. And so we do have physical media I. Do I have a lot of good 80s movies? On TV, we believe in the importance of physical media. But yeah, like many Gen. Z viewers discovered Ghostbusters or Back to the Future because Stranger Things reference them and sparked curiosity in those viewers of like, well, I want to understand Like I wanna understand Ghostbusters because the boys in Season 2 dressed up as the career.

49:04 And then in Season 3, they're in the movie theater. They're playing Back to the Future. Yeah, it's so, so fun. Yeah, which then is funny because don't Robin and Steve, that just makes me think, yeah, Robin and Steve, aren't they like injected with the truth or not the truth serum, but like. They were definitely drugged. They were drugged something, and so then they watched Back to the Future, and then I think they had to leave the movie theater because they needed a puke or something. But then they're talking and Steve's like, so they're in the past, but they're in the future.

49:41 Like like their conversation's really funny because they just watched that movie. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And yeah, there's definitely among millennials and Gen. Z2, this digital minimalism movement that's really sweeping over Instagram, TikTok, ironically, that. Tell us about it. It's like the it's sweeping over those things. But yeah, it's this idea that that these digital things that have become more and more prevalent in our lives are just overstimulating. Yeah, like there's the like. I remember feeling that maybe that is so true.

50:22 I keep seeing. People. I keep seeing people wearing like frog and toad, vintage looking T-shirts that say I'm over stimulated partner. Yeah. I. Really feel that. I remember there was a shift, yeah, that happened a few years ago for me where like I was on YouTube and I just saw like here, all the recommended videos and there's just like all the thumbnails and everything is just big and flashy. And I just remember feeling completely over stimulated and like, I don't want to be here. Like I'm just going to close.

50:56 Yeah, we're done with. The Internet today. Yeah, we're that's enough Internet for today. So yeah, there's over stimulation, there's this this phrase or term called brain rot, just the idea where unfortunately AI has contributed a lot to it. Whereas creating what's also called like AI slop, which is just these videos and just stupid things that that are generated by AI and they're just these like quick little videos and it just feels like your brain is rotting because it's just dumb. It doesn't add any value to your life, really, and it can confuse what reality is like.

51:40 Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And then also unfortunately, just something that is characteristic of millennials and Gen. Z is just more stress and anxiety, which unfortunately, I know that there are different factors at play, but I think probably one of the key ones would be the rise of these digital technologies, especially social media. And so all of that to say, bringing it back in that there's this push for digital minimalism of just stepping away. You mentioned like the idea of giving your kids a 90s summer, Like, yeah, like, go out on your bike, go play in the yard.

52:23 Yeah. Go hang out with your friends. Yeah. So yeah, like millennials, Zelennials, engines, ears are choosing more digital minimalism. Like, if you go on YouTube right now and type in digital minimalism, the amount of videos that you will see is crazy of people talking about, like, I got rid of my smartphone. I'm going back to just using a boom box for my music. They're everywhere. Like, it's trending all over. And yeah. And so there's this desire of wanting to have the 80 like to kind of feel like you're living in the 80s before all these technologies took over.

53:10 They and we are wanting deeper real world connections as well as freedom from the anxiety that constant screen time can create. Yeah, I love that. That's so true. I think about a friend of mine once told me that she was feeling convicted because she realized that she thought she was deeply connected to her friends because she could see what they were posting on like Instagram, for example. But after some reflecting, she concluded that that was actually sort of a deception. Seeing occasional posts from people is not the same thing as having a mutually intentional encouraging heart seeking conversation with them.

53:57 Like she realized, I don't actually know what's going on underneath the surface. Like, how are they actually doing? Like, OK, maybe I saw that they went on a vacation to Mexico. Great. But I don't actually know like the state of their heart. And so she resolved to begin actually reaching out to her friends to just schedule coffee dates or phone calls to check in to see how they're actually doing. We forget sometimes that social media doesn't often show us the whole picture, which is a great segue actually into our next segment.

54:31 The idealized past effect. Nostalgia as comfort and trap. OK. So as much as we love Stranger Things, it does present a bit of a romanticized version of the 1980s. Some elements of this idealization include a slower pace of life compared to modern digital culture. Again, kids roaming freely without constant parental oversight, analog technology that encourages in person connection because they rely on continuous physical signals, shared spaces and hands on interaction. So for example, landline telephones, cassette, Walkman players, Trivial Pursuit like you mentioned, Polaroid cameras or like VCRS, VHS tapes, etcetera.

55:25 So why Gen. Z connects with it? It contrasts with social media pressure and feeling like you have to have an always online presence or you know, lifestyle. It's a simpler life without binge watching or doom scrolling. You mentioned brain rotting or AI threatening to take our jobs. Yeah. And like I'll interject too, that there's this push for like or not a push, but like having that always online life in it honestly comes across as having a different life. Like you have another one. You have your I'm like your in person life.

56:08 And then you also have your brand like you have however you want to portray yourself interesting on like online, because the way that you present yourself online is how people who don't actually know you are going to view you, right? And that's just like a I'm not going to get super deep into it because that could be a whole episode, but just there's that like that affects how people understand relationships, right? Like there's just this huge psychological element there of like, compared to the 80s where it's like you didn't really have that.

56:46 I mean, I guess you could say that people who were celebrities with like how they portrayed themselves on television or film. But the vast majority of people, they really only had, I guess quote, UN quote one life where it was just who who you were like just in person. Yep. And you have people sign your yearbook, and they would be like, love you never change or something. You know, Yeah, our lives really are much more complex than what meets the eye, like on social media. And so something to note here, this simp, this portrayal and Stranger Things of this simple life.

57:29 Simple doesn't always equal safe. It doesn't always mean safe. So Stranger Things makes nostalgia feel comforting. You got bikes, synthesizers, suburban cul de sacs, but also dangerous. A world where monsters lurk just under the surface. The show often leans into safe space. Corrupted horror. Cozy, nostalgic or emotionally warm moments are suddenly punctured or interrupted by the supernatural or the visceral, cheerful period accurate music will play over something ominous, like the song. We've talked about this in an episode Every Breath You Take by the police playing at the snowball dance at the end of Season 2, while the mind flare is like eerily hovering over the school in the Upside Down.

58:23 So you have that contrast. Or I think about Will's Christmas lights conversation in Season 1 where Joyce is talking to Will through flickering lights. It initially initially feels like tender and hopeful, like a we're reconnecting. We're yeah, we're connecting moment. But then the horror hits when the Demogorgon breaks through the wall behind Joyce, and it turns this domestic holiday sweet moment between a mother and a son into this, like, claustrophobic, there's a monster in my living room, I don't know what's going on type scene.

59:01 So for millennials, Selenials and Gen. Z, the show mirrors their own relationship to the past, longing for a simpler, offline childhood, but knowing that simpler doesn't always mean safe. Nostalgia is both refuge and risk. We long for that comforting simplicity because we are increasingly aware of the evil being exposed all around us. Yeah, I mean, yeah, if you've been looking at the news at all, right. And so taking time to be unplugged is great and encouraged and needed, and moments of nostalgia are great, but ultimately they can't fix the problem that we want solved.

59:46 The only solution really to the evil and danger of this world and the sin that like permeates all of us is faith in Jesus Christ. The safest place we could ever be is resting in Him, drawing nearer to Him. He is already crushed, the head of the serpent. Victory over evil is his. And if we get too caught up in nostalgia and being fixated on the past, we neglect to keep an eternal perspective and looking ahead right to the things of heaven and longing for Christ's return. And oh baby, are we ready right for him to return.

1:00:25 Lord Jesus, come. Quick, right? Yeah. I mean, it makes me, it makes me think of Uncle Rico from the movie Napoleon Dynamite, which y'all, Joel and I, I'm pretty sure we talked about that movie like on our first date. Which is crazy. We did. But yeah, Uncle Rico, he's obsessed with wanting to travel back in time, specifically to the 80s when he was younger, and it felt like the glory days for him on the football team. And yeah, so here's a clip of Uncle Rico just being overly nostalgic and also throwing a stake at his nephew Napoleon's face.

1:01:06 Back in 82. I used to be able to throw a pigskin 1/4 mile. Are you serious? I'm dead serious. Watch this.

1:01:23 What the heck are you doing? That's. What I'm talking about. There you go.

1:01:32 How much you want to make a bet I can throw a football over the mountains? Yeah. A coach would have put me in fourth quarter. We'd have been state champions, no doubt. No doubt in my mind. You better believe things have been different. I'd have gone. Pro a heartbeat. I'd be making millions of dollars and living in a big old mansion somewhere, you know, soaking it up in. A hot tub with my soul mate. Kill. I reckon you know a lot about cyberspace. You ever come across anything like time travel? Easy, I've already looked into it for myself.

1:02:21 Right on, right on.

1:02:27 It's kind of cute how delulu he is. Just completely delusional. It's. Wild. Just throw it over the mountains. Right. I word yeah and yeah, but I mean, it's also just sad because he's wasting time wishing things had turned out differently rather than living in the present or like, actually preparing for the future. OK, so we process a whole lot. Yeah, we. Did so quick recap. Why did the nostalgia formula used by the Duffers, the cast and the crew work so well? One, we got the authentic visual and music recreation of the 80s.

1:03:08 We've got the storytelling structures that are rooted in beloved films from that time. We've got universal emotional themes such as having like camaraderie and family. We've got cultural timing during a retro revival, so the actual timing of the show being made and released was perfect for it, and a slightly idealized past that feels comforting for the viewer. Yes, so good. Thank you for that recap, but I think it's time for our last segment, the Lightning Round. So I'm gonna ask you a series of questions to get your honest, quick reactions and opinions.

1:03:54 And for context, y'all, Joel has not seen these questions, so you're getting his real live reactions. OK, so here we go, number one. Number one, what scene in Stranger Things makes you feel nostalgic for something you never had?

1:04:13 Man, I mean, I think what immediately comes to mind is one of the clips we showed earlier, OK, which was when Dustin's playing Dragon's Lair, OK? Because I grew up playing video games, right? But The thing is, is that like I never really played at the arcade. Like I grew up, like I grew up in a time where consoles were becoming more common. So like we had the Super Nintendo, I think that was our first console. And then like definitely got more into it like with the Nintendo 64. And so, yeah, but like the the, the idea of being with my other like guy friends and we're just all like huddled around an arcade and one of them's like trying to defeat the dragon and we're all like screaming like do this move here like that feels.

1:05:14 Nostalgic. Maybe it's more 80s than 90s. Oh, definitely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, that's a good answer #2 #2 the Stranger things make you wish for an 80s style childhood, or just for more offline, off screen present moments with your friends right now. Definitely the latter. OK. Yeah. So I mean, thankfully I grew up in a time, like we've talked about this before where we grew up. Yeah. Like we're some of the last people. Like we're some of the youngest people to have like an established childhood before social media, right, was introduced.

1:06:01 Yeah. And so and. Yeah. And so, like, yeah. I mean, I had like, we watched. What was that comedian? Derek Stroop. Derek Stroop. Yeah. Where he one of his bits is about how like in the 80s and 90s, you, I mean, first of all, you had to use a home phone like a landline, which, you know, some viewers may not know, but but you had to use a landline. And so, yeah, I mean, I had some of my friends home phone numbers memorized, or if I forgot it, I had to look it up in a phone book, Right. And then when I called them, I didn't actually call my friend, I just called the house.

1:06:47 And so often times their parents would answer instead of them. And so I'd say hi, Mr. so and so. Can I speak to this? Yeah, speak to so and so. Yeah. And yeah. And then they would say like, oh, yeah, yeah, he can talk or oh, he's working on homework right now or, oh, he's not here. Can I leave him? Like, can you leave a message? Like that kind of thing? I grew up with that. And so. Yeah. And I mean, and thankfully, just where I grew up to, there was like, it was a suburb, but there also was like, the woods, right?

1:07:25 Like nearby, like I could go across the street and like go into the into the woods with my friends or I could ride bikes like in the neighborhood or we could ride bikes in the woods too. So yeah, I, so yeah, I had, I definitely had some key elements of that 80s childhood where things were we weren't as well, we were connected. We just weren't connected through technology. It was more just friends would get together and we play hide and seek or flashlight tag, or we'd go ride bikes in the woods or something.

1:08:05 Yeah, yeah. And so definitely the latter. There definitely been times where I've wished that we just weren't as connected, admittedly. Or like digitally specifically. Yeah. I mean, like you and I have talked about how, yeah, like we'll be on a date. I think we like, even while we were dating, like before getting married, that we would be on a date and we would just look and we would see people. Unfortunately, it's a stereotype because it's it's prevalent, is that people who are younger than us would just be sitting together, but they wouldn't be talking at all.

1:08:48 Like they would just be on their phones scrolling through whatever. Yeah. Or, or it would make us really, really sad when we would see like families, like parents with their kids and they're not connecting. They're like out to eat, but they're literally all they're not. Talking. On their phones, Yeah. Yeah, that's a good example. Yeah. And so, yeah, I think yeah. And I just don't like that they're that it requires more discipline of like you and I like have the discipline of like when we're sitting together eating or something, like we're not on our phones, we put our phones away.

1:09:31 It's just you just have to put those kinds of rules in place that you didn't have to in the past. And so, yeah, I do. There are definitely times where I wish that technology would kind of just go backwards and we just wouldn't have some of these things. But it's hard, you know, because I mean, at the same time, like it's not all bad. Like you have, like you have video calls, you have FaceTime to. Where very thankful for. That yeah. To where like, we can, you know, like video call and see family members, our nieces and nephews.

1:10:11 Yeah, just yeah. So it's a mixed bag, but I would definitely go with the latter. Yeah, that's a good answer. And also, I just remembered the name of that comedy special by Derek Stroop is called Nostalgic. Yeah, I think that's what it's called. So shout out, Derek, if you're listening. Probably not, but OK #3. #3. Would you trade your smartphone for Hawkins style bikes and walkie talkies for one week? Why or why not? Oh man, OK, so I couldn't have my smartphone. For one whole week and instead you have the the bikes and you have walkie talkies.

1:10:59 Basically the question is would you be able, interested in or willing to experience the kind of lifestyle that those kids had for one week but like present day? I mean, yeah, I mean like that. That's a good question because that just exposes how much we rely on smartphones. Yeah. Because like, I'm just going through, OK, what does my smartphone do for me? Like what I'm doing right now is thinking through. It's your. Alarm in the morning. It like, OK, but we have a clock like we have an alarm clock, so we could use that.

1:11:37 OK, For e-mail, I would just have to go to my computer, like, and I would have to check it at times of the day instead of just being pinged. Navigation. Yeah, yeah, navigation. It's like, OK, I use my smartphone to get places. But also Spotify. And Spotify. Music like listening to music. OK, I could use the radio, true. I'd be totally fine with the radio. The navigation piece though, that is that I mean. Like I used to physically print out MapQuest directions, yeah. Oh yeah, I remember my parents doing that when we would go on vacation.

1:12:14 My dad bless and love him so much. Dad still uses a map sometimes when I get any places. I love it. Yeah, or an Atlas. Does he have an Atlas? I remember my parents would whip out the Atlas. Yeah, man. Yeah. I mean, I know this is just gonna sound super naive, but just being completely honest here, it's like, what would I use for navigation? Like if I didn't have my phone, I I would probably just have to print, you know, like I'd have to print out a map of the city and, and do that or. There's like that one episode of Parks and Rec where Tom Haverford got in trouble because he was using his cell phone while driving.

1:12:59 And so part of his punishment is he he can't use his smartphone. And so for directions, if you remember in the episode, he just doesn't know how to get anywhere. So he said, I just kept circling the block like I just, I just can't go. He's like, can you, Ron, can you Take Me Home from work? Because I don't know how to get there. And so your option could be just like you don't go as many places or you have to physically ask people for help with directions. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like have to check on my computer first, like, OK, yeah, what are the directions instead of, yeah, just having it navigate me all the way there.

1:13:36 Yeah, I think I would definitely do it. If anything I'm just curious to see how like how that would work. If we had walkie talkies, babe, we could be like over and out. Or like do you copy? What a dream. That would be so fun. We could pretend we're like, yeah, Spy Kids or something. That would be that. 'D be fun, yeah. So you would do it? Yeah. OK, Go dance them. I was curious, all right #4. #4. If Stranger Things were set in your actual childhood decade, so the 90s slash early 2000s, would it still work as well?

1:14:21 Had it not been set in the 80s, it's like sometime in the 90s or early 2000s. Do you think the show would still work as well? Would it have been as successful? I'm just kind of curious what you think. That's a good question. I my immediate thought is no. OK, why not? Because so at first I thought like, OK, a lot of the technologies still haven't advanced too much by that point to where, yeah, like the TV's that are used, like people were still going to the movies. Like, OK. But I think what doesn't work is the timing that the show was released.

1:15:05 Like the the first season came out in 2015 I think. 2016. 2016, I don't think that's far enough away from the 90s, because The thing is, is that I think the 90s is more prevalent now, OK, in retro revival, but I don't think it really was as much. Yeah, 10 years ago. That makes sense, you know? Yeah. And so I don't think, I don't think the timing would be right. I think if Stranger Things wanted to succeed in the 90s, they would need to release it in this decade. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, wow, look at that.

1:15:41 That's a good answer, OK #5. #5. Do you think it's possible for parents today, in 2026, to create the same kind of childhoods as the kids in the 80s experienced? Why or why not? I've thought about that. I'm just going to verbally process. I think yes and no. I think. I think yes, in the sense that like your kid doesn't have to be addicted to a phone. You have you have plenty of options. You yeah, like you can raise your child to not do that simply by not giving them a phone or yeah. And I mean like certain technologies, I think.

1:16:33 I think the thing, I think a key thing though, is that for parents to do that, the parents themselves have to commit. Like you can't, like you can't just have your kid living in a 90s summer, but you're still in present day like with your smartphone and your, and you're like in your Netflix and you're streaming that didn't exist at the time. Like I, I don't think that's going to work like you. I think you have to commit to the bit of like we're all going to do. This.

1:17:11 Which yeah, with phones, I'm not exactly sure how that would work. I mean you could get dumb phones like or just like flip phones or something to where or. At minimum, utilizing like time restrictions on apps or different things to where, yeah, there's just less access to it, right? Yeah. So I think about the technology piece, I think of the social piece. OK. It's like, OK, well, if you were to do that, it's like, well, your kids need to have friends that are doing this too. And it's like if you're wanting to do this for your kid, but your kids friends are all playing games on Twitch or discord or they're, you know, doing things that are more with present day technology, that's hard.

1:18:07 And so I think I think that may, that may be the hardest part because as the parent, you would need to prepare, you would need to do preparation in advance of like, OK, using the technology we have today to find other people that are wanting to do that. Because there are people it's just trying to find like, are there people in your area that are also wanting to raise their kids that way and then have them like connect that way, like. Maybe in the same neighborhood or who are in the same class or same church.

1:18:46 Right. Yeah. And just having them connect, like you connect with the parents, the kids each connect and yeah, and do that, I think. So admittedly I kind of forgot the question. Is the question is it possible? Yeah, like is it possible for parents today, in 2026, to create the same kind of childhoods as the kids in the 80s experienced?

1:19:14 I think, I think I mean, obviously like the aesthetics that can't really be that it's kind of hard to control the aesthetic element, but I think there are definitely significant elements that you could recreate. I think it's just you have. Toward digital minimalism, Yeah, physical media like control, kind of controlling what they're viewing. But but you're controlling what you're viewing to like, you, you, you have to be in on it too. And it's like you can't have your, you can't restrict your kids to physical media while you're streaming on Netflix.

1:20:01 Like, that's just not, that's not gonna work. So yeah, I think there are definitely certain things. I think the social element might be the most difficult. Yeah. And then of course, I mean, of course, there's also the, I guess the word inertia of like. Getting your kids on board with it because they know these things exist already, like they know that the smartphones are a thing. I know there are three-year olds that know how to use an iPhone better than I do for. Sure. Yeah, which? Is crazy to me.

1:20:33 It's wild, but I mean, it does show how well they are designed. Yeah. But yeah, I think I'm going to have to give a qualified answer like yes to some things. But not fully. But I don't. No, you can't do it fully. Yeah. It's like you can't control the world. Even when you think about like the whole kids roaming around freely on their bikes with no way to be tracked. Like I just don't know unfortunately if that says safe nowadays. I don't even know if it was fully super safe back then, but that's just how things were culturally.

1:21:11 But nowadays I just don't know if that would be as wise. Yeah, which is so ironic to me because you would think that the increases of technology would allow parents to feel safer about their kids going somewhere. It's like, OK, now instead of just roaming around where we don't know where you are, now you can roam around anywhere, but you have this bracelet or you have this thing that tracks you. It's just ironic to me because I would expect that the technologies would make parents feel more comfortable, but it seems that there's more fear about that.

1:21:54 I've just letting your kid go bike around in the neighborhood and tell them to come back before Sunday or like when the sun goes down, you know? Yeah, our rule was just you can be outside. In fact, you were encouraged to go play outside with the neighborhood kids. But as soon as the street light comes on, you come back inside. Come. Back, yeah. Yeah. Well, that's a good answer. Yeah. All right, number six. Number six. Does Stranger Things romanticize the 80s too much, or does it show enough of the darker side of that era?

1:22:31 That's a great question.

1:22:37 I mean, there's definitely some realistic elements. I mean, the language that the kids use is. Yeah, is realistic of the time as far as what I've been told, like of how the kids talk amongst themselves, how boys talk about girls in middle school and high school. Yeah. So I mean, I think definitely some of the darker parts are shown.

1:23:14 Yeah. I mean, I think, yeah, I'm not sure if it's overly romanticized because I mean, yeah, you talk about how kids were free to just go about and do things, but I mean, that comes back to bite Joyce and Hopper. Like it like that, that freedom does allow for the awful things that happened in Stranger Things to happen. You know, it's like it wouldn't work if it happened in 2023. You know, it's like everyone would have had smartphones. You could use whatever app that you put on your kids phone to track their location.

1:24:03 Like that just wouldn't. Yeah. And so I think, I think, I admit I'm a little resistant to the idea of it being a simpler time. I think it's, it's definitely like a sweet cozy time, but there were definitely elements in there that were not as simple such as, I mean, like the Red Scare, like like the Russian plot that was in season 3 and season 4 and then mysteriously not in season 5, which we're not going to get into. But I'm still upset about that because I mean, like you had that you had that uncertainty happening.

1:24:51 You had this, you know, suspicion of treason toward like for the Russian government and. And there was the, I don't what do you call it? Like in Season 4 in particular, this hysteria over like people thinking that. Dungeons and. Dragons was like, you know what I'm talking. About yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't know what the term what the exact term is, but yeah, like when Dungeons and Dragons first came out there was. That it's like the. Fear that it was demonic. Demonic or something? Which I mean, kind of happened with several things, OK, really.

1:25:38 I mean, it happened with Pokémon. It happened. It happened with Harry Potter, you know of, just like Harry Potter is witchcraft or Pokémon. But Lord of the Rings isn't somehow, but. OK. Yeah. Well, it's yeah, yeah. So I think definitely in some ways it's simpler because relationships I think were generally simpler, but there definitely were like social phenomenons happening, like the Red Scare or whatever you call like the demonization of Dungeons and Dragons that made things more complicated. And, and to like, and with that, I'm trying to think from a parent's perspective.

1:26:23 You hear about this thing called Dungeons and Dragons. Where do you find more information about that? Like right now, right, Right now, if your kid tells you, yeah, there's this game, you can look it up, right? Like you can you, you can search online, there are YouTube videos about it. You can find the information you want. Satanic Panic. That's what it's called, Satanic Panic. Yeah. And so that that's something that was more difficult is that you couldn't look that stuff up, like you didn't know what Dungeons and Dragons was unless you, like, bought the game or you had to find someone who played it and talk to them, you know?

1:27:05 Yeah. But now you don't have to go anywhere. You can just look it up on your phone. Yeah, like what something is and. No, we have so much quick access to, yeah, all the information. Well, admittedly now, which we also won't go into a whole episode of this, but you don't even have to look it up anymore. Like you don't really have to search. You can just ask AI to tell you, Yeah. That's crazy. Like for AI to just compile all the stuff. Like the big deal for us was that with Google, if you want to search for something, you type something in and then it gives you different things that are related, which was a huge deal.

1:27:45 But now technology can just go the extra step and just summarize everything right for you to where you don't even have to click any of the sources. You just, it just cites all the sources and summarizes for you. Yeah. Anyway, I digress. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for verbally processing all of that, of course, OK #7. #7. Which character in Stranger Things do you think would have preferred to grow up in the 2000s instead of the 1980s?

1:28:27 OK. So my initial like gut response probably would be Nancy. Why Nancy? I think because Nancy, I mean, you know, the 2000s weren't perfect, but because it was asking, you were asking about the 2000s as opposed to the 80's. The 2000s, you know, obviously weren't perfect. But I think Nancy, a lot of the conflict that Nancy faces has to do with either like mistreatment of women or yeah or yeah, just. Like at the Hawkins Post. Yeah, like the Hawkins Post just being belittled. And I think that maybe she would want, I think she would probably agree that she would want society or culture to move on, like to develop more in that area of how women are treated and just how they are perceived.

1:29:31 So not just mistreatment, but like, you know, the, you know, it would be unfortunately more common to dismiss women for roles of leadership or to say that women are just being irrational or overly emotional or whatever back then. And so I think, yeah, maybe probably Nancy, because she she probably would think that she would be more respected in the things that she's pursuing if she was further along in human history. Yeah. Well, and there's just also the added bonus that for the sake of researching as writer or reporter, it would be a lot easier for her.

1:30:20 Oh, yeah. If she grew up in the 2000s, she'd just have quicker. Yeah. Access to information. I mean, yeah. How many times do we see her going to the Hawkins library to try to, like, thumb through things to figure out information? Yeah, that's a good answer. OK, last question #8. #8. What moment in the show most captured the retro feeling of the 80s for you? That's a.

1:30:50 Good question. I'm like briefly thinking back through each of the seasons. I'm gonna say I think as a whole, definitely Season 3. OK, why season 3? Because I think season 3, like the two prominent locations in the show that sparked the most nostalgia, I think for me would definitely be the mall and the pool. That's exactly what I was thinking. Hey, look at that. Same wavelength season 3. All the fun, like neon poppy colors in their Yeah, we talked about their costuming was like on point. The music, all the upbeat 80s pops like Madonna.

1:31:43 Yeah, Oh my God. And and the retro branding. So for different like companies or like restaurants that were in the food court of the mall. Scoops Ahoy they. Were there like? The ice cream parlor. Yeah. But then like, I think there's like an orange, orange. Orange. Julius, yeah, I say orange. Wrong. Orange Julius, Yeah, but like, the branding is retro. Very much. You know, and so I think that and then there's just something about the pool, how yeah, there's the pool. You've got the like the pool fashion going on where like I think especially for the women like the like where the women are sitting in the lawn chairs and they have the big hair at the.

1:32:34 Yeah. They. Probably use the Farrah Fawcett. Hairspray, just like Steve. Yeah, just like Steve. That, yeah, there, I don't know, That's just a particular image of, like, people playing in the pool. There are women that have big hair that are sitting in the chairs.

1:32:56 Yeah. And then like, even with Billy, like being a lifeguard where he has his big hair and like the, like, the mustache and the glasses. It's just. I don't know that that like when I think of the visual parts of like 80s nostalgia for Stranger Things, I think of the mall and the pool. And maybe we could throw in an honorable mention for the like the 4th of July festival. Like that feels also just very nostalgic, all the different like whack A mole games and. The Harris. Wheels, the hall of mirrors like that all feels very nostalgic as well, yeah.

1:33:39 Yeah, man. OK. But I will say one more. The RadioShack. Yeah, RadioShack. So. That's in Season 2. Where Bob worked. Yeah, man. Yeah. Because, yeah, I mean, that just is so characteristic of the time. Just because of all the older technology and the big VHS tape recorders and things. They're like, oh, I sorry, I had to go to what did Nancy making? She lied and made an excuse to her mom. She's like had to go to RadioShack to get a new cassette player cuz mine broke, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I mean, RadioShack was at the time a big, like one of the key ways that many households would get whatever technology that they use.

1:34:22 Yeah, you know. I should totally know this, but does RadioShack still exist I. Don't. I don't think it does. OK, maybe it does. I know that the one in my hometown closed like several years ago. OK. But I don't know if it's all gone, right, like the whole company. I don't know. Yeah. Am I going to look that up? I think I'm going to look that up. OK. While you're looking that up, I'm actually going to throw in one more quick bonus question. This just in that I just thought of is do you think that malls, like shopping malls in America are going to die out or do you think that there will be some sort of resurgence or revival of them?

1:35:09 Like because of how trends re recycle like you mentioned every 20 to 30 years? I'm just curious, do you think that shopping malls will ever go back to that same kind of thriving and vibrancy as it's portrayed in Stranger Things? Or do you think that they will like eventually all fizzle out and and close down? Yeah, that's a good question. I don't think so. You don't think? So just honestly, because unfortunately, at least with different malls that I've known that were once thriving and then started declining and then now no one goes there and they're shut down.

1:35:52 I think unfortunately society kind of used them as like rundown and maybe not a safe place to be. But I think also the mall represents a sense of excess. Yeah, and I don't know if. An expendable income. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, just like, yeah, with the excess piece that like with the push of digital minimalism like that, that would be against malls, you know well. And there's there's the honestly the ease and the convenience of ordering things online now. Oh, yeah. And yeah. And I'm convinced that, like, the easier, more convenient option will always be the preferred 1.

1:36:40 You know, it's just like, I mean, yeah, you could go out to the movies or you could just stream the movie in your home. Or watch it on DVD. Or watch it on DVD. Like, you go, you stay at home. Yeah. And so you don't have to get dressed and go somewhere. Yeah. Or the mall. Like, yeah, you could go to a mall. Or you could just use an online shopping service. Or go to Goodwill and do and. Go thrifting. OK, now that's fine, yeah, yeah. And I think also just the social element, like a lot of the mall was just a big piece of the mall was the social element of just going there to be with your family or friends, Right?

1:37:22 Right. And I mean, with current technology, like it's just easier to talk to someone without actually going to the mall, you know? Totally. Is that as what's the right word? Is that as, I guess, deep or yeah, profound of a relationship? I mean, probably not if you're not physically able to be with them as much. But yeah, I would say that, OK. Also, as far as RadioShack is concerned, yes, RadioShack is still in business. This just in breaking news. As of April 20, Yeah, 2026, though, the brand no longer operates the vast chain of corporate owned stores it once had.

1:38:12 OK, so it just has significantly less stores. And see, that's an example like I didn't Google that. Just AI gave that information. Wild. Wild. OK. Yeah, yeah, thanks for that update. I genuinely wasn't. Sure if it existed or not. Me neither. Now we know. Well, good for RadioShack. They're still. They're still. Kicking, yeah, but sad about Bob. Yeah, Bob's not kicking. No, Yeah. Tragic. Well, those are those are the only questions I had. Thank you so much for processing all that. Sure thing. Yeah.

1:38:46 And thank you all so much for listening. If you enjoyed listening, please give us a review or a rating on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Audible, where, wherever. We're trying to get this onto more platforms. And so I can't remember them all, but just just search for us and you'll be good. Yeah, yeah, totally. So our next episode will be focusing entirely on music and it's connection to memory and spirituality. So if you have any thoughts about how music is a key plot device and Stranger Things and how that relates to how God designed music to connect deeply with the soul, we'd love to hear from you.

1:39:31 You can contact us at [email protected]. We're on Instagram at our handle Camp Nowhere Pod. Thank you all so much again, and we'll catch you on the next one. See you all. Later.