Stranger Things References, Part 2: Teen Horror, Pop and Punk

Stranger Things is infused with 80s horror references and updates to the classic tropes of 80s teen movies and music. In Part 2 of our series about the Netflix hit, we explore how the Duffer brothers draw on these pop culture references in the teen strand of the story.

Transcript provided by Youtube:

00:03
The teenage strand of Stranger Things is infused with 80s horror references and updates to
00:08
the classic tropes of 80s teen movies and music.
00:11
Nancy in Stranger Things is reminiscent of Nancy in Nightmare On Elm Street, especially when both
00:16
resolve to go after the monster themselves.
00:19
[I want to kill it.]
00:21
[Just give me some help nailing the guy when I bring him out.]
00:24
Nancy and Jonathan try to kill the Demogorgon in almost the same exact way as the Nightmare
00:28
teens do Freddy Kreuger: they booby-trap a house and engulf the monster in flames.
00:33
In both Stranger Things and Nightmare on Elm Street, the teens seem to be successful at
00:37
first – but they’ve only injured the monster, not killed it.
00:41
Both stories are about teens on the threshold of adulthood, having to deal with a monster
00:45
when the oblivious adults don’t believe them.
00:48
Like Freddy Krueger, the monster also has long spindly hands and appears seemingly out
00:52
of nowhere.
00:53
And the way the wall stretches when the monster tries to break through in Stranger Things
00:56
is a direct homage to the stretching walls of Nightmare on Elm Street.
01:01
The synthesizer-heavy theme is an unmistakable homage to director and composer John Carpenter
01:08
and the iconic scores of his Halloween, Assault on Precinct 13 and The Thing.
01:13
Halloween was a key part of the Duffer brothers’ original trailer, and in Halloween, like for
01:19
Nancy, teen sexual experimentation is answered with violence from a dark force.
01:24
The natural teen impulse to explore adult pleasures is tinged with fear and repression.
01:30
Carpenter’s The Fog also uses a radio as a medium to communicate with another dimension.
01:38
We see a poster for The Thing in Mike’s basement.
01:41
Mr. Clarke watches the film on VHS at home with his girlfriend.
01:46
The final scene of Will coughing up the slug and not looking surprised, then lying to his
01:51
family, suggests that Will could be a Thing-like monster in Season 2, a shapeshifter that’s
01:58
taken on Will’s appearance.
02:00
The Byers’ home is made to look a lot like the cabin in Evil Dead, and we see a poster
02:05
for The Evil Dead in Jonathan’s room.
02:08
[Take that down. It’s inappropriate.]
02:12
These references evoke The Evil Dead’s idea of being cursed, which is how Hopper feels
02:18
in Stranger Things.
02:20
[You ever feel cursed?]
02:22
Bringing Will back from the dead lifts the curse Hopper feels has been weighing on him
02:28
since losing his daughter.
02:30
Nancy’s romantic subplot with Steve comes from John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles (1984),
02:36
about a nerdy girl attracting the attention of a popular boy at school.
02:40
But Stranger Things develops this plot into something more complex, as Nancy starts to
02:46
see past Steve’s appeal, and Steve starts to grow a conscience.
02:49
[I just…I want to help.]
02:55
The ending of Season 1, when we see Nancy with Steve, instead of Jonathan who we think
02:59
she’s fallen for, is reminiscent of the end of Pretty in Pink when the girl ends up
03:04
with the rich guy, even though he was kind of an asshole, instead of her nice guy best
03:10
friend who loves her.
03:11
[I’m not particularly concerned with whether or not you like me. Because I live to like you and
03:17
I can’t like you anymore.]
03:20
Jonathan is associated with punk emo music: The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go,
03:28
is part of a flashback when Jonathan urges his brother Will not to be afraid to
03:32
like “Stranger Things” instead of what’s normal.
03:35
[They’re trying to force you to like normal things, and you shouldn’t like things because
03:38
people tell you you’re supposed to.]
03:40
Jonathan’s punk soundtrack is a thread of the Stranger that ultimately has more appeal
03:45
than what’s popular and normal.
03:47
Nancy is first associated with 80s pop songs like Modern English’s I Melt the World and
03:52
Foreigner’s Waiting for a girl Like you.
03:55
These 80s Rom com, makeout songs place her in a John Hughes movie.
03:59
Like how Steve compares himself to Tom Cruise in Risky Business.
04:09
But this changes over time as she hangs out with Jonathan and moves over to his more interesting
04:14
soundtrack.
04:15
Nancy also resembles Freaks & Geek’s Lindsay, a straight-A student who starts to stray from
04:19
her square path.
04:20
Lindsay is attracted to the school “freaks,” while Nancy is torn between freak (Jonathan)
04:25
and Cool kid (Steve), but they’re both exploring new social territory, triggered
04:29
by their romantic attractions.
04:31
Even their outfits look similar, and they have similar distant and strained but well-intentioned
04:35
relationships with their younger brothers.
04:39
Mike’s best friends in Stranger Things feels a lot like the eponymous “geeks” of Freaks
04:46
& Geeks.
04:47
They play Dungeons & Dragons, and they have a friendly teacher
04:49
who gives them perks due to their enthusiasm for learning.