Integrational nostalgia within Stranger Things. Romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture

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Integrational nostalgia within Stranger Things.

Romanticism of the past

and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture

Veronika Licheva

MA Television and Cross-Media Culture

University of Amsterdam

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Introduction

In recent years we have witnessed a growing trend in movies and TV shows that in some way emulate the 80s and trigger nostalgia among viewers. For example, movies such as Baby Driver (2017) and TV shows such as Riverdale (2017) despite taking place in today’s world, carry elements of retro styles that were emblematic for the 80s. Furthermore, according to an article by Quartzy in 2017 alone there have been thirty-four TV spin-offs of old franchises, such as Dynasty, Twin Peaks, and Heathers (King and Smalera, 2017). On the other hand, Stranger Things (2016) is a TV show that takes place in the 80s and according to Variety is a “a horror pastiche set in 1983 that pays homage to Steven Spielberg’s oeuvre” and is Netflix’s latest attempt to appeal to global viewers through the use of nostalgia (Schwindt, 2016). The story depicts the lives of children, teenagers, and adults residing in the small suburban town of Hawkins. The series is a mystery-thriller that portrays the 80s as very mystical times, and shows how the characters discover the reason for their friend’s disappearance near the secret experimental lab located in the woods. In addition to emulating vintage movies, Stranger Things also relies heavily on various pop cultural references from the 80s in order to successfully recreate the mood and style of that specific time period. With this thesis I will investigate millennials’ readings of the show Stranger Things through the specter of “integrational nostalgia”. The term “integrational nostalgia” refers to people’s ability to feel nostalgic for periods of time they have not lived through when prompted by old photographs, movies, music, etc. This term is also used in Susan L. Holak and William J. Havlena’s article where they further define it as:

“Memories of the past created through personal interactions with others who have lived through earlier periods and events. These memories are a combination of tales of the unexperienced past and the experiences of hearing these reminiscences. With the advent of motion pictures, television, sound recording, and radio, depictions of past events need no longer rely on verbal descriptions and can be much more vivid, imparting a sense of actual participation in an event or era.” (Holak and Havlena 1992, 385)

This thesis will explore whether millennial viewers experience integrational nostalgia when watching

Stranger Things by conducting empirical audience research. The research will compare and contrast two

different types of nostalgia. The thesis will focus on Holak and Havlena’s definition of integrational nostalgia in comparison to the regular type of nostalgia, which throughout this thesis will be referred to

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as ‘classic’ nostalgia in order to differentiate between the two. Since the show depicts life in the 80s, millennial viewers will be the optimal subjects for this thesis, since according to the Pew Research Center (2018) they are the generation born between 1981 and 1996, and the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. For the purposes of this research, I will be solely focusing on millennials born after 1990 in order to ensure that they have not lived through the 80s. This will allow to identify whether they are experiencing integrational nostalgia while watching Stranger Things.

Furthermore, this research will take a look at how a person’s view of the past is affected by media depictions and mediated memories. The digital age has made it possible for cultural memory to be carried out throughout the decades. These mediated depictions of the past have the power to shape one’s perspective of how specific time periods looked, felt, and were experienced by the people who have lived through them. However, media depictions of the past are not always accurate, and are often romanticized. This thesis will be looking into romanticism of the past by media and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture due to media. The two concepts will be examined as possible triggers that may allow integrational nostalgia to be experienced. The thesis will study whether the millennial subjects are emotionally affected by the portrayal of 80s life in Stranger Things and how that makes them feel about the present. This will help investigate the relationship between romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture as potential motives to experiencing integrational nostalgia.

In the first chapter of this thesis, I will be examining the pre-existing theoretical research on classic nostalgia. Despite the multiple studies on nostalgia throughout the years by researchers such as Fred Davis’ “Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia” (1979) and Erin Sullivan’s “Historical keyword: Nostalgia” (2010), within media studies there has been almost no work on integrational nostalgia. Furthermore, previous studies on nostalgia in media, such as Paul Grainge’s “Nostalgia and Style in retro America: Moods, and modes, and media recycling” (2000), are solely based on textual research, and not on empirical audience research. Also, while there is quite a lot of audience research on nostalgia and the way it is experienced by different people, such as Holak and Havlena’s "Nostalgia: an Exploratory Study of Themes and Emotions in the Nostalgic Experience” (1992), that research has not been related to media or TV shows. Whereas there is a sufficient number of nostalgia research through textual analysis, this thesis hopes to make a vital contribution in the sphere of nostalgia and media research by using audience research. The theories of classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia will then be compared and contrasted, in order to understand the difference between them. Furthermore, a number of proposed

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concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture will also be explored, as well as their relationship with integrational nostalgia.

In the second chapter of this thesis, I will be examining the results from the empirical audience research and looking at what type of nostalgia do we find with millennial viewers that watch Stranger

Things. The results from the interviews will be studied in order to determine if there is indeed integrational

nostalgia among the subjects, and what are the reasons for it. I will be examining whether romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture play a role when such nostalgia is experienced, and whether there are other unforeseen concepts that may also be crucial. Lastly, by comparing the findings from the first and second chapter, the research will conclude whether or not integrational nostalgia is experienced by millennials when watching Stranger Things.

To summarize, this study will produce empirical knowledge on the way in which audiences react to

Stranger Things and the kind of nostalgia they may be experiencing when watching a show about a time

they have not lived. I will be using the aforementioned theories of classic and integrational nostalgia, as well as the concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture to describe the kind of nostalgia these subjects experience and display. By interviewing millennials about nostalgia and Stranger Things, this research will provide crucial insight on audience perception of the past based on mediated memories. It will also give a better understanding of their personal views on contemporary culture. By using Stranger Things as the core focus, this study will provide insights into classic and integrational nostalgia among millennials, as well as how media affect their perception of both the past and the present.

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Literature Review

Before delving into audience based research it is important to understand the meaning of integrational nostalgia. Despite the limited amount of empirical research based on experiencing nostalgia for a time one has not lived through, the foundation of this phenomenon is still rooted in all the preceding textual research based on classic nostalgia for a time one has lived through. The two different types of nostalgia have a lot in common. They also possess the two main underlying concepts within this research of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. By interpreting the relation between classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia, as well as the two underlying concepts, one can obtain a better understanding of how nostalgia is experienced vicariously by the younger viewers who watch Stranger Things.

This chapter will compare and contrast classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia. It will also provide knowledge on the two main concepts of romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. All of this will be examined with Stranger Things as the main subject when considering how these separate ideas of nostalgia and concepts may affect a viewer who is influenced by 80s representation in media. The chapter will provide a general overview of the main ideas that will be the key points of the audience based research, which will take place later on in this thesis. This will help with the analysis of the interviewees’ answers, as well as understanding when they are experiencing integrational nostalgia.

1.1 Nostalgia and integrational nostalgia

According to Erin Sullivan (2010) the word ‘nostalgia’ originated from ancient Greece and was formulated from two separate words. The first one is “nostos” meaning to return to one’s homeland, and the second one is “algos” referring to the feelings of grief, pain, and longing. Originally perceived as an occupational disease among men working as sailors or soldiers, nostalgia was recognized to lead to various mental and physical complications. Most particularly in the United Kingdom, physicians disregarded nostalgia as a mental illness observed solely among the foreigners that lived there. However, in 1781 an army surgeon by the name of Robert Hamilton challenged this presumption by disclosing a case where symptoms of nostalgia were observed in a British recruit. Over the years, nostalgia has stopped being perceived as an illness, resulting in it being removed from the “Nomenclature of Diseases” and proclaimed unfit for medical classification.

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Today, even though nostalgia no longer classifies as a disease, it is still a very active element in the sphere of arts and creativity. The feeling of nostalgia is consistently prompted through music, movies, and poetry evoking memories and triggering a longing for an unattainable past. In recent years, most particularly, nostalgia has become a central theme in media and television. Such is also the case with Stranger Things – through its visual and aural representation of the past the show carries with it the spirit of the 80s. By paying homage to 80s pop culture the show prompts nostalgia among audiences, therefore in this chapter I will investigate whether the feeling of longing for the past is experienced in different ways depending on the viewers’ personal history and emotional self-awareness.

Fred Davis (1979) distinguishes three different levels of nostalgic experiences. The first level is described as simple nostalgia, where an individual believes that everything was better in the past and the times were a lot simpler. The second level is the so called “reflexive nostalgia” where an individual analyzes the past critically, and does not succumb to its romanticism or feelings of sentimentality. The third and final level of nostalgia according to Davis is interpreted nostalgia when an individual becomes self-aware of the nostalgic experience itself. In this case, the feeling alone becomes the object of contemplation by excluding any external beliefs or emotions that could have caused it. This is important to keep in mind when researching the ways in which Stranger Things incites nostalgia in its viewers. When dealing with the ways in which the 80s are perceived by the audience of the show it is crucial to distinguish which level of nostalgic experience each subject is experiencing. To put this into perspective, Davis’ levels of nostalgia can also be applied considering millennial viewers and Stranger Things as an example. For instance, some viewers may be feeling simple nostalgia, because of the simple suburban life that is depicted in the show or because of dissatisfaction with the fast-paced contemporary culture. Others may be experiencing reflexive nostalgia, becoming mindful of how the media may be toying with their feelings through the romantic portrayal of the 80s in Stranger Things. And lastly, some more self-aware subjects may be experiencing interpreted nostalgia, thus fully analyzing how nostalgia makes them feel when triggered by watching Stranger Things. This is an empirical question which will be further investigated in the next chapter where the answers from the audience based research will be inspected.

Despite that Davis’s research solely focuses on classical nostalgia for a past that has been experienced, his ideas and levels of nostalgia can also be applied to the idea of integrational nostalgia. According to Holak and Havlena (1992) a simple definition of nostalgia implies that it is not possible for a person to experience real nostalgia for a past or specific moment in time which he or she has not lived through. However, they go onto argue that throughout their research they have witnessed multiple

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instances of integrational nostalgia. Furthermore, Holak and Havlena point out that intangible stimuli, like music, songs, and movies, which are reoccurring prompts in Stranger Things, can also trigger integrational nostalgia. One subject in their research also suggests that TV series alone are objects that prompt nostalgia. Photographs of people, places, and events are also a big factor that invokes nostalgic experiences. Additionally, while writing about events that trigger nostalgia Holak and Havlena differentiates between two types of nostalgic events – personal and collective. Personal events are the ones that are connected to the individual and experienced in a small circle, such as birthdays, weddings, vacations, etc. Collective events are the ones experienced by a large group of people or the whole of society, such as sports events, political events, etc. This distinction is useful when thinking about the way in which Stranger Things appeals to the collective memory of both Generation X and Millennials through the use of pop cultural elements from the 80s. All of these factors in Holak and Havlena’s research lead to several subjects admitting they experience nostalgia for time periods they have not lived in, when watching old movies, listening to old music, observing old photographs or vintage objects. Later in the text Holak and Havlena elaborate on the experience of ‘integrational nostalgia’ by explaining that:

Although nostalgic experience is defined to draw from one's lived past, there is an important intergenerational phenomenon. As one generation both privately and collectively reminisces about its adolescence, these memories become, in essence, a new experience for the next generation. (Holak and Havlena 1991, 325)

With this Holak and Havlena suggest that nostalgia can also be a communal experience, where the feeling of the past is transferred, but also changed in the process, as it goes from one generation to the next through a collective memory. This theory is further supported by Michael Pickering and Emily Keightley (2006) who initially based their research on classic nostalgia and investigate how it is used as a tool to articulate the past into the present. They argue that media makes use of the sentimental representation of the past as a form of commercial exploitation. In order to make sense of how this commercial ploy affects people’s longing for the past and how nostalgia has become a profitable business, they conclude that:

Taking it at its simplest, as a specifically modern concept nostalgia has been used to identify both a sense of personal loss and longing for an idealized past, and a distorted public version of a particular historical period or a particular social formation in the past. In much of the most recent work, nostalgia has been closely linked with the notion of collective, social or cultural memory as a way of attempting to explain how memories are generated, altered, shared and legitimated

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within particular sociocultural environments, yet in both senses it is connected with the characteristic features of modernity, such as its relentless social uprooting and erosion of time-honoured stabilities, while both the phenomenon itself and commentary on it have intensified proportionately to the acceleration of social and cultural change during modernity and late modernity. (Pickering and Keightley 2006, 922)

While Pickering and Keightley do acknowledge the existence of a collective memory, they also argue that this phenomenon is indirectly caused by modernity, with its uprooting of traditions. As a consequence, the past is idealized and distorted by the media. This feeling of nostalgia may be passed on from generation to generation as a form of social connectedness. It could be argued that Stranger Things can be accused of doing the same, by portraying a romanticized vision of the 80s in order to trigger integrational nostalgia among its younger audiences. The only aspects of 80s life portrayed in the show are those of suburbia, which has become some of today’s most iconic pop cultural elements. Additionally, in Stranger Things the children often make sense of the supernatural activities taking place in Hawkins, by connecting them to characters and narratives from popular books, movies, and games of the 80s. By doing so, the show heavily relies on pop cultural elements from the 80s not only as a way for the characters to communicate with each other, but also as a way of communicating with the viewers.

Even though nostalgia can be culturally specific, Stranger Things integrates within its storyline globally known icons and elements in order to create a universally relevant narrative, thanks to America’s dominance in the global media culture. Furthermore, as the show has also many younger viewers,

Stranger Things references 80s pop cultural elements that are still ongoing to this day, such as Star Wars

(1977-present), Terminator (1985-present), and Lord of the Rings (1954-present). In this way older and younger generations can equally relate to the same topic, despite having different notions of it. Even though the show does portray some aspects of the Cold War and the secret science experiments that are representative of the 80s, these elements of danger still carry a sense of adventure and amusement to them.

Furthermore, Pickering and Keightley argue that longing for an idealized past can have two outcomes. The first one would be that the real values of the past will not be able to progress into the future, due to the romanticism with which it is portrayed. This means that instances of racism, oppression, war and the lessons learned from these tragic events become suppressed because of media’s images of an idealized past. The second outcome would be complete social amnesia, where no one remembers the past correctly due to its fictitious representation in the media. For Pickering and Keightley today’s society has a media

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landscape driven by hyper-reality and pastiche. The ways in which media embody the past is a very restricted and narrow representation which aims to only show the ‘good side’. Because of this iconographic and glorified image it is much easier for the current generation to experience integrational nostalgia for a past they have not lived.

While Pickering and Keightley suggest that the past is excessively idealized through both social connectedness and media play, Havlena and Holak (1998) further argue that the experience of nostalgia can also be regarded as a bittersweet emotion. As previously mentioned by Sullivan, nostalgia is an emotion that is linked to sadness therefore one could argue that integrational nostalgia is simply an admiration of the past. However Havlena and Holak suggest that the pleasurable idea of an idealized past can become mournful when one realizes that it cannot be recreated. The mixture of sadness for an unattainable past and desire to experience it is what makes integrational nostalgia a legitimate mental and emotional experience.

This combination of joy and sadness, of gratitude and desire, of warmth and surgency demonstrates the complexity of the phenomenon. It appears to be basically positive, but with significant negative components. Along with joy and gratitude, there is a feeling of desire that may stem from the sense of loss. (Havlena and Holak 1998, 223)

This statement leaves the question of whether the sense of both desire and loss may be magnified among those who feel integrational nostalgia when watching Stranger Things. It also offers an interesting query whether these emotions will be present among the test subjects of this research, and what aspects of the show will be the reason for such emotions to occur. Even though integrational nostalgia is a very specific experience and strongly depends on the individuals’ background, in both cases it involves a show about the 80s triggering nostalgia among millennials. It is important to be mindful of this particularity when doing audience research. In this way the investigation will try to determine if the subject is experiencing integrational nostalgia because of Stranger Things’ romanticism of the past or because of his or her longing for the past due to dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. By determining whether the feeling of desire or the feeling of loss is stronger among the subjects, the audience based research will indicate whether the 80s represented in Stranger Things are perceived as appealing or unattainable, or both. Furthermore, this research will also help determine if the subjects feel only either desire or loss, or if integrational nostalgia is a mixture of both. Finding out whether this representation of childhood in the 80s prompts the younger viewers to feel these two different aspects of desire and loss would provide an interesting insight to how complex nostalgia may be as an emotion.

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By taking into consideration the previous research that has been carried out about classic nostalgia, one can use this theoretical knowledge in order to achieve a better understanding of how integrational nostalgia affects the younger generation. Also, by taking into consideration Davis’ three levels of nostalgia and Havlena and Holak’s differentiation between desire and loss when experiencing nostalgia, one can attain a better comprehension of how the individual subjects feel when watching Stranger Things. This allows for understanding whether the subjects are aware that Stranger Things aims to appeal to one’s nostalgia for the past, whether they allow themselves to feel nostalgic due to the show, and if that feeling makes them feel desire and loss. However, it is also important to get a better understanding of how media romanticizes the past. This insight is crucial when conducting audience research with subjects who show a fascination with Stranger Things’ representation of the 80s and experience integrational nostalgia because of this particular depiction.

1.2 Romanticism of the past

In the last ten years there have been television shows and movies themed around a particular time period from the past. In America some of the most popular ones have been That ‘70s Show (1998-2006) telling the story of a group of teenagers living in the 70s, and the recent Peaky Blinders (2013-present) television series that depicts the life of British gangster in the 1920s. However, this trend is not only dominating the American entertainment industry. For example, in South Korea there is a specific TV show by the name of

Reply which deals with different time periods in Korea’s history. So far the director has produced three

separate seasons: Reply 1997 (2012), Reply 1994 (2013), and Reply 1988 (2015) all starring a new cast and depicting the quirks and particularities of life in South Korea during those time periods.

Similarly to Stranger Things, all of the above mentioned American and South Korean TV shows depict the past as exciting and frivolous times. By showcasing antique objects, early technology, vintage clothing, old music, and a ‘simpler’ yet adventurous lifestyle it can be argued that these TV shows romanticize the past. According to Paul Grainge (2000) this depiction of the times gone by has become media’s method of inciting nostalgia as a way to both idealize the past and exploit it for commercial use. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, nostalgia was commodified and aestheticized in American culture as perhaps never before. One may posit a variety of factors contributing to this emergent retro fascination, including diversifying markets for memory, growth of the heritage

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industry, the political aesthetic of Reaganism, the demographic size of a baby-boom generation entering middle age and the attendant selling of the “bomber” past, the proliferation of technologies of time-shifting and digital reproduction, and a representational economy of recycling and pastiche. In no singular way, these helped develop nostalgia as a cultural style, a consumable mode as much as it can be said to be an experienced mood. (Grainge 2000, 27) Grainge’s argument can be easily applied to Stranger Things. The show is a pastiche of 80s cinema, persistently using pop cultural references from the 80s and fully making use of the current retro trend that has taken over the entertainment industry. Stranger Things allows for nostalgia to be a consumable product, offering small bites to viewers with every single episode allowing the sentimental part of their audience to experience nostalgia. Furthermore, when conducting audience based research it is also important to understand how the audience perceives a romanticized show about the past and what meaning they derive from its nostalgic references, in which case reception theory is also useful when considering Stranger Things as a consumable product.

Reception theory provides a means of understanding media texts by understanding how these texts are read by audiences. Theorists who analyze media through reception studies are concerned with the experience of cinema and television viewing for spectators, and how meaning is created through that experience. An important concept of reception theory is that the media text—the individual movie or television program—has no inherent meaning in and of itself. Instead, meaning is created in the interaction between spectator and text; in other words, meaning is created as the viewer watches and processes the film. (Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film n.d., p. 398)

Despite Stranger Things being labeled as a nostalgic show, every viewer experiences this nostalgia in a different way and is triggered by different visual cues. By adopting the idea of reception theory and the answers by the participants, this audience research may be able to determine how meaning is created by the spectator when presented with Stranger Things’ nostalgic visuals. Furthermore, by understanding how each individual subject perceives the show, it will become possible to gain knowledge on how and in what ways integrational nostalgia may be interpreted into a wider structure. By using reception theory to analyze integrational nostalgia in Stranger Things, it will help in assessing the connection between romanticism of the past and nostalgia.

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Moreover, as stated in Melis Behlil’s (2005) research the recent technological advancements have allowed cinephiles to completely immerse themselves into nostalgia entertainment, further encouraging the commercialization of nostalgia. Today’s easy access to entertainment through online streaming platforms, such as Netflix where Stranger Things is available, has stimulated media companies to start producing even more nostalgia television. This decision is evident with the recent revivals of shows such as Charmed (1998), Roseanne (1988), Will and Grace (1998) and Star Trek (1966) the series. Additionally, according to Sutanya Singkhra (2005) these so called ‘cinephiles’ take pleasure in media’s commercialization of nostalgia and encourage its romanticism in the form of entertainment, TV shows and movies.

Today’s films, so often the products of cinephiles, have become obsessed with the concept of recapturing lost time, an attempt that may easily be read as a reflection on cinema itself. One can see it as a particular drama of “perfect moments” lost and regained through re-enactments, repetitions; the result of the cinephilia complex, reflecting on itself in the medium of time. (Singkhra 2005, 45)

Singkhra’s statement can be recognized as a critical assessment of how current media solely relies on using old IP’s to appeal to the general audience. And despite the negative connotation of her argument, this media environment of continuous repetition and pastiche still succeeds in appealing emotionally to both cinephiles and the masses. The biggest difference, however, between the current reboots and

Stranger Things is that the former takes place in the current times, while the latter takes place in the 80s.

The current revivals will not romanticize the past and will not carry the vintage charm of the 80s, allowing for classic nostalgia to be felt only if the viewer has memories of watching the original series.

In order to stimulate integrational nostalgia there are multiple factors to be considered when producing a TV show. Part of the appeal of Stranger Things is the fact that it strongly resembles movies that were shot in the 80s. Stranger Things is not just a show about the 80s, but it is a show that also looks like it was produced in the 80s. For example, throughout the show the storyline of Eleven, one of the characters in Stranger Things, strongly resembles that of the alien in E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982). Multiple scenes from Steven Spielberg’s movie are recreated in subtle ways that emulates the 80s classic without over exaggerating the resemblance between the two characters. From framing, to lighting, coloring and the general theme of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Eleven’s storyline pays homage to the work of Steven Spielberg. Furthermore, through this subtle imitation of 80s movies Stranger Things achieves

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the status of pastiche rather that parody. This difference between pastiche and parody is crucial, since only with the former can one achieve an idealization of the past, while the latter solely mocks it.

When talking about how film does not provide an accurate representation of the past for the sake of romanticism, Frederic Jameson (1998) accuses media to be “historicist rather than historical”. He argues that the entertainment industry places its focus on the visual representation of the past through romanticized imagery, rather than focusing on a genuine representation of the past. Jameson further elaborates on how the past is romanticized through media by stating that “based on the recognition by the viewer of pre-existing historical stereotypes, including the various styles of the period, it is thereby reduced to the mere narrative confirmation of those same stereotypes” (Jameson 1998, 130). By reinforcing these stereotypes about the past, media continues to idealize specific time periods without leaving space for an accurate representation. Jameson argues that this restricted pool of representation simplifies the past to its pop culture rather that the importance of some historical events. By doing so, time periods such as the 80s in Stranger Things are only generalizing the past reinforcing the stereotype of the ‘simpler times’.

Similarly to Holak and Havlena’s integrational nostalgia, Amelia Defalco (2004) also observes the phenomenon of longing for a past that has not been experienced. Defalco identifies it as ‘non-experiential nostalgia’ and similarly to Jameson she credits media’s romanticism of the past as the main reason for this occurrence. For her, non-experiential nostalgia is not due to a collective memory, but due to an idealized image which has altered the association between historical reality and textual representation.

Perhaps non-experiential nostalgia—a longing based on contact with representations, whether they be photographs, films, “history books, memorial tablets, or, for that matter, legend”—lays bare the fundamental textuality of the recollected site, its underlying constructedness. By longing for a past glimpsed only through representation, the two (historical reality and its textual representation) are collapsed and “reality” takes on quotation marks, its inescapable textuality made apparent and embraced. (Defalco 2004, 30)

According to Defalco, experiencing the past through mediated memories can be considered the main cause for non-experiential nostalgia. Namely because movies and shows such as Stranger Things have more cinematic reference than historical, non-experiential nostalgia becomes possible through this romanticism of the past. Wilson Koh (2009) further validates this claim by stating that “the mode has more to do with current perceptions of a generalized past rather than with the authentic re-creation of a

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complex and specific reality. It simply reflects its producers’ idealized interpretations of the past” (Koh 2009, 737).

According to the research stated above integrational, or non-experiential, nostalgia is partially experienced due to media’s romanticism of the past. However, the possibility of integrational nostalgia due dissatisfaction with contemporary culture must also be explored. That is why it is important to study what may be the reasons for this dissatisfaction with life in the 21st_{century, in comparison to that of the}

80s portrayed in media.

1.3 Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture

As the world becomes more globalized the emergence of a mass society and mass culture becomes more evident. In this way the intertextual references in a show about the 80s become a nostalgic trigger to people from all over the world who have followed American entertainment throughout the years. In return, this has led to the self-conscious use of earlier styles in order to garner viewers’ attention. Many scholars point out the relationship between postmodernism and the media industry. For example, Dominic Strinati argues that:

First, the argument is that postmodernism describes the emergence of a society in which the mass media and popular culture are the most important and powerful institutions, and control and shape all other types of social relationships. Popular cultural signs and media images increasingly dominate our sense of reality, and the way we define ourselves and the world around us. Postmodern theory is an attempt to understand a media-saturated society. (Strinati 1995, 211) Strinati then goes on to elaborate on this argument, stating that over the years media have played an essential part in creating our sense of social reality, and our significance within this mediated reality. This would mean that for Strinati, whatever is portrayed in media the public accepts as reality and positions its mindset and understanding of the world within this mediated reality. Because of how powerful this global media culture has become our sense of belonging has also been altered. Millennials today can feel like they are part of American culture because of the intense saturation of American music, television shows, and movies that have been present in their lifetime through global media. In fact, America’s dominance on global media has arguably had an effect on Western Europe since 1945, meaning that

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generations of Western Europeans have grown up within an American mediated reality. When talking about the immense impact that American media have on Europe, Jaap Kooijman (2013) argues that culturally we may feel as if we grew up in America, explaining that:

Politically, Europeans might no longer be Americans, but culturally “we” remain, to use the concept of Chris Keulemans, “Americans we never were,” living within a society that is permeated with American pop culture. As Europeans, we have grown up with Walt Disney, Hollywood, Coca-Cola, and American television programs, and we recognize these pop-cultural artifacts as belonging both to “America” as well as to our own culture in which we have lived all our lives. (Kooijman 2013, 97)

Kooijman’s statement provides an interesting question for this research. As American culture remains the most dominant entertainment provider across the globe, it will be interesting to see if within the audience based research there are subjects who feel a close connection to American media. As the research is aiming to interview subjects from different nationalities, it will be intriguing too see if the interviewees feel as if American pop cultural artefacts also belong to them, and if that is in some way connected to dissatisfaction with contemporary culture.

One of the most prominent names when it comes to postmodernism and nostalgia is that of Frederic Jameson. For Jameson postmodernism has emerged as a reaction against high modernism. To him one of the most prominent practices related to postmodernism is the creation and frequent use of pastiche. It has become popular for movies and TV shows to mimic the style, techniques and particularities of older films. Jameson further suggests that postmodernism is also the high point of individualism, which in return has led to a form of cultural exhaustion. Creatives can only recycle instead of inventing something new, meaning that today’s creatives cannot have their own unique style, and what they do is influenced by creatives form the past. Everything has already been invented, therefore new ideas and combinations are limited. Hence, pastiche is the only solution for the creative mind through the imitation of old styles and genres.

This film is thus metonymically a historical or nostalgia film: unlike American Graffiti, it does not reinvent and picture of the past in its lived totality; rather, by reinventing the feel and shape of characteristic art objects of an older period (the serials), it seeks to reawaken a sense of the past associated with those objects. (Jameson 1985, 5)

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Following this line of thought, Jameson also talks about ‘nostalgia film’ depicting specific societal moments from the past that seek to rekindle memories and evoke nostalgia. In this sense postmodernism plays on nostalgia in order to appeal to the reminiscence of the audience. He concludes that such movies that rely heavily on pastiche have no other option but to lean on the past for creative inspiration. Despite the past being long gone and out of reach, one still seeks it through pop culture and intertextual references. “We seem condemned to seek the historical past through our own pop images and stereotypes about that past, which itself remains forever out of reach” (Jameson 1985, 6). Stranger Things from the very beginning has branded itself as a pastiche of 80s movies and TV shows. The series evolves around 80s pop culture and the imitation of 80s film style, evoking nostalgia hence fully supporting Jameson’s theory. The Duffer Brothers have created the show by drawing inspiration from modernist ideas and old concepts of filming. When discussing postmodernism and global culture in his later work, Jameson further argues that our perception of belonging is also altered due to mass media by stating that:

But this is a speculation which presupposes the possibility that at an outer limit, the sense people have of themselves and their own moment of history may ultimately have nothing whatsoever to do with its reality: that the existential may be absolutely distinct, as some ultimate "false consciousness," from the structural and social significance of a collective phenomenon, surely a possibility rendered more plausible by the fact of global imperialism, in terms of which the meaning of a given nation-state for everyone else on the globe -- may be wildly at odds from their own inner experiences and their own interior daily life. (Jameson 1991, 280)

In his research, Jameson continues to discuss how the 50s are portrayed in mass media. He argues that the “reality” of mass cultural representation revolves around a happy small town life, populated by conventional families where normalcy is ensured in their day-to-day life. However, this image is only derived from the way life was portrayed by the media in the 50s; meaning, the representation that that time period created of itself. Despite the fact that this portrayal is derived from a misrepresentation, it still circulates in the media sphere up to this day, leaving generations of viewers with a one-sided image of the past. This can further complicate the way in which people view contemporary culture. By falsely portraying the past as a time when life was simple and joyful, the current generation may feel displeasure with today’s society.

Greg Dickinson (2006) further elaborates on this representation of the 1950s in his research of the movie Pleasantville (1998). He argues that this cinematic representation of suburbia not only cultivates the belief that life was better back then but also breeds dissatisfaction with contemporary

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culture. Suburban life is presented as a central aspect to the ‘good old’ American lifestyle, which is not possible in today’s metropolitan scene. However, movies such as Pleasantville do not only elicit nostalgia in the way they portray life, but also in their surroundings.

More broadly, however, these films offer a suburban ethos—a dwelling place in which the suburban good life is imagined. These films’ architectural rhetoric, however, is not purely metaphorical. Instead the films offer images of dwelling places—houses, yards, streets, and towns that at once draw on and offer the potential of creating the houses, yards, streets, and towns audiences desire. With suburbia becoming the decentered center of everyday life in the United States, understanding this imagination becomes central to understanding much about many peoples’ everyday lives and desires. (Dickinson 2006, 228)

The 1950s suburbs portrayed in media are more authentic and safer than the present, yet still full of emotion and life. The people of the 1950s are depicted as full of passion and questions about life, trying to figure out where they belong. All of that is lightened by the calm life in suburbia. Such representation of the past are in a stark contrast with similar movies depicting the struggle of dealing with life changing questions and hardships in the 21st_{century suburbs and metropolitan cities. Some of the most compelling}

examples being the movie The Pursuit of Happiness (2006) and the TV series 13 Reasons Why (2017). The former is about a father desperately trying to make ends meet in the big city, which is a critique of contemporary American society. The movie refutes the idea of the American Dream today, which has been the pinnacle of American culture since the 1950s. On the other hand, the latter is about a teenage girl in the suburbs trying to figure out life but in the end committing suicide. The TV show disproves the image of the quiet suburban life in the 21st_{century, portraying the difficulties of being a young adult in a}

time when society uses online technology the complicate and destroy other people’s lives. These two examples are just a few out of the many ways in which media portrays the hardships of life in the 21st

century.

Taking all of the above into account is important when exploring dissatisfaction with contemporary culture in connection to Stranger Things. The observations made by Jameson and Dickinson about 50s movies can still apply to a show about the 80s. The small town of Hawkins in Stranger Things depicts a close-knit community with normal families living a quiet suburban life. On the other hand, the show also presents the viewer with components of mystery and the supernatural. These two elements present the viewer with the charm of suburban life, mixed with an element of danger. The times during the Cold War are displayed as mystical and adventurous, while still remaining in the safety of suburbia.

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By combining elements of familiar 80s pop culture and childhood memories, in contrast to the unfamiliar 80s suburban life and adventure, Stranger Things has the potential to elicit integrational nostalgia among the younger viewers. Additionally, Pickering and Keightley further argue that nostalgia is also a response to society’s frustration with contemporary culture, stating that:

It is not only irony that is at play in nostalgic enterprises and experiences. Central to our argument has been that nostalgia can only be properly conceptualized as a contradictory phenomenon, being driven by utopian impulses – the desire for re-enchantment – as well as melancholic responses to disenchantment. (Pickering and Keightley 2006, 936)

This detachment from today’s reality through media’s representation of the past should be taken into consideration when conducting audience based research on the topic of integrational nostalgia. I will investigate whether the subject being interviewed may experience this type of nostalgia for the 80s because of their personal desire to mentally remove themselves from the present. On the other hand, the desire for re-enchantment should also be kept in mind when conducting the audience based research. This yearning for the 80s depicted in Stranger Things may be the subject’s own individual desire to romanticize the past, without being triggered by media, because of their dissatisfaction with contemporary culture.

There are many aspects that should be taken into account when researching the connection between integrational nostalgia and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. However it is important to keep in mind that dissatisfaction with contemporary culture may stem from multiple triggers, such as displeasure that is parallel to Jameson’s idea of postmodernism, where people would look at the past as a time when creativity was in full blossom, and today we are left with nothing but pastiche. Others may feel dissatisfaction with contemporary culture that resonates with Dickinson’s idea of the suburban ethos, where people may feel that a peaceful and joyous life is not possible in today’s frantic society. And others may have feelings similar to the ones described by Pickering and Keightley. They may feel discontent with today’s culture because of their own personal detachment from the current society, and enchantment with the 80s of Stranger Things.

It is also important to consider how the current media sphere is using nostalgia as a selling point to viewers. According to Davis “Not only does the word nostalgia appear to have been fully 'demilitarized' and 'demedicalized' by now but, with its rapid assimilation into American popular speech since roughly

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the nineteen-fifties, it appears to be undergoing a process of 'depsychologization' as well” (Davis 1979, 4). Nostalgia has been a reoccurring theme in America throughout the decades. Depicting the ‘American dream’ of a calm, happy, and wealthy family, this dream has been the root to media’s portrayal of the perfect life in the 1950s. However, in the end this vision of a perfect life remained only as an image of the past on our TV screens. Today, nostalgia has become part of our daily entertainment feed, giving audiences reasons to remember the past either for romantic purposes or to stir displeasure when comparing it to modern life. Portraying the past in a very narrow way has become media’s way of cashing in on peoples’ longing for a simpler life.

1.4 Conclusion to literature review

Classic nostalgia and integrational nostalgia are two similar concepts that share a similar theory. They both suggest a longing for an unattainable past, involving a mixture of happiness and sorrow. The only difference between the two is that classic nostalgia is a past that has been experienced, while integrational nostalgia is a past that was not been experienced. This unexperienced past can only be glimpsed through old images, objects, music, or movies and TV shows that represent that specific time period. Stranger

Things is a show which depicts the 80s as fun and exciting times, showcasing the many perks of living in a

small suburban town as a child. Mixed with various intertextual pop cultural reference form the 80s, this series is a pastiche to the earlier works of Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and other famous directors from that period. The show has the potential to elicit integrational nostalgia among millennial viewers by eliciting the feeling of happiness and sorrow through its representation of the past.

Romanticism of the past has been a reoccurring theme in media for many years. Movies and television shows deliberately portray the past as a time when life was simpler in order to elicit nostalgia among viewers. Stranger Things has successfully integrated the use of nostalgia into its storyline in order to achieve its massive success. According to Pat Saperstein “Fueled by social media, this interest in the pop-culture trappings of the recent past, particularly the ’90s, has become a fertile area for TV programmers, who are unleashing a flood of shows over the next year to capitalize on the ever-growing appetite for all things retro” (Saperstein, 2015). The current overwhelming flow of entertainment depicting the past has encouraged media outlets to continue romanticizing the past in order to generate profit. However, this romanticized portrayal of the past is only one sided, and does not accurately represent what, for example, the 80s were really like. Nevertheless, the demand for retro entertainment indicates that viewers enjoy this idealized image of the past.

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As part of this thesis I will investigate if there is a dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, and if it is triggered by romanticized entertainment. By discussing the depiction of a ‘simpler’ suburban life, I will investigate whether that image provokes feeling of discontent with the busy lifestyle of the 21st century. TV shows like Stranger Things portray a kind of lifestyle that cannot be experienced today, especially in bigger cities. By delving into the topic of dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, this research will study which aspects of the show millennials believe cannot be experienced anymore in today’s day and age. Furthermore, in addition to answering the main research question, this thesis will also bring up the question if romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture are inevitably connected, or if only one of them is needed in order to experience integrational nostalgia. However, the audience based research will also examine whether millennials are aware of how shows such as Stranger

Things portray the past in a romanticized way in order to make them feel dissatisfaction with

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Audience research

2.1 Method

For this research, a number of ten participants were needed in order to conduct the interviews and study the concepts of classic and integrational nostalgia among millennials who watch Stranger Things. Since I was interested in exploring integrational nostalgia, I selected interviewees that were born between the years 1990 to 1996 in order to ensure that they are millennials who have not lived through the 80s. The participants needn’t be of any particular nationality. In fact, interviewing participants from different countries would be of potential benefit to understanding to what extent the subjects have been affected by America’s dominance in the media sphere. That would also help research if the feeling of integrational nostalgia differs among different nationalities and how one’s environment while growing up can affect their feeling of nostalgia when watching a show about America in the 80s.

Initially, the subjects were to be selected from an online fandom site of the show that is allocated in the Netherlands. However, due to the absence of an official online fan club of Stranger Things in The Netherlands, participants had to be located by other means. In the end, a post on Facebook was published in a group by the name of “Expats in The Netherlands”. The post specified that I was looking for participants between the ages of 22 and 27 who enjoy watching Stranger Things, willing to take part in an interview about the show. The post received a substantial amount of attention with many people responding to it enthusiastically and wanting to take part in the interviews. Over the period of three weeks, ten people were interviewed for this research. Half of the interviews were taken in person, while the other half via Skype call, since some of the participants signified that they would be more comfortable being interviewed in this way. Each interview was audio recorded and later on transcribed.

Out of the ten participants six were female, and four were male. All of the subjects affirmed that they are currently either students or interns as part of their higher education. Five of the participants came from an Eastern European background, three had a Western European background, one from the Middle East, and one from East Asia. All of the participants described themselves as big fans of the show, who have thoroughly enjoyed watching both seasons of Stranger Things and are excitedly anticipating for the next one to come out. Furthermore, all of the subjects confirmed that they have not lived in America, therefore their opinions and feelings regarding the show are entirely based from a foreign viewer’s point of view.

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Their impression of the 80s in the United States is entirely based on American media, and its portrayal of that time period through movies, TV shows, and music.

During the interview the subjects were asked various questions. Firstly, the participants were eased into the interview by being asked about the show and which aspects of it they enjoyed the most. Interestingly enough, on multiple occasions the word ‘nostalgia’ appeared in their answers from the beginning as one of the main reasons the participants enjoyed the show. Once it had been confirmed that there are feelings of nostalgia in a participant, the interviewee was then asked additional questions to determine whether the feeling of nostalgia was due to romanticism of the past or dissatisfaction with contemporary culture. Surprisingly, the most common trigger for nostalgia was how the show reminds the interviewees of their own childhood. In the cases where romanticism of the past was present, it was mainly triggered from admiration for 80s music and fashion. The dissatisfaction with contemporary culture mainly stemmed from how technologically dependent society has become, as well as the antisocial tendencies among the majority of people.

Interestingly, in some cases there were subject who felt both satisfaction and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture, stating the advantages and disadvantages of today’s society in comparison to the past. Also, surprisingly there were cases when two of the participants said that they do not experience nostalgia at all. During those two interviews the main goal became to understand why there isn’t a feeling of nostalgia among those subjects and in what ways the present is more appealing to them. In both cases the main reason for the satisfaction with contemporary culture was the advancements in technology, which was the main reason why others felt dissatisfaction with today’s society. Both subjects signified that they enjoy the way in which 80s life is portrayed and can appreciate certain aspects of it, but their feelings do not stem from nostalgia and they are happy with living in the 21st_{century. The overall results}

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23 Subject Childhood reminiscing Romanticism of the past Dissatisfaction with contemporary culture Satisfaction with contemporary culture Subject 1

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(Figure 2.1)

2.2 Childhood Reminiscing

Throughout the research, the most prominent factor for nostalgia among the subjects was the way in which they were reminded of their own childhood while watching the show. The majority of millennials that were interviewed expressed a strong feeling of nostalgia when watching Stranger Things because they view the show as a depiction of their own childhood. They are not only reminded of their own past by watching the children of Stranger Things play around, but also by the lifestyle portrayed by the show, which they feel was very similar to their own. One subject in particular was very specific about the ways in which Stranger Things makes him feel nostalgic.

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There are many aspects of the show that make me feel nostalgic about my childhood. First, I would say is the environment. In Stranger Things it is clearly visible that there are forests where kids go to play - you cannot do that today. There are no forests like this left, most of them are already cut down or have some kind of complex built in them. That is one thing I had in my childhood - a lot of undeveloped buildings, area and land where we could go around and play. Second, the kids had bicycles as a way of transport because the town is small and this is something I used to do as well because I lived in a small town. Third, the arcades and the gaming because we did not have personal computers at that time, or at least only rich families could afford them. So all the kids, including myself, would go and play at the arcades. Fourth, the style of clothing. There was no specific style for us, we would just wear whatever was available which seems like what the kids in the show are doing. We never really cared about who is wearing what, it was just something to keep us warm, rather than care about fashion. I guess you could say that times were a lot more free back then. (Subject 1)

This particular subject is very explicit about which aspects of the show make him feel nostalgic. He is fully aware of the feelings he experiences while watching the show and what memories are being triggered. From his answer, it could be proposed that the subject is experiencing Davis’s idea of interpreted nostalgia, where a person fully analyzes how nostalgia makes him feel when triggered. By watching

Stranger Things the subject can pinpoint exactly which aspects remind him of his childhood and why he is

feeling nostalgic.

Other subjects, though not as thoroughly, also relate certain aspects of the show to their own childhood in the 90s.

I can definitely see the whole nostalgic aspect of the show. The gloomy colors that you constantly see on your screen give off are very vintage and retro kind of look. You also see their way of life, the way they bike all the time. It makes you think about how much different this show would have been if it was set today with the technology we have right now. So they really want the nostalgia to hit you when watching the show by taking you back to a different time. And of course the nostalgia does hit me. I was not born in the 1980s, I grew up in the 90s, but I would always think that the show really takes me back to the days when we would play with specific toys, like the walkie talkies and the nostalgia would hit me hard. I do not think kids these days play around with walkie takies anymore. (Subject 6)

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Looking at the child actors, it reminds me of my own childhood – running around the streets all day, playing board games, being very interested in a specific franchise like Pokémon, for example. We also believed in magical creatures and other realms. So the show reminds me of my childhood in a very good way. Now that I think about it, the show does make me feel very nostalgic about my childhood because it reminds me of the kid I used to be. (Subject 8)

The former subject’s idea of the 80s is not based on life itself but rather the memory of the 1980s as presented in media culture. However, interestingly the subject makes a shift in her statement from integrational nostalgia as triggered by media presentation, to classic nostalgia for her own childhood. The same phenomenon can also be observed in the latter subject. In addition, he acknowledges how as a child he had a very developed imagination, which caused him to believe that magical creatures are real. He shows signs of being nostalgic not only for his childhood, but his past self when he used to believe that the world around him was very mystical. Both of the aforementioned subjects also mention playing outside all day as a memory that brings nostalgia not only for the past but also for the child they once were. According to Linda M. Austin (2003) this phenomenon is called “romantic memory” of childhood. While researching various poems and stories about childhood and nostalgia in the 19th_{century, she}

suggests that people who are nostalgic for their childhood view themselves as two different people. For them, the child is a completely different persona from their current self. This metamorphosis is brought on due to external conditions, therefore people tend to mourn the loss of their childhood self. Furthermore, Austin argues that by remembering the mentality they had during their childhood, the adult is reminded of the extraordinary perception of life they once had which translates into a feeling of loss of potential. Childhood is a time when one’s imagination is very vivid and the emotions are spontaneous, but that perspective on live eventually fades with the transition into adulthood. Stranger Things has allowed the aforementioned subject not only to tap into their past, but also reminds them of the children they once were and the way they viewed the world around them.

When talking about how in the past children would spend the whole day playing outside, one subject provided very interesting insight. She explained that there is a vast difference between the ways she grew up, in comparison to her younger sister. She recalled a moment when they were watching

Stranger Things together, when the topic of playing outside came up during an episode.

When I was a kid I would spend my entire day out with my friends. Now when I look at my younger sister, who was born in 2001, she is on her phone all the time and I feel like she is missing out on a lot of valuable experiences. Even when watching Stranger Things together I had to explain to

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her that when I was a child I would spend my days outside playing, but apparently she thought that this happened only in movies. So for my younger sister, playing outside with friends is not even real and she was surprised to find out I had a similar childhood. (Subject 10)

The statement indicates that there could be a crucial difference between Millennials and Generation Z and their perception of the past when watching Stranger Things. This would mean that additional research could be carried out in order to understand how the youngest viewers interpret the past when watching old TV shows and movies. Further research could also answer the question if mediated memories, or integrational nostalgia, have any kind of effect on Generation Z.

While conducting the interviews, some of the subjects seemed to believe that they have experienced the 80s even though they were born in the 90s, because of their country of origin. Some of the subjects blamed their native country’s slow development for the similarities between their own childhood and the one portrayed in Stranger Things.

I may not be as old to feel nostalgic about those times but as an Eastern European, where everything was 10 years behind, it feels nostalgic. So I feel like I have lived in the 80s even though I was born in the 90s. All of the arcades and games were a part of my childhood too. The technology was far behind therefore people lived accordingly. So we did not have the computers we did not have the mobile phones, we did not have all of that progression. So everything America had in the 80s, Eastern Europeans experienced in the 90s. So I feel like I technically lived in the age of the 80s. The arcades, going out with friends, cycling around the whole neighborhood and getting in trouble - this is exactly the childhood that at least I had. (Subject 1)

Even though it may sound a bit weird I do get a feeling of nostalgia. In Cyprus, where I am from, we got everything that was mainstream in America a few years later. So there were aspects to the show that were nostalgic. Also, the show links many things with Dungeons and Dragons and we did that as children as well. The game would often come up in our conversations, and we would communicate with each other by using the game as a reference. I would not say that Stranger

Things is nostalgic in a way that it reminds of the 80s, it is nostalgic in a way that it reminds me of

my own childhood. Hanging out with friends, riding our bicycles everywhere, and going on adventures. Also, old technology references like using the VHS and dealing with all the cables really reminds me of the old days. (Subject 2)

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For these subjects the countries they were born in play a big role in how relatable the show is to their own childhood. They believe that they have experienced 80s technology and pop culture in their childhood during the 90s because of how underdeveloped their home countries used to be. According to David Lipton and Jeffrey Sachs (1990) Eastern and South-Eastern Europe had been suffering from slow industrialization for many years due to the USSR. This would mean that not only technologies, but the general life style have also fallen behind in comparison to the rest of the Western world. Since the Soviet Union officially disintegrated in 1991, a wave of old American technology, movies, music and TV shows hit Eastern Europe in the 90s. This might be the reason why some of the subjects feel like they have experienced the 80s, through the old media that was suddenly made available to them while growing up. Also, because of the industrial lag between Eastern Europe and America, the children of the 90s experienced a childhood that was less technological and more focused on playing outside.

2.3 Romanticism of the past

Many of the subjects romanticized different aspects of the past while being interviewed. A majority of participants believed that the music in the 80s was much better. Also, eight out of the ten interviewees praised the soundtrack of Stranger Things for being very unique and successfully emulating 80s music. The 80s are famous for their mixture of dance-pop and rock, which many of the subject indicated as being unique for that time. One of the subjects showed admiration for the music and especially the bands back then, stating that:

I wish I was also able to experience the music and the bands of the 80s. Most of my all-time favorite bands are form the 80s, so they are either no longer alive or simply do not perform so much anymore. I feel like music back then was definitely better than it is now. Even the soundtrack of the series is better than most soundtracks of other shows, since it copies the style of the 80s. (Subject 8)

According to Jameson (1979) the reason why people find old music significantly more enchanting than their current music is because of the way a new song is constantly replayed, stating that “insensibly becomes part of the existential fabric of our own lives so that we listen to ourselves, our own previous auditions” (1797, 137). Current music is repeatedly played on radio and TV, making a song part of our daily lives. Listening to old music offers a form of escape. According to Ian Buchanan (1997) the various music styles throughout the decades have a particular sound to them, which indicate a specific moment

Integrational nostalgia within Stranger Things. Romanticism of the past and dissatisfaction with contemporary culture