Who’re You Calling a Nerd?: How Identity, Marketability, and Nostalgia Impact Depictions of the 1980s in Stranger Things
Published 01-07-2023
Keywords
- Stranger Things,
- 1980s nostalgia,
- nerd culture,
- geek culture,
- Netflix
- nostalgic marketing,
- transmedia storytelling ...More
Copyright (c) 2023 Percevile Forester
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
The video essay portion of this article is a close reading of the Netflix TV show Stranger Things (2016-present), utilizing key scenes from the series to conduct a textual analysis of the treatment of nerd identities in the show, as opposed to the treatment of marginal identities of race, sexuality and disability. Whilst, the accompanying essay draws from research in the fields of popular culture studies, fan studies, cultural studies, and media studies in order to examine the significance of the nerd identities present within the series, and how material experiences of oppression are offset via a nostalgic vision of 1980s popular culture. Ultimately, the text concludes that nerd identities are emphasised when exploring the characters’ marginalization as a means of preserving a nostalgic view of the 1980s in the US in order to successfully market the Netflix series to contemporary streaming audiences.