Abstract (eng)
References to the past or specific aspects of the past have always been a constant and recurring characteristic in modern popular culture. They evoke memories from firsthand or secondhand experiences and can trigger this pleasant feeling of reminiscence that we call nostalgia. With the ongoing renaissance of the 1980s, which spawns numerous products, aesthetics and narratives from that decade, a nostalgic cycle, often referred to as nostalgia pendulum, is emerging. A prime example for this trend would be the Netflix retro series Stranger Things, which not only is set in that decade, but is also heavily referencing and explicitly quoting media texts from that time. These intertextual references simultaneously serve as the primary legitimation of historical authenticity and accuracy. Thus, historicity in Stranger Things can mostly be derived from referenced source material that also originates from fiction. At the same time, the series attempts to suggest a moment of progressiveness by occasionally incorporating contemporary elements, such as queer storylines, to compensate for some of the regressive patterns. This would result in a certain perception of the past, ultimately generating a current simulacrum of the 1980s. At its core, this thesis examines Stranger Things’ different approaches of reconstructing the past in the context of intertextuality and nostalgia, as well as the the resulting discrepancy between homage and the often inevitable reworking of a referenced source material. Various interdisciplinary approaches are used for this matter, ranging from memory studies by established representatives like Maurice Halbwachs or Aleida and Jan Assmann, to nostalgia theories by scholars such as Svetlana Boym, Paul Grainge, or Manuel Menke, and the versatile phenomenon of intertextuality. In a three-part analysis, consisting of narrative, style/aesthetics, and marketing, the respective central aspects are emphasized. Furthermore, increased attention is drawn to the intermedia networking of the series, characterized by a range of paratextual additions that ultimately contribute to a mediated retro zeitgeist of the 1980s, which can subsist across multiple media.