As mentioned in Netflix and the Re-invention of Television, Netflix has expanded massively across the world from 2014 and dropped large amounts of licensed content throughout 2016 in favor of its in-house productions or Netflix Originals (Jenner, 2023). Launched during this period, Stranger Things was a huge success in its debut season, and the series is considered one of the masterpieces of Netflix’s original production. This story set in the 1980s, includes elements of child development, surrealist phenomena, adventure, and thrillers. Netflix’s focus on developing original works with creative freedom and financial backing is one of the reasons for the series’ success. What’s more, it also perfectly responds to the nostalgia fad that has become apparent in culture in the 21st century. 

“The popularity of nostalgia emphasize the ubiquitous and rapidly developing role of technology in shaping, disseminating, and capitalizing on nostalgia, across a broad range of cultural production and consumption. New technology can stimulate nostalgia by bringing large numbers of globally diverse people together” (Hamilton & Wilson, 2014). Binge-watching, which represents Netflix’s identity and marketing core (Jenner,2023), provides the technical support for the above, it is the perfect platform for stranger things to spread nostalgia. 

For the first three seasons, Netflix released an entire season at once and created a seamless viewing experience by offering time-shifting and self-scheduling viewing experience independent from television schedules (Jenner,2023), by using autonomous settings, viewers can skip the beginning and the end of one episode, supported by the “post-play” function, which gives viewers only a short time to decide if they want to watch the next episode. The front page reminds viewers of what they have not completed watching (Jenner,2023). Also through specific algorithmic recommendations, Netflix succeeds in bringing the audience together.

Reference

Jenner, M. (2023) Netflix and the re-invention of television. Cham: Springer International Publishing AG. 

Hamilton, K. and Wilson, J. (2014) Nostalgia in the twenty-first century [Preprint]. 

Stranger things 2: Official Final Trailer: Netflix (2017) YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/R1ZXOOLMJ8s?si=1PXMcYj-wys3vodA (Accessed: 01 November 2023). 

Stranger things 4: Volume 1 final trailer: Netflix (2022) YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/mVsJXiI60a0?si=4yjkUWoTBAGtnjgh (Accessed: 01 November 2023).

Written by: Siyi Liu