“Stranger Things” ends with season 5, having become a true cultural phenomenon. These days, monoculture often seems like a thing of the past, but when a new season of Netflix’s biggest series comes out, you can be sure that most people will be paying attention. This is important not only in the context of Netflix itself, but also in the culture at large, because it marks a rare moment where our collective attention is being diverted from the social media niches we’ve all fallen into and channeled toward the same thing. How did “Stranger Things” become such a success? Well, according to director and executive producer Shawn Levy, who has been with the series since the beginning and directed two episodes of the fifth season, it’s about a lot more than 1980s nostalgia and Netflix’s victory in the streaming wars.
During a virtual press conference for “Stranger Things” Season 5, which /Film participated in, Levy highlighted how the series balances spectacle and fantasy elements with more grounded human stories. “The DNA, a kind of special sauce, I think, is the combination of the epic and the intimate,” he said. “I think even though people talk about the ’80s, the Demogorgons, the darkness and the genre influences, we wouldn’t be who we have become if we didn’t invest in these characters the way we do, both in terms of how we tell the story and how the story is received.” The director, who helped launch “Stranger Things” by purchasing the rights to Season 1 through his company 21 Laps Entertainment, went on to characterize the series as representing “duality” and contrast, “the big and the small, the loud and the quiet.” This all rings true, but the success of the series is much more important.
Stranger Things is the streaming show of streaming shows
With a replacement for “Stranger Things” now arriving in “KPop Demon Hunters,” there’s no doubt that Netflix is going to miss the series that helped propel the company to the top of the streaming game. Watching the most-watched series on Netflix is seeing a somewhat distorted image. “Wednesday” season 1 is technically its most popular release, with 252.1 million views, while “Stranger Things” season 4 is in third place with 140.7 million views. But that doesn’t represent all seasons of “Stranger Things” taken as a whole, nor the show’s cultural impact nor how it has come to represent the de facto Netflix series. It is THE Netflix show. Not only that, it has become THE Netflix show at a time when streaming was taking over the entertainment industry. As cables were cut around the world, “Stranger Things” was at the forefront of it all. As such, along with everything else, it somehow represents the triumph of streaming itself. It’s not just the de facto Netflix show, it’s the de facto streaming show.
Shawn Levy hinted at something similar during the virtual press conference, explaining how “Stranger Things” has influenced the cultural landscape by challenging our notions of what cultural products are supposed to look like. “I think it’s probably broken ideas about what is a movie? What is a TV show?” he said. “‘Oh, it’s huge. It’s a movie. Oh, it’s small, it’s a TV show.’ I think those standards and assumptions are much more nuanced now. » Levy’s point of view fits into the idea that “Stranger Things” is the quintessential streaming show, because the exact same thing could be said for streaming in general, challenging those same notions.
Shawn Levy says Stranger Things is all about storytelling
Netflix recently announced “Stranger Things: Tales From ’85,” an animated spinoff that should ensure “Stranger Things” continues forever. For Shawn Levy, however, ensuring the sustainability of existing success is less important than taking a chance on new ideas. “Most of all, I hope we still live in a world of storytelling,” he explained, “where networks and studios will take leaps of faith just because something feels special. Not because it’s IP or it’s calculated.” According to the director, he and creators Matt and Ross Duffer had “no idea” that “Stranger Things” would be a success at first. “We didn’t do it because we thought it would be a success,” he added. “We did it because we knew it could be special. And the rest was our reward.”
While there is a lot of truth to Levy’s comments, they also gloss over important aspects of the show’s appeal and its obvious influences. To hear Levy speak, it’s as if “Stranger Things” was a completely original idea that required a leap of faith on Netflix’s part, but this is a series heavily reliant on the reuse of multiple styles, tropes and ideas. The most obvious is the ’80s nostalgia and “genre influences” that Levy was so quick to glide over at the beginning of his comments. It’s not that “Stranger Things” is cynical in its attempts to emulate the feeling of ’80s action, horror and sci-fi films, but there is a clear attempt to exploit that aspect in order to appeal to a certain demographic – which has undoubtedly been a large part of the reason the series has become so popular. That’s to say nothing of the Stephen King in all this.
The first part of season 5 of “Stranger Things” is now streaming on Netflix.
