What’s your favorite ’80s reference in Stranger Things?

Netflix's sci-fi drama is nothing if not a pop culture smorgasbord from that decade

TV Features Stranger Things
What’s your favorite ’80s reference in Stranger Things?
(Clockwise from bottom-left): Ghostbusters (Columbia Pictures); Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard in Stranger Things (Netflix); E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (Universal Pictures); Gabriella Pizzolo in Stranger Things (Netflix); Winona Ryder in Stranger Things (Netflix); Noah Schnapp in Stranger Things (Netflix) Image: Rebecca Fassola

The long-awaited fourth season of Stranger Things is almost here. And since the Netflix hit essentially doubles as a time machine, transporting audiences several decades into the past, we naturally decided that the latest AVQ&A should ask: What’s your favorite ’80s reference in Stranger Things?

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“I myself am…strange and unusual.” When Lydia Deetz uttered these words in Tim Burton’s horror-comedy , Winona Ryder could never have known that three decades later it would double as an audition. Among the Duffer brothers’ brilliant moves in conceiving Stranger Things was casting Ryder, the late-’80s It Girl from Lucas and Heathers, as headstrong single mother Joyce Byers. The actor might just understand balancing absurdity and horror better than any icon from that era. While there are blasphemers among us who consider her dialed-to-11 paranoia as Joyce too theatrical, her fearless performance (the unforgettable !) has been my favorite part of Stranger Things and is the show’s cleverest nod to the ’80s. [Jack Smart]

9 Comments

  • ghostofghostdad-av says:

    Going to pitch a show that is just a slideshow of random 80’s products while Killing Jokes’s Eighties plays on a loop. 

  • fever-dog-av says:

    My favorite is the diminishing returns of sequels.  What could be more 80s?

  • legospaceman-av says:

    Every 80s reference in Stranger Things is my jam.

  • frankwalkerbarr-av says:

    How about the non-chain discount store like the one Joyce worked at? Those were around in the 1980s but were pretty much killed by malls, Wal-Mart, and things like Dollar Tree in the 1990s.

    • blarpppp-av says:

      How about the fact that a single mother could afford to live in a house and raise two children on a retail salary?  Today Joyce would need to have an Onlyfans.

  • lostmyburneragain2-av says:

    Like, this show is SOOOOO 80s I love 80s references

  • mavar-av says:

    BREAKING! ‘Goodfellas’ Star Ray Liotta Dies at 67https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/goodfellas-star-ray-liotta-dies-160516150.html

  • dinoironbody1-av says:

    I like that The A.V. Club is still doing AVQ&As, but I hope they’re not all promotional (“What’s your favorite thing from this show we like?”).

  • mikolesquiz-av says:

    All of them except that Neverending Story thing. I love Neverending Story but that moment in Stranger Things was a hard crash into a low point the season didn’t manage to recover from. Not so much puncturing the show’s balloon as cutting a bit slash into it that made an unpleasantly wet farty noise as the whole thing deflated.

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