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

By Saloni Gajjar, Alison Foreman, Jack Smart, William Hughes, Tim Lowery, Mary Kate Carr  |  May 26, 2022 | 12:00pm
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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There are obviously a ton of references throughout Stranger Things. Early on, Eleven bums around Mike’s empty house and checks out the TV for the first time, just like that lovable alien, and, in season two, she dresses exactly like E.T. does when trick-or-treating. But I’m partial to the recreation of from Speilberg’s classic. Both scenes show kids riding through ’burbs as big-bad adults are hot on their trails. Stranger Things reverses the payoff, though. Instead of the gang flying over said big-bad adults when all seems lost (if that moment in the movie doesn’t still make you well up all these years later, we don’t know what to tell you), it’s the opposite: Eleven’s mind trick makes the fast-approaching surveillance van flip over our noble youngsters, allowing them to pedal away. [Tim Lowery]

9 Comments

  • ghostofghostdad-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 12:55 pm

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

    Reply
  • fever-dog-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 1:25 pm

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

    Reply
  • legospaceman-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 1:49 pm

    Every 80s reference in Stranger Things is my jam.

    Reply
  • frankwalkerbarr-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 3:23 pm

    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.

    Reply
    • blarpppp-av says:
      May 26, 2022 at 4:38 pm

      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.

      Reply
  • lostmyburneragain2-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 4:19 pm

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

    Reply
  • mavar-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 4:31 pm

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

    Reply
  • dinoironbody1-av says:
    May 26, 2022 at 4:36 pm

    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?”).

    Reply
  • mikolesquiz-av says:
    May 27, 2022 at 2:42 am

    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.

    Reply

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