Looking through the upside down: Hyper-postmodernism and trans-mediality in the Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things

Abstract

This article puts forward the argument that Stranger Things (2016–present) is not only an excellent example of postmodern TV drama, but it takes on what Valerie Wee has termed a ‘hyper-postmodernism’ through its heightened level of intertextual referencing that emerges ‘as text’. Both seasons of the show (thus far to date at the time of writing) also extensively break down the boundaries between film, television, literature and ‘geek’ culture. This is done within the text itself, and through the audience’s invited interaction with the text, as the show demonstrates significant awareness of the trans-medial, Easter-egg hunting tendencies of its binge-watching followers.