Nostalgia in Television Series. "Stranger Things" and "Mad Men"

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
1.1 Setting the Scene
1.2 Research Question

2. Definitions
2.1 Nostalgia
2.2 Intertextuality

3. Methodology
3.1 Research Status
3.2 Analysis Approach
3.3 Investigation Material
3.4 Limitations

4. Context Analysis of Stranger Things - Season 2, Episode 6 “Chapter Six: The Spy”
4.1. Intertextualities in Stranger Things
4.1.1 Intertextualities with Horror Movies
4.1.2 Intertextualities with Stephen King Film Adaptations
4.1.3 Intertextualities with Steven Spielberg Films
4.1.4 Intertextualities with Pre-Teen and Teen Movies
4.2 Genre Context of Stranger Things
4.2.1 Suburban Fantastic Cinema
4.2.2 Conspiracy Paranoid Thriller
4.2.3 Horror
4.3 Social Context of Stranger Things
4.4. Conclusion of the Analysis of Stranger Things

5. Context Analysis of Mad Men - Season 1, Episode 2 “Ladies Room”
5.1 Intertextualities in Mad Men
5.1.1. Intertextualities in Narrative
5.1.2 Intertextuality in Aesthetics
5.1.3 Intertextualities in Dialogue
5.2 Genre Context of Mad Men
5.2.1 The Career Movie
5.2.2 The Women Film
5.3 Social Context of Mad Men
5.3.1 Feminine Space
5.3.2 Masculine Space
5.3.3 Psychiatry
5.3.4 Political Context
5.3.5 Artificiality and Credits
5.3.6 Opening Credits
5.4 Conclusion of the Analysis of Mad Men

6. Comparison and Discussion
6.1 Accessibility of Intertextuality
6.2 Genre Context
6.3 Social Context
6.4 Function of Nostalgia in the Narrative

7. Conclusion
7.1 Answering the Research Question
7.2 Further Research

8. Bibliography, Figures and Filmography
8.1 Bibliography
8.2 Source of Figures
8.3 Filmography

1. Introduction

1.1 Setting the Scene

“Nostalgia ... It’s a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone ... It takes us to a place where we ache to go again”

- Don Draper, Mad Men

Period dramas set in earlier decades enjoy critical acclaim, have high viewership figures, and regularly win awards, riding on the wave of nostalgia. This can be seen when looking at various “Best TV series of the Decade 2010” lists from TV and the entertainment authorities Rolling Stone (Sepinwall, 2019), Variety (Framke & D'Addario, 2019) and Indiewire (Nguyen et al., 2019). To name but a few: The Americans (80s), Babylon Berlin (30s), Mindhunter (60s/70s), Halt and Catch Fire (80s), True Detective (partially 80s). Amongst these are also Stranger Things (80s) and Mad Men (60s), the first being the flagship of Netflix catapulting the original content of the streaming service into the orbit of the viewers (Holloway, 2016), and the latter belonging to the golden age of TV of the 2010s decade (Sepinwall, 2013, pp. 306-307). Stranger Things follows a group of pre­teens as they investigate and battle the sinister monsters residing in the seemingly harmless small town of Hawkins. Mad Men is about the mysterious advertising executive Don Draper as he navigates his life between the facade of the American dream, and the less-romantic reality.

Another curious point is the fact that a survey of US adults in 2019 shows that 48% of the 18-to-29- year-olds have already watched Stranger Things or even watch it regularly, whereas among the 55- to 64-year-olds, who have actually lived in the period the series is set in, this is true for a mere 11% (Watson, 2019). There is no hard data on the age demographic of Mad Men, but Mendelsohn (2011) mentions in his article in The New York Review that Mad Men viewers are mostly 19-to-49-year-olds (para. 3).

1.2 Research Question

As already mentioned, many dramas using nostalgia are successful. Therefore, it is very relevant to the media industry to learn from the successful ones in what way nostalgia could be triggered. This knowledge could help to create another successful series set in a different time period.

Both Stranger Things and Mad Men are set in time periods where their core audience has not yet lived, but still they use nostalgia. Normally, one would have expected that nostalgia can only be triggered in viewers who have themselves experienced the period depicted. Therefore, the focus will especially be on the “prosthetic memory” (Landsberg, 2018, p. 146), which will be further explained in 2.1.

As it would go beyond the scope of a BA thesis to examine a large number of series, two series are examined by way of example: Stranger Things and Mad Men. Choosing two series of very different genres allows the study to take a wider perspective on the use of intertextuality and other potential nostalgic triggering elements in nostalgia TV series in general.

This leads to the question this thesis will attempt to answer:

What types of textual characteristics are used to what extent to trigger nostalgia in people who have not lived in the time periods Stranger Things and Mad Men are set in?

To better understand the topic at hand, nostalgia and intertextuality are going to be explained in the context of the media landscape, especially the interplay between these two concepts. Then the research status as well as the context analysis which is used in this paper will be outlined. Following that section, the chosen Stranger Things and Mad Men episodes are going to be analysed, and the findings compared and discussed. Lastly the research question will be answered, and the outlook for further research is going to be explored.

2. Definitions

Nostalgia, intertextuality and genres as well as their subversions and amalgamations all play important parts in the series this thesis examines, which is why they need precise definitions.

2.1 Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a vague term which needs to be defined and contextualised in its meaning and function in media.

Historically the word nostalgia was used to describe homesickness. Since the 1960s nostalgia describes a “yearning for the past” (Becker, 2018, p. 237) and can serve as escapism from the uncomfortable present everybody is trapped in, in order to flee into an idealised, perfect past (Wilson, 2014, p. 45).

The first nostalgia boom originated in the 1970s where the 1950s were seen as a simpler time when people were wealthy and the post-war period brought about political stability. This was fueled by the nostalgic imagery on TV (Sprengler, 2009, pp. 48-49). Paradoxically not the people having grown up in the 50s experienced nostalgia, but their children, taking on the culture of a past they never had

2.2 Intertextuality

the chance to live (Becker, 2018, p. 242). Audience members watching Stranger Things and Mad Men who have not lived in the 80s and 60s respectively can still feel nostalgic to the past because of old movies and TV series they have watched. Landsberg coins these memories that have not been experienced by the individual, but given through media “prosthetic memory” (Landsberg, 2018, p. 146). These can lead to nostalgic feelings; the memories that trigger them are created on the one hand by various means such as pictures seen at school or stories heard by one's grandparents, and on the other hand by intertextuality to films and series they have watched in the past.

Davis (1979) speaks of layers of nostalgia. “Simple nostalgia” is the idea that life was better in the past than it is in the present (p. 18). “Reflexive nostalgia” challenges the notion of past life being better, and criticises certain morals, values and customs of the past (Davis, 1979, p. 21). Mad Men would fit into this latter nostalgic layer, as the show presents the misogyny of the time period it is set in.

2.2 Intertextuality

Intertextuality has become more prevalent in the post-modern age of television; it is now the norm to borrow from older texts, and mix and match the elements. There are several processes and advantages at work that encourage film and TV writers to do this.

To begin with, Benshoff (2016), leaning on Thomas Schatz's work on genre definitions, points out the “Genre development phases” every genre undergoes. The “Experimental phase” occurs at the start of a new genre where people are still searching for a term to describe it. This is leading into the “Classic phase”, where writers and viewers start to notice shared characteristics of the emerging genre. Turning into the “Lavish phase”, where the formula is repeated again and again to break the box office. After a while the “Baroque phase” starts, in which elements are taken, and subverted, so the viewer is expecting a certain outcome which is put on its head. A playful rearrangement and overlapping with other genres turn it into a new exciting amalgamation of other genres (p. 91). The contemporary cycle of the 21st century is in the Baroque phase, in which film and TV, bored by the generic, formulated narratives, have become more adventurous.

Furthermore, there is a certain cultural capital of media. Through reruns and VHS people started to rewatch, stop and dissect movies and TV series. This has become even easier with the rise of streaming services like Netflix. Screen captures, gifs and clips on YouTube have paved the way to an audience which can more easily recognise references from other movies. A more active viewer has emerged, and certain TV series have started to cater towards this. The viewers actually enjoy the analytic work of spotting references, and gaining deeper insight into the narrative (Wildermuth, 2019, para. 7). Marvel Studios created an entire subsystem of interconnected intertextualities in their franchise called “Easter Eggs” (Jeffries, 2017, p. 297), and the comic books their franchise is based on, cater specifically to this type of fan. Their 2021 series WandaVision is an example of this, since it was set in and was an homage to each decade of sitcom starting from the 1950s to the 2010s.

Nostalgia and intertextuality are in so far linked that intertextuality draws from work that was before, this in itself already can trigger nostalgia. Additionally, it also has to do with the fact that directors take elements from the time they grew up in. The Duffer brothers for instance grew up in the late 1980s/early 1990s and were thus experiencing the tail end of the golden age of Spielbergian movies with its target audience being pre-teens and their families. This trend can be seen in movies from younger filmmakers who often set the story into the decade they spent their childhood in e.g. the 90s/early 2000s, for instance Mid-90s (2018) and Lady Bird (2017). In the 1970s and 1980s there was a certain obsession with the 50s one of the most famous examples being Back to the Future (1985), where the character travels back to the 50s, and George Lucas' American Graffiti (1973).

Hence, intertextual references, for instance to old movies which both series rely on, can lead to the prosthetic memory and trigger a nostalgic response.

3. Methodology

3.1 Research Status

Intertextuality and nostalgia have been explored to some extent in Stranger Things by Kindling (2017) and Mad Men by Armbruster (2012). Kindling explored the postmodern aesthetic in the contemporary TV landscape in connection with nostalgia. Armbruster examined textual and contextual elements of nostalgia-heavy series, including Mad Men. Both authors pointed out the need to research more period dramas in order to create a valid body of work in the field of nostalgia in TV series. Furthermore, Stranger Things season 2 has not been thoroughly researched, and Stranger Things and Mad Men have not yet been compared regarding nostalgia and intertextuality criteria, leading to a gap this research intends to fill. Hereby, Landsberg's theory of the “prosthetic memory” plays a vital role in defining and creating the research design.

Both Kindling and Armbruster place their analysis in the context of the period the series depict: as nostalgia cannot be seen without the social-political climate of the time the show is set in, the broader context has to be considered.

3.2 Analysis Approach

Following the above consideration, this research takes cue from the context analysis according to Mikos (2015), a type of film analysis in which he explores the films according to the following elements: Gattung und Genres, Intertextualität, Diskurse, Lebenswelten, Produktion und Markt (pp. 254-292).

For the purpose of this present research, Mikos' approach is modified and the following three elements are going to be analysed:

Intertextuality will encompass scenes from movies in the 1950s and 1980s, and in some cases books, which the series references. This refers to the narrative, specific shots, soundtracks, or certain characters. These, as aforementioned, can serve as a prosthetic memory, thus potentially trigger nostalgia.

Genre context is the exploration which storylines and characters fit into which genres. Both Stranger Things and Mad Men mix and match different genres. This is important as it influences certain staples and tropes, also dealing with intertextuality.

Social-political context is often intrinsically linked with the genre. Certain genres stand as an allegory or reaction to the social-political factors a character lives in. Political and historical context can create a nostalgic response as well as deal with issues that either were specific to the time period, or help the contemporary viewer identify with the world, as the issues are still as relevant as ever.

3.3 Investigation Material

In view of the limited scope of this thesis, in-depth examination must be limited to one episode of each show. Given the fact that intertextuality is not equally present in each episode, in order to have good examples to work with, the specific choice of episode had to be made according to the criterion of how much intertextuality there is, and how significant it is for the purposes of the study.

One episode each of the series Stranger Things (2x06) and Mad Men (1x02) was chosen to be analysed in-depth, and examined in full length. Occurrences of intertextuality, genre and social­political coverage of the time relevant to the theme of nostalgia are identified, documented and further contextually analysed.

A cursory preliminary research of the series had revealed that Stranger Things is heavily influenced by the 1980s movies, the Duffer brothers (n.d.) mention in their show bible that Spielberg's and King's works were used as inspiration (p. 1). Therefore, Spielberg's contributions in the 1980s as well as King's film adaptations were explored, with a view to finding potential intertextualities. Additionally, Fantastic Cinema and teen movies of the 1980s were watched.

For Mad Men the 1950s classics were explored, with special focus on melodramas and office-based movies.

3.4 Limitations

In view of the restricted resources at the author's disposal and within the limits of a BA thesis, it can only be examined in how far successful series use various means which may trigger nostalgia in viewers. It cannot, however, be shown to what extent such nostalgic feelings are actually triggered, and if they are triggered, to which of the means this can be attributed to. Normally, a reception study would be needed to ascertain whether viewers are able to notice more oblique intertextual references, and whether they themselves have actually watched the films etc. referred to. This, however, would require far more extended research, as it may not always be in the viewers' conscious mind what they have watched in the past and what not (example: films watched with parents in their childhood). Hence, for the purposes of this study, the examinations carried out will be series and literature based.

As no reliable viewership figures are available for the German versions of Stranger Things and Mad Men, this study will be limited to the situation in the US. Further study would be necessary to examine in how far findings are valid for a German public, which may or may not have watched the films and series the intertextualities refer to.

Another point to be borne in mind is the fact that the method used presupposes the recognition of any intertextualities by the researcher. Critics might argue that the outcome of the study depends as much on the filmic knowledge of the researcher herself as it depends on the actual subject matter to be examined, and that therefore the outcome is subjective. Again, this could only be remedied by a very sophisticated reception study, and this point is taken up again at the end of this study under the heading “Further Research”.

4. Context Analysis of Stranger Things - Season 2, Episode 6 “Chapter Six: The Spy”

Plot: A seizing Will is rushed into Hawkins Lab where Dr. Owens tries to find out what is happening to the boy by running tests on him. Meanwhile, Nancy, Jonathan and Murray send a slightly edited story of what happened in Hawkins to the newspapers. Dustin and Steve lay a trap for demodog Dart in the junkyard, and get help from Max and Lucas. When night falls, Steve prepares to fight Dart when he is ambushed by two more demodogs. He manages to reach the bus they have been hiding in. The demodogs start to break into the bus, but retreat at the last minute. In the lab Will lures the soldiers into a trap laid by the mind flayer; Dr. Owens and Hopper can only hopelessly watch as the soldiers are picked off one by one.

4.1. Intertextualities in Stranger Things

4.1.1 Intertextualities with Horror Movies

The episode borrows heavily from the science-fiction film Aliens (1986), where humans settled on a planet inhabited by alien lifeforms who hunt humans using them as breeding cocoons for their own. Furthermore, the aliens function as a hivemind with the queen being the centre giving the orders, like the mind flayer possessing Will. Apart from the parallels to the plot, Stranger Things' aesthetic is influenced by the movie. The colour pallet is tinted blue, and takes place in an underground station, similar to the tunnels Hopper and later on the soldiers are traversing in. Moreover, the elevator bringing Ripley down is featured in the scene where Hopper goes down to the mind flayer's hive. Another subtler reference is Paul Reiser who plays the scheming company representative Burke in Aliens ; here he is working for the Hawkins Lab, but this time is on the side of the ‘good guys'. Burke sacrificed millions for the good of the company, and personal gain. Here Paul Reiser's character wants to save Will's life first and foremost.

The last scene where the army walks into the mind flayer's trap is set up similarly to the scene in Aliens. In both scenes the soldiers walk into an ambush, and Reiser's respective character is standing in front of the screen, watching the bleeping dots showing the soldiers starting to vanish, as they get killed one by one.

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Fig. 1-4: Similar visual motifs of the attack by the demodogs in Stranger Things (2017) and the creatures in Aliens (1986).

In a similar vein as Aliens, The Thing (1982) features an alien entity, masquerading as humans to kill them. The aliens share features with the Demogorgon, and they “like it cold” just as the mind flayer does. Both creatures get injured, and can die from exposure to fire.

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Fig. 5-6: Similar monster aesthetic of the mind flayer in Stranger Things (2017) and the alien entity in The Thing (1982).

The sound Will makes in the flashback to the last episode when he seizes is lifted from the last scene of Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1978) where it is revealed to the audience that the protagonist has been replaced by an alien, similarly to what is happening to Will.

Dr. Owens tests the psychic link between Will and the mind flayer, echoing other films where vulnerable pre-teens and teens are observed and tested by scientists regarding their being ‘possessed' by something outside of their control: In A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) Nancy is attacked by the ghost of Freddy Krueger as soon as she falls asleep. Regan is possessed by a demon in The Exorcist (1973) (fitting, as Will is possessed with the mind flayer as well). Both The Exorcist (1973) and this

episode feature a scene where doctors cannot tell the distressed mother what is wrong with her child, because science cannot grasp what is happening.

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Fig. 7-8: Similar visual and narrative elements in Stranger Things (2017) and The Exorcis t (1973) featuring worried mothers, and doctors not knowing how to treat their children's supernatural afflictions. The camera is on the mother with the doctors sitting around her in a semi-circle in an office setting.

4.1.2 Intertextualities with Stephen King Film Adaptations

This episode is also reminiscent of Stephen King's Firestarter, adapted as a film in 1984. Firestarter follows a girl who is hunted by a secret organisation who gave her parents powers during a failed science experiment. Subsequently, the girl has the power of pyrokinesis. Arguably, fitting Eleven's storyline even more, this episode casts Will in a similar role, even though his ‘powers' are required differently. He is brought to Hawkins lab, and the doctors run tests and experiment on him.

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Fig. 9-10: Children's paranormal powers are tested in a laboratory as seen with Will in Stranger Things (2017) and Charlie in Firestarter (1984).

Stephen King's book IT, that was adapted into a miniseries in 1990, features a group of pre-teens trying to defeat an evil clown entity that is killing young children, which is already narratively echoed by Stranger Things. Furthermore, in this episode Bob mentions moving to Maine with Joyce and the boys. Most Stephen King stories take place in Maine, taking Bob's comment in 2x01 into account regarding the clown he saw in his town as a child, he seems to be referring to Derry in Maine, where the killer clown Pennywise lives. Moreover, Finn Wolfhard who plays Mike had a leading role in the new IT (2017) movie that aired a month before season 2 of Stranger Things, so there is a further subtle intertextuality.

Yet another film adaptation of a Stephen King story is Stand by Me (1986); several similar scenes probably inspired by the movie can be seen in this episode. Dustin and Steve talking about girls on the train tracks in the woods is aesthetically very similar to the scene between Gordie and Chris. Even the red jacket Dustin is wearing corresponds with Gordie's red t-shirt, the red clothing has merely swapped from the left to the right on screen.

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Fig. 11-14: The train track scene in Stranger Things (2017) mirroring Stand by Me (1986).

Furthermore, their destination is a junkyard, like in Stand by Me. Both groups of friends get attacked, in Stand by Me by the dog and in Stranger Things, where the stakes are higher, by the demodogs.

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Fig. 15-16: The Junkyard in Stranger Things (2017) and Stand by Me (1986).

Another shot echoes the scene with Steve peeking through the fenced window of the bus.

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Fig. 17-18: Shots of Steve in Stranger Things (2017) and Gordie in Stand by Me (1986) peering through the fence at the creature that is ready to attack them.

Moreover, chaptering the episodes underlines the fact Stranger Things is inspired by books. The effect of being slightly grainy, flickering during the opening credits further drives the 80s aesthetic home. Old TV sets and VHS tapes often looked like that.

Stranger Things' red font is reminiscent of the typography of several 80s movies for instance The Gate (1987), Firestarter (1984) Monster Squad (1987).

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Fig. 19-20: Stranger Things (2017) sharing the font with The Gate (1987), later even naming an episode “Chapter Nine: The Gate”.

4.1.3 Intertextualities with Steven Spielberg Films

A few similarities to E.T. the Extra-terrestrial (1982) crop up: Steve asking Dustin if the demodog is not just a lizard mirrors Mike asking Elliott if he has not seen an iguana instead of a creature not from this world. The scene where Hawkins Lab breaks into Will's home to collect evidence is similar to the agents going through Elliott's home. Furthermore, Dustin's call for help right before they get attacked by the demodog “We're at the old junkyard, and we're going to die!” is similar to Mike in E.T. saying “We're gonna die and I am never getting my driver license”, during the attempt to escape and bring E.T. home. Steve and Dustin luring the demodog through a trail with meat parallels Elliott using sweets to lure E.T. to his destination. The psychic link between Elliott and E.T. is also present in a darker version with Will and the mind flayer.

Jonathan and Nancy's scene when they are both in their separate rooms, in denial over the fact they are in love, is set up in a similar way to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). Like Jonathan and Nancy, Indy and his love interest are in their separate rooms at night, the camera cuts to and fro as they are both denying their interest in the other person. Until they finally both simultaneously decide to go to the other's room, only that Indy gets attacked before he can go through with it.

A Jaws (1975) poster hangs in Will's room. This movie's protagonist shares the same job as Hopper. Both sheriffs are trying to save their respective town from a dangerous creature.

Lucas' Bike ride is a staple of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King's works, as well as other movies in the fantastic cinema genre. Seen for instance in E.T. (1982) , Poltergeist (1982 ), The Gate (1987) , and The Goonies (1985).

The scene with the demodogs running towards Steve, and almost attacking him and the kids hiding in a bus, is reminiscent of Jurassic Park (1993). The demodogs are first spotted with binoculars, like the T-Rex. Similarly, the T-Rex attack takes place at night like the demodog scene does, and features a scene where children are hiding in a vehicle, and the creature is ready to attack from the roof.

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Fig. 21-28: Similar visual and narrative elements in Stranger Things (2017) and Jurassic Park (1993) leading to the attack of a dangerous creature. Both girls are screaming when the creature comes closer.

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Fig. 29-30: Steve and Grant standing with their backs to the camera waiting for the creature to attack - similar use of having a light beam in the darkness, green in Stranger Things (2017) and red in Jurassic Park (1993).

The realisation that there are two more demodogs attacking them mirrors the scene with Muldoon who like Steve is ready to fight one creature. Muldoon misses the other raptor until it is too late. Earlier on in the film Dr. Grant said that it is the raptors' scheme distracting their prey with one raptor, and the other two attacking from the side, like the demodogs do in this scene. The Jurassic Park references also feature in 2x07 (Attack of Hawkins' Lab) and 2x09 (Steve and Dustin nearly being run over by a herd of demodogs, but ignored by the creatures).

4.1.4 Intertextualities with Pre-Teen and Teen Movies

Due to contracts with shoe companies', protagonists often were wearing shoes of the Nike, Adidas and Converse brands. Steve wears red Nike sneakers which Marty ( Back to the Future, 1985) and Elliott ( E.T.) can be seen wearing.

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Fig. 31-33: Nike shoes worn by Steve in Stranger Things (2017), Marty in Back to the Future (1985) and Elliott in E.T. (1982).

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Fig. 34-35: Similar costume elements like the sunglasses, as well as the pose, are shared by Steve in Stranger Things (2017) and Marty in Back to the Future (1985).

Furthermore, he wears sunglasses like Marty ( Back to the Future ) and Ferris ( Ferris Bueller's Day Off, 1986) do, both teens who are on an adventure away from home, in this aspect partially mirrored by Steve's storyline. The similarity between Steve and Ferris Bueller is further exploited in a Domino's Pizza advertisement that aired a few weeks after season 2 where the actor playing Steve, Joe Keery, is re-enacting the famous montage of the movie (Stranger Things Posts, 2017). Likewise, Joel in Risky Business (1983) wears sunglasses, and this movie has already been referenced several times over the run of the series in 1x01 and 2x02 respectively.

Skateboard culture, and in California-set movies often surfboarding, was frequently used, giving teen protagonists an alternative to a bicycle or car (Withers, 2020, p. 191) . Back to the Future's Marty is using his skateboard as means of transportation. The poster of Endless Summer (1966) on Max's wall references a surfboard documentary, with Max fittingly sitting on her bed with a skateboard in her hand.

Steve's bat is double-coded, since firstly it calls back to Season 1 where he defeats the demogorgon with his bat, but also it shows a striking resemblance to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) where the main protagonist, sharing the name with Nancy, tells her boyfriend, “You're a jock. You must have a baseball bat or something”, when he asks with what to fight the monster being after her. Hence, it is also a tongue-in-cheek reference that this ‘jock' does indeed use his bat to do just that.

The appearance of Billy takes after St. Elmo’s Fire's (1985) Billy, not only sporting the same hairstyle, clothes and earring, but also a very similar attitude of the ‘bad boy' looking for trouble.

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Fig. 36-37: Billy Hargrove in Stranger Things (2017) shares the name, earring, hairstyle and personality with Billy from St. Elmo’s Fire (1985).

The entire season takes heavily from The Goonies (1985), where the actor who plays Bob, Sean Astin, was the main character Mikey, who searches a treasure in the cave systems underneath his hometown Additionally, the teaming up of Steve and Dustin reflects an important characteristic of The Goonies where the older brother accompanies his little brother and friends. This will take on more importance as the season progresses, with Steve standing in as a substitute for the adults who are otherwise engaged.

Adventures in Babysitting (1987) fits Steve's storyline in the movie. The girl wanted to see her boyfriend, but ends up babysitting when he cancels, and goes on a dangerous adventure in the city. Steve is in charge of the kids now, even though he only wanted to apologise to his girlfriend.

Steve refers to the Farrah Fawcett hairspray during his conversation with Dustin. Farrah Fawcett was an American actress starring in the TV series Charlies’ Angels (1976-1981), who launched a line of hair products in the late 70s (Mansour, 2011, p. 152).

The scene where Steve and the kids lay a trap for the demodog is an example of a montage, a famous trope of 1980s media set either to an upbeat song or instrumental track. One of the most famous examples was the Rocky III (1982) training scene. However, montages with a focus on working on a plan or fixing something up are also used frequently, for instance in the teen movie One Crazy Summer (1986) and in almost every episode of the TV series The A-Team (1983-1987).

Stranger Things' heavy synth based instrumental track is accompanied by hits from 1984 and Murray's older jazz and rock record collection that spans from the 1930s-1960s. Steve and Dustin listen to Queen's newest song “Hammer to Fall” on the radio. During Billy's workout the viewer can catch a glimpse of the original music video for “Round and Round” from the band Ratt running on MTV. Using non-1980s music in Murray's scenes is justified as he mentions his love for records and older music. Whereas Steve, Dustin and Billy are listening to music that has been released in 1984, and is probably on the charts at the time (Tunefind, 2017).

4.2 Genre Context of Stranger Things

Stranger Things mix and matches several different genres in this episode.

4.2.1 Suburban Fantastic Cinema

Suburban Fantastic Cinema is a hybrid of the child at the centre of the narrative, in the suburbs mixed with fantasy and science fiction elements (McFadzean, 2019, p. 1). Heavily featuring in this genre is the position of the family in the narrative. Mostly the parents are on the fringes of the narrative, and the children are going on their own adventure, stemming from the fact that Fantastic Cinema functions as a coming-of-age story, and is veered towards pre-teen and teen audiences (McFadzean, 2019, p. 13). This is partially subverted in Stranger Things. Joyce is very much a present mother who knows about the danger they are in, as well as Hopper and even Bob. They do try and protect Will, Mike and Eleven. However, as mentioned before, Dustin tries to find help, and settles on Steve, who is still a teenager. Teenagers taking on the role of an adult in Fantastic Cinema are quite common, either a bigger brother like in E.T. and The Goonies, or a teenager being roped into babysitting duties as is the case in Adventures in Babysitting. Sometimes it also can be another grown-up who steps in as a mentor like Doc Brown in Back to the Future. Murray is in the role of the mentor who helps Nancy and Jonathan to bring light to the conspiratorial actions of Hawkins's Lab.

4.2.2 Conspiracy Paranoid Thriller

A subgenre of Science Fiction is the Conspiracy Paranoid Thriller.

The theme of experimenting on people to unlock or give them special powers was very prevalent during the Cold War. In 1977 a joint-hearing took place in front of the Committee on Human Resources of the United States Senate exploring incriminating CIA documents that had come to light, dealing with human drug experiments in the 1950s/1960s to test how human behaviour could be manipulated (p. 2). These experiments ran under the project name MKULTRA, and were carried out by the military and universities. However, there was also the claim of non-consensual experiments, in some cases leading to long-term damage and even death (1977, p. 66). This still has to be taken with extreme caution, with conspiracy theories running rampant, and it is beyond the scope of this thesis to examine the veracity of any of these claims. Nonetheless, reliable or not, it gives a fascinating and entertaining narrative drive to integrate into a story. Also, it has to be kept in mind that the hotbed for conspiracy theories was fuelled by several instances of US government experiments. Starting with the Roswell incident in 1947 when an object was found, of which later American Air Force said it was an air balloon, but rumours had started that it was a flying saucer that was found (Broad, 1994). The spaceship theory has been quickly debunked, but till this day the conspiracy has permeated American society and media (Dewan, 2006, p. 185), filled with the lore of alien abductions and the men in black coming to the door, and silencing anybody that tells the ‘truth' (Dewan, 2006, p. 185). This can be seen with the confidentiality papers Joyce warns Bob about, and the men of Hawkins Lab being shown to invade the Byer's home to collect evidence. Furthermore, the National Academy of Sciences explored the scientific experiments universities and the American army were conducting. During the Cold War America believed the Soviets were using psychics and other individuals gifted with extrasensory perception to win the war (Druckman & Swets, 1988, p. 170). Therefore ESP (Extrasensory Perception) and PK (Psychokinesis) which telekinesis falls under, was researched, the idea being to create “superspies” which would ensure winning the war of espionage raging between America and the Soviets (Druckman & Swets, 1988, pp. 169-170). Suffice to say a few claims were made of alleged abilities, but the committee debunked these projects, as not having enough substantial scientific evidence to support these claims (Druckman & Swets, 1988, pp. 206-208), and a lot of projects were halted after a few fruitless results. Stranger Things dives into this conspiracy-laden context creating an alternative of ‘What if?'

Part and parcel of this story trope is the evil corporation, working in the unknown, pretending to be a harmless institution while secretly using every means to an end possible, seeing most of their experiments' consequences as collateral damage. Fantastic Cinema uses this as one of the main antagonistic forces of the narrative. Spielberg uses it in several of his films for instance the government agents in E.T. (1982), and in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). This can also be observed in other 1980s movies, for instance Aliens (1986) where the Weyland-Yutani Corporation is at least morally ambiguous if not downright evil, or in Stephen King's Firestarter (1984) where it is The Shop. Hawkins Lab presents itself to the outside world as the innocuous “Hawkins Power and Light” company and is a derivative of this. The same secrecy is also present in Nancy and Jonathan's storyline, veering into the conspiracy and the cold paranoia panic ever so present in the 1980s. Murray's space is very reminiscent of the conspiracy and truth-seeker archetype fully coming into fruition with The X-Files' (original run 1993-2002) protagonist Fox Mulder in the 1990s. The cover story about chemicals from the lab leaking into the ground which Murray sends to the newspaper is already prevailing the narrative of movies like Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), where the idea of water being poisoned by the communists, a popular theory during the Cold War, is mentioned. Further visually underlining this is Murray's Poster “He is watching you” used in the Second World War to warn Americans from giving information to German soldiers: as the soldier is directly looking at the viewer, watching him, it fits the paranoia and conspiracy storyline Murray is caught up in ( WW II Poster: He's Watching You, 2011).

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Fig. 38-39: The Poster “He is watching you” is underlining the conspiracy aspect of Murray's storyline (for better visibility the poster is again shown from a front view).

4.2.3 Horror

Horror and Science-Fiction are linked in this episode.

The theme of invasion permeates the narrative. Will is possessed by the mind flayer, an alien-like entity attacking him from the inside, changing him, and leading to Will's own body to attack itself showing the invasion of the body. When the hive is hurt, so are Will and the mind flayer, leading to Will's seizure. Furthermore, the title of the episode “The Spy” hints at the Soviet Union agency KGB that infiltrated Russian sleeper agents into American society.

The theme not only reflects the invasion of the body, but also translates to Will's home. Everything is tossed in disarray and the pages of the map he drew are lining the walls. The family is invaded from the inside. The house which normally constitutes a safe haven for a child, is trespassed (McFadzean, 2019, p. 13). A feature shown in many Fantastic Cinema movies for instance the entity in Poltergeist (1982) invading the family home, and taking the young daughter, The Shop killing Charlie's mother in Firestarter (1984), the creatures in Gremlins (1984) destroying the house injuring the family dog and the mother, the brothers in The Goonies (1985) are in danger of being evicted and the house they grew up in to be torn down. In all these cases, the danger is within a space that is normally safe for a child.

This is mirrored in Dustin's storyline where he has to flee his own home too, after he lured the demodog out of his home, where the creature already killed his pet. The only character briefly being seen in the house are Lucas and Max, who later join the others outside. The other characters are either at the Lab (Will, Mike, Joyce, Hopper, Bob), staying at somebody else's place (Jonathan, Nancy) or outside (Dustin, Steve, Max, Lucas). The camera lingers on the Hopper's deserted shack when he tries to contact Eleven, to further underline the motif of not being home.

4.3 Social Context of Stranger Things

The social context splits into two main aspects family and political context, with the latter already discussed above; now the focus is going to be put on the family context.

As already mentioned, families are an important part of the Fantastic Cinema genre, because the main characters are mostly pre-teens or teenagers living with their parents.

Max tells Lucas about her father and mother splitting up, and her mother moving to Hawkins with her new boyfriend and his son Billy, hinting at domestic violence with Billy taking his anger out on her. This is going back to the genre of horror, and not being safe in your own home and family.

The nuclear family, a very long time the ‘normal' way with a father, mother, and children being the suburban dreams in the 50s (Benshoff, 2016, p. 100) can be seen in Stranger Things as well. Lucas and Mike live in these kinds of families; a comfortable middle-class life in a small town.

However, there are alternative ways of living depicted. Already in the 60s and 70s there was a sharp rise in divorces leading to mostly single mothers being the sole breadwinner for children (Kleinhans, 1991, p. 203). Both Will and Dustin come from a single-mother household, with Bob being the boyfriend of Joyce trying to be a substitute father to Will and Jonathan. Furthermore, Joyce's house is set apart from the Wheelers'. Instead of a nice house it resembles a wooden shack in the outskirts of Hawkins. Will is considerably poorer than his friends. Another alternative kind of family is portrayed by Hopper and Eleven. Eleven is taken care of by Hopper who treats her like his own daughter, showing a still uncommon aspect in the 1980s, the single father (Livingston, 2013, para. 3).

4.4. Conclusion of the Analysis of Stranger Things

Regarding Intertextuality, Stranger Things uses many direct references to other movies. The assumption was therefore that there exclusively would be references to 1980s movies, however, there are also instances of 1990s movies like Jurassic Park and the movie poster Endless Summer referring to a 1950s documentary, as well as The Exorcist, which is a 1970s movie.

There are different types of intertextuality, such as narratives borrowed from movies and books, verbal references, shots reminiscent of other movies like the Stand by Me train track scene and the T-Rex attack scene in Jurassic Park. Another type would be the usage of actors having had famous roles in the films they are referencing to: Paul Reiser in Aliens and Sean Astin in The Goonies. Moreover, the character design for instance shoes, hairstyle and clothes is reminiscent of several teen-movie protagonists of the 1980s.

Several genres are presented in the episode: The Fantastic Cinema Mode is present in the entirety of Stranger Things. This episode also is deeply entrenched in the conspiracy genre, as well as using horror genre topics like the invasion of the home and body.

The social context in this episode explores the Cold War anxiety and distrust in the government through the usage of the conspiracy genre. Moreover, family constellations are explored.

5. Context Analysis of Mad Men - Season 1, Episode 2 “Ladies Room”

Plot: Betty is struggling with a psychosomatic tremor in her hands which makes her question if she needs to go to therapy. This baffles Don and subsequently sends him on a quest what women really want, seeing that his wife is not happy even though he thinks he is providing her with the picture­perfect life. With little constructive help from the male colleagues, he falls back into at least controlling the narrative, creating a slogan that tells women what they want in a man for the Gillet account. Additionally, he calls Betty's psychoanalyst who reports back to him what happened during the sessions. Meanwhile, Peggy struggles with the misogynistic attitude of the office, especially after Paul shows her around the office, and already the next day makes a move on her, after last episode Pete had a one-night stand with her a day before his wedding. Joan does not see any problems with this, but Peggy is more focused on becoming a copywriter and using her talents instead of her body to achieve this goal.

5.1 Intertextualities in Mad Men

5.1.1. Intertextualities in Narrative

There are many references drawn from the movie The Best of Everything (1959) pertaining to Peggy's storyline, especially in this episode. The movie deals with a young secretary who starts a new job at the publishing company. There is a striking resemblance to Mad Men’s Sterling & Cooper's open-space office.

Fig. 40-41: Similar office aesthetics between Mad Men (2007) and The Best of Everything (1958).

The secretary works for a female copywriter, and climbs further to the top through her talent, becoming a reviewer, and taking the copywriter's place. Peggy aspires to become a copywriter. In this episode Paul tells her there are female copywriters, albeit only few. The secretary also has a postcard hidden in her handbag from her lover, like Peggy reveals to have taken Pete's postcard, with whom she had a one-night stand in the last episode, from his honeymoon. The female copywriter being one of the few women being equal amongst the male-dominated space of the office is played by Joan Crawford. In Mad Men the character named Joan is in charge of all the other secretaries taking this role, the same name could therefore be on purpose. Furthermore, in the movie one of the executives makes a move on his secretary, who manages to escape the situation, reminding of the scene with Paul closing his office door, and starting to kiss a non-reciprocating Peggy. While a common trope in this type of movie, the reference is further driven home by both the boss in the movie and Paul in Mad Men buying sandwiches for the woman they want to seduce. They see this as a transaction, but at the same time even the woman is not worth more than a couple of cents for a sandwich in their eyes.

This episode deals with the main question “What do women want”, leaving the male characters baffled, subverting the boss in the movie who outright states “I know what women want, I write about it”, his actions indicating the exact opposite.

Another famous movie dealing with the friction of genders in the office space is Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960). Again, the office aesthetic is probably influenced by this movie, especially the use of the vertical headlights in the following shots, and centring the character in the middle of the shot, indicating a certain sense of alienation in the office environment.

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Fig. 42-43: Characters' back facing the camera, headlights looming above them as seen in Mad Men (2007) and The Apartment (1960).

Furthermore, the focus is on men taking secretaries to one of their colleagues' home as a base of one-night stands, drawing attention to the fact women were seen as sex objects.

5.1.2 Intertextuality in Aesthetics

When Betty drives the car around her neighbourhood the audience catches a glimpse of the 1950s typical image of suburbia; several sitcoms took place in this setting. Mad Men looks similar to the suburbia of Douglas Sirk's melodrama All That Heaven Allows (1955).

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Fig. 44-45: Surburbian drive in Mad Men (2007) and All that Heaven Allows (1955).

Moreover, the transitions in All That Heaven Allows (1955) are mostly using the technique of the “dissolve” instead of a sharp cut (Fielding, 1985, p. 157). Most of the time this episode uses the dissolve technique as well. This means the next scene starts to be overlaid on the previous one which slowly fades out.

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Fig. 46-47: The technique of the dissolve is used in Mad Men (2007) and All that Heaven Allows (1955).

Colours are very reminiscent of the colour pallet used in the colours in Hitchcock's and Sirk's work, as well as several Romantic Comedies.

Don and Betty match the leading couple aesthetic that was very prevalent in the 1950s. The male lead often had dark hair, and his female love interest was a blonde with short hair. Don looks similar to leading men of the time for instance Cary Grant and Rock Hudson. Betty's hairstyle and appearance reminds of actresses like Grace Kelly and Doris Day. In one scene she even wears a similar type of dress like Grace Kelly wears in Hitchcock's Rear Window (1954). In episode 1x09 one character even compares her to Grace Kelly, directly referencing the source of the character's appearance.

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Fig. 48-49: Betty wearing the same dress in Mad Men (2007) as Grace Kelly does in Rear Window (1954).

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Fig. 50-51: Mad Men 's (2007) car scene echoing Pillow Talk 's (1959), both featuring a couple consisting of a blonde woman leaning her head against a dark-haired man who is driving.

Trademarks of Hitchcock can be discerned. Betty's hairstyle and dress strike a resemblance to the actress Grace Kelly, who often starred alongside Cary Grant, looking similar to Don.

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Fig. 52-53: Betty in Mad Men (2007) and Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief (1955) having a similar hairstyle and shot of them sitting at the steering wheel.

In the beginning of the episode Don even wears a suit similar to Cary Grant's character in North by Northwest (1959). This is in so far relevant as North by Northwest features Cary Grant as an advertising man who is caught in a plot of false identity, both elements that also apply to Don.

5.1.3 Intertextualities in Dialogue

An upset Betty tells Don their daughter could have died during her car accident, or worse got disfigured through a scar. This notion that a disfigurement is worse than death for a woman is also present in The Big Heat (1953). Here the female character suffers from severe burns, covering half of her face, making her comment that her life is not worth living anymore, and she puts herself into danger leading to her death. This fits Mad Men' s overall prevalent topics of artificial, perfect beauty, which is more important to the characters than the ugly truth.

Paul mentions he loves the Twilight Zone (1959-1964), a science-fiction anthology series. In the same scene he mentions the office is “Account management, where prep schoolers skip arm-in-arm, Wizard-Oz style joined together by their lack of skill and their love of mirrors.” Wizard of Oz (1939) is mentioned again by Don several episodes later, “I feel like Dorothy. Everything just turned to color” (1x08 “The Hobo Code”).

The gameshow People Are Funny (1942-1960, airing reruns until 1961) is mentioned by the adults in the office, and later runs on the TV in the Draper's household with his children watching it.

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Fig. 54: Don's children in Mad Men (2007) watching the TV show People are Funny (1960).

Furthermore, Sally asks Betty if she can watch Shirley Temple’s Storybook (1958-1961), a collection of fairy tales narrated by Shirley Temple, who had beena famous child actress in the late 1930s and 40s.

Mad Men uses a rich palletof instrumental tracks composed for the series, and other songs. Most of them are 1950s and 1960s songs, apart from the closing song “Great Divide” from The Cardigans, albeit it very fitting for the theme of the episode, the song was first performed in 1996. Hereby, Mad Men uses a song that has not yet been released in the time period the show is set it. Given the fact it is non-diegetic i.e. the characters do not listen to the music, only the viewers do, and it is set at the end of the episode, it is less of a break in the immersion of the 1960s culture as it would otherwise be (Tunefind, 2007).

5.2 Genre Context of Mad Men

The main genre explored in this episode is the melodrama. Don and Peggy share the melodrama subgenre set in the office, exploring success, office culture and the difficult web of office politics and hierarchies. Additionally, Peggy can also be placed into the women films, a melodrama which focuses on a woman. Betty also shares the women film genre together with the melodrama, but the latter is set in the suburbs, and doesnot relate to the office.

5.2.1 The Career Movie

In post-war America in the 1950s, more companies were founded because of higher consumer demands. Especially corporations with several hierarchical levels and corresponding promotion schemes were on the rise, where through dedication and certain tactical understanding people could climb higher (Boozer, 2002, pp. 19-20). Corporate culture in movies is often presented as a game where the best player survives and comes out on top.

This plays into the idea of Manifest Destiny and the American dream which for instance can be seen in Billy Wilder's movies where the character is trying to climb the ladder of success, for instance in The Apartment (1960) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) (Gemünden, 2008, p. 137). This evokes the ideal that through hard work every person could rise from poverty to a high quality of living. This can be seen in Peggy and Don's narrative. Peggy, a simple secretary, aspires to become a copyeditor. Don comes from a poverty-stricken background, which is hinted at already in this episode when he tells Betty he never had a nanny, and still manages to live the American dream in Suburbia. This shows parallels to The Great Gatsby, adapted in 1949 for the big screen, where the protagonist comes from humble beginnings, takes on a false identity, and rises to the top of wealth, his real identity shrouded in mystery. Accordingly, Betty comments “Don doesn't like to talk about himself.” However, there was also the subgenre of melodrama that Jack Boozer (2002) coins “business career” movies (p. 5). These dealt with the struggle towards success, often only reached through huge personal sacrifice. Often this leads to the main character losing part of his moral values in the process, seen for instance in Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (Boozer, 2002, p. 165). Aesthetics in career movies were office buildings, often showing the skyscrapers in the backdrop of the scene.

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Fig. 55-56: Office spaces with modern painting on the wall in Mad Men (2007) and Pillow Talk (1959).

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Fig. 57-58: Similar pose and environment with the shutters, and buildings in the background in Mad Men (2007) and The Apartment (1960).

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Fig. 59-60: City in the background in Mad Men (2007) and Pillow Talk (1959).

5.2.2 The Women Film

Melodramas focusing on young women making their own way in post-war America cropped up in the 1950s. This led to female-focused films, some of them still more classically set in suburbs either exploring topics like relationships, married life, and the society of housewives in suburbia, as can be seen in Douglas Sirk's melodramas such as the above mentioned All that Heaven Allows (1955) and also his film Written in the Wind (1956). However, stemming from the fact women started to live on their own, and started working as well, a more career-orientated woman storyline appeared (Dix, 2008, p. 181). This was due to the fact that their husbands had to join the First World War or Second World War effort, or later fight in the Korean War, where Don was a soldier too. After the wars ended, society ‘failed' to restore the stability of the domesticated housewife and classic family. Women were used to not only exist to marry and have children, but to have more agency in their own lives, contraceptives allowing them to have more control over their own bodies. Subsequently, this led to the polarising outcomes of having emancipated women, but also the fear of the traditional American values of family threatening to be destroyed, and birth rates to lower, as well as having more affairs outside the bonds of marriage (Cook, 1991, p. 256). The office space was one of these settings, possibly because of the inherent tension between the male-dominated spaces reluctantly opening to the female workforce who were no longer content with ‘just' being the secretary. Sometimes the same formula was set into another location, but worked similarly. For instance, the movie The Americanization of Emily (1964) following a female army driver. Additionally, more female-focused narratives were made, when housewives were the ones at home, being a huge a target group for television, only having started to come into people's homes in the 1950s (Benshoff, 2016, p. 11). Additionally, kitchen appliances were staples of the sitcom, directly aiming at the target audience, the housewife who would be animated to buy them. Daily soaps and other more melodrama genre television series and movies veered towards female audiences (Coon, 2013, p. 184). Misogyny was still commonplace even in these attempts at female narratives. However, already Billy Wilder shows astonishing empathy and understanding in The Apartment (1960), making the male main character not one of the men who are constantly womanising.

5.3 Social Context of Mad Men

5.3.1 Feminine Space

This episode at its centre explores the female and male-dominated places. Already the title “Ladies Room” of the episode is revealing.

The titular ladies' room is supposed to give women a safe haven, free from any men. However, it soon becomes clear they repeatedly trespass. When Gloria applies Betty's lipstick she immediately objectives Betty, telling her “Look at these lips. I'll bet it's not hard for you to hold on to a man like that.” When Betty opens up about the death of her mother, Gloria does not respond, as personal problems seemingly are not deemed important enough. To ascertain the strength of female-driven narratives and scenes with female characters there is the Bechdel Test. It can only be passed when two or more women speak about something else than men (Cambridge Dictionary). As can be seen this scene fails the Bechdel test.

The other ladies' room is in the office, where Peggy sees secretaries crying; it is heavily implied this again has to do with men. Showing Peggy's character development, and general annoyance at being objectified she reaches a conscious conclusion not to cry because of the men in the office.

The only scene nearly passing the test is the pure female-driven domesticated space of the household where Betty and her friend are discussing the arrival of a single mother. At the end of the episode, however, Don uses the family's telephone to betray Betty's privacy when he calls the psychoanalyst to find out what she has been saying in her therapy session. Rendering even the typical female- dominated space unsafe.

5.3.2 Masculine Space

The masculine space is also thoroughly explored through the eyes of the women and the men.

When Don does try to find out “what women really want”, the answers of his co-workers span from flabbergasted glances to open mocking, as to them it does not matter, and for most men it is seen as an impossibility to find out what women want. When Don finally asks his mistress what women want, the answer is just as cryptic, for the man is not supposed to ask the question in the first place. Don ends up creating a slogan, taking hold of the narrative, and telling women what they really want, connecting with them the only way he knows how. This inability to grasp the other gender's mindset is mirrored when Betty is glancing at a sleeping Don whispering “Who is in there?”

Joan and Peggy are dealing with ongoing seduction attempts from their male superiors. Joan sees it as normal, and a means to an end, and sometimes even as a compliment, falling close to Gloria's opinion. Peggy, however, takes a far more modern approach on this, resonating with the audience in the 21st century. She is fed up with “Being the dessert” and not having men doing something nice without having ulterior motives, after Paul tries to seduce her.

Weiner parodies the “Male gaze” scene still seen in a lot of movies and TV series to this day (Oxford Reference). The female character is often used as eye candy for the male audience. In slow motion, and out of Peggy's point of view the audience sees how every single male character going past Peggy's desk is ogling her.

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Fig. 61: Male Gaze from Peggy's Point of View in Mad Men (2007).

Sadly, this is still a very relevant topic, getting more attention since the #MeToo movement raised awareness in 2017 (Monaco, 2020, p. 8). This episode is not only satirising and calling out the misogyny of the 60s, but also of the society now, exercising self-reflexive nostalgia.

Adjacent to this, the topic of divorcees crops up. Not only is working when having a family met with criticism by Betty's friend, but the assumption that real estate values must be going down as now single-mothers can move to the neighbourhood is seen as a real possibility.

5.3.3 Psychiatry

Another large building block of the episode is the topic of psychiatry. Betty suffers from anxiety that causes her hands to tremble which leads to her crashing the car. Don is very much against psychiatrists, deeming them useless and only being after his money. This very much reflects the time this is set in. Millions of veterans had been sent home shell-shocked from several wars America was involved in. Both Don and Roger are veterans of the Korean War and the Second World War respectively. Tremors were quite common among the PTSD symptoms which many veterans experienced, yet they were only included in the DSM 5 in the 1980s, showing psychology was still in its infancy (Caruth, 1996, p. 199). The prevalent idea was to ‘toughen it out'. Roger even goes so far as to compare the psychoanalyst to commercialism, “this year's candy-pink stove”. Whereas Betty naively comments on it being not as stigmatised as before. Several movies of the 50s do mention male and female characters going to the analyst ( Pillow Talk (1959) , Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (1957)), although it is mostly played for laughs.

Like with the Misogyny before, stigmatising of mental illness is still very prevalent in modern society. Again, this could stand in not just for self-reflective nostalgia, but also represents a criticism of the contemporary viewer.

The diner scene is very exquisitely America, as seen on postcards, and a staple of most American movies where characters spend time on the road (Lane, 2011).

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Fig. 62: Nostalgia-laden picture of Americana in Mad Men (2007).

Hence, it is a very relevant trigger for nostalgia, reminiscent of Edward Hopper's art (Lane 2011). Curiously, looking at 1950s movies, the scenes depicting diners are not often shown. However, movies filmed in the 1980s, but set in the 1950s signpost the 50s with the classic, quintessential red diner booths. See for instance Blue Velvet (1986) and the 50s section in Back to the Future (1985). In this case, the writers of Mad Men use the nostalgic staple not necessarily from the 1950s movies, but what the contemporary audience has expected to see when they think of the 1950s.

A glimpse of the counterculture of Don's straight American dream life is seen in his mistress Midge who lives in ‘The Village' and lives out a Bohemian lifestyle with her own rules. Don seems to be more authentic there than anywhere else, already indicating his possible origin from a poorer family, together with the fact he grew up without a nanny.

There are a few 60s quirks clearly indicating that this is not set in the 2010s, clearly showing time has in fact moved on in certain areas of life. Sally pulling the bin lining bag over her head is met with annoyance from Betty whereas today a mother would make sure their child would not suffocate, and keep the bag outside of the reach of children's hands. Safety is also compromised in the car scene, where Betty and the children are not wearing seatbelts, which at the time were not mandatory thus not included in most cars, resulting in both children being flung from their seats onto the floor of the car. At higher speeds this could have had a more tragic outcome than the relatively harmless one of the episode.

There is the joke that older series and films can be recognised by the constant smoking on screen. In 1969 advertisements for cigarettes were banned on US radio and TV, including actors smoking branded cigarettes on screen. Therefore, after 1969, there was no commercial incentive left to show any smoking on screen. In Mad Men most characters smoke, as the detrimental health risks were only starting to come into the awareness of the general public in 1964, so this comes as not much of a surprise (Russell, 2010). Smoking and drinking in the office is shown frequently, Betty smokes during her therapy session, and most concerningly Betty's pregnant friend is shown smoking as well.

5.3.4 Political Context

There are several references to the political situation of the 60s.

The company is gearing up to take on Nixon's election campaign advertisements against Kennedy; this storyline is fleshed out at the end of the season. There are verbal mentions of Eleanor Roosevelt and the Lindenbergh baby, both instances not mentioning the 50s or 60s, but people who were famous in the 30s.

Furthermore, the Cold War anxiety is thematised which was highly relevant for the decades from the 40s to the 80s (Pressler, 2003, pp. 40-41). Don automatically jumps from the space theme his creative department is working on to people linking space to the Soviets and the bomb. He thinks potential customers, seeing this advertisement, would start buying bomb shelters instead of the product they are trying to sell. Betty mentions she read in a magazine that people were scared of the bomb, suffering from nightmares.

5.3.5 Artificiality and Credits

Advertising had reached an all-time high in the 1950s when, after the Great Depression in the 1930s and the Second World War, the economy was starting to boom. Gradually, TVs were becoming a normal household item, through which advertisements could be brought directly to the consumer, leading to a lot of new advertising agencies being opened (Boozer, 2002, p. 157). The first title card of Mad Men 1x01 “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” informs the audience that these advertising agencies inspired the name of the series. Most of them were located on Madison Avenue in Manhattan; the people working there were called Ad Men or Mad Men (for “Madison Men”). Due to increasing number of people working in media-related roles, the movies started to cast the characters in these jobs. Due to the fact that advertisement was putting the American dream of achieving anything into direct practice, fuelling the idea of earning and spending money in a consumeristic society, having success in advertising agency became the epitome of the American dream (Boozer, 2002, pp. 178 & 156). To name a few movies where at least one character works in an advertisement or PR-related department, Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959) (advertising executive), The Best of Everything (1959) (literary agent), Sweet Smell of Success (journalist), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956) (TV/PR writer), Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (1957) (advertising agency), Written in the Wind (1956) (advertising agency), Lover Come Back (1961) (advertising agency).

An underlying theme running through this and the other episodes is the artificiality, the world the characters are trying to create for themselves. Using advertisement and nostalgia as the main themes of a series, and combining these while commenting on the artificial constructiveness of the American dream is a stroke of genius. Don Draper and his family are for all intents and purposes the ideal American family: two parents, one son, one daughter and a dog. This was the perfect ideal of a nuclear family, shown in the sitcoms running on TV at the time. The patriarchal household with the father being the breadwinner, and the mother being the good housewife (Benshoff, 2016, p. 100) living in a picturesque suburban home was the manifestation of the American dream, of Manifest Destiny (Benshoff, 2016, p. 100) and should make everybody happy (Benshoff, 2016, p. 151). At the same time, this makes Don's reaction towards Betty's anxiety more understandable, since not just Betty, but he himself should be happy, whilst in reality he keeps escaping into alcohol and affairs. He can sell happiness, the artificially created dream, yet nobody seems to be happy, everybody being caught in the charade society has predetermined for them. This is epitomised in the melodramatic sitcom aesthetic burying the darkness and debauchery of adultery and misogyny. Characters are playing roles they are not, taking to an extreme with Don who has taken on an entirely false identity, and Betty showing cracks from always trying to be the perfect housewife, mother and wife.

5.3.6 Opening Credits

The opening credits are done after the cartoon style of movie openings and posters like the Vertigo (1958) poster where a silhouette of a man is shown in free fall.

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Fig. 63-65: Opening Credits from Mad Men (2007) and Poster from Vertigo (1958) featuring a man falling.

JAMES STEWART KIM NOVAK

IN ALFRED HITCHCOCK'S MASTERPIECE

It also imitates the Anatomy of a Murder (1959) opening credits, where the figure is also shown as a silhouette rendered in black. Mad Men also mixes this with the North by Northwest (1959) opening credits which show the skyscraper window front of the offices (Kirkham, 2011, pp. 56 & 68-69).

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Fig. 66-68: Falling alongside the office building of Madison Avenue reminiscent of the city space in North by Northwest (1959) and The Best of Everything (1959).

The art consultant for these movies was Saul Bass, who was renowned for making creative opening credits for the likes of Alfred Hitchcock and Billy Wilder (Kirkham, 2011, p. 54). Mad Men depicts a man, heavily implied to be Don, letting him step into his office with posters depicting advertisement posters falling from the wall.

Don falls down, sailing along the window front of the office building depicting advertisements typical of the time:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Fig 69: “It's the gift that never fails” underlines the consumerism in America.

beautiful women with heavy lipstick and in bathing wear, pictures of the American family with parents and one son one daughter, pictures of love showing a couple kissing. All is headlined with the words “Enjoy the best America has to offer”, from a beer commercial.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Fig. 70: Nuclear Family in the background with a boy and girl.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Fig. 71: Slogan again underlining the American dream interlinked with consumerism, and another allusion to the fact that everyone is heavily drinking as the man falls into the glass of liquor.

That is further highlighting the selling of perfect America, standing in juxtaposition to the man falling further and further. It ends with Don sitting in a chair smoking a cigarette.

5.4 Conclusion of the Analysis of Mad Men

Regarding the intertextualities this episode draws from the office interior and narratives of Best of Everything and Billy Wilder's The Apartment, as well as using the typical colouring and setting of Douglas Sirk's melodramas. Furthermore, there are several instances were movies and series are mentioned in conversation or even shown on the protagonists' TV set.

Mad Men uses different genres, Don and Peggy's storylines drawing from the career-business films, exploring office culture and male-dominated spaces. Peggy and Betty share the melodramatic, women-movie mode where females are in the foreground of the narrative, with Betty navigating her life in the suburbs, and Peggy in the office, touching upon men and female worlds converging.

The social context in this episode draws attention to the male misogynistic attitude existing not only in the office, but even at home, violating female spaces and privacy. Additionally, the stigmatisation of psychiatry is explored. Equally as important, the episode touches upon the overarching themes of the show, i.e. artificiality and the American dream. There are also a few political references.

6. Comparison and Discussion

In the following, the findings of Stranger Things and Mad Men are going to be compared and discussed. The three analysis elements intertextuality, genre and social context will be examined, additionally a special focus on the function of nostalgia in narrative in both series will be discussed.

6.1 Accessibility of Intertextuality

Stranger Things operates on two levels. Some intertextualities are directly stated, and easy to catch. Others require rewatching and researching as well as a general grasp on 1980s movies and Stephen King's work, especially his adaptations. Furthermore, knowing about the current projects actors of the show are involved in can help find more references for instance Finn Wolfhard being in the remake of IT (2017) and Joe Keery's advertisement reenactment of Ferris Buller's Day Off (1986) montage. Stranger Things as a postmodern show is made to be rewatched, coming from a streaming service where the series is available 24/7 and where the viewer can control when and how often they watch specific episodes. Easter Eggs are at plenty, but the fast-paced plot makes it easy to miss intertextualities. As the story can be easily followed without recognising any intertextualities, the search for intertextualities can be seen as an added extra for the more engaged, active viewer. This type of viewer possesses a high knowledge of movies, and they enjoy the hunt for references (Wildermuth, 2019, para. 7). Intertextualities from one specific movie appear over the entire season,

6.2 Genre Context

this could be explained by the fact Netflix releases all episodes of one season at the same time. Their series are not intended to be episodic, but designed as 9-hour movies, segments of which can be watched at the viewers' own leisure (Jost, 2020, p. 165). Therefore, using similar movie references over several episodes as the narrative moves along is not surprising. It also gives the viewer another chance to catch what movie is referenced when the first reference was not recognised.

Mad Men is less focused on single movies as Stranger Things tends to be, but rather adopts the typical aesthetics seen in the 1950s movies, heavily inspired by the office aesthetics. However, there are a lot of verbal mentions of other TV programs and movies. Generally, they draw more from the historical and political situation they live in. Narratively this does make sense as Stranger Things focuses on protagonists who are entrenched in film and TV series, and are depicted as nerds. Whereas Mad Men focuses on advertising executives and their families. They do possess knowledge about TV and films as well, working in a sector where TV is an important part, however they did not grow up with the same level of media exposure as the Stranger Things' kids. Radio was far more relevant in the life of a child growing up in the 1930s, where going to the movies was a less than weekly occurrence, and TVs only found their way in to most families' homes at the end of the 1950s. Furthermore, intertextualities of the 1950s might be harder to grasp for young adults watching this, because reruns of 1980s movies were far more common in the 1990s and 2000s than the 1950s movies.

6.2 Genre Context

Stranger Things primarily uses the Fantastic Cinema Genre, a hybrid of coming-of-age story, science-fiction, fantasy and adventure. Mad Men draws on the melodramas of the 1950s, taking the sub-genres career-business films, and women's movies. Additionally, certain elements of the Noir and crime movie are spliced in, coming from the fact it deals with topics typical for the Noir, such as hidden identity (Don), the underbelly of the ‘perfect' American way of life. The choice of colours and aesthetics takes inspiration from Hitchcock's and Sirk's movies.

6.3 Social Context

Stranger Things is less concerned with the political situation of the 1980s, the closest being the nods to the conspiracy and general untrustworthiness of the government. Due to the fact the main protagonists are teenagers, and the series is shown from their perspective in a small town in Indiana. It comes as no surprise that the topic of politics is not touched upon directly.

6.4 Function of Nostalgia in the Narrative

Mad Men is a lot more concerned with politics, due to the fact Don works with an advertising agency that is preparing to take on Nixon's presidential campaign. The series deals with adults whose lives are directly impacted by the political situation, and they live at the centre of change in New York.

Both, however, do deal with the Cold War anxiety; Mad Men with their comment about the bomb shelter, and Stranger Things using the government conspiracy theme which was at the time interlaced with Soviet spies, and clandestine experiments to defend oneself in a potential war against Russia.

6.4 Function of Nostalgia in the Narrative

Stranger Things and Mad Men are using nostalgia in their main narrative, but they take on different functions.

The Duffer brothers describe Stranger Things in their show bible as “a love letter to the golden age of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King” (n.d, p. 1), with the built-in intertextualities in the narrative to the movies of the 1980s highlighting the escapism-nature of Stranger Things. It is about remembering the 1980s childhood, and in the case of most viewers, the prosthetic memories of having watched reruns of the 1980s children's movies in their own childhoods. Mostly the ‘old days' are shown as positive, a celebration of the 1980s genre, a time before electronics governed a teenager's every waking hour.

In stark contrast, Mad Men is criticising and satirising the hostile culture of the 1960s, exercising self-reflexive nostalgia. As can be seen in the analysed episode the topic of stigmatisation of mental health and the way women are treated in the toxic office environments, self-reflexive nostalgia is used here. Another important note is that Mad Men picks topics that are still a problem today. Psychiatry is still stigmatised in our society today, and women still are more likely to get sexually harassed, less likely to get promoted, and less likely to earn as much money as men do. Mad Men uses the 1960s to showcase problems that are still a huge problem in the society of their viewers. So, it is essentially double-coded, criticising the 1960s and the 2010s at the same time. Thus, Mad Men arguably is closer to the reality of the audience than Stranger Things is. Mad Men plays with the nostalgic modes Davis observes, and which were briefly discussed in the introduction. On the surface the viewer experiences “simple nostalgia” (Davis, 1979, p. 18), sees Don's perfect live, the nostalgia people have expected to see for the 1950s and 60s. However, soon it turns to reflexive nostalgia (Davis, 1979, p. 21) highlighting social issues of the time, the perfect life being a facade for the cruel reality the characters live in. Matthew Weiner takes it even further, and often shows that the problems of the 1950s still are going strong today, thus pulling the audience first into the escapist world of nostalgia, only to throw them right back into the problematic reality of the 21st century society.

Examples of self-reflective nostalgia regarding 1950s suburban values can also be found in David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) and Garry Ross' Pleasantville (1998).

7. Conclusion

7.1 Answering the Research Question

This thesis aimed to explore the question “ What types of textual characteristics are used to what extent to trigger nostalgia in people who have not lived in the time periods Stranger Things and Mad Men are set in?”

As can be seen, Stranger Things is celebrating the era of the 1980s in film, using numerous references and motives intended to trigger a nostalgic response from the viewer. Mad Men, however, is far more critical of the time they are depicting; intertextuality is not used as often, and created more as a backdrop to explore social issues; furthermore, this self-reflexive nostalgia also spans to the contemporary society of today.

What does this mean for the media industry that seeks to produce further nostalgic series by trying to trigger nostalgia and tapping into the prosthetic memory?

Keeping in mind further research would be necessary to answer this unequivocally, nonetheless this research already offers some potential clues. Intertextuality and aesthetics like using a similar colour grade used in older movies, as well as the period-typical appearance of the characters work to a certain extent to trigger nostalgia. They reorientate the viewer creating a framework for nostalgia to bloom. However, both Stranger Things and Mad Men do not rely on nostalgia alone. There seems to be a bridge taking the concerns of the contemporary viewer and working these into period-typical issues. For instance, post-9/11 and age of terror anxieties, as well as the general disillusionment of a trustworthy government are translated into Cold War anxieties of the 1960s and 1980s respectively. Mad Men mentions Cold War anxieties directly, and Stranger Things lives out a mistrust of the government through government experiments that harm their citizens.

By the same token, relationships are at the centre of both narratives, creating another bridge that helps the viewer to identify with characters who live in a period the viewer was never privy to because he was not born yet.

In conclusion, nostalgic elements work, but it is essential that the viewer of today identifies with the characters and issues.

7.2 Further Research

Due to the fact that both Stranger Things and Mad Men are serial stories, the entire context of a season should be considered when analysing the series. With more time, all the episodes could be analysed. A main crux of this type of research is the fact that intertextualities, if they are not directly referred to by the characters, might not be recognised if the researcher has not watched the movie. Additionally, as can be seen, Stranger Things does also take intertextualities from more modern media, so even a diligent researcher who watched most of the famous 1950s and 1980s movies might miss a newer movie or older movie reference, therefore the research is still very subjectively influenced. There should be serious consideration to either change the research scheme to prevent this from happening, or to let more people who are film affine research the same episodes using the ‘collective hive' mind to catch more references.

In a future research project, the group of people should also be more specified. Age is an important component, since a 1990s child would more likely have seen the 1980s reruns than the ones of the 1950s. Then the type of viewer should be considered: Somebody who actively participates in the fandom discussing the series on Reddit, listens to fan podcasts or maybe interviews with the creators will more likely notice the intertextualities. The same is probably true for a ‘film buff', i.e. a more engaged viewer who knows more movies than the ‘normal' mainstream viewer, or coming back to the prosthetic memory, has seen more movies as a child, and is thus subconsciously remembering them when watching a series.

Character count: 81,065

8. Bibliography, Figures and Filmography

8.1 Bibliography

Armbruster, S. (2012). Screening and Watching Nostalgia. An analysis of nostalgic television and its reception in Germany and Spain. (Doctoral Dissertation, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona).

Becker, T. (2018). The Meanings of Nostalgia: Genealogy and Critique. History and Theory, 57(2), 234-250. https://doi.org/10.1111/hith.12059

Benshoff, H. M. (2016). Film and Television Analysis: An Introduction to Methods, Theories, and Approaches. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.17192/ep2017.3.7538

Boozer, J. (2002 ). Career Movies: American Business and the Success Mystique. University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.17192/ep2004.1.1878

Broad, W. J. (1994, September 18). Wreckage in the Desert Was Odd But Not Alien. The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/18/us/wreckage-in-the-desert-was-odd-but-not- alien.html

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Bechdel Test. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bechdel-test

Caruth, C. (1996). Unclaimed Experience Trauma Narrative, and History. The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Cook, P. (1991). Melodrama and the Women's Picture. In M. Landy (Ed.), Imitations of Life: A Reader on Film & Television (pp. 248- 262). Wayne State University Press.

Coon, D. (2013). Look Closer: Suburban Narratives and American Values in Film and Television. Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813562094

Davis, F. (1979). Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia. The Free Press.

Dewan, W.J. (2006). A Saucerful of Secrets: An Interdisciplinary Analysis of UFO Experiences. The Journal of American Folklore, 119 (472), 184-202.

Dix, A. (2008). Beginning Film Studies. Manchester University Press.

Druckman, D., & Swets, J. A. (1988). Enhancing Human Performances Issues, Theories, and Techniques. National Academy Press.

Duffer, M., & Duffer, R. (n.d.). Show Bible Stranger Things. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from http://www.zen134237.zen.co.uk/Stranger_Things/Stranger_Things_-_Bible.pdf

Fielding, R. (1985). Techniques of Special Effects of Cinematography. Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780080518633

Framke, C., & D'Addario, D. (2019, December 20). The 25 Best TV Shows of the Decade. Variety. Retrieved March 2, 2021, from https://variety.com/feature/best-shows-decade- 2010-2019-tv-1203440398/

Gemünden, G. (2008). A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder's American Films. Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_629150

Holloway, D. (2016, August 25). Stranger Things' Ratings: Where Series Ranks Among Netflix's Most Watched. Variety. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/stranger-things-tv-ratings-netflix-most-watched- 1201844081/

Jeffries, D. (2017). The Worlds Align Media Convergence and Complementary Storywolds in Marvel's Thor: The Dark Word. In M. Boni (Ed.), World Building. Transmedia, Fans, Industries (pp. 287-303). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1zkjz0m.19

Joint Hearing before the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Human Resources United States Senate, 95th Cong. (1977). Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/hearings/95mkultra.pdf

Jost, F. (2020). What Kind of Art Is the Cinema of Interactions? In D. Chateau, & J. Moure (Eds.), Post-Cinema: Cinema in the Post-art Era (pp.159-174). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1b0fvtp.13

Kindling, J. (2017). Damals in den 80ern - Eine Analyse der Netflix-Originalserie „Stranger Things“ im Kontext des aktuellen Nostalgietrends in Fernsehserien. (Bachelor thesis, Hochschule Mittweida).

Kirkham, P. (2011). Reassessing the Saul Bass and Alfred Hitchcock Collaboration. West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture, 18 (1), 50-85. https://doi.org/10.1086/659384

Kleinhans, C. (1991). Notes on Melodrama and the Family under Capitalism. In M. Landy (Ed.), Imitations of Life: A Reader on Film & Television Melodrama (pp. 197- 204). Wayne State University Press.

Landsberg, A. (2018). Prosthetic memory: the ethics and politics of memory in an age of mass culture. In P. Grainge (Ed.), Memory and popular film (pp. 144-161). Manchester University Press. https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526137531.00014

Lane, M. (2011, November 29 ). Why the diner is the ultimate symbol of America. BBC News Magazine. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-15792186

Livingston, G. (2013, July 2). The Rise of Single Fathers. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 25, 2021, from https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/07/02/the-rise- of-single-fathers/

Mansour, D. (2011). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. Andrews McMeel Publishing.

McFadzean, A. (2019). Suburban Fantastic Cinema: Growing Up in the Late Twentieth Century. Columbia University Press. https://doi.org/10.7312/macf18995

Mendelsohn, D. (2011, February 24). The Mad Men Account. The New York Review. Retrieved February 21, 2021, from https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2011/02/24/mad- men-account/

Mikos, L. (2015). Film - und Fernsehanalyse (3rd ed.). UVK Verlag.

Monaco, A.L. (2020). A Movement or a Moment?: The Impact of #MeToo Among College Student. (Master thesis, College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University).

Nguyen, H., Donahue, A., Travers, B., Hill, L., Greene, S., Obenson, T., & Hersko, T.(2019, December 3). The Best TV Shows of the Decade Ranked. IndieWire. Retrieved March, 2, 2021, from https://www.indiewire.com/feature/best-tv-shows-decade-2010- 2019-netflix-hbo-1202148573/

Oxford Reference. (n.d.). Male Gaze. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100128610

Pressler, M. (2003). Atomic Warfare and the Nuclear Family: Domestic Resistance in

Hollywood Films About the A-Bomb. Film Criticism, 27 (3), 40-52.

Russell, C. (2010, October 16). Of Mad Men, Crusaders and Cigarettes. The Atlantic. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2010/10/of-mad-men-crusaders-and- cigarettes/64676/

Sepinwall, A. (2019, December 4). 50 Best TV Shows of the 2010s. RollingStone.

Retrieved March 2, 2021, from https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-lists/50-best-tv- shows-of-decade-2010s-914737/

Sepinwall, A. (2013). The Revolution Was Televised: How The Sopranos, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Lost, and Other Groundbreaking Dramas Changed TV Forever. Gallery Books.

Sprengler, C. (2009). Screening Nostalgia: Populuxe Props and Technicolor Aesthetics in Contemporary American Film. Berghahn Books.

Stranger Things Posts. (2017, March 23). Joe Keery recreates an iconic Ferris Bueller scene in a Dominos ad! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4xmmwiyXJQ

Tunefind. (2007). S1:E2: Ladies Room - Mad Men Soundtrack. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://www.tunefind.com/show/mad-men/season-1/11269

Tunefind. (2017). S2:E6: Chapter Six: The Spy - Stranger Things Soundtrack. Retrieved

March 1, 2021, from https://www.tunefind.com/show/stranger-things/season-2/53709

Watson, A. (2019). Viewership of Stranger Things in the United States as of August 2017, by age group. Statista.

Wildermuth, R. (2019). Trauma and Nostalgia: Youth and the Darkness of Quality in Stranger Things. Refractory: A Journal of Entertainment Media, 31.

Wilson, J. L. (2014). Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning. University of Minnesota Publishing.

Withers, J. (2020). Futuristic Cars and Space Bicycles: Contesting the Road in American Science Fiction. Liverpool University Press.

WW II Poster: He's Watching You (2011, October 12). Olive-Drab. Retrieved March 24, 2021, from https://olive-drab.com/gallery/description_0173.php

8.2 Source of Figures

Fig. 1: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 2: Screenshot from Aliens

Fig. 3: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 4: Screenshot from Aliens

Fig. 5: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 6: Screenshot from The Thing

Fig. 7: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 8: Screenshot from The Exorcist

Fig. 9: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 10: Screenshot from Firestarter

Fig. 11: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 12: Screenshot from Stand by Me

Fig. 13: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 14: Screenshot from Stand by Me

Fig. 15: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 16: Screenshot from Stand by Me

Fig. 17: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 18: Screenshot from Stand by Me

Fig. 19: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 20: Screenshot from The Gate

Fig. 21: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 22: Screenshot from Jurassic Park

Fig. 23: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 24: Screenshot from Jurassic Park

Fig. 25: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 26: Screenshot from Jurassic Park

Fig. 27: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 28: Screenshot from Jurassic Park

Fig. 29: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 30: Screenshot from Jurassic Park

Fig. 31: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 32: Screenshot from Back to the Future.

Fig. 33: Screenshot from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Fig. 34: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 35: Picture from Back to the Future. Retrieved March 29, 2021, from https://ew.com/article/2015/08/11/back-in-time-documentary-release-date/

Fig. 36: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 37: Screenshot from St. Elmo's Fire

Fig. 38: Screenshot from Stranger Things

Fig. 39: “He is Watching you” Poster. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from: https://www.amazon.com/Hes-Watching-You-Vintage-Reprint/dp/B007CLE7LS

Fig. 40: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 41: Screenshot from The Best of Everything

Fig. 42: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 43: Screenshot from The Apartment

Fig. 44: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 45: Screenshot from All That Heaven Allows

Fig. 46: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 47: Screenshot from All That Heaven Allows

Fig. 48: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 49: Screenshot from Rear Window

Fig. 50: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 51: Screenshot from Pillow Talk

Fig. 52: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 53: Picture from To Catch a Thief. Retrieved March 15, 2021 from http://www.catwalkyourself.com/fashion-films/to-catch-a-thief/

Fig. 54: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 55: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 56: Screenshot from Pillow Talk

Fig. 57: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 58: Picture from The Apartment. Retrieved March 14, 2021 from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053604/mediaviewer/rm1300337665/

Fig. 59: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 60: Screenshot from Pillow Talk

Fig. 61: Screenshots from Mad Men, compilation created by author

Fig. 62: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 63: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 64: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 65: Vertigo Poster. Retrieved March 14, 2021 from http://www.cinemasterpieces.com/92010a/vertigonov10.jpg

Fig. 66: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 67: Screenshot from The Best of Everything

Fig. 68: Screenshot from North by Northwest

Fig. 69: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 70: Screenshot from Mad Men

Fig. 71: Screenshot from Mad Men

8.3 Filmography

Sources primarily analysed

Mad Men (USA 2007-2015, Matthew Weiner)

Weiner, M. (Writer), & Taylor, A. (Director). (2007, July 26) Ladies Room (Season 1, episode 2) [TV series episode]. In M. Weiner (Executive Producer), Mad Men. Lionsgate Television.

Stranger Things (USA 2016-present, Matt Duffer & Ross Duffer)

Trefry, K. (Writer), & Stanton, A. (Director) (2017, October 27) Chapter Six: The Spy (Season 2, Episode 6) [TV series episode]. In M. Duffer, R. Duffer (Executive Producers), Stranger Things. Netflix.

Sources also mentioned

Adventures in Babysitting (USA 1987, Chris Columbus)

Aliens (USA 1986, James Cameron)

All That Heaven Allows (USA 1955, Douglas Sirk)

American Graffiti (USA 1973, George Lucas) Americans, The (USA 2013-2018, Joe Weisberg)

Americanization of Emily, The (USA 1964, Arthur Hiller) Anatomy of a Murder (USA 1959, Otto Preminger)

Apartment, The (USA 1960, Billy Wilder)

A-Team, The (USA 1983-1987, Stephen J. Cannell & Frank Lupo) Babylon Berlin (DE 2017-present, Hendrik Handloegten)

Back to the Future (USA 1985, Robert Zemeckis)

Best of Everything, The (USA 1959, Jean Negulesco)

Big Heat, The (USA 1953, Fritz Lang)

Blue Velvet (USA 1986, David Lynch)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (USA 1977, Steven Spielberg)

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Bomb (USA 1964, Stanley Kubrick)

Endless Summer (USA 1966, Bruce Brown)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (USA 1982, Steven Spielberg) Exorcist, The (USA 1973, William Friedkin)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (USA 1986, John Hughes)

Firestarter (USA 1984, Mark L. Lester)

Gate, The (CA 1987, Tibor Takacs)

Goonies, The (USA 1985, Richard Donner)

Great Gatsby, The (USA 1949, Elliott Nugent)

Gremlins (USA 1984, Joe Dante)

Halt and Catch Fire (USA 2014-2017, Christopher Cantwell)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (USA 1984, Steven Spielberg)

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (USA 1978, Philip Kaufman)

IT (USA 1990, Tommy Lee Wallace)

IT (USA 2017, Andrés Muschietti)

Jaws (USA 1975, Steven Spielberg) Jurassic Park (USA 1993, Steven Spielberg)

Lady Bird (USA 2017, Greta Gerwig)

Lover Come Back (USA 1961, Delbert Mann)

Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, The (USA 1956, Nunnally Johnson)

Mid-90s (USA 2018, Jonah Hill)

Mindhunter (USA 2017-2019, David Fincher)

Monster Squad, The (USA 1987, Fred Dekker)

Nightmare on Elm Street, A (USA 1984, Wes Craven)

North by Northwest (USA 1959, Alfred Hitchcock)

One Crazy Summer (USA 1986, Savage Steve Holland)

People Are Funny (USA 1942-1969, John Guedel)

Pillow Talk (USA 1959, Michael Gordon)

Pleasantville (USA 1998, Gary Ross)

Poltergeist (USA 1982, Tobe Hooper)

Rear Window (USA 1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

Risky Business (USA 1983, Paul Brickman)

Rocky III (USA 1982, Sylvester Stallone)

Shirley Temple's Storybook (USA 1958-1961, William H. Brown Jr.)

Stand by Me (USA 1986, Rob Reiner)

St. Elmo's Fire (USA 1985, John Hughes)

Sunset Boulevard (USA 1950, Billy Wilder)

Sweet Smell of Success (USA 1957, Alexander Mackendrick)

Thing, The (USA 1982, John Carpenter)

To Catch a Thief (USA 1955, Alfred Hitchcock)

True Detective (USA 2014-present, Nic Pizzolatto)

Twilight Zone (USA 1959-1964, Rod Sterling)

Vertigo (USA 1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

WandaVision (USA 2021, Matt Shakman)

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter (USA 1957, Frank Tashlin)

Wizard of Oz (USA 1939, Victor Fleming)

Written in the Wind (USA 1956, Douglas Sirk)

X-Files, The (USA 1993-2002, Chris Carter)

Frequently Asked Questions about Language Preview (OCR Data for Academic Use)

What is this document about?

This document is a language preview intended for academic use. It includes the title, table of contents, objectives and key themes, chapter summaries, and key words from a research paper analyzing themes in a structured and professional manner.

What is included in the Table of Contents?

The Table of Contents includes the following sections:

• Introduction
• Definitions (Nostalgia, Intertextuality)
• Methodology (Research Status, Analysis Approach, Investigation Material, Limitations)
• Context Analysis of Stranger Things - Season 2, Episode 6 “Chapter Six: The Spy”
• Context Analysis of Mad Men - Season 1, Episode 2 “Ladies Room”
• Comparison and Discussion
• Conclusion
• Bibliography, Figures and Filmography

What are the key themes being analyzed?

The key themes being analyzed include nostalgia, intertextuality, genre, and social-political context, specifically focusing on the television series Stranger Things and Mad Men.

What is the research question addressed in this document?

The research question is: "What types of textual characteristics are used to what extent to trigger nostalgia in people who have not lived in the time periods Stranger Things and Mad Men are set in?"

What is the methodology used in this research?

The methodology employs a context analysis approach, focusing on intertextuality, genre context, and social-political context within the selected episodes of Stranger Things and Mad Men. It also acknowledges the limitations of relying on researcher interpretation and lack of reception studies.

What intertextualities are explored in Stranger Things?

The analysis explores intertextualities with various films and works, including: horror movies (Aliens, The Thing, Invasion of the Bodysnatchers, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Exorcist), Stephen King film adaptations (Firestarter, IT, Stand by Me), Steven Spielberg films (E.T. the Extra-terrestrial, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jaws, Jurassic Park), and pre-teen/teen movies (Back to the Future, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Risky Business).

What genre contexts are explored in Stranger Things?

The analysis explores the following genre contexts: Suburban Fantastic Cinema, Conspiracy Paranoid Thriller, and Horror.

What social contexts are explored in Stranger Things?

The social context focuses on family dynamics and the political context of the Cold War era, including concerns about government experimentation and distrust.

What intertextualities are explored in Mad Men?

The analysis explores intertextualities within narratives such as The Best of Everything and The Apartment, aesthetics (Douglas Sirk's melodramas), and dialogue referencing various media of the time.

What genre contexts are explored in Mad Men?

The analysis explores the following genre contexts: The Career Movie, and The Women Film.

What social contexts are explored in Mad Men?

The social context focuses on feminine and masculine spaces, the influence of psychiatry, and the political context of the 1960s, as well as the themes of artificiality and the American Dream.

What are the limitations of this research?

The limitations include the scope of analyzing only one episode of each series, the potential subjectivity in identifying intertextual references, the absence of a reception study to gauge viewer perception, and the focus on the US audience.

What are the conclusions of the analysis?

The conclusions suggest that both series utilize nostalgia in different ways. Stranger Things celebrates the era of the 1980s, using numerous references, motives to evoke a nostalgic response from the viewers. Mad Men exercises self-reflexive nostalgia criticizing the era while exploring social issues. Mad Men intertextuality is less frequent serving to build the backdrop to explore the societal issues, the series addresses. Intertextuality and aesthetics seem to trigger nostalgia, while also bridging present day issues.

Details

• Hochschule: Universität Trier
• Note: 1,3
• Autor: Anna Staudinger (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2021
• Seiten: 50
• Katalognummer: V1154917
• ISBN (eBook): 9783346548818
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: Stranger Things Mad Men Nostalgia TV shows Intertextuality