Reconstructing and/or Deconstructing the 1980s. Gothic and Horror Tropes in Stranger Things (Netflix, 2016-)

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Published: Dec 12, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.34929/imaginaires.vi25.46
Keywords:
Gothic, TV Series, Reaganism, Heterotopy, Nomadism gothique, séries télévisées, reaganisme, hétérotopie, nomadisme

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Yannick Bellenger-Morvan
Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CIRLEP

Abstract

This article focuses on the gothic and horror tropes utilised in the Netflix series Stranger Things to offer a critical discourse on 1980s cultural, economic and social norms. To do so, the emphasis has been laid on the construction of tween and teen characters as “Gothicised” heroes, whose relations to borders, thresholds and in-between places enable them to define themselves as marginal(ised) if not altogether “othered” creatures. Relying on Deleuze’s nomadism and Foucault’s heterotopy, this essay wishes to demonstrate that Gothic does not merely provide an aesthetic to give Netflix viewers thrilling and horrific entertainment but also, and above all, a rhetoric that helps the Duffer Brothers to counter any nostalgic view on a decade marked by Republican President Reagan’s conservatism.

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How to Cite
Bellenger-Morvan, Y. (2023). Reconstructing and/or Deconstructing the 1980s. Gothic and Horror Tropes in Stranger Things (Netflix, 2016-). Imaginaires, (25), 33-49. https://doi.org/10.34929/imaginaires.vi25.46
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No. 25 (2023): Gothic, Teen, and Pop Culture
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Articles
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Author Biography

Yannick Bellenger-Morvan, Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne, CIRLEP

Yannick Bellenger-Morvan is Associate Professor at the English Department of the University of Reims Champagne-Ardenne, France. She has published about twenty peer-reviewed academic papers on popular culture for children, teenagers, and young adults. She co-edited a collection of essays on Children’s literature and Popular Cultural Identity (Reims University Press, 2016). Her latest publications include articles on Jim Henson’s TV series Fraggle Rock (in Children, Youth and American Television, Routledge, 2018) and on animated film adaptations of Roald Dahl’s novels (Les Cahiers Robinson, Artois University Press, April 2020). She also edited an annotated and critical translation of Victorian author George MacDonald’s fairy tales (George MacDonald, La Princesse légère et autres contes, Héritages Critiques, vol. IX, Reims University Press, 2019). She is general editor of the academic journal Imaginaires.