Despite being most frequently cited as an 80s throwback, much of what's in Stranger Things was also quite characteristic of the early 90s. Not to mention the show takes a lot of stylistic cues from Stephen King miniseries' which were very much an early 90s thing. Having been born in 1984, my childhood falls right within the range of this series, FWIW.
Sort of.
There is always a generational overlap. Though you were born in 1984 and no doubt identify with the things you saw as a child, you don't have the same perspective as a person who was 10 or 20 years old the day you were born. While I can quite clearly see a demarcation between the New Wave music and the New Romantic style, you may simply consider both of them as "New Wave", or perhaps even "Rock". You might not see a big difference between the vehicles on the road when you were 5 or 10 years old, but I can quite clearly see a generational difference. Its also the same for music from before your birth. You won't be able to distinguish easily between West Coast folk rock of the 1970s and midwestern rock of the same era. Perhaps tonally or even structurally, but you won't get the difference in mentality between the two. Likewise, I can't tell the difference between Stax and Decca sounds easily. I simply don't have the reference. Or you could watch a video of Ronald Reagan speaking and it will mean something completely different to you than to me. You won't know who a single person is standing next to him or asking him questions at a press conference.
Its not a derogatory thing for me to point out, it simply illustrates how culturally different people are depending on the year of their birth. What you are perceiving as "90s" is actually the 80s viewed through your 90s adolescent lens. And thats fine. The 80s mean something different to you than to me.
I guess just a little more creativity than falling back on a played out visual style that's conveniently much easier to develop? It's not as if there haven't been plenty of iOS games featuring a modern twist on the bit-era games. Even the show doesn't take strict stylistic cues from the 80s, or the soundtrack wouldn't be a Daft Punk inspired custom score and it'd be shot on film or at the very least Beta.
Again, referring to what I mentioned above, you're seeing it through your own generational lens. It could be called a "bias", but that can evoke an emotional reaction and also makes it sound like you're doing it on purpose. I prefer to call it a lens.
The soundtrack isn't Daft Punk - or inspired by them - not by a long shot. Its actually the reverse - Daft Punk was influenced in some areas by the same musicians who influenced Michael Stein and Kyle Dixon, the duo who scored the show. They did an incredible job of bringing back the structure of 80s soundtracks, unbelievably so. I consider their work - and that of Daft Punk on Tron:Legacy - as what could have been done back in the 1980s with today's technology, and not an example of how we can mimic the 80s now.
The crackling neon look and the period-correct sliding of the opening titles is another well-executed 80s technique. Referring back to the generational lens- you may see that and say, "How unoriginal", but I look at it and it invokes Tron, Looker, Alien and numerous other genre films of the 5 years prior to the time of Stranger Things. I see it, and hear the opening theme, and it recalls my youthful excitement at the fact that "the future" I'd been reading about in sci-fi novels and scientific magazines was just a few feet away and around the corner...
The shot composition and scene layouts are flawlessly 80s, without the need for falling back on crutches like period video or film technology. If you want proof, go take a look at the opening ten minutes of the original Rambo movie, First Blood. Compare those shots of Hope, Washington to any of the outdoor wide shots in Hawkins, Indiana in Stranger Things. Allowing for the fact the sun never came out in Hope, its almost the same town.
We all face the generational lens as both a help and an insurmountable barrier. You'll never see the show the way I do, but I'll never see it the way someone 5 or 10 years older than me will see it.
