Photo Credit: Charles DeLuvio via Unsplash
I’m sure we’ve all seen the hype surrounding volume one of the fourth season of the Netflix show Stranger Things. Undoubtedly, this is the most intense and mature season so far, shocking fans from the first episode; the stakes have always been high, but it feels more real now that the characters (and audience) have grown.
The main characters were around eleven to twelve years old when the show came out. As is expected, younger people in that age group were delighted to see kids like them defeating monsters from another dimension. The audience was able to project themselves onto these characters, allowing them to experience the adventures more personally than an adult watching the middle-schoolers in season one.
Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, Eleven, and Max take on high school in the latest season. Like in the first season, much of the original audience is still close to the same age as the Stranger Things kids or close enough to relate to their struggles. We may never fight Vecna or the Mind Flayer, but we do understand things such as loss, drifting friendships, and love, which helps us to feel for these characters more deeply.
Has there been a similar phenomenon of viewers and/or readers growing up alongside their franchise? We may all recognize the pattern with the Harry Potter franchise, which is still getting updated today in spin-off/prequel projects. Eleven-year-olds facing certain death, magic, and going on adventures that we would never be able to go on––these things were massively appealing to the original audience of Harry Potter. This sparked feelings of empowerment and captivated young viewers with the idea of kids their age doing such incredible things. Some readers still speak fondly of having a connection to the characters that others who came after them cannot claim. It was like growing up alongside your friends, something that fans of Stranger Things have said as well.
Seeing the impact, this show has had on pop culture in six years makes it a promising candidate for a staple in entertainment in Generation Z’s lifetime.