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[Generated for academic purposes] Course: Media Studies 450: Contemporary Popular Culture Date: October 26, 2023
This paper proceeds in three parts. First, it theorizes the shift from mass culture to niche-driven participatory culture. Second, it analyzes two contemporary case studies that illustrate this shift. Third, it evaluates the social consequences, particularly regarding identity formation and collective memory. xxx-av-20148
Stranger Things and the Nostalgia Engine The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things is paradigmatic of post-network entertainment. The show is not merely set in the 1980s; it is a pastiche of 1980s media artifacts (Spielberg films, Dungeons & Dragons, Stephen King novels, synth music). However, its success on Netflix transformed it into a contemporary cultural force. The show’s fourth season (2022) generated record viewership, but more importantly, it spurred a viral resurgence of Kate Bush’s 1985 song “Running Up That Hill.” Here, popular media (streaming content) resurrected and rewrote the meaning of legacy media (a 1980s pop song). The result is a feedback loop: nostalgia is not remembered but algorithmically manufactured. [Generated for academic purposes] Course: Media Studies 450: