80s Film Research - Duffer Brothers

Jaws 2:

Stranger things play homage to Jaws 2. The monster in stranger things is similar to the shark, as the big mouth and teeth are used when trying to attack the characters. Throughout the film the monster is trying to capture children, alike to jaws which keeps trying to kill people, and another similarity was that the boys in Stranger Things are constantly trying to capture the monster, and similarly in Jaws they are trying to kill the shark so that it cannot kill anyone else.

The Goonies:     

Stranger things also play homage to the goonies. The goonies use 80s themes, the bikes and the girl with glasses. Stranger things also have these things. They set stranger things in 80’s suburbia, and alike to this so is the goonies. The story line of the goonies is that they are on a quest to find treasure, and in stranger things they are on a quest to get their friends back. However, the main similarity is that in both films there are a group of boys who are the main characters.

E.T:

Stranger things play homage to ET in several ways. Firstly, trying to disguise the person with super powers in clothes and a wig to make them seem innocent and to hide them from being discovered. The most prominent homage however, is the use of the bikes and bright lights. In ET they use bikes to fly through the air and to travel around, and in stranger things they also use bikes as their main way to travel. The bright lights on the front of the bike and classic 1980s bikes are very similar in both, and they are a main theme.