Netflix has had plenty of hits during its tenure, but one stands out above the pack: Stranger Things.
The sci-fi drama from Matt and Ross Duffer has barreled into pop culture like a freight train, inspiring everything from haunted houses to a crossover with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
(That is not a joke.
That is an actual comic that’s being published.) Part of that lies in the way Stranger Things wears its influences on its sleeve; everything from Dungeons & Dragons to 80s horror films is woven into the show’s DNA.
But the biggest influence has to be Steven Spielberg.
It’s Spielberg’s filmography that helped shape the DNA of Stranger Things, whether it’s films he’s directed or just produced; its cast of young characters pay homage to The Goonies, while the supernatural happenings are a spiritual successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
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