What if the secret to reconnecting with your teenager was simply hidden in the Netflix catalog? A psychologist reveals how and why this famous series allows us to recreate family complicity, to share much more than a simple evening of television.
We don’t call adolescence “the thankless age” for no reason. This is the period when children seek to build their own personality, to develop their friendships, to acquire their first form of independence, and therefore to emancipate themselves from their parents: everything you do or say then becomes “embarrassing”. Your interests, your sense of humor, your style of dress, your language tics… Nothing finds favor in the eyes of these future adults in the making, and maintaining the emotional bond can prove increasingly difficult for some parents. So good luck finding a common hobby!
In the era of unlimited streaming, with Netflix or even Disney+, many teenagers prefer to isolate themselves in their room to spend hours watching their favorite series rather than watching the evening film with the family. Parents are then tempted to introduce them to programs that marked their own childhood or adolescence, with a reaction that often resembles a real slap in the face (punctuated by a few additional wrinkles): “Out of the question to look at this old thing!” And that’s where “the Stranger Things effect” comes into play. With more than 1.2 billion views in total, it’s not for nothing that Stranger Things is Netflix’s most-watched series: it speaks to all generations.
The story takes place in the mid-1980s, in a small American town marked by the supernatural disappearance of a 12-year-old boy. The whole family is there: the youngest identify with the group of endearing friends who carry the series, while the adults immerse themselves in the nostalgia of the era which rocked their own youth. It’s the ideal compromise to re-establish the discussion, thanks to a program that is as popular as it is modern, but full of cultural references that only Generation X will be able to understand. It is no longer a question of parents just saying “it was different before”, but of approaching the series as a gateway to deeper conversations, by comparing adolescence of yesterday and that of today. “When children ask their parents about a song, a movie, or what shopping malls were like, they invite them to share their lives, as if asking, ‘Who were you before you became an adult?’ This sharing creates great intimacy”explains Sanam Hafeez, psychologist, in the American magazine Purewow.
In addition to recreating the bond between parents and their teenagers, Stranger Things can also push young people to turn away from technologies to rediscover the pleasures of yesteryear: the series provokes a form of fascination for this era that they did not know, and the analog activities that go with it. Your children may well ask you to bring out your vinyl records, your camcorders, or even your old skinny leggings that you thought were totally out of fashion. “What we observe is not the nostalgia of a decade experienced by these young people, but rather the ardent desire for a decade that was not theirs. Our adolescents and young adults are saturated with stimuli, performance and screens. When they look back to the (80s), they’re looking for experiences that feel inherently slower, more tactile and more human.”notes Dr. Hafeez.
Eventually, Stranger Things has achieved the feat no parent dared hope for: making the 80s – and by extension, your own youth – a real banger. A godsend for making the family sofa an intergenerational common ground. So, take out the popcorn and take advantage of this unexpected break to renew the dialogue. Who knows, by watching the series together, your teens might even end up thinking you’re cool, too… at least, until the next trend makes you “cringe” again!
Netflix classifies the series in the “16 and over” category, so be careful with younger people who could be sensitive to certain violent images.
