Episode 50: Demogorgon: On 'Stranger Things'

The Duffer Brothers' hit series Stranger Things is many things: an exemplary piece of entertainment in the summer blockbuster mold, a fresh take on the "kids on bikes" subgenre of science fiction, a loving pastiche of 1980s Hollywood cinema. And as Phil and JF attempt to show in this episode, Stranger Things is also a deep investigation into the metaphysical assumptions of our times, and a bold statement on the ontology of the analog real. This, at least, was the thesis of JF's three-part essay "Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things," which appeared on Metapsychosis after the first season dropped in 2016. Here, Phil and JF revisit that essay in order to expand on its arguments and discuss how it hoilds up in light of the series continued unfolding. The conversation touches on Apple's famous 1984 ad for the first Macintosh, the 2016 election of Donald Trump, the otherworldliness of airports, the ensorcelments of consumerism, and much more.

REFERENCES

Stranger Things
"Reality is Analog: Philosophizing with Stranger Things" available at Metapsychosis or in ebook format
Samuel Delaney, Dhalgren
1984 Apple commercial for Macintosh
Wild Wild Country, Netflix documentary series
Tom Frank, “Why Johnny Can’t Dissent”
Phil Ford, Dig: Sound and Music in Hip Culture
Arcade Fire, “We Used to Wait”
William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch
Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody
William James, A Pluralistic Universe
Marc Augé, Non-Places: An Introduction to Supermodernity
Weird Studies, episode 2: Garmonbozia
Homer, Odyssey
Matt Cardin, Dark Awakenings
The Wachowskis, The Matrix
Jonathan Haight and Greg Lukianoff, The Coddling of the American Mind