Photo by Rafal Werczynski from Unsplash

Blockbuster Television and the Power of Nostalgia

Since Stranger Things on Netflix wrapped its fifth season, the discussion has revolved around plotholes, queerbaiting, and Eleven’s fate. As the series aired, Netflix crashed more than once due to the number of viewers. Stranger Things was a cultural event TV show. By the end, 

“It’s much more akin to watching a blockbuster than a TV show because of the enormously large scale, high production with massive budgets and CGI. It’s not even competing with other TV shows. It wasn’t trying to pry your eyes from Fallout (Amazon Video). It was going up against Wicked and Avatar.” (Cleverrebooted, 2026, YouTube) 

Regardless of the ending, it was impactful. Aside from streaming crashes, there is a distinct increased interest in nostalgia for the 80’s. From  Five reasons why Dustin is the best character on Stranger Things by Giulia Blasi 

“While Mike Wheeler is very much Mikey Walsh (down to the similar name), Nancy is a badass Andy and Jonathan is a misfit Brandon, Dustin is a conflation of Chunk and Mouth: a chubby kid who is teased over his appearance (specifically, his lack of teeth), but is also the smartest smartass of the bunch.”

From Screen to Search: Googling Today

Photo by Solen Feyissa from  Unsplash

Gaten Matarazzo III, who plays Dustin, has cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD). The Duffer Brothers wrote this condition into Dustin’s character and consulted with Gaten about using CCD as the reason for Dustin being bullied in the first episode, where he is teased for being “toothless.” This realism adds depth to the character, but viewers are drawn to Dustin’s smart, sensitive, misfit qualities rooted in ‘80s character traits, not just his condition. 

To investigate interest in CCD, researchers used Google Trends to retrospectively analyze search interest around the release dates of Stranger Things. Using the “health” category and the term “cleidocranial dysplasia,” data were collected worldwide from July 20, 2014, to July 16, 2019. (Johnson, 2020, p. 377)

Exposure to disabilities or illnesses in popular media can lead to curious Google searches. That’s the benefit of having technology that can research and summarize what people want to know. Accuracy can be hit-or-miss, depending on whether it comes from academic research or the media. With rare conditions, there is often little research on the internet to draw from. 

Visibility, Curiosity, and Awareness of Rare Conditions

“Reviewing 500 videos created by 299 unique users and identified 6 major themes: Spreading Awareness, Guidance for Others, Intimate View into Life, Interactions with Health care, Responses, and Requests for Support. The video narrators were typically family members or caregivers (50.2%) or the person affected (46.6%); a small percentage were health care professionals (2.2%). People with rare diseases in the video comprised both children (40.6%) and adults (52.6%).” (Park, Scott, Smith,Wojcik, 2025, p. 1)

Raising awareness and adding to the vast Google results are helpful because connections can strengthen interest in fundraising research for conditions like CCD.  Googling can be a buffer for answering strangers’ questions about a disability or illness. People with disabilities or illnesses are not obligated to explain themselves, and education can be frustrating.

References

Blasi, G. (2016, July 30). Five reasons why Dustin is the best character on “Stranger Things”. Medium. https://medium.com/panel-frame/five-reasons-why-dustin-is-the-best-character-on-stranger-things-4b9294a683f1

Cleverreboot. (2026, January 31). Stranger Things was never going to have a good ending[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQxat4y0vec

Johnson, A. L., Torgerson, T., Cooper, C., Khojasteh, J., & Vassar, M. (2020). Public Awareness of Cleidocranial Dysplasia After Season Releases of Stranger Things. JAMA otolaryngology– head & neck surgery, 146(4), 377–378. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaoto.2019.4791

Park, H. J., Scott, C. J., Smith, H. S., & Wojcik, M. H. (2025). Rare disease narratives on social media: A content analysis. Genetics in medicine open, 3, 102844. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gimo.2025.102844