--- title: Stranger Things Fan's Darkroom Confusion Sparks Hilarity description: When it comes to Stranger Things' plethora of '80s references, there are apparently some things that go right over younger viewers' heads. canonical: https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-07-29T18:18:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:59:43.427Z og:title: Stranger Things Fan's Darkroom Confusion Sparks Hilarity og:description: Get ready to feel your age og:url: https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b7145dd96a3d9ba/6989ff4c97cdff5c4e6b92d8/stranger-things-season-3-02-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: Stranger Things og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stranger Things Fan's Darkroom Confusion Sparks Hilarity twitter:description: Get ready to feel your age twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b7145dd96a3d9ba/6989ff4c97cdff5c4e6b92d8/stranger-things-season-3-02-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Confused _Stranger Things_ Fans in the Dark About Darkrooms Inspires Hilarious Reactions > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 29, 2019 6:18 PM UTC  Stranger Things Stranger Things Netflix  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jul 29, 2019 6:18 PM UTC Whether or not you were born in the ’80s, [_Stranger Things_](https://time.com/5614771/stranger-things-3-hopper-death/)offers something that appeals to nearly every age group. But when it comes to the show’s plethora of [decade-specific references](https://time.com/5610388/stranger-things-3-references/), there are apparently some things that go right over younger viewers’ heads. That’s seems to be exactly what happened when one fan couldn’t figure out what was going on when Nancy (Natalia Dyer) kept interrupting Jonathan (Charlie Heaton) while he was trying to develop his photos in the _Hawkins Gazette_ darkroom. In a post on [StackExchange](https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/102266/what-is-the-purpose-of-this-red-room-in-stranger-things) titled “What is the purpose of this ‘red room’ in Stranger Things?,” one fan expressed confusion over what exactly a darkroom is. “In _Stranger Things_, we frequently see Jonathan go inside this to ‘refine’ his photos or something. I don’t quite understand what happens here,” the user wrote. “He puts the photo in water, and somehow this makes it more clear? An example is in the first season when he refines Barbara’s photo and sees a little bit of the Demogorgon. Is this an old film technique, and if so, what is it called?” The original poster received some helpful responses on StackExchange. But once the post made it over to Twitter, others were quick to point out how old this lack of darkroom knowledge made them feel. “Crumbles further into dust,” one Twitter user captioned a screenshot of the post. “Feels herself aging like she chose the wrong grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” added another, keeping on brand with _Stranger Things_‘ frequent Indian Jones references. > [](https://twitter.com/soapachu/status/1154711824023076866) > [](https://twitter.com/soapachu/status/1154756504672710657) However, the original poster later returned to StackExchange to assure everyone that there was no need for them to be feeling their age more than usual. “What I don’t think most people understand is that just because you haven’t heard of a specific technique that you ‘should’ve’ by a certain age, that doesn’t immediately mean you should feel old,” [they wrote](https://movies.stackexchange.com/questions/102266/what-is-the-purpose-of-this-red-room-in-stranger-things#comment175438%5F102266). “I’m not 14 or 15 like you may assume. This was just something I never came across, and that’s the bottom line. No need to feel old.” See some more reactions below. > [](https://twitter.com/tinajaneb33/status/1154884646359982081) > [](https://twitter.com/DCcosplayMedic/status/1154732817638670336) > [](https://twitter.com/moaisadeadbird/status/1154809031892094977) > [](https://twitter.com/MisterJaredGray/status/1154767919643013122) > [](https://twitter.com/JohnWes23737641/status/1154715489081450496) > [](https://twitter.com/Kushparty69/status/1154968430405009409) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/"},"headline":"Confused Stranger Things Fans in the Dark About Darkrooms Inspires Hilarious Reactions","datePublished":"2019-07-29T18:18:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:59:43.427Z","description":"Get ready to feel your age","url":"https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","TV","Stranger Things"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b7145dd96a3d9ba/6989ff4c97cdff5c4e6b92d8/stranger-things-season-3-02-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b7145dd96a3d9ba/6989ff4c97cdff5c4e6b92d8/stranger-things-season-3-02-1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Stranger Things","caption":"Stranger Things","creditText":"Netflix","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5637822/stranger-things-darkroom/","name":"Confused Stranger Things Fans in the Dark About Darkrooms Inspires Hilarious Reactions"}}]}] ```