Visual parallels between series and song: The “Stranger Things” finale brings back memories of Linkin Park’s “In The End” music video.
The “Stranger Things” finale is over. The Netflix series ended on New Year’s Eve with a two-hour slam dunk. In the fifth and final season, the group of young heroes fought against the antagonist Vecna one last time. Some main characters entered an alternative dimension – the so-called Abyss – to fight the final battle there.
The desert-like scenery with its characteristic yellow-brown coloring reminded many viewers of the music video for Linkin Park’s hit “In The End” from 2000. In the video, founding member Mike Shinoda moves through a barren, post-apocalyptic-looking landscape with a similar color palette. See here:
Reactions on social media
On social media, users quickly drew attention to the visual match. One user on To To support this, users shared comparison images both productions.
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However, it remains unclear whether the “Stranger Things” makers were actually inspired by the 2000 clip. There is no official statement about this.
Linkin Park’s permanent presence
The dystopian and minimalist visualizations in Linkin Park’s music videos have helped shape the visual language of an entire generation of filmmakers. Videos like “In The End”, “Crawling” and “Numb” rely on high-contrast, often monochrome or desaturated color palettes and barren, industrial locations. This aesthetic can be found in numerous science fiction and mystery productions today. The band knew how to combine emotional intensity with reduced imagery – a concept that is particularly evident in apocalyptic or dystopian stories like “Stranger Things” and illustrates the connection between pop culture and serial entertainment.
Linkin Park have also left a lasting mark on the film and series world since they were founded in 1996. Their music has been used in numerous film productions, including the “Transformers” series, for which they contributed several songs. “What I’ve Done” became the theme song for the first film (2007), while “New Divide” was composed specifically for “Transformers: The Revenge” (2009). Their tracks were also used in series such as “Miami Vice”, “Scrubs” and various sports documentaries, thereby shaping the audiovisual aesthetic of the 2000s.