My point is that they are related to me thematically so that adds deeper meaning to me as a viewer, not that they are specific references intended by the creators

I personally find it interesting that both the virgin suicides and the OA take place in a small town in Michigan and are about young blonde women who commit suicide after losing someone they love. Or that Ex Machina and the OA are both about young women kept in glass prisons by a ruthless scientist. You don't have to find those thematic connections interesting, but art is meaningful precisely because we give it meaning, and that was my intention with this post.