Seven Annoyances of Stranger Things

Stranger Things, the hit original Netflix series has achieved enormous popularity and while I applaud its success, I cannot help but notice the underdevelopment of its female characters. As the directors point out, the show is not directed towards a male audience but families, which obviously includes females as well. The creators follow a far too common and disappointing trend in media that oftentimes neglects to create complex, dynamic, and independent female characters that women and girls can fully connect with. The series, while good, provided the perfect opportunity to critique what many shows and movies lack -representative and complex characters for the female audience.

[disclaimer: STRANGER THINGS SPOILERS]

1) Oh Nancy... 

Introduced within a love triangle, Nancy was severely limited  in her character’s ability to develop on her own, instead becoming a supporting role for the development of Steve and of Jonathan. I’m not saying Nancy doesn’t kick butt -she shoots a gun like a baddie, calls her parents marriage out like it is, points out the injustice of poor barb, figures out how to make the government pay for what they did -, but the fact that she continues to be in this love triangle between the boy who unconsentually snapped pics of her naked and the total jerk turned mama nice guy, it focuses too heavily on some “will they or won’t they, who will she choose” idea.

She could have been a far more independent and inspirational had her character not fallen in love with Jonathan, the pervert like any normal girl would have avoided and chose to kick butt on her own.

2) Jonathan’s pervy move wasn’t cool!

Nancy didn’t consent to her picture being taken with her shirt off. When Nancy discovers the photos were taken she completely ignores how wrong that is. She should have taken a moment to acknowledge that she wasn’t happy with that or addressed the issue. By ignoring it, the directors neglected to point out an important issue on consent.

3) Joyce Byers, a Mother and Not Much Else

Byers is a baddie who will do anything to find her her son, but what else is her character good for? After Will was found, her character began to show just how underdeveloped she was as a character. The only way the directors attempted to spice things up and make her more complex her was by putting her in a relationship 😑. I understand why her character focused on finding Will as she loved her son dearly, but it’s disappointing that she was limited to such a stereotypical scenario... i just wish her character was a little more developed rather than being just WhErEs WiLl!? and bOB!! I want to learn more about Joyce or at least see her connect to El or Nancy in a way that sparks female companionship. Give us something...

4) Of Course they'd Kill Barb

I find it funny that the only age group in the show to have multiple females in season one felt that one just had to go, particularly the one that wouldn’t be deemed attractive by societal standards or isn’t romantically involved with boy.

5) Eleven’s Interests

Why does Eleven, the girl who can FLIP VANS WITH HER MIND diminished to feeling jealous over max cause she just LoVEs mike. Why does every female characters who is worth a moment of the show’s focus involved romantically somehow witch someone else. On top of that, It seems very unlikely that Eleven would be so involved with Will when she has other things to worry about, such as her Mother, the Government, and the Upide Down, which could potentially ruin the world.

6) Eleven’s Interests 2

It makes me sad to see Eleven diminish herself to looking stereotypically pretty in season one. Eleven was a character that could have easily transcended what females are supposed to like.  El shouldn’t have been worried about looking pretty with a blonde wig and a dress, but passed the time playing dungeons and dragons. This would have made more sense anyway being that she connected to Mike and his friends and would have been more interested as it was what she was surrounded by.

In season 2, I was much more proud of how her character was less focused on unlikely superficialities, instead opting to wear overalls, taking off that stupid wig to show her short curls. I also appreciated that her look later became something less stereotypically feminine, but embodied the connection she felt to her sister and her new strength. While her later goth look could arguable be just as superficial, by embodying her sister, El’s character gains a new sort of complexity.

7) Where is the Diversity?

Besides Lucas, Why is everyone else on this show white and straight? Why is it that we don’t have a variety of different kinds of people with different backgrounds, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities. What we see on screen does not represent what the world is really like and it creates a misconception of what “normal” is. By including these characters, we can redefine what “normal” looks like into something much more true and diverse.

I’m not saying ladies can’t have relationships, be good house mums, wear dresses, and be in love or search for love, but there is more to a female than these things.  Mothers have friends outside of their families, women can be friends with men and romantic with other women, or they don’t even think about that sort of thing. I’m also not inferring that a show is wrong for creating complex straight white male characters. It’d be fine if there was more diversity in other shows but it just feels disappointing when Every. Single. Show has these sort of stereotypical half assed female characters whose main focus is boys or something superficial like looking hot and lacks any sort of minority group or LGBTQ representation. There’s an abundance of cleverly made and complex male characters, so why can’t we have the same for women?

I invite you to look at the characters within the movies, shows, and other sorts of media you watch. Count how many complex female characters you can find and compare it to the number of complex males. Then number off as many non-white and non-straight characters you can think of. By creating this sort of general character or lack thereof, it limits how women, LGBTQ, and minorities view themselves. I just think we can do better.

-Mattilyn Wiseman