How does a beloved show lose its soul? How can a decade-long anthem of outcasts become a Marvel Endgame cash grab catering to the GA? How can you fail your audience AND your characters in only one season?
The answer to that is simple: we have largely overestimated the Duffers. They have never cared about us. They lied to us and we believed them. They wrote the show about themselves and for themselves but WE, real outcasts, gave it meaning, soul and LIFE.
Since the conception of Stranger Things The Duffers have talked about how much the show mirrors their experiences.
In their childhood/teenage years they felt like outcasts who "did not belong", so they wrote a story reflecting on that and empowering the feeling of being different and not conforming.
This sentiment was passed down to the actors who actively preached this idea to the masses.
In the 2017 Sag Awards speech David Harbour emphasized this point and promised that the show's core theme is protecting and fighting for the marginalized groups.
And we believed them. Oh how we wanted that to be true. We, freaks, nerds, queers, neurodivergents, outcasts, those bullied, ostracized and othered, were relieved that we finally have a show representing us, protecting us, sympathizing with us.
And that was our downfall.
2. The Duffers weaponized bigotry under the guise of protection.
Based on their own lives and experiences, they wrote a story that is deeply personal to them: a story of boys who were bullied for their looks and playing DnD, a story of boys whose crushes didn't love them back, boys who hated school and dreamed of showing a middle finger to their principal.
It was never meant to be bigger than this.
Female characters were used to motivate the core four, traumatized victims were never meant to heal, queer characters were never supposed to get flashed out interests.
Because that has never been the Duffers' priority. They wanted to create a coming-of-age narrative about themselves.
Why did Henry, El and Kali get these horrible devastating endings? Because they were a means to an end. The supernatural aspect of the story had to be left behind in order for the boys to "grow up". These characters became sacrificial lambs. They were slaughtered because they have always been plot devices.
Byler didn't happen for the exact same reason. It was never meant to be considered more than just a macguffin.
3. We cared so deeply for these characters that we gave them meaning. We developed them more than the writers.
We were so attached to them that now these post s5 interviews feel like a slap in the face.
Misogyny, ableism, racism, homophobia. That's what the fans are facing now. Those nerds and freaks that you're supposed to fight for are being bullied online for caring about the characters the Duffers created. For looking for details and clues in the show that tells us 'I don't believe in coincidences', 'pay attention'.
And the worst thing? They encourage this behavior.
They literally admit that – the plot is there for shits and giggles. Nothing matters. It’s not that deep.
The decapitation of the first victim of the Mind Flayer was a fanservisy 'fuck yeah' moment. Yes, the main characters reflect on their trauma there. What about Henry Creel though? Is his trauma not important enough to show explicitly? Should we not sympathise with him at all?
"I guess so!" Whose show is that, Matt Duffer?
They even laughed at theorists and fans in the goddamn show.
Henry Creel enjoyers, El and Kali fans, Bylers, Mike Wheeler has character development truthers, time travel theorists, inconsistencies are not production errors believers, we were not delusional. We just interpreted the show differently, and frankly, quite better than the actual writers.
It’s a shame the show didn’t live up to its full potential and turned out to be an incel escapism fantasy. I hope one day we’ll get to see an actual media designed to stand for the outsiders.
"I mistook stars reflected in a pond at night for those in the sky" Andrzej Sapkowski, The Time of Contempt
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