Eighties Politics in Tandem with Stranger Things’ Chronology
aka: trying to prove to you beyond a shadow of a doubt Stranger Things has been that of a queer story since its inception.
I also address race relations leading up to and in the eighties in the second half of this post in regards to Lucas’ storyline.
Stranger Things doesn’t shy away from addressing politics, but with nuance and care, in the subtext and with its implications, meaning making its message more accessible and palatable to a wider audience.
The more the Reagan administration neglected the HIV/AIDS crisis as it escalated exponentially, the more horror progressed in the eighties.
In my posts here and here, I came to the conclusion that Stranger Things is meant to be one of a fictionalized exposé and critique on how fear, hate, and homophobia (The Mind Flayer, among other things) took over in the 80s and were responsible for so much hurt and horror. It is a fictionalized, sci-fi - fantasy - horror retelling of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the eighties. And, hopefully, it will be somewhat of a retcon in which queer love and compassion actually save the world in this case (lovewinsgate).
Yes, I believe it is that deep. Walk with me.
So, just as the Reagan administration neglected the HIV/AIDS crisis (and disregarded and mistreated the queer community as a whole) as it escalated through the eighties, the looming threat over Hawkins gets more intense, imminent, and horrific with every passing year / season. Stranger Things’ supernatural plot undoubtedly unravels in tandem with the AIDS epidemic throughout the eighties.
The very opening scene is Mike ominously saying the words, “something is coming…” and as we know, that ends up being a horrific monster and, eventually, a dark reflection of our world wanting to spread and take over. You can obviously interpret that as the virus itself – HIV/AIDS – as the “something” that “is coming” and what will eventually start spreading and infecting people over the course of the eighties.
But I also interpret it as a warning of Reagan’s re-election and his subsequent negligent and unsettling response to the crisis the following year, 1984. In terms of the dark reflection of our world, this could also apply to the explosive rise of nationalism, capitalism and conservatism that was especially present under Reagan’s administration.
In season one, the supernatural plot is something that only directly affects Will, our only canonically gay male. And, of course, Barb, a queer coded character who gets attacked just after deeply cutting her hand, (whilst with a group of very sexually active teens – Steve, Tommy, Carol), making her especially susceptible to infection. I think Barb’s attack and death is a little more on the nose.
As in, in Will’s case, I don’t think it’s the show’s intention to imply Will actually contracts the virus, but he is meant to represent the young gay man of the United States in the eighties. He is the first person affected by the Upside Down, a dark reflection of our world and because only Will – a likely queer, poor smalltown boy - is the only one affected as of yet, the general public is not up in arms, or better yet, doesn’t seem to care at all. In fact, the government lab would much rather just cover up his disappearance and ignore and downplay the problem altogether. Doesn’t that sound an awful lot like Reagan’s response to the epidemic?
The only people that care or take his disappearance seriously are the loved ones of Will, but they’re not enough to actually cause a stir, so they are repeatedly shut down or perceived as crazy, hysteric or conspiracists by the general public.
Little does the public know the true power of love and compassion (and understanding and communication and acceptance) that ended up saving Will and could likely save many people like him. If only everybody put in a little more effort to be more of a Joyce, a Mike, a Jonathan, an El, a Hopper, a Lucas, a Dustin, etc., likely a lot more lives could be saved in the eighties, indeed.
It was in 1983 that HIV was discovered and identified as the cause of AIDS, and yet, Reagan was absolutely negligent of the research going into HIV/AIDS and the epidemic as a whole. At the point, the crisis was still largely not taken seriously. It would take another two years before he acknowledges it publicly.
In season two, once again Will is the focus of the supernatural plot. It is still just Will that is directly affected by this looming threat of the dark reflection of the world that is the Upside Down. And once again, the power of love saves the day.
But what’s interesting is there is a virus starting to spread across Hawkins. It starts infecting the crops, the pumpkin patches; more people start noticing, but still not understanding its origins, and hoping it will just “sort itself out” or somebody else will “take care of it.” Enter Hopper and Dr. Owens who try to make sense of, find a way to treat, and attempt to contain the virus.
In the eighties, the Reagan administration, up until this point - 1984, had still refused to make a public address about the exponential progression of the HIV/AIDS crisis. It is still not taken seriously and, in many cases, it’s irresponsibly treated as a joke and with palpable homophobia.
In fact, Reagan would as much rather focus on funding and fuelling the Cold War. Interesting, like how the Russian subplot in Stranger Things has a place or reference in every season, that takes focus away from the supernatural plot – the real looming threat – happening right under their noses.
In season three, we know Billy becomes the third host for the Mind Flayer. In a previous analysis, I interpret Billy as another repressed queer character in the show, who also experiences abuse, and is therefore targeted by the Mind Flayer, like Henry and Will before him. Billy is especially shown as a promiscuous character, on his way to a hook up (with Karen) no less. On the surface, it does seem like another more on the nose attack. But what’s more interesting is that the Mind Flayer leaves Will alone for the most part this season. Our only canonically gay male character is not the one affected this season, but it starts infecting the Town of Hawkins at large in that one fateful summer 1985.
Up until this point, the Reagan administration largely ignored concerns and dismissed questions regarding the HIV/AIDS crisis. Up until this point, the Reagan administration and public at large still considered this as a virus that only affected “gay men, (and sex workers, drug users, and inmates)”, so why should they care?
So, what changed in the summer of 1985?
It became clear that HIV/AIDS was not a “gay disease”; it is, at this point, undeniably, indisputably affecting children, and heterosexual women and men. Not only that, a close personal friend of Ronald Reagan, Rock Hudson, disclosed his AIDS diagnosis in the summer of 1985. He became one of the first major celebrities or public figures to do so. In July 1985, Rock Hudson appeared in an interview with Doris Day, where his changed and emaciated appearance due to AIDS sparked widespread exposure and conversation about the severity and reality of the virus and the epidemic. His appearance in the interview was broadcast repeatedly across national news media outlets for the next several days.
Rock Hudson’s diagnosis and public appearances following marked a turning point with how Ronald Reagan and much of the general public in the United States viewed AIDS. It was at this point, after the summer of 1985 (!) Reagan finally seriously publicly acknowledged the crisis, and when policies and funding began to somewhat reflect that.
And if you recall, in July 1985 in season three of Stranger Things, it’s clear that the supernatural threat looming over Hawkins, the dark reflection of our world, is now on their front doorsteps. It is now affecting the town as a whole – there is no denying it anymore, also in a season with a focus on dirty and corrupt politicians, no less.
By 1986, HIV/AIDS is now rightfully recognized as a national crisis. It is now clearly a threat to anyone, and thus moral panic is at an all time high. People don’t want to make sense of it and therefore start pointing the finger to continue to place blame on the “outcasts” and the “freaks”. And is it any wonder, then, why the satanic panic plot takes such a natural place in season four. By the late eighties, satanic panic was at its peak.
And by season four, the supernatural plot of Stranger Things is carried out by a character with the initials HIV, no less. Henry – 1 – Vecna. He starts coming after the teenagers of Hawkins. The Henry – 1 – Vecna connection is one that I believe has to be intentional. These analyses - here and here - of mine go into more detail. But to name a couple examples that should be evidence enough:
One: in season four, El (who I also believe is meant to represent queer love, in a way) is made to feel like she is a monster and she believes she is the one who killed the kids in the Rainbow room, but it was actually Henry – 1 – Vecna. But it wasn’t even him entirely either. Remember Vecna is misunderstood as per Noah’s own words. More importantly, it was the government lab that failed to protect the kids and refused to understand Henry – 1 – Vecna as anything more than a monster.
Two: in season five, the Mind Flayer (as Kali) convinces El that she has no choice but to end herself, because essentially, she says the world will be better and restored to order without her, and for that matter, anybody that has Henry’s blood.
And here’s the thing about Henry – 1 – Vecna; he is misunderstood. Noah says it himself in that one interview and it’s as if he just spoiled the biggest thing in the show. Nobody took Henry – 1 – Vecna seriously, they overlooked him and nobody tried to understand him, and that is why he was able to kill so many people. That sounds awfully like the government’s response to the HIV virus, doesn’t it?
Between 1985 and 1986, after Reagan finally acknowledged the crisis for what it was, he was still reluctant to address it publicly. He finally made a public address in 1987, seemingly and rightfully taking it seriously, explaining plans for funding, and asking the public to do more testing.
They originally did not take it seriously, made it out like a joke rooted in homophobia because it was “only affecting gay men” (s1 & s2). They finally acknowledged it as a crisis in summer 1985 when it was clear it was beginning to affect the general public, including those close to the people in power (s3). And by 1986, it was rightfully declared a national crisis, moral panic rises, and we are shown the repercussions of overlooking and not taking the time to understand HIV for as long as they did; the reason it was able to kill so many people and why the government (lab) should be to blame (s4). But even still, requests for funding by doctors at the CDC were repeatedly denied and the Reagan administration largely ignored and underfunded the AIDS crisis as a whole, leaving most of the work and responsibility to advocacy groups. And speaking of advocacy groups…
Why would the Duffer Brothers even care to tell this story?
If you are asking yourself that, I totally understand. But I implore you to take a look at this post; it is proof that the Duffer Brothers are personally linked to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the eighties and more proof, to me, that the false ending was absolutely a commentary on queer erasure.
I wanted to also take the time to write up what I’ve noticed is touched upon in the show that hints at race relations in the United States at the time, as I’m currently doing a re-watch with a focus on Lucas.
I will say, unlike the Duffers experience of likely growing up with some education regarding the true horror of the HIV/AIDS epidemic from their personal link to it, I can’t say for sure if they have any such personal link that would hint at race relations in the same vein. There isn’t a world where they would know first hand what it’s like to be Black in the United States in the eighties obviously. So, to address it in as much of a fully fledged subtextual way like they did the AIDS epidemic, would seem out of their depth, in my opinion, and maybe it’s out of my depth to comment on it, too. But I believe they still address race relations in the United States with Lucas’ storyline on a number of occasions.
Like with the AIDS crisis breakdown I explained above, I do think Lucas’ story in relation to the racism he would inevitably face, is handled with care and nuance, through subtext and implications, as well as any two white writers could implement such themes into the show. Again, there are a few instances they do this that are profoundly in the subtext, you really have to read between the lines and know your history to get it, but I believe it’s there.
On a personal note, my mother and I are Anishanaabe – Ojibwa. My mother was a child of the Sixties Scoop and her mother and two brothers were put in Residential Schools. If you don’t know what those mean, I get it, it’s a dark part of history that people would rather bury and keep hidden. But I implore you to do research and know your history on your own terms. My mother was miraculously reunited with her birth mother in the late nineties, right before I was born. (:
I am used to my stories going untold or not being told responsibly. I plan on telling them myself. And if this show has taught me anything, I plan to tell those stories with nuance and care, through subtext and implications, so they are much more accessible and palatable to a wider audience, still in a way I can get my message across. But all that to say, I take race relations and history seriously and I think that’s why I was able to pick up on some of the subtleties around Lucas’ story.
When the Black Lives Matter movement was ongoing in 2020, I did my due diligence and felt a certain responsibility to research the history of race relations - policing, the disproportionate incarceration and military drafting and deployment of Black Americans, and the War on Drugs.
In the seventies, less than six years after the Civil Right Act passed (1964) and two years after Stonewall (1969), Richard Nixon began the War on Drugs (1971). The War on Drugs was an effort to essentially target anti-war leftists aka hippies for weed and psychedelics, LGBTQ+ for party drugs, and most predominantly Black Americans for opiates and crack. Then, in the eighties, the Reagan administration doubled down and added more fuel to the War on Drugs fire. The Reagan administration was in suspicious cahoots with the drug cartel (in Venezuela, iirc). It is believed that they likely intentionally planted drugs and guns in Black and poor communities in the United States, prompting a mass incarceration of Black Americans.
All I will say is I’m glad they made Officer Powell chief of police in Hopper’s absence. Realistically, I would otherwise fear for Lucas in s4 as he’s associated with not only Hellfire Club which was believed to be a cult, but associated with a known drug dealer as well, Eddie. Also, in s4, it’s Lucas that gets an in with the popular kids, the jocks. I don’t think that’s just because Lucas is the most athletic and coordinated of the bunch, so he would obviously get the sports star storyline. Even though they hate high school and seemingly still get bullied, it’s easy for Mike and Dustin specifically to brush it off and not care about being popular, in fact, it’s white privilege.
For many young Black men, becoming sports stars in high school with the hopes of sports scholarships and stardom in college (and beyond) is seen as literally a “get out of jail free card”. I believe Kendrick Lamar and JID rap about this frequently, that young Black men are overlooked and criminalized, unless they are otherwise playing for our favourite sports teams.
With the War on Drugs ongoing and after the fallout of the Vietnam War, racial tensions were really at an all time high in the seventies. Reagan’s administration not only double downed on the War on Drugs, Ronald Reagan opposed the establishment of Martin Luther King Jr. Day as well. And let’s talk about the Vietnam War, because this is what set off the alarm bells to do this very breakdown of race relations in this already political post.
Within the first few episodes of the entire show, it is revealed to us that Lucas’ father served in the Vietnam War. In 1x03, as the party is unpacking their supplies to go monster hunting and find the gate, Lucas shows the boys what he has in his pack. Lucas shows his supplies and says, “Binoculars from ‘Nam”, and in case you missed it the first time, he has something else, “Army knife from ‘Nam”.
What’s interesting is nobody else is ever implied to have served in the Vietnam War, it’s only Lucas’ father, and from the very beginning this is established. (It’s revealed to us much later, in season four, that Hopper also served in the war, but I digress. So, Hopper and Charles Sinclair are still our only two direct references to the war.) It’s easy to miss the implication here if you don’t know the dark history of the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War lasted until 1975; it is another tie in with the Cold War with the two taking focus away from the ongoing domestic issues in the United States. The Reagan and Nixon administration, in this case, were both more focused on funding, fuelling, and winning wars overseas over the horrors of the AIDS crisis and racial tensions escalating right in their very backyard. North Vietnam was supported by communist nations, especially the Soviet Union and China, and South Vietnam was supported by the United States. Notoriously, the American soldiers in the Vietnam War were absolutely disproportionately Black Americans.
Despite Black Americans making up only a little over 10% of the population of the United States, they made up for nearly 20% of all draftees and were absolutely more likely to be drafted than white Americans. And despite over 300,000 Black Americans serving in the war, only twenty-two of those draftees were awarded with medals of honor. Black Americans in the Vietnam War were more often than not assigned to combat units and especially on the front lines, meaning a higher casualty rate than white Americans serving.
So, when one of the first things we learn about Lucas’ backstory and family history being one of a reveal that his father served in Vietnam, when that applies to nobody else that we know of (besides Hopper seasons later), I can’t help but think there is some kind of commentary they are trying to imply there.
And much like the homophobic slurs used by bullies and abusers hinting at the bigger picture of the AIDS crisis and queer commentary, Lucas has his own instances of obvious, textual evidence of the racism he surely faces. The bullies in season one make comments about Lucas' skin tone, and his storyline with Billy in season two. Caleb is a great actor. The nuances of Lucas' storyline in season four when he is pleading with Mike and Dustin; why he wants to get in with the jocks, it goes beyond "wanting to be popular" for Lucas and I think Caleb definitely conveys Lucas' motivations with that context in mind.
I believe Stranger Things doesn’t shy away from addressing politics, but with nuance and care, in the subtext and with its implications, meaning making its message more accessible and palatable to a wider audience. They do it in a way that you sometimes really have to read between the lines and know your history to see what they are implying, what they are planting in the subtext.
And that is the whole point of film storytelling. The true meaning of the story is meant to be planted in the subtext, this is the whole essence of film. It's planting ideas, implications, nuances, in the subtext until you reveal them at the end, the bigger picture, if you will. Film is a sequence of pictures paired with dialogue, neither of them complete and tell the full story without the other, but paired together form the "bigger picture" of the complete scene.
Film storytelling is having a deeper meaning, a profound message that will resonate with its audience. It's something that does not reveal itself without its audience putting some work in first; a deeper meaning that isn't presented perfectly on a silver platter. Film puts trust in the intellect of its consumer to put the pieces together, to pick up on the subtext, for it to then be somewhat revealed at the end to then leave its audience thinking on its message. What is it really about? That is a good story.
As any important media that has stood the test of time, it makes a commentary, it makes an impact, it leaves a legacy, because it makes people think, or better yet, rethink everything. There's a great quote from David Foster Wallace that goes, "good fiction's job is to comfort the disturbed, and to disturb the comfortable". And, yes, media is political, it's always political. What that means for Stranger Things? I truly hope it means the story is not over because otherwise it would not be a good one considering its "ending."
I still believe this story is not over and, in fact, it is that of an expose and critique of the eighties decade. A sci-fi - fantasy - horror retelling of the HIV/AIDS crisis. How the queer community as a whole, and anybody deemed different, were disregarded, discarded and mistreated. And, hopefully, it will be somewhat of a retcon in which queer love and compassion actually save the world in this case (because it is also very much a story of breaking cycles - but more on that particular theme in my next post.)
I will leave you with this post by Mr. Clarke himself:
annaxmalina
romaincrisis
janainaart
izzy806
yousharknotpass
origamiaround
