"Don't be a hero" — how Stranger Things betrayed itself
What was meant to be a show about hope and being Different was turned into a sensational piece. And not one where everything ended beautifully, but one where that Difference was either punished or brushed off. Here's a few examples:
1 - Kali
Kali was a fan favorite character when she was first introduced. A sister to El, and one that refused to conform as well. In that sense, she was another version of what the show was meant to embody. In her case, the nonconformists and punks. When she came back in volume 2, many viewers didn't like her anymore: her 'nagging' insistence on calling El Jane (one that I understand, but personally don't completely agree with), and what seemed a general distrust of anyone else were bad enough, but when she proposed she and El kill themselves, many people really didn't like that. And of course they didn't. Kali and El are the most obvious representation of the Different, and having them kill themselves specifically because of that is just plain wrong.
Even ignoring that plan, though, Kali didn't have to die. Her death barely (if at all) served the plot, and it was basically only there for the shock factor. The worst part: she died just after her 'redemption'. When she finally understood the feelings of the others towards El (thanks to Hopper's monologue), she was killed of like two scenes later. That's not how you write a redemption, if that even is what it was. And she died because El and Murray were just a little too late, killed by a soldier. If that isn't a terrible analogue to how (especially her kind of) the Different are treated, I don't know what it is supposed to be.
2 - El
I've already talked a bit about El, but there's more to her. Of course, Mike's final story paints a beautiful picture of what might have happened to her, but we don't know if that is actually true. She might've actually died anyway. And that's the problem: once again, the Different is left to fend for themself. They have to pay, and not the society that hurt them. Kali literally said this: "there will be another Kay after her." The cycle will keep going. A message that, while it absolutely adds tension, goes against the whole point of the show. You're Different? Well, fuck you and go kill yourself if it got abused by a powerful asshole. That's why it feels out of character for Kali to say that, the whole point of her character is that she's a fighter, and then she's the one who proposes to run away and die? That's not how such a cycle should end. And that's not how you fight injustice. You're not a hero when you kill yourself, just so others can't abuse your Difference.
And then there is the goodbye. El tells Mike he's the only one who really understood her. Seriously, the boyfriend who's been an asshole to you for the last two seasons? The one we know only sees her as Superman, and just counts himself lucky he gets to be Lois Lane? The one who can't even write the word love for her? It's just wrong. But there's more to Mike.
3 - Mike
Mike is probably the most Normal character in this list. He seems to fit the society mold pretty well. But that's only if we look at the most surface parts of the show. If we look deeper, at a conversation with his mom, a passing remark from his dad, we see clues to something else. Something a bunch of fans, who I think sometimes might be a little insane, insist on. And I agree with them. Mike is gay. Of course, there is some power in a character who is perceived as gay actually being straight, but in the case of Mike I don't think this works. For one, Will likes him. A romance storyline is, I think, a really good option. Additionally, the nontextual clues are crazy. I'm not talking about some vague lighting in the scene where they pick up the kids, or something like that. I'm talking about Will's art hanging all over Mike's bedroom in S4. I'm talking about Ted Wheeler slamming right through Mike's closet, a scene that was so hard to film they had to come back for it later. It was so easy to make Mike realize. All the pieces were there. And yet, the Duffers, who created the pieces themselves, took a mallet and slammed them together to fit with a different picture. One that disregarded everything we saw. One that is completely unsatisfactory, except for the homophobes who now get to point and laugh at the people that fell for the biggest queerbait of the last decade. I'm not mad because I was wrong. I'm mad because of the precedent this creates. I'm mad because queerbaiting should've been left in the 2010's, because we should've grown beyond that. But even if we accept this, there's still so much wrong.
4 - Will
Will is an interesting character in this list. Although he does, in a sense, have powers, they're not innate like El's and Kali's. However much the show likes to tell us Will is a Sorcerer, the Warlock class describes him much better (not that either class existed in the edition of D&D of the time, but that's another story). He does, however, have another kind of Difference: he's gay. Now, even ignoring my issues with what happened to Byler, the final scene with Will just hurts. I'll be honest, when I first saw it it wasn't too bad. He seems to get a boyfriend, that's nice! But when you think about it, that's very little. Some nameless guy, that's all? And that's all that Will is now? I saw a proposal for a better version of this story where Will is working on an art project, and he leans back to kiss someone. Simple, but so much more powerful. He still finds love, but the focus is not just on that. But I still don't find that good enough.
5 - Byler
Yes, I know, the Bylers insisting on Byler being there. How terrible. I already gave some clues as to why Byler makes so much sense, but in this part I want to focus on the writing. How would I (as someone with no experience in film) make Byler happen?
Before 5.08, we were told the painting would show up again. Now, it's pretty clear it didn't. They could've made it more clear Will liked Mike by having him tell Mike that El didn't commission it. Now, I would understand Mike not wanting to move on from El, but let's assume that thematic error gets fixed too. El is alive, and Mike realizes he doesn't love her like that. While he's still in the middle of this (maybe talking to someone about it, like his mom to parallel their conversation in S1), Will shows up with a gift. The painting. And he tells Mike he made it of his own accord. He's already come out at this point, Mike probably knows Will liked him (actually, we basically know he did considering the scene at the tower in 5.08), so it just brings up the conversation. And then it dawns on Mike. Maybe with some flashbacks, ending with the scene where Will gets his powers, Mike realizes his feelings. I think that would be so much more satisfactory.
Conclusion
Being Different is not a flaw (El and Kali even get superpowers), but it also absolutely doesn't deserve to be abused. Stranger Things was meant to be hopeful, and tell the Different there was still a future, something to work towards and something to be hopeful about. And the only hope we get is a dumb monologue? A story that may or may not be canon? A story that, in the case of Will, reduces him to his sexuality? A story told by a guy who is probably still repressing his sexuality, who is going to spend probably the rest of his life mourning for what he lost, blaming himself. However hopeful they managed to make the ending seem, as soon as you look deeper it falls apart. How can a show meant to be analyzed like this be so thematically wrong in its final episode? I think the answer to that question is that Stranger Things lost something on the way. Where it started as an ode to those who don't fit in, it became simply another exciting story. Where it started as a carefully crafted masterpiece, it became another carelessly smashed together action show. And I don't think it's wrong for a show to only be there to entertain. But when a show says it cares about themes, when it says it has a deeper message and encourages us to dig and dig, it's dishonest to do what Stranger Things did.
