Stranger Things and the Good Victim
One area that I kind of feel that this show doesn't get enough praise for is how it repeatedly takes a sledgehammer to the idea that abuse victims (especially female victims) have to be traumatised in a socially acceptable manner to remain classed as victims.
That they have to be quiet, timid, submissive and grateful, or else it's presented as their fault, and they don't deserve the audience's sympathy. Instead, the show repeatedly hammers home that "Victims are victims, and never deserve their abuse (even if it doesn't justify their other actions)", and that sometimes traumatised victims are actually loud, cynical, bitter, angry and outspoken.
And furthermore, they have every right to be that way, and people should be more sympathetic towards them.
This is a theme that the show has showcased from the start. I mean, sure, when we're introduced to El, she seems to fit the boxes, being timid and clearly vulnerable. But what I really love is just how her psychic abilities reveal is framed to the party. I mean, the scene is flat-out scary. Suddenly, this vulnerable, tiny little girl is angry, and the shot is framed to reveal to them she can move objects with her mind, to the point that you can't go against her (literally shown by Lucas being unable to open the door).
In that scene, she's suddenly no longer small and helpless. She's powerful, she’s forceful, and let's be honest, kind of terrifying.
But the beautiful thing is she's never demonised for it (sure, it leads to Lucas having understandable reservations, and importantly, he's not demonised for it either), but it never takes away from the narrative that she is still the victim and needs their help. She's never presented as being in the wrong for getting angry.
When she breaks away from them, it’s not presented as a dark sign for her character, just her being legitimately broken by her trauma and guilt, and it ends with her triumphantly coming back to save them from the bullies, which reaffirms her to them.
Joyce likewise follows a number of the same beats. The first season makes it clear that she has suffered horribly at Lonnie's hands, and she is traumatised by losing her son. Many characters react to her outspoken and forceful behaviour as if she is in the wrong. Some even try to dismiss her as a hysterical woman.
And yet Joyce never backs down. She's never presented as being in the wrong. She is a spitefire who is focused and refuses to let anyone dismiss or ignore her. Hopper's arc is him coming to realise how wrong he was to try to dismiss her concerns, with him admitting it to her. That scene in the final, where she flat-out shuts down Doctor Brenner, is just so good.
Even Jonathan qualifies. It’s clear he was abused horribly by his father and suffering at having lost his brother and having to organise his funeral at 15! And that's part of why he starts out as a bitter antisocial loner (the other, of course, being that the poor guy gives up everything for his brother and mother), but again, his criticisms are presented as having merit. Whilst not everything he does is right, and he does apologise for the mistakes, his trauma or perspective is never invalidated.
In season two, we have Nancy dealing with the trauma of her beloved friend Barbara's death and how her family are still suffering, whilst many of the people involved with covering up got away scot-free. Her breakdown at the party is painful to watch; she's everything the good victim shouldn't be. She's loud, she's drunk, and she's flat-out nasty, and clearly painful for Steve to hear.
But again, the narrative never shames or demonises her. It's Steve who admits that, despite his best efforts, he was in the wrong for dismissing her trauma, and she was fully justified to break up with him over this. Now I love Steve, and it was painful to watch him go through that, but he really was, and it says a lot about how much he's grown as a person that he came to realise that.
In the same season, we have Billy, who the show makes absolutely clear is a racist, abusive thug and a horrible person in general. And yet when we get that scene between him and his father, it's not framed as cathartic or deserved. The scene makes it absolutely clear that, as horrible a person as Billy is, he doesn't deserve to be abused either. He’s an abuser, sure. But he’s also a victim. One doesn’t cancel the other, but it also doesn’t justify the other either.
Cue season four, and whilst it's painful to watch Max push Lucas away when he's trying to reach out to her. I love the fact that, whilst it's unhealthy behaviour, once again the narrative never once demonises or shames Max for not handling her trauma in a socially acceptable way. Max still remains a strong and outspoken person.
The narrative focuses on her perspective. We get to see how broken watching her brother's death is. The whole process gets to be on display, and through Max, is always presented as the victim.
I have to admit I love the fact that they took it to the point of admitting that a part of Max flat-out wanted Billy dead, and even though it causes her so much guilt, she is never shamed or made to apologise for feeling that way. Cause yeah, Billy was a thug and an abuser, and he made her life hell. She had every reason to want him dead.
That Lucas continues to empathise and support her, and finally finds the way to do so, really says a lot about what a standup guy he truly is and how much he loves Max.
The way the lab children are treated that season really does a good job of displaying this theme. I mean, Two was a smug, brutal thug who beat an eight-year-old girl up for humiliating him, and yet his fate at Doctor Brenner's hand is still presented as torture, and a sign of just how evil and abusive Brenner really is. That scene of El watching in horror, seeing her tormentor suffer, really nails that this isn't justice.
Not all the kids were as nice as El, but they were all still Brenner's victims.
Even Vecna counts. It doesn't matter that he was evil; Brenner torturing him is still presented as abuse. In the end, El still acknowledges and empathises with what he went through, even if she rejects his nihilism and selfishness. He is a monster. But that doesn't mean it was right to make him a victim.
This season brings us to Kali (who I know was introduced in season two, but I feel she deserves her own section), cause in some way she is the most interesting exploration of the idea that just cause your not a good, socially acceptable victim, it doesn't change the fact that you are still a victim.
One thing I love is when we're introduced to her in season two, whilst her crusade is depicted in a negative light, they never invalidate Kali's trauma or suggest she is as bad as the people who hurt her (which a lot of other shows would have done, and I was worried that was the direction they were heading). It is an unhealthy coping mechanism that is doing nothing to help her or get justice for what she suffered, sure. But whilst El breaks away to save those she loves, rather than staying with Kali, it still ends with that shot of her in the van looking miserable as she reflects on all she has suffered and how once again she's been left by her beloved sister.
Cue season five, and now it's even more on display. In between seasons, Kali had been captured by Doctor Kay and had her friends murdered before her eyes. Was tortured, experimented on, farmed for her blood and discovers that she is literally being used as an instrument to inflict more suffering on other innocent people.
And Kali is perhaps the least socially acceptable victim of them all in the entire show. She's bitter, outspoken and very, very angry. She tells El the harsh truths she doesn’t want to hear and even lashes out at some of our more sympathetic characters. And the thing is, whilst she might not be right, the narrative still presents her as being absolutely justified in feeling that way.
Whilst it's clear she is still on a dark path towards suicide, it's not framed as anything other than an understandable reaction to everything she has suffered and a completely justified belief that the pain will never stop unless she chooses to end it.
It's painful, it's dirty, but it's honest, and it's still sympathetic. Kali still remains the victim.
So if there is one takeaway you can take from this beautiful show, it's that victims will always be victims and no matter what they do, their suffering was never justified, even if their trauma doesn't absolve what else they go on to do.
And if at this point you still think it's going to end with the message "if you're a traumatised victim, you're the problem and should kill yourself", I kind of feel you weren't paying attention.
