a place for my stranger things hyperfixation

my latest hyperfixation is stranger things, so here is a side blog for any of my random thoughts and ramblings about it

[timeisstrange-thingsarestranger]

If I had a nickel for every time Joe Keery played a main/major character in something that also had a slightly creepy minor/side character named Keith played by Matty Cardarople, I would have two nickels.

Which isn't much, but it's weird that it happened twice.

[timeisstrange-thingsarestranger]

"Steve would be the mom friend who tells the kids to stop swearing" this

"Steve wouldn't tell the kids to stop swearing because he's a teenage guy who has sworn in front of them" that

I raise you

Steve would tell the kids to stop swearing, but in the "Language, I don't need your parents blaming me when you little shits don't know when to stop fucking swearing." way.

[timeisstrange-thingsarestranger]

I hate when people write Nancy as the person who knows what she's doing with first aid. I see it in so many fics that Nancy is the first choice for patching up injuries, that she knows exactly what to do, I've even seen fics where she gives Steve and Eddie stitches, which are not included in your standard first aid course, and sewing skin would be very different from sewing fabric.

We are shown Nancy doing anything with first aid twice. Once in s3, once in s4. In s4 all she does is wrap Steve's wounds with pieces of ripped-up clothing, which is about the limit on what anyone could do considering they were in the Upside Down. But in s3, we see her starting to deal with El's leg wound, but having to be corrected by Max for proper wound care because she was doing it wrong.

Realistically, could she have taken a first aid course, or at least done some research on it between seasons 3 and 4? Sure. But we're not told whether or not that happened, and I think I would lean toward her not doing that. Because I don't feel like that is a part of her character, she's more of the push forward, investigate, ask questions sort of person rather than that sort of caring type of person.

It would make more sense to have Max or Steve being the ones to administer first aid. Max, because she is shown to have an understanding of basic first aid, because she administers it to herself when she gets injured on her skateboard. And Steve would be the better choice, because he was a certified lifeguard, and to become a lifeguard he would have had to have first aid training.

Nancy is a strong, intelligent character with a lot of knowledge, but the first aid thing isn't something that would play to her strengths, and I feel like it is better left to others.

And this isn't anything against Nancy, just an observation and my opinion about something I keep seeing in fics.

[timeisstrange-thingsarestranger]

One thing that I've been having a lot of thoughts about how wealth is considered with the stranger things characters in fandom space. Like a lot of fics seem to portray Steve as really rich and everyone else as really poor which just isn't true in canon.

Yes, Steve is shown from early in s1 to come from a rich family. He lives in a big house with a pool, he drives a 1983 BMW 733i, which from my research initially retailed for a little over $34,000 when it first launched. And that is an insanely expensive car for a teenager to be driving around (in today's money that is the equivalent of around $102,000-calculated using in2013dollars inflation calculator). And in s2, his father is implied to own a company. I personally feel Steve was written as rich to be the contrast to Jonathan in a rich asshole vs poor nice guy way (but that's a whole other post, and Jonathan wasn't really a nice guy in s1 because those photos). And after s2 Steve's wealth isn't really mentioned other than seeing his car.

And yes there are characters that are poor. We are always shown that the Byers are poor, especially with the house, the clothes and the cars. We are told that Max comes from a poor family in s2, and shown the drop into poverty in s4 with moving into the trailer and her mom working two jobs. We are shown that Eddie is poor with him living in a trailer with his uncle. And in s4 we are told that Robin considers herself poor (over the driving- she says she doesn't have a licence because she is poor).

We're never really shown or told much about Dustin's financial situation, but it appears to be better than that of the Byers, and of Max.

But we are told that the Wheelers are well off. It's implied early on because of the size of the house and how nice it is, but in s3 Jonathan says that Mr Wheeler "earns 6 figures." And from that, they are at a minimum Upper Middle Class. I can't find figures from the 80's but in 2005 $100,000 was considered the lower threshold for upper middle class. So they are anything but struggling. But I see in fanfics a lot, especially surrounding Nancy and the older teens, Mike and Nancy are written as if they are facing financial insecurity. As if they, alongside the others, have to rely on Steve to provide for them when they're hanging out as a group and to pay for all the fun stuff.

And the Sinclairs it's kinda the same as the Wheelers. We're not told as much about their situation, but we're told in s1 that they live in the same neighborhood as the Wheelers, and their house is shown to be a decent size and it's a nice house as well. So they are also implied to be comfortable financially.

I don't know, I guess I'm just tired of seeing the same trope in fics where everyone is acting like they have no money and need Steve to cover them, despite canon showing two of the families be quite well off.