Nostalgia for a whiter America

Stranger Things Season 1 – 3

I’ve yet to read someone pointing out the nostalgia for the kind of work and economy that was still possible in the 80s in the Stranger Things series. The Winona Ryder character is a single mom who is able to provide for her two sons just by working at a small-town general merchandise store. She’s able to ask for a few weeks off and she even gets the advance that she demands. This is something to keep in mind since series traffics in nostalgic objects in the form of toys and other goods, such as the Halloween costume the Ryder character is shown to be putting together. (Does this mean that the other kids got their costumes off the rack?) Also, most of the stuff that these people have, from small to big appliances, automobiles, and clothes, were most likely made in the US. I keep wondering if the nostalgia isn’t just in the remixing of various 80s movies and music, but also this longing for an economy that has long disappeared. (An amusing detail in the second season is finding out where one of the characters works: at then popular and iconic Radio Shack which is no longer in business.) Are the horrific threats in the show manifestation of the fear and dread of this disappearing economy? Isn’t the Upside Down’s alternate world the anxiety of outsourcing what is “good” to the Third World? (October 2017)

My biggest issue with Stranger Things has always been its nostalgic lure. By setting the show in the 80s and the Midwest, it effectively seals itself, in terms of representation, to a pure and coded as innocent whiteness. Sure, there are black characters in the show, but they aren’t referred to as racially even if their portrayal still fall into stereotypes. The black friend in the show is so underwritten because the show runners don’t know what to do with him in fear of being called out racists, which is kind of racist this half-baked approach to a clearly racialized looking character; instead, the show runners have expanded the role of the guy’s sister who is so precocious, funny, and sassy—a child version of the sassy black woman. The kid is also a champion of capitalism, which, if you think about it, has been the least beneficial to black women in particular despite promises of endless ice cream. If the show already falters with its two black characters, how can we expect any Asian, Latino, or Middle Eastern faces? They don’t want us that is why they’ve set the show in that place of idyllic imaginary America. They can tolerate Russians, however catastrophic their intentions are, because, you know, they are still white.

This season’s monster is so devoid of personality and is a rehash of previously existing things, including the past seasons of the show. The real villain turns out to be toxic (white male) masculinity. Show explores how familial violence and physical abuse engenders the same behavior towards its victims as they become victimizers themselves. Since the show won’t touch on race, racism and white supremacy are the missing elements from this equation. The manner the show explores toxic masculinity is done sensitively and it can also be troublesome as violence is understood only as a personal and familial experiences. There is no attempt at linking it to colonial violence (the show was released on 4th of July) and slavery, meaning to say culturally and nationally. The embodiment of toxic masculinity is accorded with horror and sympathy that makes for interesting and uncomfortable viewing. Because the show is sealed from racial matters, it is free to represent the white male figure who embodies masculine toxicity in a sympathetic light. I guess what I’m saying is that once again white trauma is privileged at the expense of other traumas. For instance, where is the trauma of that period? Central Americans? AIDS victims? The rest of the world? The show seals itself within the confines of the consumerism/mall where supposedly one can find clothes that matches your personality. Or find comic books with female heroes…written by white guys. Season 3 is a lot more fun than the last one if you don’t think too much about actual things. (July 2019)

#2017 #2019