How Stranger Things Gives Its Female Characters An Equal Chance To Shine

When Stranger Things debuted on OTT in 2016, a lot of us women viewers thought that this Sci-Fi show will be all about bromance. Four childhood friends in the 80s, hooked to a board game about role play, then searching for a lost BFF with the help of a girl with superhuman powers- it had boys bonding written all over it. But with each subsequent season, Stranger Things has not only managed to add more key female characters to its original roster, it has also managed to flesh them out well too. Apart from the central character of Eleven, many women are integral to the show's narrative now and we are not complaining.

Stranger Things came out with Volume 2 of its fourth season recently. As it was with its previous two seasons, the story unfolds in different directions, with characters spread across Hawkins, Lenora Hills and Russia dealing with different sets of problems. Eleven has lost her special powers and is now living with Will and his mother Joyce and his elder sibling Jonathan in Lenora Hills. She is being bullied at school, misses her adoptive father Jim Hopper and lies about leading a happy and happening life to her boyfriend Mike.

Back home in Hawkins, our original boy gang is suffering from some cracks too. Mike and Dustin are now part of a nerd group obsessed with Dungeons & Dragons called Hellfire Club, led by the enigmatic Eddie Munson. Lucas, on the other hand, is seeking greener pastures in high school, trying to secure a place in the school's cool basketball team gang. He is not only alienated from his friends but from Max as well, who has dumped him and still seems to be having trouble coping with the death of her step-brother Billy (in season 3).

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven.

Meanwhile, Mike's older sister Joyce is going through a rough patch in her relationship with Jonathan and it only gets complicated with the re-entry of her former boyfriend Steve into her life while she investigates the mysterious and gruesome deaths of high school students in Hawkins. These deaths connect our characters together, and are being orchestrated by Vecna from the upside-down world, who has a special connection with Eleven.

The evolution of female characters in Stranger Things

In season one of the web series, there were two primary female characters on the show- Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), a gifted girl who arrives in Hawkins after escaping a research facility and Joyce (Winona Ryder, leading the credit roll for the series)- a single parent desperately searching for her missing son Will. Mike's sister Nancy's role(played by Natalia Dyer) focused mainly on her developing relationships with Steve and Jonathan. In fact, viewers didn't hold her in high regards for the way she treats her best friend Barb who eventually dies. Many might argue that Nancy was a main character in season one, as she investigates Barb's disappearance, however, other viewers feel that the Miss Wheeler's part sees an upward graph from the follow up season.

Sadie Sink as Max

In season 2, we are introduced to Max Mayfield (Sadie Sink), a no-fuss skateboarder who befriends Mike, Will, Lucas and Dustin. There is also Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson), Lucas' younger sister who is too smart for her own good. Both Max and Erica eventually get bigger roles in season 3 of the show, which also features Robin (Maya Hawke), a friend of Steve who will end up investigating suspicious activities at the mall where they work together. We are also introduced to Dustin's new girlfriend Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo)- an ace hacker who also gets to play a crucial role in the latest season of the show.

While no new female characters are added to the mix in"> season 4, we see each of the abovementioned girls have their own moments that define the series. Max is being targeted by Vecna and ends up exploring his lair in the Upside Down. The song that Max listens too, in order to evade Vecna, Kate Bush's Running up that Hill is now on top of the music charts, despite being originally released in the 1985. This is enough to tell you how crucial Max's role and story arc is to this season of the Sci Fi show.

Meanwhile, Joyce ends up in Russia after receiving a package that informs her that Hopper is alive and Nancy teams up with Robin to unearth Vecna's past. The two also go to Upside Down- first to save Steve and then in a bid kill Vecna, not simply leaving the task up to the boys.

More courage less sexualisation

The women and girls in Stranger Things are brave and inquisitive. They ask the right questions, they are not afraid of otherworldly creatures and they jump right into the trouble, instead of running away from it. It is refreshing to see a series set in the 80s where women and girls are shown fighting monsters, playing fantasy board games, hacking into government database, sneaking into asylums in search of clues and don't lose their bearing when confronted with blood, gore and creepy crawly creatures.

As the series now goes into its final phase, with its fi season to be released in 2024, one can only hope that the show will build further on what it has devised so far, giving the girls of Stranger Things one last hoorah as they stand shoulder to shoulder with the boys.

Views expressed are the author's own.