“Hunt the Freak,” Stranger Things, & HIV/AIDS
“Hunt the Freak,” Stranger Things, & HIV/AIDS
Embedded Files
By Akira Albar-Kluck
By Akira Albar-Kluck
Stranger Things has been the premier nostalgia generator of the late 2010s and early 2020s. It has revitalized a love of the 80s in a time where nostalgia is the hot ticket item. The show is a love letter to 80s pop culture and nerdom. The newest season has started to explain the Satanic Panic, and particularly its relation to Dungeons and Dragons. Choosing to talk about the Satanic Panic without talking about its relation to homophobia or the HIV/AIDS crisis is an interesting choice. The show and particularly the newest season feels like a response to nostalgia, a reminder of the dark side of the decade.
The show has always been about outcasts and people who don’t quite fit in. “Freak” has been a term in the show that has carried a lot of weight, it alludes to queerness in a lot of ways. In season 2, in the above clip, Jonathan is talking to Will, about being bullied at school. He is now being bullied for coming back to life, but in the past, it was because the other kids perceived he was gay. Will is explaining to his brother how being seen as a freak makes him insecure and Jonathan attempts to cheer him up by reminding him that difference is cool, and that “being a freak is the best.” He specifically references David Bowie, asking him if he would rather be friends with David Bowie or Kenny Rogers. This is an extremely interesting allusion to make, as David Bowie is one of the most famous queer people to have ever lived. Especially in 1985 when this episode takes place and with Jonathan’s interest in music this would probably be a fact he is aware of. Given the Byers’ background and Will’s history of homophobic abuse from his father and peers, it makes sense that Jonathan would invoke a figure like Bowie to show his brother it is okay to be different. This is one of the first uses of the term on the show and establishes a queer nature of the term.
Robin reinforces this narrative, particularly in season 4 in episode 1 with fear of being the town pariah, as well as her coming out in season 3. When Steve confesses his feelings for her, Robin separates herself from his friends and Nancy. She calls her a “priss” implying that she is stuck up and thinks she is better than everybody. While most of the characters face ostracization in some way, the show goes to great lengths to show how this fear is heightened for queer people. This is reinforced in season 4 episode 1 when Steve and Robin are discussing her crush on a fellow student Vicke. Steve is encouraging Robin to go for it, and Robin explains that she is nervous that if things don’t go well she will be “the town pariah.”
This fear of ostracization as a theme is furthered when Eddie is accused of murder. Robin warns him of the mob after him, and she is who he says that it is going to become “hunt the freak.” It is significant that the only confirmed gay character is the one with who he comments on this too. After making this comment he says “forced conformity, that’s what’s killing the kids.” This is an incredibly poignant piece of dialogue from the perspective of the cultural context of the 1980s and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The lack of response from the Reagan and Bush administrations is often seen as apathy towards gay men and a punishment from God. It is a desire for queer people to conform or die, and the line feels similar to the slogan of the ACT UP movement’s “Silence=Death.” Being silent, not talking about or acknowledging differences is “killing the kids”
Eddie is one of the clearest examples of how being an outcast goes hand in hand thematically with queerness. Steve tells Dustin he does not want to cancel his date to play Dungeons and Dragons with him and “Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson.” It establishes Eddie as the epitome of a freak, being in his nickname. Erica also calls him a “long-haired freak” when he makes fun of her age. This is an incredibly important aspect of his character. Eddie is incredibly tied to the countercultural movements of the 1980s. Metal music, Dungeons and Dragons, and nerd culture are all aspects of his character and some of the most notable alternative pop culture of the decade. An important aspect of his character is how those countercultural subcultures were persecuted by the newly Moral Majority during the Reagan Revolution. His character is heavily influenced by this history in almost every way, but especially in his costume.
The costume department on the show took great measures to maintain historical accuracy and did enormous amounts research into every single aspect of each character’s outfit. The chances of mistakes and coincidences are incredibly slim. So the fact that Eddie Munson is wearing a black bandana in his back left pocket is incredibly significant. The Hanky Code also known as “flagging” was a popular way for gay men to subtly advertise to each other that they were interested in casual sex, and the color and placement indicated the particulars of what someone was interested in doing. Starting in the 1960s and skyrocketing in the 1970’s Hanky Code and flagging became extremely common in gay bars and popular cruising locations. While flagging lost some popularity in the 1980s due to the HIV/AIDS crisis and casual sex became less popular in its wake, it was still very prevalent in gay subcultures. The level of research that the costume department did into the 1980s subcultures and fashion is truly massive. Costume designer Amy Parris breaks down each character’s costume and the inspiration behind it, and it is quite clear to see that every aspect of each character’s costume is incredibly intentional. She even points out how Robin’s costumes are meant to signify queerness, particularly the usage of triangle imagery. Another sign that she is familiar with gay culture’s imagery and symbols makes Eddie’s bandana a very poignant choice, one that connects very well to the rest of his character and the history he represents.
In the first episode he is featured in, (season 4 episode 1) he is reading from a Newsweek magazine that is representative of the attitudes of the Satanic Panic, a conservative moral panic in America in the 1980s responsible for a number of things. Most notably were the several child abuse trials over false allegations of ritualistic abuse in preschools. It is also a movement responsible for the crusade against metal music and Dungeons and Dragons. These are all things that connect extremely well to Eddie’s character as a symbol of how dangerous this movement was. The town leads what is essentially a lynch mob after him because he is a “freak.” Jason accuses him not just of murder and being a devil worshipper. It is also his role as the leader of the Hellfire Club which inspires town ire. He is seen as corrupting the children, just as he is seen as killing those other kids to sacrifice to the devil. Both of those are important aspects of understanding the moral panic of the 1980s. These ideas and this movement cannot be separated from its homophobia. Vox has a great article explaining how “grooming” is tied to homophobia and the Satanic Panic, both in the 1980s and today. One of the dangers of Dungeons and Dragons quoted in the article that Eddie is reading from is “sodomy”, right before listing suicide and murder. This moral panic over the dangers of “satan worshippers” corrupting their kids is so heavily tied to the fears of HIV/AIDS, and the ways that parents feared their kids “turning gay” and getting sick. That is part of the reason that it was listed next to suicide and murder, it is a homophobic and ridiculous connection, but it is one made because there was a belief that gay sex was a death sentence. By the end of 1986, the year this season takes place, 16,301 people have died worldwide and President Ronald Reagan has not even said the word “AIDS” yet. The response from radical conservatives was that it was a plague sent from God to kill gay men. The response from those in power was not much better, it was allowed to ravage the nation until the Reagan and Bush administrations realized this would also affect white and straight people. After a blossoming gay liberation movement of the 1970s, the HIV/AIDS epidemic hit the queer community hard. What social and political gains of the last few decades were quickly lost and queer people were ostracized in extreme ways.
The show is a nostalgia generator, taking inspiration from the cultural context of the 80s. It is most clearly inspired by children’s adventure like The Goonies, the catalog of John Hughes, and the slasher genre.The show and particularly the newest season take inspiration from horror films of that decade, particularly in Vecna’s victims. The way that the victims are both mostly innocent and still chosen specifically is reminiscent of the ways horror uses societal notions to choose victims. This is also connected to the AIDS epidemic, with Kenneth Figueroa of Wussy Magazine noting that Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge writer David Chaskin purposefully added homoerotic elements and allusions to the crisis in the hopes it would resonate with teen boys. The idea that there is a curse going around and targeting specific people is connected to the slasher genre of the time period in which it is set, but the cultural context of that genre is essential to understanding the genre.
Stranger Things goes to great lengths to discuss ostracization in the 1980s, hints towards queerness quite a bit, but only rarely discusses it outright. It is not possible to talk about moral panic or persecution without talking about how homophobia impacted that panic. The show never talks about the AIDS epidemic, there is not one mention of it. The ways that we see characters harassed throughout the show and the ways they discuss how they are outcasts leave a crucial gap in understanding the cultural context of the time period.
Sources:
Sources:
https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-early-days-america-s-aids-crisis-n919701
https://time.com/5939522/its-a-sin-history-hiv-transphobia/
https://www.vox.com/culture/23025505/leftist-groomers-homophobia-satanic-panic-explained
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/intellect/CSMF/2013/00000001/00000001/art00006
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