Season Analysis

Stranger Things

Season 1 Analysis

Season Woke Score

out of 10

Season Overview

Strange things are afoot in Hawkins, Indiana, where a young boy's sudden disappearance unearths a young girl with otherworldly powers.

Season Review

Season 1 of Stranger Things is an exercise in 1980s nostalgia centered on universal themes of childhood friendship, family loyalty, and courage. The primary conflict pits the main characters against a non-human, otherworldly monster and a corrupt, secretive government organization. The narrative judges characters based on their bravery and resourcefulness, regardless of their gender or background. The small-town setting of Hawkins, Indiana, is framed as an innocent community threatened by external forces. Female characters like the mother, Joyce Byers, and the psychically-gifted child, Eleven, are immensely powerful and act as saviors, though Joyce's strength is rooted in maternal love. The plot contains virtually no explicit identity politics, sexual ideology, or direct commentary on religion, maintaining a focus on a classical good-versus-evil battle.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The children's group is multi-racial with Lucas Sinclair's presence, but the story is focused entirely on the character's merit, skill, and loyalty, not on their immutable characteristics. White males like Mike and Dustin are portrayed as intelligent and courageous leaders. The narrative contains no lecturing on privilege or systemic oppression based on race.

Oikophobia2/10

The town of Hawkins is presented as a stable, innocent American community. The narrative centers on defending this home, its families, and its social bonds from an external, metaphysical evil (the Upside Down) and a rogue, secret government institution. There is no deconstruction of local heritage or hostility toward the home culture.

Feminism3/10

Female characters drive the plot: Eleven is the super-powered child savior, Joyce Byers is the single mother whose fierce maternal instinct is the primary catalyst for the investigation, and Nancy Wheeler demonstrates resourcefulness and bravery by hunting the monster. This competency slightly raises the score. However, Joyce's heroism is rooted in celebrated motherhood, and male characters like Jim Hopper and Mike are also effective and heroic, preventing high scores for emasculation or anti-natalism.

LGBTQ+1/10

The primary focus remains on traditional male-female pairings and the nuclear family unit (even if broken, as with the Byers). The only reference to an alternative sexuality is a character recounting a homophobic slur used against the missing boy Will, a line which is immediately dismissed by the mother who insists Will's being missing is the only thing that matters. There is no centering of sexual identity or political lecturing.

Anti-Theism2/10

The series is secular, but it does not vilify religion. The supernatural threat is purely physical and scientific in its origin (a government experiment gone wrong). The conflict is a moral one between objective good (protecting the innocent) and objective evil (the Demogorgon and the corrupt scientists), a structure that acknowledges a higher moral law, despite the lack of religious imagery.