[ SECRET POST #4051 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4051 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 30 secrets from Secret Submission Post #580.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

I liked Stranger Things, but something felt a little... off and uncomfortable with how Will is being portrayed. Like, in a way that seems gross in a bad way.

I just finished the second season, and Will being a victim again was, well, whatever. Fine. But all those scenes with him tied up and only wearing a flimsy short hospital gown, and what felt like several shots creeping up his bare legs were pretty unnecessary. Why exactly couldn't they have put pants on that kid, at least when they got back from the hospital (especially when they were allegedly trying to "burn out the demon" - they didn't think to put some damn clothes on him, and instead turn up radiators to make him super sweaty and hardly dressed?

This alone probably wouldn't have put off any warning bells for me. But earlier in the season, Will is describing what happened when he got possessed, and he says something like, "I felt it, everywhere", stress on the last word, in a way that felt deliberately to me like a metaphor for sex abuse. Especially since we basically saw a scene of the demon "entering" him, while only his face, made this line uncomfortable. I mean, demon possessions as sexual abuse metaphors are a dime a dozen so whatever. But in the first season, Will is evidently used by the monster to incubate a baby, so he was essentially impregnated and held captive.

There's been an ongoing theme of Will, a prepubescent boy, getting weirdly sexualized through his constant victimization. While I can deal with subtle hints and even appreciate the dark and subtle metaphors approached from a narrative standpoint, those sweaty pantsless bondage scenes really grossed me out.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

WAT.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

I... maybe I'm blind/innocent, but I really feel like you have to be looking at it from that angle in the first place to see all of that...

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

Nayrt but butting in to say, you not noticing something doesn't make it somehow not intentionally subtextual. A lot of narrative subtext works whether or not the audience notices it, so I've always found the "It's only you looking for it!" knee-jerk rebuttal pretty ridiculous.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

Lol! Not even a little bit.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, I'm gonna agree with everyone else on this one. Will's victimization didn't come across as sexual at all to me. The way you're describing it feels like you're viewing it through a very particular lens that you brought to the text, not one inherent to the text.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[cbrachyrhynchos]

I get the metaphor for sex abuse, largely because it seems like every other horror story since The Exorcist has gone there. I didn't see him as sexualized as a result.

Re: Stranger Things spoilers

[(Anonymous)]

I'm with everyone else that I didn't really see it to that extent, but I will grant that the poor kid spent a lot of time in s2 with no pants. I just think it was more to drive up the sickness/extreme danger imagery, rather than sex abuse, though I will also agree that the thing going into his face shot was super alarming.