Why was I grumpy after watching the finale of Stranger Things?

With spoilers and all, if anyone still needs a warning.

All the way to somewhere in the last episode of the last season I adored the series. I loved the friendships, their problems, the loyalty, the fun and the fear. Early seasons’ horror elements carried me through some of the saddest times of my life. The quirky characters felt more realistic than almost anything on screen entertainment. The lure of finding your non-mainstream teenage self was swam quite glaringly, yet worked on me full well.

Family dynamics with siblings and the balance between male and female parents felt exactly the same as in well known 1980’s teenage movies. The population in Hawkins felt true, however, with the realistic proportions of gay kids, black teens and disabled main characters. Females and males that we learned to know during the five seasons were depicted as individuals.

Why then, was the big bad power behind all other baddies a female spider with a vagina-like opening? Why was that vagina-like opening staring at our young heroes in such a threatening way? It felt absolutely kitsch, or rather a vary bad freudian joke. To underlie the monster’s femininity we see a group of eggs under its belly. This, of course, probably is another alien reference. Also, it had an alien-like head on top.

Watching the finale I could still live with the spider being the final boss. What really made me disappointed was the lab ward with pregnant women imprisoned. Maybe it’s understandable that a character just runs past them without trying to help if they are hunted by the military themselves. What is shocking, is that the improsoned women are only mentioned once in passing after that. When the plans to destroy the lab is concocted, these young women or their fetuses are not discussed. When the lab is blown up they are not remembered. This happens from one episode to another. You would think the show runners wouldn’t forget them so soon. A whole hospital ward of pregnant women are collateral damage without a mention. Just another reference to Alien. At the same time the main focus of the fifth season is rescuing 12 children from Vecna before destroying the world he created.

This is on a different level from a character sometimes behaving in misogynistic ways. Unless, of course, it is meant to show us that the whole bunch of them are misogynists at core. I don’t think the show runners meant to convey that. I believe they forgot to let a woman read the script before they started filming the last episodes. In 2025 this should not be required anymore -but is anyone really shocked it is?

When major parts of the story show females or femininity as vile or dispensable, and those parts pile up, I cant help but think the product is misogynic. This is even more interesting because it feels appropriate to interpret the five seasons of battle as psychological struggle.* For this reason I’m not bothered by whether the last battle was lengthy or arduous enough, as some other commenters have been. Dialogue and some events made it clear that the real battle was fought on a mental level.

Returning to my earlier reference to Freud: the whole thing starts to read as an unbelievably reactionary take on mothers and femininity in psychology. Again, threatening vaginas and dead pregnant ladies anyone? As i’m still walking my path through life as a woman this makes me angry. It tastes like gasoline tainted mud to eagerly await every season to then be confronted with that old trope with no development of the idea whatsoever. The cute Lord of the Rings -style epilogue didn’t answer the echo of that emptiness.

Obviously it’s humorous I was on a bad mood after watching the finale. After all i’m still alive though we all wade through sediments of misogynistic texts from birth on. In order to recuperate I did some doom scrolling, read articles about the show, ate a late night snack and proceeded to sleep 20 h. I think I’m over it mostly and can think of watching another show again yet. Maybe after writing and sharing this today.

* I will not write more about that here as I think it’s been clearly exhibited all along in the series.