Stranger Things Gives My Kids The Perfect Power
They should always know someone is ready to believe them.
Stranger Things and its nostalgia-fueled (and nightmarish) romp through childhood has deeply affected us all. For some, it’s a reminder of ‘80s childhoods when everything felt possible. For others, it reflects the kind of childhoods we want our children to have — where everything still feels possible.
And I don’t mean “everything” like demogorgons and demo-bats and upside-down worlds controlled by a murdering, out-of-this-world psychotic creature.
When my oldest daughter asked if she could watch Stranger Things, I was worried she’d find it too scary or too intense. What I wasn’t expecting was for her to see so much power in Stranger Things — the kind of power I want her and her sisters to always possess. The power to not only trust yourself, but to be trusted by others. To be believed.
It’s not just that Stranger Things features smart, insightful, independent kids. It’s that it also features kids with supportive villages and environments to help them grow into their smart, insightful, independent selves. These kids are believed. Like, what a gift. To grow up in a world where those around you not only support your wacky ideas, but believe you? It’s the dream.
It’s something I hope my own daughters take away from watching the show: that they are capable, that they are smart, that they are intuitive... and that there will always be an army of us surrounding them, believing them. That they never have to feel alone or burdened by the things they know and believe.
Throughout the series, we watch scene after scene of the kids explaining to others what’s happening — there’s another dimension of our world, there’s a mind flayer hellbent on taking over our town, kids are being ripped to pieces by a supernatural being you can’t see — and maybe having to fight a little to be heard, but not much. It’s not just that their village of older siblings and parents and teachers believe them, their support people also believe in them.
Stranger Things isn’t a story where kids raise the alarm and are then shoved aside so the adults can handle it. Stranger Things is about what happens when you are believed not only for what you’ve experienced, but for your ideas and solutions to fix it, too.
They have to push a little bit, of course. Hopper doesn’t want the kids in the way. Nancy doesn’t want Mike to have one of her guns. Joyce doesn’t want Will to be used as Vecna bait. But eventually, everyone has to trust these kids. They have to trust that Lucas can get Max to safety and out of her coma. They have to trust that Dustin can create a satellite system to track everyone. They have to trust that El can kill Vecna.
Even in lower stakes, belief surrounds everything in Stranger Things. Robin, Steve, Jonathan, and Nancy believe and trust that their friendship will last through adulthood and all the changes to come. Hopper believes he can find happiness again. Will believes that his love for El surpasses all dimensions.
In the show’s most intense moments, when it feels like all hope is lost, somebody plants a seed of belief. Lucas believes Max will live. Dustin believes Eddie’s death wasn’t in vain. Karen Wheeler believes she can fight for her kids.
And we, the audience, get to believe, too.
It’s something everybody wants — to be believed. And from Season 1, when Mike, Lucas, and Dustin refuse to accept that Will is gone forever, to the end of Season 5, when they all sit in Mike’s basement and proudly proclaim, “I believe” to the idea that El is still out there somewhere, Stranger Things gives all of us that power. We are allowed to say what we truly think and feel, and trust that someone out there will believe us. We are allowed to expect others to trust us because we are smart and capable and strong. We are allowed to believe in ourselves so fiercely — and to be so loud about that belief — that it makes others believe in us, too.
Even as the series ended, in a battle that many online have said was “too fast” or “too unrealistic,” all I could think about was how deeply I believed that moment. In any piece of entertainment, you have to suspend belief for a story to move forward, but in Stranger Things, it all made complete sense to me. It made sense that they would defeat Vecna once they had him in their trap. It made sense that Joyce, with all of her mother rage, would be the one to chop off his head. It made sense that everyone would live through the adventure.
Stranger Things is full of impactful moments for everyone watching, but for my girls? I hope they find the power of belief.
