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Stranger Things is a show about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Aside from Eleven, the heroes of the show are a ragtag troop of tweens, teens and parents from the Midwest fighting off supernatural monsters. Amongst them are the mums, who, in my humble opinion, really deserve a special shout-out. Because not only are they taking on 9-foot-tall demogorgons, they're also fighting battles on other fronts, too: they're juggling hormonal teens, useless husbands (or ex-husbands) and a heavy dose of good old-fashioned 1980s small town America misogyny.
Joyce Byers (Winona Ryder) is the most obvious example of a badass mum. Mother to Will and Jonathan, her life is already hard enough before the Upside Down starts leaking into Hawkins. She's a single mum working long hours at a local store to provide for her sons. The boys' father is decidedly useless – especially when Will goes missing and his only interest is the potential payout. Joyce becomes convinced that Will is speaking to her through the lights in their home and begins raging around her quaint little town demanding answers and help. She is, of course, dismissed as the slightly nutty single mum who failed. It's a stereotype that the people of Hawkins are all too ready and willing to embrace.
The explosive Netflix series is coming to an end.
Watching Joyce fight not only the supernatural forces threatening her family, but also the ignorance and judgement of her humdrum neighbours makes you want to throw a fist in the air and cheer her on. In season 1, she doggedly sets up Christmas lights and finds her son. Throughout the rest of the show, she's continued to bring this steadfast, bulldog energy. She's tiny, clumsy, and looks wholly unprepared for any battle. But, of course, as a mum, she throws herself in front of her boys without a second thought.
Karen Wheeler (Cara Buono) is, in many ways, Joyce's foil. The mother of Nancy, Mike and Holly, Karen is, in many ways, a stereotypical suburban housewife, complete with lazy, clued out husband, a million plates to juggle and a bit of an afternoon wine problem. She spends her blissful free time, of which there is not that much, soaking in a bubble bath with a dirty book or ogling the hot teen lifeguard at the local pool.
In season 5, Karen, who has always been kind of unaware about the whole Upside Down of it all, is suddenly confronted by a demogorgon who is after her youngest daughter Holly. And, against all odds, she, like Joyce, suddenly transforms into a fearless warrior. She hides in the bathtub under her bubbles with her daughter, then, breaks her wine bottle and attacks the monster to keep her daughter safe. Once again, I found myself wanting to let out a riotous cheer.
While this might look like Karen's first fight, it is, of course, anything but. Because, as the show subtly implies, every mum goes through their own quiet, unrecognised battles long before they ever encounter their first demogorgon. And while they may not involve actual monsters, these fights are just as real.
For Karen, it's the fight to keep her three children and husband's lives in order. You see her balancing demands from her teen daughter, while spoon feeding her youngest, while also calmly asking her husband, Ted, for help. She's always the one to answer the door or the phone. She's always the one to ask where her damn kids actually are. She's always the one doing pretty much everything. (I will give Mr. Wheeler some credit for racing at the monster with a golf club rather than running off to leave Karen and Holly to fend for themselves.)
And, although they may have smaller roles in the show, the other mums in Stranger Things are just as powerful in their own ways. There's Max's mum, Susan (Jennifer Hargrove), a woman who finds herself married to an abusive husband and doing her best to keep him calm for the sake of her children. Later, after he leaves, we see just how much a struggle being a single mum is (and perhaps a reason why she married the guy in the first place). In season 4, Susan is living with Max in a trailer park, struggling to make ends meet and sinking into depression and addiction. Her one moment with Max, though, shows that she's trying to keep fighting for her sake. Then there's Lucas's mum, Sue (Karen Ceesay), who is also shown balancing pressures from multiple directions in her domestic scenes. When her son is being questioned by the police, she winds up fighting his corner.
Stranger Things is filled with battles – but, as the show suggests, for the mums, this is nothing new.
