#Michael “Mikey” Walsh | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

joanarmatradings · 2 years

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2. Album Of The Year (General Field)

Award to Artist(s) and to Featured Artist(s), Songwriter(s) of new material, Producer(s), Recording Engineer(s), Mixer(s) and Mastering Engineer(s).

We Are

Jon Batiste

Full album here.

Craig Adams, David Gauthier, Braedon Gautier, Brennon Gautier, Gospel Soul Children Choir, Hot 8 Brass Band, PJ Morton, Autumn Rowe, Zadie Smith, St. Augustine High School Marching 100 & Trombone Shorty, featured artists; Jon Batiste, Mikey Freedom Hart, DJ Khalil, King Garbage, Kizzo, Sunny Levine, Nate Mercereau, David Pimentel, Ricky Reed, Autumn Rowe, Jahaan Sweet & Nick Waterhouse, producers; Jon Batiste, Russ Elevado, Mischa Kachkachishvili, Kizzo, Joseph Lorge, Manny Marroquin, Ken Oriole, David Pimentel, Ricky Reed, Jaclyn Sanchez, Matt Vertere, Marc Whitmore & Alex Williams, engineers/mixers; Andrae Alexander, Troy Andrews, Jon Batiste, Zach Cooper, Vic Dimotsis, Eric Frederic, Kizzo, Sunny Levine, Steve McEwan, PJ Morton, Autumn Rowe & Mavis Staples, songwriters; Michelle Mancini, mastering engineer

Love For Sale

Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga

Full album here.

Dae Bennett, producer; Dae Bennett, Josh Coleman & Billy Cumella, engineers/mixers; Greg Calbi & Steve Fallone, mastering engineers

Justice (Triple Chucks Deluxe)

Justin Bieber

Full album here.

BEAM, benny blanco, Burna Boy, Daniel Caesar, Chance The Rapper, DaBaby, Dominic Fike, Giveon, Jaden, Tori Kelly, Khalid, The Kid LAROI, Lil Uzi Vert & Quavo, featured artists; Amy Allen, Louis Bell, Jon Bellion, Justin Bieber, benny blanco, BMW Kenny, Capi, Dreamlab, Dvlp, Jason Evigan, FINNEAS, The Futuristics, German, Josh Gudwin, Jimmie Gutch, HARV, Marvin "Tony" Hemmings, Ilya, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Stefan Johnson, KCdaproducer, Denis Kosiak, The Monsters & Strangerz, Jorgen Odegard, Michael Pollack, Poo Bear, Shndo, Skrillex, Jake Torrey, Trackz, Andrew Watt & Ido Zmishlany, producers; Cory Bice, benny blanco, Kevin "Capi" Carbo, Edwin Diaz, DJ Durel, Dreamlab, FINNEAS, Josh Gudwin, Sam Holland, Daniel James, Antonio Kearney, Denis Kosiak, Paul LaMalfa, Jeremy Lertola, Devin Nakao, Chris "TEK" O'Ryan, Andres Osorio, Micah Pettit & Benjamin Thomas, engineers/mixers; Amy Allen, Delacey (Brittany Amaradio), Louis Bell, Jonathan Bellion, Chancelor Johnathon Bennett, Justin Bieber, David Bowden, Jason Boyd, Scott Braun, Tommy Lee Brown, Valentin Brunn, Kevin Carbo, Kenneth Coby, Kevin Coby, Raul Cubina, Jordan Douglas, Giveon Dezmann Evans, Jason Evigan, Dominic David Fike, Kameron Glasper, Jacob Greenspan, Josh Gudwin, James Gutch, Scott Harris, Bernard Harvey, Leah Haywood, Gregory Aldae Hein, Marvin Hemmings, Jeffrey Howard, Alexander Izquierdo, Daniel James, Jace Logan Jennings, Rodney Jerkins, Jordan K. Johnson, Stefan Johnson, Anthony M. Jones, Antonio Kearney, Charlton Kenneth, Joe Khajadourian, Felisha "Fury" King, Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, Matthew Sean Leon, Benjamin Levin, Marcus Lomax, Quavious Keyate Marshall, Luis Manuel Martinez Jr., Sonny Moore, Finneas O’Connell, Jorgen Odegard, Damini Ebunoluwa Ogulu, Tayla Parx, Oliver Peterhof, Whitney Phillips, Michael Pollack, Khalid Donnel Robinson, Ilya Salmanzadeh, Alex Schwartz, Tia Scola, Aaron Simmonds, Ashton Simmonds, Gian Stone, Ali Tamposi, Ryan Tedder, Tyshane Thompson, Jake Torrey, Billy Walsh, Freddy Wexler, Symere Woods, Andrew Wotman, Rami Yacoub, Keavan Yazdani, Bigram Zayas & Ido Zmishlany, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

Planet Her (Deluxe)

Doja Cat

Full album here.

Eve, Ariana Grande, Gunna, JID, SZA, The Weeknd & Young Thug, featured artists; Aaron Bow, Rogét Chahayed, Crate Classics, Digi, Dr. Luke, f a l l e n, Mayer Hawthorne, Mike Hector, Linden Jay, Aynzli Jones, Kurtis McKenzie, Jason Quenneville, Reef, Khaled Rohaim, Al Shux, Sully, tizhimself, Yeti Beats & Y2K, producers; Rob Bisel, Jesse Ray Ernster, Serban Ghenea, Clint Gibbs, Rian Lewis, NealHPogue, Tyler Sheppard, Kalani Thompson, Joe Visciano & Jeff Ellis Worldwide, engineers/mixers; Ilana Armida, Aaron Bow, Rogét Chahayed, Jamil Chammas, Sheldon Yu-Ting Cheung, Antwoine Collins, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Lukasz Gottwald, Ariana Grande, Mayer Hawthorne, Mike Hector, Aaron Horn, Taneisha Damielle Jackson, Linden Jay, Eve Jihan Jeffers, Aynzli Jones, Sergio Kitchens, Carter Lang, Siddharth Mallick, Maciej Margol-Gromada, Kurtis McKenzie, Jidenna Mobisson, Gerard A. Powell II, Geordan Reid-Campbell, Khaled Rohaim, Destin Route, Solána Rowe, Laura Roy, Al Shuckburgh, David Sprecher, Ari Starace, Lee Stashenko, Abel Tesfaye, Rob Tewlow & Jeffery Lamar Williams, songwriters; Dale Becker & Mike Bozzi, mastering engineers

Happier Than Ever

Billie Eilish

Full album here.

FINNEAS, producer; Billie Eilish, FINNEAS & Rob Kinelski, engineers/mixers; Billie Eilish O'Connell & Finneas O'Connell, songwriters; John Greenham & Dave Kutch, mastering engineers

Back Of My Mind

H.E.R.

Full album here.

Chris Brown, Cordae, DJ Khaled, Lil Baby, Thundercat, Bryson Tiller, Ty Dolla $ign, YG & Yung Bleu, featured artists; Tarik Azzouz, Bordeaux, Nelson Bridges, DJ Camper, Cardiak, Cardo, Chi Chi, Steven J. Collins, Flip, Jeff "Gitty" Gitelman, GRADES, H.E.R., Hit-Boy, Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Walter Jones, KAYTRANADA, DJ Khaled, Mario Luciano, Mike Will Made-It, NonNative, NOVA WAV, Scribz Riley, Jeff Robinson, STREETRUNNER, Hue Strother, Asa Taccone, Thundercat, Thurdi & Wu10, producers; Rafael Fai Bautista, Luis Bordeaux, Dee Brown, Anthony Cruz, Ayanna Depas, Morning Estrada, Chris Galland, H.E.R., Jaycen Joshua, KAYTRANADA, Derek Keota, Omar Loya, Manny Marroquin, Tim McClain, Juan "AyoJuan" Peña, Micah Pettit, Patrizio Pigliapoco, Alex Pyle, Jaclyn Sanchez, Miki Tsutsumi & Tito "Earcandy" Vasquez, engineers/mixers; Denisia “Blu June” Andrews, Nasri Atweh, Tarik Azzouz, Stacy Barthe, Jeremy Biddle, Nelson “Keyz” Bridges, Chris Brown, Stephen Bruner, Darhyl Camper Jr., Luis Campozano, Louis Kevin Celestin, Anthony Clemons Jr., Steven J. Collins, Ronald “Flip” Colson, Brittany “Chi” Coney, Elijah Dias, Cordae Dunston, Jeff Gitelman, Tyrone Griffin Jr., Priscilla “Priscilla Renea” Hamilton, H.E.R., Charles A. Hinshaw, Chauncey Hollis, Latisha Twana Hyman, Keenon Daequan Ray Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, Dominique Jones, Khaled Khaled, Ron Latour, Gamal “Lunchmoney” Lewis, Mario Luciano, Carl McCormick, Leon McQuay III, Julia Michaels, Maxx Moore, Vurdell “V. Script” Muller, Chidi Osondu, Karriem Riggins, Mike “Scribz” Riley, Seandrea Sledge, Hue Strother, Asa Taccone, Tiara Thomas, Bryson Tiller, Daniel James Traynor, Brendan Walsh, Nicholas Warwar, Jabrile Hashim Willliams, Michael L. Williams II, Robert Williams & Kelvin Wooten, songwriters; Colin Leonard, mastering engineer

Montero

Lil Nas X

Full album here.

Miley Cyrus, Doja Cat, Jack Harlow, Elton John & Megan Thee Stallion, featured artists; Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, John Cunningham, Omer Fedi, Kuk Harrell, Jasper Harris, KBeaZy, Carter Lang, Nick Lee, Roy Lenzo, Tom Levesque, Jasper Sheff, Blake Slatkin, Drew Sliger, Take A Daytrip, Ryan Tedder & Kanye West, producers; Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, Jon Castelli, John Cunningham, Jelli Dorman, Tom Elmhirst, Serban Ghenea, John Hanes, Kuk Harrell, Roy Lenzo, Manny Marroquin, Nickie Jon Pabon, Patrizio 'Teezio' Pigliapoco, Blake Slatkin, Drew Sliger, Ryan Tedder & Joe Visciano, engineers/mixers; Keegan Bach, Denzel Baptiste, David Biral, John Cunningham, Miley Ray Cyrus, Amala Zandile Dlamini, Omer Fedi, Vincent Goodyer, Jack Harlow, Jasper Harris, Montero Hill, Ilsey Juber, Carter Lang, Nick Lee, Roy Lenzo, Thomas James Levesque, Andrew Luce, Michael Olmo, Jasper Sheff, Blake Slatkin, R.L. Stafford, Ryan Tedder, William K. Ward & Kanye West, songwriters; Chris Gehringer, Eric Lagg & Randy Merrill, mastering engineers

Sour

Olivia Rodrigo

Full album here.

Alexander 23, Daniel Nigro & Olivia Rodrigo, producers; Ryan Linvill, Mitch McCarthy & Daniel Nigro, engineers/mixers; Daniel Nigro, Olivia Rodrigo & Casey Smith, songwriters; Randy Merrill, mastering engineer

Evermore

Taylor Swift

Full album here.

Bon Iver, Haim & The National, featured artists; Jack Antonoff, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner & Taylor Swift, producers; Thomas Bartlett, JT Bates, Robin Baynton, Stuart Bogie, Gabriel Cabezas, CJ Camerieri, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Scott Devendorf, Matt DiMona, Jon Gautier, Trevor Hagen, Mikey Freedom Hart, Sean Hutchinson, Josh Kaufman, Benjamin Lanz, Nick Lloyd, Jonathan Low, James McAlister, Dave Nelson, Sean O'Brien, Ryan Olson, Ariel Rechtshaid, Kyle Resnick, Michael Riddleberger, Laura Sisk, Evan Smith, Alex Sopp & Justin Vernon, engineers/mixers; Jack Antonoff, William Bowery, Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner, Taylor Swift & Justin Vernon, songwriters; Greg Calbi & Steve Fallone, mastering engineers

Donda

Kanye West

Full album here.

Baby Keem, Chris Brown, Conway The Machine, DaBaby, Jay Electronica, Fivio Foreign, Westside Gunn, JAY-Z, Syleena Johnson, Kid Cudi, Lil Baby, Lil Durk, Lil Yachty, The LOX, Marilyn Manson, Playboi Carti, Pop Smoke, Roddy Ricch, Rooga, Travis Scott, Shenseea, Swizz Beatz, Young Thug, Don Toliver, Ty Dolla $ign, Vory, The Weeknd, Westside Gunn & Lil Yachty, featured artists; Allday, Audi, AyoAA, Roark Bailey, Louis Bell, Jeff Bhasker, Boi-1Da, BoogzDaBeast, Warryn Campbell, Cubeatz, David & Eli, Mike Dean, Dem Jointz, Digital Nas, DJ Khalil, DRTWRK, 88-Keys, E.Vax, FNZ, Gesaffelstein, Nikki Grier, Cory Henry, Ronny J, DJ Khalil, Wallis Lane, Digital Nas, Nascent, Ojivolta, Shuko, Sloane, Sean Solymar, Sucuki, Arron “Arrow” Sunday, Swizz Beatz, Zen Tachi, 30 Roc, Bastian Völkel, Mia Wallis, Kanye West, Wheezy & Jason White, producers; Josh Berg, Todd Bergman, Rashade Benani Bevel Sr., Will Chason, Dem Jointz, IRKO, Jess Jackson, Nagaris Johnson, Shin Kamiyama, Gimel "Young Guru" Keaton, James Kelso, Scott McDowell, Kalam Ali Muttalib, Jonathan Pfarr, Drrique Rendeer, Alejandro Rodriguez-Dawson, Mikalai Skrobat, Devon Wilson & Lorenzo Wolff, engineers/mixers; Dwayne Abernathy Jr., Elpadaro F. Electronica Allah, Aswad Asif, Roark Bailey, Durk Banks, Sam Barsh, Christoph Bauss, Louis Bell, Jeff Bhasker, Isaac De Boni, Christopher Brown, Jahshua Brown, Tahrence Brown, Aaron Butts, Warryn Campbell, Hykeem Carter Jr., Jordan Terrell Carter, Shawn Carter, Denzel Charles, Raul Cubina, Isaac De Boni, Kasseem Dean, Michael Dean, Tim Friedrich, Wesley Glass, Samuel Gloade, Kevin Gomringer, Tim Gomringer, Tyrone Griffin Jr., Jahmal Gwin, Cory Henry, Tavoris Javon Hollins Jr., Larry Hoover Jr., Bashar Jackson, Sean Jacob, Nima Jahanbin, Paimon Jahanbin, Syleena Johnson, Dominique Armani Jones, Eli Klughammer, Chinsea Lee, Mike Lévy, Evan Mast, Mark Mbogo, Miles McCollum, Josh Mease, Scott Medcudi, Brian Miller, Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr., Michael Mulé, Mark Myrie, Charles M. Njapa, Nasir Pemberton, Carlos St. John Phillips, Jason Phillips, Khalil Abdul Rahman, Laraya Ashlee Robinson, Christopher Ruelas, David Ruoff, Maxie Lee Ryles III, Matthew Samuels, Daniel Seeff, Eric Sloan Jr., Sean Solymar, Ronald O’Neill Spence Jr., David Styles, Michael Suski, Aqeel Tate, Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, Caleb Zackery Toliver, Bastian Völkel, Brian Hugh Warner, Jacques Webster II, Kanye West, Orlando Wilder, Jeffery Williams & Mark Williams, songwriters; Irko, mastering engineer

#album of the year

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twentiethcenturymoviesandtv · 3 years

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The Goonies: The Characters

No matter how good a story is, how great the cinematography, or how subversive the genre-usage, a movie cannot stand without use of characters.

Characters are perhaps the most vital element of any story ever told. An interesting plot helps a movie greatly, but without a use of compelling characters, it falls flat on an audience who doesn’t care about the well-being of the people pushing the story forward. Viewers need flawed, interesting people, moving the story and trying to overcome conflict, in order for a movie to feel satisfying.

Or, they can have a bunch of bickering children stumbling and screaming their way through caves, led by Head Goonie: Michael “Mikey” Walsh.

Only Sane Man Mikey is the glue of the group, bringing the Goonies together in an adventure, instead of just a bunch of kids hanging out in someone’s living room. He’s got the initiative, he’s the Determinator, and the Leader, and also, surprisingly, the Heart, in a rare combination. He’s the one jumping at the call, the Kid Hero armed with the Rousing Speeches in his desperate attempt to save the Goondocks. It would have been easy to make Mikey the most boring of the bunch, but he’s not, if anything, he’s the most interesting. He’s certainly the most inspiring.

Mikey is the driving force of the entire story. Despite the fact that he was reluctant to let his friends in the attic in the first place, once he’s there, he’s instantly pushing for his end goal. As much as Data is the inventor of the group, when you get right down to it, Mikey is probably the smartest of the bunch. It’s Mikey who figures out where they need to go, Mikey who leads the Goonies through the tunnels, Mikey who convinces them to persevere, to not ride up Troy’s bucket, to leave Willy’s private stash alone.

He’s dedicated to the point of almost insanity at times, judging from how Brand has to pull him back from going back after the treasure when the cave collapses. He’s also very interested in One-Eyed Willy himself, and acts like he knows him, or understands him, anyway.

“One-Eyed Willy. Hello. I’m Mike Walsh, you’ve been expecting me. Haven’t you? Well, I made it. I beat you. I got here in once piece. So far. So, that’s why they call you One-Eyed Willy. One-Eyed Willy. We had a lot in common, huh, Willy? You know something Willy? You were the first Goonie.”

Apparently, Mikey sees a little bit of himself in this pirate, perhaps as a fellow leader or adventurer, or even a fellow outsider.

Like I said, Mikey could have been the blandest character in the bunch: just filling in as ‘the leader’ of the group, but instead, he’s as quirky as they come.

Despite the fact that this is an ensemble film, with every character sharing about the same amount of screentime, Mikey is clearly the protagonist, no questions asked. He is the character with the goal here, and as much as it benefits everyone else, it’s clearly his mission, his quest. The others are just along for the ride. Mikey is the character the audience is meant to identify with the most: he gets the most insightful dialogue and we as viewers identify more strongly with him as a character.

Although he’s one of the last characters introduced to the audience, it’s very clear right away who the story is about based simply on the Protagonist Problem: basically, do they have one? And while it’s clear that the other Goonies aren’t happy about moving away, none of them are taking it as hard as Mikey is. He is, immediately, the character with a Problem, and he’s also the only one to jump at a solution.

He’s the idealist. He’s cool under pressure (for the most part). He easily takes charge, despite his tamer personality in comparison with the others, even over the older kids, and he’s nice to boot. His goals are easily defined, he’s active, going after his goals and overcoming obstacles, he seems to be the perfect protagonist, if it wasn’t for one thing…

Mikey never really changes.

Sure, he throws away his inhaler by the end, which could be interpreted as symbolic of development, but honestly, Mikey is very much the same kid at the end of the film that he was at the beginning. Same personality, same worldview…even the same goals, which is another big protagonist no-no.

Most great protagonists have goals that change from beginning to end of the film, as a sign of their own developing character, but Mikey never does. Instead, he ends the film getting exactly what he initially set out to get: enough money to save the Goondocks. Sure, he has the relatively minor goal along the way of ‘staying alive’, but in the grand scheme of narrative stakes, to Mikey, clearly the treasure is all that matters.

The question is…is this a bad thing?

Well…no.

The thing is, Mikey is only one in a group of seven main characters, and while some of them have more screen time than others, when you come down to it, that’s a lot of characters to balance, meaning a lot of dialogue split up, and a lot of audience focus divided. In other words: Mikey doesn’t get development because he doesn’t have time. There’s just too much going on for the audience to stack character growth on top of it.

While there’s not nearly enough time from a script perspective, there’s also just no time from a linear perspective, either.

The story of The Goonies takes place around, give or take, a day, and while there are a few stories where development is done over that time, (Such as 12 Angry Men, actually) the fact is, twenty four hours is a really short period of time to change who you are as a person, or even change your goals. It’s very difficult to cram in the story, the characters, and everything else in such a short time span, and heap a deep, meaningful character arc on top of it. There’s just no time.

So, does that damage the film?

Not really. Like I said in the genre article, The Goonies is a roller-coaster adventure of a film, without much in breaks. There’s a lot going on all at the same time, and honestly, in order to keep the pace up, it’s for the betterment of the film that they didn’t try to cram Mikey’s character development within.

To be fair, it’s not as though he doesn’t change at all. But he changes about as much as the rest of the cast do, in very similar ways: kind of like his brother.

Brandon “Brand” Walsh fills out the other side of the sibling dynamic between himself and Mikey, the older brother who gets annoyed with him, but is also supposed to be taking care of him. As much as he starts out the film looking like he’s at least trying to be an Aloof Big Brother, when the chips are down, his Big Brother Instinct comes out, protecting Mikey from actual danger. Beginning the film as somewhat of a Butt-Monkey, ending up Hoisted by his Own Petard in the form of his exercise equipment, at first, Brand looks like he’s not really going to be terribly involved in Mikey’s Goonie adventure.

In the end, though, Brand turns out to be One of the Kids. But for careful viewers, that’s not really a surprise.

Even Brand’s first scene, where he interacts with Mikey, it’s pretty clear that although there’s a bickering dynamic between them, there’s also sympathy and affection. Brand knows that Mikey doesn’t want to leave, he understands and he tells him so. He hugs him and brings him inside when Mr. Perkins comes by with the papers to sign over the house. And sure, Brand bullies him a little and shoves him around and Mikey repays the favor by tying him to a chair with his own exercise equipment and running off, but that’s typical sibling stuff, as anyone with siblings can tell you.

Although Brand does initially try to ‘take charge’ and occasionally gives the marching orders, in the end, he leaves most of the leading to Mikey, which is a little strange. Once or twice he takes over, and is the most protective of the group, but while he may do most of the ‘planning’ here, he lets Mikey’s goals and priorities take center stage for a while.

Brand’s other chief ‘item of note’ concerning characterization is, of course, his relationship with Andy.

It’s mentioned fairly early on into the film that Brand is supposed to go out with her, and we see her once or twice, but it isn’t until she and Stef show up to check on Brand that we get to see any of that relationship. It’s sweet enough, aside from them constantly choosing the wrong time and place to attempt a first kiss, with Brand taking a side-role of protector for Andy specifically, again, showcasing that defensive side that comes in handy for the rest of the group from time to time.

But there’s more to the Goonies than the Walsh kids.

Probably the most recognizable of the characters from The Goonies is Lawrence “Chunk” Cohen.

Chunk has most of the most memorable lines and scenes in the film, elevating himself in pop culture beyond simply the ‘Fat Comic Relief’ and klutzy, cowardly character that the movie seems to be pigeonholing him into at first. See, even though Mikey’s the one with the goal and character arc concerning the treasure, Chunk’s character arc revolves around the Fratellis.

Of all the Goonies, Chunk is the first one to get involved in the story. He is the first character we see indirectly interact with the villains of the story, when he spots the car chase, and by the end of the film, he is the character that has interacted with them the most, being drug around, interrogated, and locked up by them as a result of being left behind by the rest. Fittingly, his arc has very little to do with One Eyed Willy, and everything to do with the criminal family that he happens to fall into, to the point where they’re almost his arch-nemeses instead of the rest of the Goonies.

While an initial viewing could give viewers a very basic impression of Chunk as just the ‘token fat kid’ of the group, the fact is, he is one of the only characters who gets any real growth.

Chunk is established almost right away as the Boy Who Cried Wolf, a teller of tall-tales that have rendered him completely unbelievable to his friends and the local police force. By the time he has an actual story to tell, nobody around him is ready to buy it, and honestly, it’s hard to blame them. Some of his stories do sound ridiculous, and even the one that he’s telling now about the Fratellis would be hard to believe, if the audience didn’t know for certain that he was telling the truth. Of course, although he is able to feel vindicated when the Goonies discover he’s telling the truth, his tendencies to exaggerate backfire on him spectacularly when the police don’t believe he’s in trouble, and he’s left on his own.

Well, not quite on his own, but more on that in a minute.

Chunk primarily holds up the B-plot of the film on the villain’s side, arriving at the end to play hero and bail the rest of the Goonies out, proving to them, and then the rest of the authorities at the end, that this time, he was right, and proving his bravery after an entire film of attempting to chicken out. But as impressive as his last-minute heroism is, Chunk isn’t in this alone.

Despite being separated from the group fairly early on, sparing them from his complaints, hunger, and clumsiness, Chunk finds another ally in Sloth, the Fratellis’ brother, and befriends him, forming the ‘Brains’ to Sloth’s brawn, coming in to save the day and even adopting him at the end of the film.

Chunk is the most memorable Goonie, not just for the Hawaiian shirt and plaid-pants combo that he’s rocking, but because he has a lot of very memorable and iconic scenes, possessing a pretty unforgettable (and loud!) personality and an arc: from zero to hero, when nobody, not even his fellow Goonies, expected it, complaining through the entire early adventure, and overall displaying an overwhelming desire to Not Be Here, making it all the more impressive when he goes after them with Sloth to rescue them.

But there’s more to the Goonies than just the leader and the breakout role.

Clark “Mouth” Devereaux is not the easiest kid to get along with. A Deadpan Snarker Jerk with a Heart of Gold, Mouth is the member of the cast with potentially the most Meaningful Name: he never shuts up. A classic case of ‘With Friends Like These…’, Mouth comes across like the most antagonistic character in the film other than the actual villains at times, abrasive and loud, bullying the rest of the group and picking fights with Stef.

Unfortunately, Mouth’s…mouth, can get him into trouble. Quite often, in fact, like when he can’t let well enough alone and ends up getting threatened with having his tongue cut out.

With that said, though, Mouth does have his uses, and they’re not all to do with smuggling treasure in his most distinctive trait.

Fittingly, language is where he comes in handy: he’s the only one who can read (and speak) Spanish, leaving him as the obvious choice to translate the map, and also to translate the Walsh’s housekeeper’s exclamations that the treasure is not entirely lost. Without him, the treasure hunt is impossible.

Mouth may want the treasure as badly as the rest of them do, but he is far less idealistic than Mikey is about it. He’s the last of the kids to believe Mikey in the beginning, and while it can be chalked up to his overall personality, there is a dash or two of Hidden Depths implied about him, notably in the wishing-well sequence:

“Yeah, but you know what? This one, this one right here. This was my dream, my wish. And it didn’t come true. So I’m taking it back. I’m taking them all back.”

Armed with a comb and occasionally appearing as though he’s deliberately striking a pose in order to look cool, Mouth is actually one of the first to start falling apart when their lives are in danger, crying and panicking with the best of them. (Again, he’s only thirteen.)

Despite having the loudest personality, Mouth is content to let Mikey lead the group, hanging back and picking on all of them, but by no means not one of them.

There is, of course, one more thing of note about Mouth as a character, and that is his dynamic with Stef. The pair carry a belligerent tension, bickering and snapping at each other throughout most of the film before demonstrating genuine affection towards each other (with a deleted scene referenced involving Stef promising to keep Mouth alive when they get pushed off the plank). It’s a hint at something going on between them for sure, but it’s also a fairly good example of Mouth’s relationships with everybody: he’s a lot more bark than bite, irritating and loud for sure, but a loyal friend who’s more than ready to help you look for treasure, even if he doesn’t 100% believe in it at first.

Like the rest, he doesn’t change a whole lot from beginning to end, with the adventure perhaps simply knocking some of his cockiness away and even leaving him a little nicer, but again, just like Mikey, it’s hard to say: this is all over the course of one, very exciting day. More on that later, though.

After all, Mouth’s hardly the last Goonie of the bunch.

Richard “Data” Wang is the inventor of all things Awesome but Impractical, falling somewhere between Bungled Inventor and Gadgeteer Genius. The Smart Guy, Data is good with his Homemade Inventions for sure, but there’s a bit more to him than that.

While the other Goonies (especially Chunk and Mouth) can best be remembered for being annoying or clumsy, or dropping things, or talking too much or too loudly, or setting off booby traps, Data is actually pretty even-keel. He’s excitable, and he really doesn’t want to move to Detroit, but overall, he’s fairly content to be the least talkative Goonie, letting his Dynamic Entries speak for themselves.

He’s a smart kid, and he actually is the only one who one-ups the Fratellis at any time, using his inventions to trip them up and hurt them, after the same inventions saved his life earlier. Data certainly does have a flair for the dramatic (best seen when telling Mikey that he won’t be taken alive) and is an energetic kid, proving himself as reckless as the rest, but he has a good head on his shoulders. He’s the one who discovers the counterfeit machine, and it’s fairly safe to say that without him and his Slick Shoes, the Goonies probably wouldn’t have made it out alive.

Like the others, Data doesn’t change much – in fact, he probably changes the least. This could be due to the fact that again, this is all over the course of roughly 24 hours, but it’s also possibly just a side-effect of being the most even-keeled of the bunch: he’s quieter, and therefore, we hear less from him, meaning we see less of his flaws. Still though, Data’s a solid character, hugely entertaining, likeable, and memorable.

Now for the other outliers:

Andrea “Andy” Carmichael begins the story as first The Cheerleader and Dude Magnet, and then The Load. Clearly not used to this style of Goonie Adventure, Andy kind of becomes a Hysterical Woman throughout a good portion of the journey, needing to be comforted a few times in order to keep her head. It’s hard to blame her: between the skeletons, the guns, and getting locked in a tunnel is pretty frightening, but Andy doesn’t do a whole lot (especially early on, during her Heroic BSoD) and manages to not retain much of a personality throughout most of the film, chiefly appearing at first to serve as a token female character and to be in love with Brand.

But there is more to her than that.

Even early on, Andy demonstrates a little more backbone when she elbows Troy in the lip and ditches him to go find Brand, and although she initially just follows the Goonies to hang out with Brand (and then to escape the Fratellis), she ends up becoming one of them when she makes the choice to stay instead of riding up the wishing well, sending up his letterman jacket instead. It’s a big step for her, a demonstration of her true alliances (a deleted scene was to include her being sworn in as an official Goonie at this point, actually), and sets her up for the rest of the film as being more ready and willing to actively participate in the adventure.

Near the end, Andy has to come through to save everyone, as she’s the only one who can play the piano even a little bit, and it falls on her to play the bone organ in order to get them away from the Fratellis and towards the treasure.

Andy actually has some more growth than a few of the others: she steadies out and truly does change, becoming a true Goonie by the end of the film, proving herself more capable than when she began. Although she doesn’t seem to have a stake in the treasure, she’s just as determined by the end to get it, and celebrates with the rest of them by the end.

In a way, she shares that with the other Goonie outlier: Stef.

Stephanie “Stef” Steinbrenner doesn’t really seem to serve a whole lot of purpose within the story besides being another girl Goonie so there isn’t just one. She’s a friend of Andy’s, the Tomboy to her Girly Girl, who splits off to join her to find Brand and then ends up swept along with the rest of the adventure, and there doesn’t seem to be much more to her than that. She’s a Sarcastic Devotee, who feels Surrounded by Idiots: she trades snark with the best of them and tends to feel (rightfully so) that the people she’s around aren’t exactly geniuses. She’s loyal though, and sticks by Andy and the other Goonies until the end, proving just as determined to get to the treasure and get out alive as the others.

Stef serves as a reality check, another cynic who’s just as frightened as the rest of them, like Andy, without a stake in the final treasure, and while she’s never officially branded a Goonie, the implication by the end is clear. She sort of takes on a belligerent ‘big sister’ role throughout most of the film, and although she doesn’t have much of an arc, she is entertaining to watch, which honestly sums up the entire cast pretty well.

The characters of The Goonies do not exactly ‘grow’. There are small things: Andy’s growing courage, Chunk being finally right, Mikey’s growth as a leader, Data’s inventions being useful, Mouth taking some of his snarky edge off, and Brand being a better big brother, but honestly, these are very minor things in the grand scheme of the story.

The characters in The Goonies are not deep, whether it’s the actual Goonies themselves or the villainous Fratellis, who are mostly characterized by striking a balance between being comedic and being a genuine threat. There are no huge life-lessons being learned by these people, and they aren’t really doing a lot of growing so much as they are running for their lives.

In a film that is essentially a ‘roller coaster’, The Goonies is not designed to have seven major characters with fulfilling character arcs: like I said before, there’s simply no time. It’d bog the story down for each character to have a moment of growth, to change significantly from beginning to end. In this case, the best thing about the characters is actually their consistency from beginning to end: there’s little change, and as a result, the audience never has to recalibrate to something else going on within the story.

In other films, this would be a huge problem.

A feature-length film where there is no discernible character change is typically not a good call, but in this case, it works for multiple reasons. The story is too fast paced and focused on too much to allow for consistent breaks in plot that allow for character moments, and with the extremely short timespan, a big change would actually come across as forced and unrealistic. The characters are children forced into a tight spot, where their chief concern is their own lives. There simply isn’t the option open for development.

However, where the film lacks on ‘growth’ of characters, it makes up for in everything else.

The chief purpose of a character is to be there for the audience to like, to be invested in. There are actually plenty of films where characters don’t change a lot, classic movies that are well-liked because the characters, although unchanging, are hugely entertaining and interesting. Films like Back to the Future or Ferris Bueller’s Day Off don’t suffer from characters who don’t do any changing due to the fact that the main characters are fun to watch and have the audience’s attention and interest.

Which is just what The Goonies does.

Everyone can find a Goonie to relate to: the leaders, the loudmouths, the geniuses, the attention-seekers, everyone has a place here, and even adults who have hopefully grown out of some of the more immature kid-like behavior, there’s still the glimmer of familiarity in these kids. Like I mentioned before, we relate to these kids, and we want to see them win.

The Goonies as a story is designed to have simple, relatable characters for the audience to remember, and if that’s the goal, then it works perfectly. There are no deep characters with complex motivations here, and that’s a good thing: it fits the tone of the film consistently and coherently. Every character here is likeable in some way, memorable, for sure, and sticks with an audience enough that the audience wants to stick with them too, and wants them to succeed.

In the end, the characters of The Goonies make you care about them, make you root for them. They carry the story and do it all in a way that’s plenty of fun to watch, and when it comes down to it: that’s exactly what characters should do.

Whether you like or hate them, a character is there to make you care, and The Goonies certainly do their job. They leave a strong impact, and as a result, we remember these characters and their quirks long after the movie is over for a reason.

Join me next time where we’ll be looking at the 80s cultural impact on the creation of The Goonies. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you in the next article.

#The Goonies #The Goonies 1985 #80s #1985 #Film #Movies #PG #Adventure #Comedy #Family #Sean Astin #Josh Brolin #Jeff Cohen #Corey Feldman #Kerri Green #Martha Plimpton #Ke Huy Quan #Richard Donner

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slayernina · 3 years

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Paternity and childhood in Stranger Things: Mike & Nancy’s case

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Quick notes:

Karen Wheeler’s affaire, women and moms (meta of Stranger Things’ mothers and gender roles for women)

Stranger Things Book: Runaway Max analysis

Stranger Things Comic: Stranger Things and Dungeons and Dragons analysis

Paternity and childhood in Stranger Things: Eleven’s case

The growing up part is not so prevalent theme in the Wheeler family. Mike and Nancy’s process from childhood to adulthood is no so strong given that the Wheeler family was supposed to be your regular, nuclear family. There is no huge dramas here. It wasn’t until season 2 and 3 we see more of how the dynamic of the parents is strained. The conversation between Nancy and Jonathan about the nuclear family dream was not a statement of facts, but a small rant of a privileged white teenage girl.

The Wheeler family was introduced in full on 1x01 and stay with us until the end of the season 3. Ted becomes more and more small over the seasons, however Karen becomes a more prominent character.

Mike: the everyday American boy

Original conception for Mike. His first name is a reference to Michael "Mikey" Walsh from the 1985 film The Goonies, who his character was originally based on. In the original pilot script, he had a crush on Jennifer Hayes (aka the girl that cried on Will’s funeral). Among other changes, he entered the Upside Down first thanks to Eleven, and was intended to be more serious, but after Finn Wolfhard’s audition, the writers softened him and added more optimism, fun and leadership.

I have written this before: of all the members of the Party, and overall characters, Mike is the Generic White Dude Protagonist, and that’s why he is the protagonist and Mileven exist. Since most of you know already this, since he is the character meant to be “the audience” because we live in a world of White Hetero Dudes, I won’t talk a lot about him. He is the Dungeon Master in season 1, and the Paladin archetype who usually is the protagonist in fantasy entertainment. He is given the role of the leader due to this (and again, White Dude) and since he is the Dungeon Master, his duty is to make the rest of the Party look after the disappeared Will. It was revealed on the comic Dungeons and Dragons that he is the reason why the Party started playing, first as a way to deal with bullies, later as a way to help Will to recover from his trauma.

The introductory scene of the Wheeler family is a clear example of their dynamics, from both parenthood and childhood: Mike asks Karen, who is feeding Holly, to leave them play more (their game lasts for 10 hours!, which means Mike is left unsupervised that time –though he is at his own house-), Karen refuses because the rest of the kids should return home by now, Mike asks Ted who delegates the decision and parenthood in Karen, meanwhile he repairs the TV.

Then, Dustin tries to give Nancy pizza, she is talking with Barb by phone about Steve and she refuses. Is noteworthy she is showed like the regular teen, with boys and a photo of Barb –not just a symbol of friendship, but also adolescence. Family is replaced by friendship and love outside the family. Dustin makes a dismissive comment about this change, how Nancy the Elf became Nancy the Teenager. Every time we see Mike is a child, we are reminded Nancy is a teenager. And when Mike becomes a teenager on season 3, Nancy becomes a woman.

Later, the Party exits and Will tell Mike he was caught by the Demogorgon, like another symbol of the end of childhood (Will, after all, represents The Child of Stranger Things). At school, the rest of the Party arrives in the bikes, another symbol of childhood, like Eleven’s Eggos. The rest of the season follows the Party finding Eleven, the Baby. All their scenes, even when they fight, are surrounded by children imaginary: the bikes, the dungeons and dragons, Star Wars and videogames, asking a teacher, the slingshots… Finding Eleven also means the Party finds their first contact with girls and, by extension, sex. They flinched when Eleven tries to take off her clothes in front of them, and they dressed her as a girl –with Nancy’s old clothes-. Mileven was born. The sex, however, was not fully explored on the Party until season 3, and even there, there was only heavy seasons of kissing.

On season 2, his character is still a child. He refuses explicitedly the changes coming with teenagehood, symbolized in his distaste of Max, the new member of the Party that represents for the other members what Eleven represented for him: sexual, active life (aka adulthood). Max doesn’t only interrupts the “real” growing, but also the symbolical childhood of D&D. She is not only a new member, she is a new member of D&D with her own class (the Zoomer). It is ironic that Mike on season 2 is the foil for Hopper and his refusal of growing up on season 3.

On season 3, he embraces fully his teen years. Mileven is on full display, and he refuses to play D&D anymore. He is the one that acknowledges they can’t be on his basement playing forever (aka childhood). At the end of season 3, we leave him dealing with a long distance relationship, like her sister.

In the Hawkins Middle School Yearbook, he was shown to be voted as the "Friendliest Face". His career goal is stated to be a writer, his favorite subject is English, which links directly with his D&D Dungeon Master hobby.

HIs extracurricular activities were the AV Club and the Science Fair. He was also one of the editors of the yearbook. All of this puts him in the “nerd, smart” side, however, the complaints of his parents on the show about his grades contradicts a bit this perception. Maybe this sybolises Mike is smart, but not in the traditional sense, like when he was the one that named the Mind Flayer and did the connection.

Nancy: the teen debutante

Original conception for Nancy. Her character might be inspired by “Nancy Thompson” from A Nightmare on Elm Street (girl become determined to destroy a supernatural being that has killed her best friend), and "Nancy Drew," the girl detective. It is interesting that this protoNancy concept looked more like a mix of Barb with the “supermodel with glasses” idea.

Nancy doesn’t have an official D&D class. Thanks to the show and the comics, we know that she was an elf in Mike’s games when she was twelve. This, and her shooting skills place her into the archer archetype. The other character with shooting skills is Lucas, officially the ranger of the Party. Due to her attitude, her clothes, her demanding nature and her privileged background, she was called several times by other characters, directly or indirectly “Princess”, which is another usual archetype of rolegaming. But instead of waiting for the rescue in a tower, she tooks charge of the situation since the beginning, So, hail to our Warrior Princess.

As a curiosity, she is one of the few characters that have been in the Upside Down, and has a bit of PTSD both in the show and the comic.

Nancy’s relevant scenes on season 1 are limited to her interactions with her childhood world (Barb), the teenage world (Steve) and finally, the adult world (Jonathan). At school, Nancy and Barb are talking about Steve again, and said character appeared on screen at last. It is not casual Nancy’s scenes usually follows a scene of the Party. She is the foil of the Party, the (female) immediate future: studies, friends instead of family, romantic relationships. Despite some reticence in Nancy’s part, she is ready to adulthood through sex.

At Steve’s party, there is (controlled) alcohol, smoking and sex, three elements of adulthood only showed on screen by Hopper and Joyce (and Billy, since this is the only time we see Steve or Tommy smoke). And this is how she became an adult: the murder of Barb during sex was not only the killing of her best friend, but also the killing of her childhood. Barb’s death is the catalyst of Nancy’s change (and by extension, Steve’s). She becomes more mature and aware of her surroundings. Until that moment, she uses Will disappearance to go to Steve’s party and is almost nasty to her family and the Party.

The virginity loss is noted quickly by Karen. Karen freaks out when Nancy didn’t come home at the right time and suspects something was going one with Steve. She is right and confronts Nancy for that. Not so weird, remember this was the 80s and all the premarital sex and condoms were not discussed as today. And in season 3, we have a glimpse of Karen before being Mrs Wheeler: she failed at her professional career, but what make her stood and still, was marriage and children. So is reasonable she freaks out Nancy is doing the same “mistake” as she did by trying to be an adult too soon.

The rest of the scenes of Nancy’s “adulthood” in season 1 are always related to sex. She is constantly with Steve or Jonathan (both love interests), with the sexually active couple Tommy and Carol, being slut shamed by the town and by the police, or chasing monsters with a masculine phallic weapon (first the bat, later owned by Steve, and then the gun). Her pimping out scene for a date was showing Barb her new bra (the only other teen character doing that was sex machine Billy using cologne on his crotch).

On season 2, the sex theme continues: the love triangle is resolved, Nancy forms a fully committed relationship with Jonathan (after fucking in Murray’s house, another adult who is captain of the Jancy ship and by extension, Jopper) and in season 3, we have all the sexual harassment at her work place, along with the theme of misogyny and young people (aka children) at work (an adult place).

Other relevant instances on her growing up are the scenes related with dealing with her job. She has an Oliver Twist moment with Jonathan, in which she hits against the wall of adulthood, crushing her childish optimism, given that everything won’t be as she wants, despite how much effort she puts in. This is reinforced again in the scene with her mother.

Nancy ironically marks the end of childhood on season 3 for all the characters, at the moment they are going to the Holloways’ house. All entered in her mother’s car, (Mike and Will on the boot, as the “children” of the bunch), and she accidentally hits the Party’s bikes, another symbol of childhood, accidentally before running to chase the Flayed, a clearly visual metaphore about losing childhood.

Holly: the baby

There’s anything worth saying about Holly. Mostly she is there to play the cute little child to fill the classic suburban family, and she is almost forgotten by everyone, fandom included. We can note that she is somehow a parallel to Eleven at first: Holly (the baby-child) is the only non superpowered character, and not part of the Party, who notes the things and creatures from the Upside Down, alongside Eleven (the initial baby-child who later becomes a real child). She has the ability to realize there is something supernatural going on, but she never interacts with it. She doesn’t even appear in the original concept of the show.

Extended family

There are a mention to 2 Wheeler grandmas: one that died from cancer and somehow left the blond wig behind used by Eleven at the family house, an another mentioned on season 3 as the excuse Mike used against Eleven due to Hopper’s interference. The relationship of both grandmothers and blood relation with the rest of the family is not stated.

Relationship between the siblings

The Mike and Nancy first interaction on screen is on episode 2. Mike knows about Steve and mess with Nancy for it. 90% of their confrontation is not hate, but they are in different stages of life and it shows. They just grew apart. In Mike’s room there are bunk beds, maybe he and nancy shared a room at some point. At the end of season 1, they reunite again, but it is Nancy (the soon to become adult and woman of nurturing nature) the one who is more involved in the meeting, hugging Mike. Later, she asks about Mileven’s relationship (again, adult relationships and sex symbols) and tries to connect with him actively (no more secrets). This fails flat since they don’t interact more in season 2 and 3, except the time Mike stole Nancy’s money. The only other interactions known are from the comics: one from the free issue, and other in the D&D saga. In both situations, Nancy catches something is bothering Mike, and reassures him everything will be okay. Nancy even comments she wished she had friends like his, thus wanting to return to her former state as a child, when everything was simple and nice.

The only time Mike is seen defending Nancy’s honour (aka sexual virtue) is on season 2, with Keith and “don’t prostitute my sister!” scene at the Arcade. Aside from that, we still didn’t see Mike given a lot of thought on his sister.

They are never seen interacting with Holly.

Karen: the unsatisfied adult

Karen is the active parent. She makes the questions. She stays with the children. She is the housewife. She demands attention from them and of both of the parents, she is the one who freaks out about the lab coming home. She is almost discovers about Eleven on season 1 and almost get flayed on season 3. She tries to remind her children constantly she is there for them. Unfortunately, their children refuse her company and help. It is not until both of them became “adults” on season 3 they look actively for her. On season 1, she extends the protective vibes to Joyce, who is having a metal breakdown and is pretty implied she is the one who bought Will’s Atari. She is visibly distressed when Will’s body was found. Her house is the Party’s main reunion place and she gave cookies to Billy. She also seems an awful judge of character, since she considered Ted a suitable partner for the rest of her life, Billy as a cheating partner, and Margaret Tatcher as a good political candidate according to her conversation on the phone.

Karen is manipulated by Nancy through the “what they will think about us if we don’t show at the school Will related incident” scheme to go to Steve’s party. This is what makes Karen some sort of tragic figure: Karen did what she was told: “marry well with a decent guy, buy a house and have children”, and she excelled on it. However, is on season 2 we fully see this was not her case. She is stuck with a guy she didn’t love and doesn’t pay attention to her, the children don’t love her back as much as she does, she tried to have a professional career but failed due to the times. She represents the deconstruction of the adult happy family.

On season 3, she is trying to reclaim her youth and life through Billy’s affaire. There were some hints here and there before: Karen is showed to have deduction skills like Nancy, opening locks like Max, and starting to display hobbies on her own. I have talk about the Billy affaire and how messy this was for both characters here, so I won’t repeat myself. Briefly, it was a mess not because of the cheating itself, but for the fact they were looking something else (the opposite of what they think they are) in the other. I won’t talk about Billy’s POV of the situation here (it would be on his own post), but it wasn’t a mystery why she is attracted to him: he is the exact opposite of her husband. While Ted is old (and was the older partner when they married), Billy is young and free. While Ted is quiet and predictable, Billy is loud and wild. While Ted is compliant, Billy is assertive. And most important: while Ted makes her feel invisible and non important, Billy looks actively for her company and makes her feel desired and heard.

She has to take the adult choice for both of them, if not because she loves Ted, but because her family (and Billy) deserved more than just half-Karen.

Motherhood with Karen

Karen lines with her children are always “talk to me”. It is ironic that the only one who talks to her without being pressed to do it was Billy, the motherless child. She is constantly being ignored by her children, so there is no much parenting to speak of. However, aside from Joyce Byers, she is the parent doing the more active parenting of the show. She is always there and on season 3 she only lost track of the children (avoiding her on purpose to kill the Mind Flayer) after the 3rd Party’s member house. So we can say that her mothering skills failures are not really on her side.

She is more drawn to Nancy due to both being women, and even the teaching (like the dressing for the funeral scene) are from the optics of women roles (“do you want to look pretty for the funeral?”). It’s a pity Karen’s life represents pure nightmare fuel for her own daughter.

Ted: the bumbling dad

There is no much information for this character, since he fills the 80s cliché of “bumbling dad”. This stops being funny after a while, since the writers were throwing the character straight into abusive, neglectful dad territory, whose only redeeming qualities is that at least he isn’t Lonnie Byers or Neil Hargrove. What we know about him until this moment, is that he is the breadwinner of the family. He has a high paid job, one of the reasons why Karen married him, and given his work clothes, he’s implied to be some sort of office worker. He leaves the child raising exclusively to Karen, and only chimes in to give some weird, abstract life advice (if ever). He is dismissed always both by the narrative and also by the rest of the characters.

Ironically, he knew from season 1 that the Russians were involved in the Upside Down and Hawkins plot somehow, and he saludates the governement agents with the classic military wave, which led to some memes and crack theories about how Ted is a cover agent of the government. His status is mocked in universe by the rest of the characters. The fact of how much times Ted is caught on screen sleeping in front of the TV also led Netflix to release a video compilation of his siestas.

Parenthood with Ted

Ted’s parenting is almost inexistent on season 1 and like Karen, through gender roles. He instructs Mike how to be properly dress at Will’s funeral (like an adult man) and chastises bad language (associated with teen rebellion). On season 2 and 3, he is even more inexistent. We suppose he loves his children, and the children love him back, but all of this is more perfomative and expected from the audience, than showed. He does provides for his family, though, and despite being absent, he is never seen actively harming or abusing the rest of his family. Holly, being so young, doesn’t get her father’s flaws, so she is shown closer to him than the rest. Holly sleeping on Ted’s lap is precisely the scene added by Cara Buono that made Karen chose her family over Billy.

Relationship between the parents

There is a full scene on season 1 in which Nancy plainly tells Jonathan her parents married for convenience: she was young, he was older and from a good family and job, and they married and buy the classic suburban house. This is remarked more and more as seasons pass: Karen is seen trying to reignite the fire (if ever there was one) but Ted is clueless.

The family is rooted deeply into “classic” values, they had a Reagan/Bush ‘84 sign during elections on season 2. The other family that ever has shown any political motivations was the Mayfield/Hargrove family, in which as per the book, both parents support the Republican Party too.

Bonus 1: Barbara Holland

Best friend of Nancy Wheeler, 1st kill of the demogorgon and main plot point for season 2, there isn’t a lot to talk about her, despite her huge impact in the fandom. She was nice, smart and responsible. Some part of the fandom think her friendship with Nancy was a bit idealized, and despite having a good relationship, the few scenes we had with them are not the best for both parts. She was invited at Steve’s party, dragged to the Upside Down, and then murdered. Her corpse reappeared here and there.

Most of the information about Barb comes from Nancy. Appartently, she had a good relationship with her parents, Nancy made sleepovers at her house and her parents were devastated to the point of sold the house to pay Murray’s investigation. They had a lot of pictures of her around the house, even in the bathroom. Her parents were normal, her house as normal, her clothes were normal though a bit old fashioned, her interests and life were normal.

Most of the fandom, myself included, we think Barb was a lesbian or bi, because of her clothes, attitude and her very intimate relationship with Nancy. In canon there is nothing to support this, since she isn’t shown to be attracked to anybody, nor comments on a romantic relationship or crush, but the scene in which she notes the new bra on Nancy was... let’s say interesting.

What happened to her parents never appeared on screen, but presumably, they left the town.

Bonus 2: Hopper

Hopper is not invested in the children as much as Joyce, but he leaves some marks here and there. Hopper is fuelled with toxic masculinity, but most of his traits are on the good side, like his assertiveness and protectiveness inspires Mike. He can also readapt his old views of the world and takes into account Nancy quickly: during a moment of stress, he asks Jonathan if he knows how to shoot, Nancy enters in and he gave her the weapon without hesitation.

How economic issues affect the characters?

Being the white suburban standard family, the Wheelers with the exception of he Sinclairs, are the most stable of the bunch by far, given their historical context. Ted is the breadwinner and is able to afford a good house in a nice neighborhood, Karen is the housewife and caretaker.

Mike’s clothes are generic and mass produced, but in good condition. It is noteworthy he wears like a younger version of his father. His room is big, clean and also he owns the basement. His nerd toys and D&D books were rare and quite expensive back in his time.

Eleven’s aside, Nancy’s style and hair develop drastically along the series from a more generic demure, middle class, popular teen wannabe to her own, mature style. Her big, clean room is filled with girly teenager interests. At some point before season 3, she owns a driver license and her make up and “girly clothes” were increased, showing she has became an adult.

Contrasting Ted well established social status, Karen faced some problems during her younger years. It is stated one of the reasons she married Ted was for money. Added with her conversation with Nancy about her job, and the fact she is a lock picking hints some economical struggle on her side. Also maybe she was a teen rebel, because lockpicking is not a classic housewife skill, so maybe that also explains why she fell for the local bad boy.

Okay, now I want a Karen the ex metalhead biker spinoff. Yes, I watched Riverdale.

How gender roles affect the characters?

It is impossible to separate Mike and Ted, and Nancy and Karen from their genders. Both of the parents are low-key feeding their gender roles to their children (Ted with some masculinity bits here and there, Karen with some sexuality/job advice). Memes aside, Ted was in the right age (like the other fathers of the show) to have been sent to Vietnam, so all the moments sleeping maybe shows some form of PTSD. And Karen told the audience/Nancy she is a housewife because she was “not enough” for a men’s world.

Any of the children are actively pursuing those gender roles strictly, since there is a constant comment of the younger generation refreshing the air and setting aside the previous roles. There is some instances in which both siblings are clearly refusing their preasigned gender roles, like Mike’s continuous effort of being the assertive, brave, nice, protective leader and Nancy’s refusal to be reduced as someone’s girlfriend or the coffee maker. Mike stands out as an empathetic, nice, sensitive figure. We see him cry on screen and displays affection, love and friendship in an era when men were supposed to be “men” without any emotions. He solves things mostly through talking, he asks for girlfriend and emotional advice, and all of him remarks his “unmanly” nature. All of this is also extended in how he interacts with his male friends, while touching or having heart-to-heart conversations, but been more confrontational with women who are not love interests. He also choses and enjoys activities not related with the classic boy/men archetypes.

Nancy’s concept, arc and plots is much more liked to her gender than Mike’s. A great part of season 1 and 2 is literally her sexual awakening and consequences, and on season 3 she has to deal with men in a world created by men for men. This is disrupted somehow by the arrival of the Upside Down everytime: she sets aside her destiny as a future Karen, something she despises and embraces her teen/adult moment through fighting in more masculine clothes. On season 1, she wears all this pastel, femenine colours and skirts and while fighting, she is dressed with more masculine clothes. On season 2, she wears still her “fighting” clothes, but here and there we see her femenine side with pink and jewelry. But on season 3, she wears bold colours and clothes that definitely screams “yes, I’m a woman”.

Nancy has some unexpected shooting skills (in the scene she coincidentally talks about her parents with the “femenine” Jonathan), and develops them into a full weapon skill set during seasons 2 and 3. This is brought up by the book Runaway Max, the Max prequel. Max laments she doesn’t have a lot of female roles to aspire of, and that makes her difficult to connect her masculine and femenine side, but then arrives Nancy with her niceness, her makeup, her pink and ballerina accessories, and shot a monster with a rifle. Another comment can be made about Nancy’s choices in men: despite her desire to not become a Karen, she choose boys that can help to fullfill that nuclear family + house + dog dream but also deconstructed that idea at the same time: Steve, at first, looks like the golden boy with good prospects, but he has some fire and sense of adventure in him. Jonathan, in the other side, is this struggling with money teenager, but a boring and safe option.

The Hawkins yearbook reinforces her mix of feminine and masculine traits: her future career is (now femenine) journalism, her favourite subjects are all femenine except (masculine) Maths, her interests are (masculine) studing, (masculine) swimming (maybe linked with how Steve was supposed to be a swimmer), (neutral) Honors Society, (neutral) Yearbook, (feminine) Snow Ball chaperone. Also she was a cheerleader. What a pity to don’t have Nancy doing this on screen, cheerleaders need some good reputation instead of being always the Alpha Bitch.

The relationship of the siblings with gender is remarked when those characters are paired with their gender opposite: Mike with genderless Eleven and femenine Will, and Nancy with soft boys such as Steve and Jonathan.

#stranger things #slayernina writes stuff #nancy wheeler #mike wheeler #ted wheeler #karen wheeler #holly wheeler #eleven #jim hopper #jonathan byers #steve harrington #barb holland #barbara holland #justiceforbarb

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