#and this doesn’t even begin to touch on my theory that steve is dyslexic

[local-redhead-bookworm]

Hey, I’m in a mood to ramble about Steve today. This gets pretty long though, so pull up a chair.

I could go on for hours about how the Duffers could not write a character arc if you put a gun to their heads, but they actually came pretty close with Steve. I also really like to look at what’s actually happening in the story versus how the narrative frames it, so we’re gonna talk about Steve.

So at the beginning, Steve is meant to be perceived as “Nancy’s jerk boyfriend” and that’s it. Honestly, I’m surprised he ever made it past that, given how the Duffers handled every other male character aside from Jonathan and now Argyle. Anyway, we’re meant to see him as an arrogant rich boy who’s a jerk to Jonathan in s1, and nothing else.

But let’s set the narrative lens aside for a second. He caught Jonathan trespassing on his family’s property, taking inappropriate photos of his girlfriend. Now I know this all gets addressed later, but in the moment, it’s really not a good look for Jonathan. I think breaking Jonathan’s camera was too far, but Steve’s anger is justified. The incident with the spray paint and him calling Jonathan a slur are absolutely not being excused here, I’m merely pointing out that his actions before that point were not exactly as the narrative frames them.

Then we have his famous match with the demogorgon, where Steve actually had come to apologize to Jonathan and instead got pulled into the Upside Down mess. He jumps right into his role as the protector, and he’s a much better person because of this.

Then in s2, Steve and Nancy have been dating for almost a year. He is an extremely devoted boyfriend, and he clearly adores Nancy, but it’s obvious that Nancy is still thinking about Jonathan. Even when she helps him out with academic stuff, she continues to fling his own poor grades and his shortcomings in his face. Then she dumps him, and he is absolutely devastated by it.

At this point, it’s worth mentioning that Steve’s parents are virtually never present. Granted, some of the parents in the show are fairly uninvolved, but Steve’s parents are just never there. Let’s re-evaluate Steve’s relationships in light of this. He’s popular but Tommy and Carol have dropped him by s2, so he doesn’t have many (if any) real friends. Take this with how attached he was to Nancy, and it paints a picture of simply a very lonely teenaged boy. She’s the first person who’s chosen to stick around him in a while for something other than his status. He was so deeply in love with her, and her decision to dump him is like a knife to the heart for him.

After his breakup with Nancy, he gets dragged into the Upside Down mess again by Dustin, who at this point he probably just knows as “Nancy’s little brother’s friend.” And he throws himself into helping and protecting because he feels useful and wanted here, with Dustin, who’s like a little brother to him. He gives Dustin relationship advice and while it’s not good, it does show us how deeply his breakup with Nancy hurt him. We see him talk to Nancy briefly, and we see how deeply her words about him being a “shitty boyfriend” hurt him. He’s convinced he was the problem, as if she wasn’t the one constantly brushing him off and casting longing looks at Jonathan.

In s3, things are better. He’s much happier, and he’s overjoyed to see Dustin. However, he failed to get accepted into any colleges, presumably because of his low grades and his flopped admission letters. He’s developed some feelings for Robin and he’s still very absorbed with trying to get a date, but given the ease with which he takes her rejection and her coming out to him, he’s in a much more stable place emotionally by the end of the season. He states that he is no longer in love with Nancy and considers her a friend.

It seemed like we were through with Steve being second fiddle and hung up on romance, because he had friends now. He had his little found family.

Then everything changed with the arrival of s4. It butchered Steve’s dynamic with Dustin by having Dustin constantly belittle his intelligence. When Steve says that Nancy nearly shot him, she says he nearly deserved it, when he was coming to apologize to Jonathan. Nancy continues to insinuate that he’s stupid, and he never acknowledges this. We hear about how much this lonesome only child wants a big family, only to have to listen to him admit that it always included her. As if she isn’t still in a relationship with Jonathan at this time, as if she hasn’t constantly insulted him and made him feel undeserving of her love. The season concludes their relationship with Nancy being back with Jonathan but not communicating their problems, while Steve looks on longingly from the sidelines.

We can have Steve being clueless and out of the loop without being treated like he’s stupid. We can have Steve find belonging in his close friendship with Robin, and the older brother role he plays in Dustin’s life. We can have Steve be happy without him needing to get back with his ex who do obviously damaged his self esteem. Steve’s arc and his worth as a character do not begin and end with romance, and I’m sick of seeing another character’s story be a way to say that romance is the only thing that matters.

#steve harrington #stranger things #stranger things analysis #stranger things meta #stranger things 4 #stranger things 4 spoilers #stranger things spoilers #stranger things season 4 #and this doesn’t even begin to touch on my theory that steve is dyslexic #or all the trauma he’d have after being tortured in s3 #steve deserves better #better than Nancy specifically but also just in general #given how they’ve handled every other long haired pretty boy I’m surprised he ever became more than his first draft character #gonna go ahead and tag this as #anti stancy #my posts