Stranger Things recently got called out for having characters smoke, but cigarette use wasn’t the only thing that was unhealthy in season three of the popular show. Evan Rachel Wood took to Twitter to slam the depiction of a toxic relationship between Stranger Things characters Hopper and Joyce. “You should never date a guy like the cop from #strangerthings Extreme jealousy and violent rages are not flattering or sexy like TV would have you believe. That is all,” Wood wrote on Twitter.
In season three, it seems like there’s sexual tension between Hopper and Joyce. But if you break down the actual actions of Hopper, at the end of the day, he’s just controlling and angry. Their “will-they-won’t-they” relationship is more of a “they shouldn’t” kind of deal.
Some people fired back, saying that Stranger Things is a work of fiction. The Upside Down doesn’t exist in our world, but toxic behavior, unfortunately, is very real. “Yes I am aware its ‘just a show’ and its set ‘in the 80s’ even though this stuff was unacceptable then too, but thats exactly my point. Its just a show and this is a gentle reminder not to fall for this crap in real life. Red flags galore,” Wood wrote in a follow up Tweet.
In one scene, Joyce and Hopper are supposed to go on a date that isn’t labeled as a date. Joyce stands up Hopper and his reaction is anything but healthy. “She rescheduled the date he yelled and got in her face about while policing every guy she spoke to. No thanks,” Wood Tweeted.
Wood also had a problem with the fact that Joyce later rescheduled her “non-date” with Hopper. “She is allowed to stand him up without being screamed at. Especially when she is worried about her children. Priority number 1. He also insisted it wasnt a date and clearly he lied. She shouldn’t have rescheduled,” Wood wrote.
Wood pulled no punches and called it out for what it was. “He was being abusive,” she wrote.
Portraying a toxic relationship as “flirting” isn’t cute. It’s problematic. The last time we checked, you can’t make someone fall in love with you by just yelling at them. Stranger Things has taught us how to defeat a Mind Flayer, but it hasn’t taught us how to defeat relationship red flags.
