The Insidious Implication of Stranger Things Season 5: Hate Your Enemies

It is the end of an era. A little more than two weeks ago the last episode of Stranger Things dropped on Netflix, the final act of a show that has been a pillar of American pop culture for nearly a decade and likely will remain in the popular consciousness for years to come. Yet this last season did not entertain me as much as it disturbed me. Neither jump scares or visually repellent monsters were to blame. What troubled me had nothing to do with visual phenomena.

It took a while for me to understand the source. My feeling of uneasiness began in episode three. Thirteen minutes in Hopper and Eleven confronted a detachment of about half a dozen Wolf-Pack soldiers, pawns of the notorious Dr. Kay. Hopper killed or severely wounded at least three of these soldiers, and after disabling the device that neutralized El’s powers, she was able to finish off the rest. Hopper and El captured Lieutenant Akers, the leader of the detachment, and spirited him away to a discreet location so that they could question him about the arrival of the next supply convoy to the Upside Down. When Hopper interrogated Akers, Akers refused to answer his questions. Akers pointed out that Hopper had just killed soldiers that were his friends. Hopper responded, “I’d kill a thousand guys like you to protect one person I love.” Perhaps Hopper’s hyperbole was only a negotiation tactic but as the season progressed this explanation seemed less and less likely.

Over the course of season 5, the Hawkins crew kills dozens of Wolf-Pack soldiers and other government personnel (to be precise the total tally is 34). In fact, the only person or group that kills more people than the ‘good guys’ in Season 5 is the big, bad boss himself, Vecna, and his minions, the Demogorgons. That the bad guy is the most murderous character of all is to be expected, what is more disconcerting is the willingness of the protagonists to do the same without a second thought. 

I was homeschooled growing up. My mother believed in the benefits of a classical education and especially the usefulness of Latin, which I studied for more years than I care to remember. One of the classic texts that almost every Latin scholar becomes acquainted with is Caesar’s account of the Gallic Wars. In my youth I took what I read at face value with little thought to what the words meant. But when I began to consider what I was translating, Julius Caesar’s exploits came into focus. Caesar claimed to have slaughtered a million Gauls and enslaved another million. Rape and pillage on such a mass scale is itself unnerving but what is perhaps even more disquieting is the callousness with which Caesar himself recounted the events. Julius Caesar was not just unapologetic regarding his brutal methods, he boasted of them. Caesar hated his enemies. He hated the Gauls. He was proud to have slain and enslaved so many of them. Certainly, Julius Caesar believed that the life of a Gallic tribesman was of little value compared to a Roman life. To be clear, Caesar never explicitly stated this in his writings, but that only goes to show he thought his perspective self-evident. After all, if something is obviously true to everyone, the assumption is that it is not necessary to say it is so. 

Julius Caesar did not even consider justifying the devastation he brought upon his enemies because they were the ‘bad guys.’ They were barbarians. They were different and lesser. They could be destroyed without remorse. The Hawkins’ crew had a similar perspective regarding Wolf-Pack personnel. They did not view Wolf-Pack personnel as misled or ill-informed pawns. They did not attempt to explain to any of these unfortunate souls that Dr. Kay distorted the truth, that what they had been told about the Upside Down and Eleven was a lie. Instead, each and every soldier was seen as an indivisible component of the evil machine. They couldn’t be reasoned with. They should be destroyed without hesitation. Violence wasn’t just justified, it was deserved. The only difference between Julius Caesar and Nancy Wheeler is who they identified as 'other.' Through Caesar’s perspective the ‘other’ were Gallic tribesmen, through Nancy Wheeler’s perspective the ‘other’ were various employees of the American government. Hopper’s response to Lieutenant Akers is confirmation that he, and likely the rest of the Hawkins gang, have no remorse when killing them.

I am a Christian, even if I rarely live up to the brand. I believe that the Bible contains the most profound wisdom regarding how to live and how to treat people. I believe that Jesus was the only person who ever managed to live out these principles completely. During his earthly ministry the Roman Empire occupied Palestine and ruled Jesus’ people, the Jews. Roman law allowed legionnaires to demand locals carry their equipment for up to a mile. If the locals refused, they could be punished. Of all Roman statutes imposed on the many conquered peoples of the Mediterranean, this law was one of the most hated. Therefore, it was a shocking moment in Matthew 5:41 when Jesus told his followers that if a Roman legionary made such a demand on them, they should carry the soldier's equipment two miles, even further than the law required. Why should any Hebrew, whose country had been raped and pillaged by Romans, go out of their way to assist those who had so deeply wronged them? It seemed the pinnacle of insanity and injustice.