As mentioned in previous installments, Stranger Things doesn’t seem to shy away from featuring queer characters, narratives surrounding the gay experience, and unrequited love, but the queer conversations surrounding the series extends far beyond what we see on the TV.

Though it has only been made reference to within the show, Noah Schnapp confirmed in an interview during summer 2022 that his character, Will, was in fact always meant to be gay. And coincidentally enough, Noah came out as gay himself six months after confirming as such for Will, saying “I guess I’m more similar to Will than I thought.” Noah was cast in Stranger Things when he was eleven years old, so it’s more likely that this casting decision was just a convenient coincidence. But by the time season four was in production he was a late teenager, and fans soon realized his portrayal in this season likely came from a place of personal understand. When he came out, one Twitter user said, “noah schnapp being gay makes so much sense because a straight person would never have been able to film this scene as well as he did,” in reference to the car scene that I analyzed in a previous post. Other fans commented, saying, “That is the performance of someone who has had that happen before in real life” and “A straight person could do it, but it wouldn’t shine as much as it did.” WordPress won’t let me add hyperlinks for some reason: https://x.com/cutesope/status/1611135395596570625

On a less positive note, in 2018 leading actress Millie Bobby Brown, who plays Eleven, abandoned her Twitter account after a meme went viral referring to her being homophobic. While the ‘joke’ was purposefully over-the-top, it was clear that it went against what she stood for and was taken too far by LGBT fans. It started in 2017 with a Twitter user creating a fake story about meeting Brown and claiming that the actress called him a homophobic slur and refused to take a selfie with him. This become just one example to arise from the viral #TakeDownMillieBobbyBrown hashtag that led to her leaving the Internet when she was only fourteen years old.

While some users could tell that these stories were supposed to be incredibly absurd, some users took these allegations seriously. One Reddit user said, “Yeah I definitely don’t think this is common knowledge. I’m a great example of this. […] In passing I’ve seen comments, memes, etc. here and there that came across as serious about her being homophobic. I legitimately thought she said or did something that labeled her as that.”

This came from an uprising of reclaiming slurs within the LGBT community, and it seemed as though queer Stranger Things fans used this joke as a way of reclaiming power over their sexuality, but at what cost? LGBTQ Nation wrote, “Sadly, the anti-gay memes get revived online whenever Brown has a new project or when Stranger Things updates are announced.”

While I can’t consider the people creating memes as true “fans”, their actions have influence on the reputation of the show and it’s leading actress. This whole incident is particularly dangerous for casual fans, potential fans, and Brown’s legacy. Unfortunately, people see these allegations with limited context, or casual viewers who aren’t as Internet savvy or not involved in fandom culture, they could become turned off by the series or Brown’s future works. Especially in a time where people often consume media through short form content like tweets or comment sections, it’s unfortunately possible for absurd rumors to spiral into “facts.” Alex writing for Vox summed it up very well, stating, “It’s not irrational for Brown to dislike the association of her name attached to these memes. There’s a phenomenon in which ironic memes, like the ones involving Brown, are sometimes willed into truths. […] Each reaction to the irony moves the goalposts a little bit each time, to the point that it can be hard to know what field you’re playing on.”

The reason I mention these two points is because of how they tie together, with Millie being one of the first few people that Noah came out to before he made it public. Their close bond and friendship definitely lends emotion to their on screen interactions with one another and hopefully their chemistry can undo the cultural footprint the homophobic smear campaign against Millie may have left on any audience members.