The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things has been cited as helping to revive the role of the “tomboy” in film and television. While it is exciting to find increased representation for gender nonconformity in the arts, framing Stranger Things’ Eleven and Max as the “poster-children” for this resurgence seems problematic.
Magazine and academic articles that refer to Eleven as a tomboy seem fundamentally flawed. Tomboy culture is often predicated on the notion of “choice.” So, while the media frequently focuses on Eleven’s “tomboy” appearance, it is critical to remember that Eleven has no choice in how she looks: her shorn hair is the result of abuse and her “wardrobe” consists of whatever she is given/can steal. Moreover, her alignment with the young men of the show is the result of happenstance and necessity. Again, there is no choice. The case of Max is more complicated.
The second season offers Maxine, who prefers a male-coded version of her name, “Max.” Undoubtedly, Max embodies many of the characteristics that are associated with the figure of the “tomboy.” She elects to wear male-coded clothing, enjoys male-coded pursuits, and has an all-male friend-group. However, her character is portrayed as destructive to the established male friendships of show. Whether viewed as an interloper (by Mike) or an object of sexual desire (by Lucas and Dustin), she is the catalyst for strife. Moreover, she is seen as a sexual threat to the established relationship between Eleven and Mike. Here, the tomboy is destabilizing and sexualized to the point of fetishization. This depiction of the tomboy as an object of destruction and sexual desire requires unpacking.
This essay will explore the “tomboy” label as applied to Stranger Things and discuss the ways in which the characters either conform to or defy it.
About the presenterErica Joan Dymond
Film scholar