Stranger Things, Queerness, and Class

By Akira Albar-Kluck

Stranger Things is no stranger to queer coding. The new season has brought a lot of new conversations online about queer coding in the show. Wikipedia defines queer coding as “the subtextual coding of a character in media as queer.” Academics and critics have noted this concept for decades, originating in film after the implementation of the Motion Picture Production Code in 1934, also known as the Hays Code. It was a form of self-censorship as there was a growing concern over the content of film and the behavior of its stars. Will is the most obvious example of queer coding, in both the show and of television at large as queer coding has shifted to queerbaiting with shows like Supernatural and Riverdale. As well, Noah Schnapp the actor who plays him has confirmed Will is gay. He is far from the only queer or queer coded character. Robin is the only other canonical queer character in the show. Some other queer coded characters in the show include Billy, Max, Eddie, and Murray. These characters are all extremely different from each other. Some are heroes, and some are antagonists. Some are very obvious examples of queer coding, some require a more keen eye. They all share something besides queer coding in common: they are poor. All of the queer coded characters are poor.

Billy and Max are noted as being poor throughout the show, and in the new season, Max lives in the trailer park. Billy is queercoded through his homoerotic violence towards Steve and Max through the tomboy and “boys are stupid” narratives. Will is shown to be struggling financially throughout the show, his mom makes his Halloween costume, she works a grueling job at the general store, and his brother works to help pay for stuff around the house. He is also queer coded throughout the entire show by his embodiment of the “artistic and sensitive” gay child tropes, his dad is homophobic towards him, Mike notes that he does not like girls, and he has a pseudo-coming-out speech in season 4. Eddie lives in a trailer park, knows how to steal cars, and deals drugs, he is not of a high socioeconomic class. He is also queer coded through the way he is persecuted bu the town for murder mirorring homophobic persecution in the wake of the HIV/AIDS crisis, as well as the way he is costumed. Eddie wears a black handkerchief in his left pocket, which many fans noted as a potential nod to the “hanky code” popular at the time with gay men. It was a way to subtly signal to other men interested in casual sex what they would be interested in. Murray is a conman, but not a rich one, and his sort of intellectual masculinity and homoerotic connection to Hopper puts him in line with queer coding of the 80s. Robin is canonically queer, and in the most recent season, they confirm that she is poor when she admits she cannot drive.