#This is mostly Mike leaning because his scenes are at the forefront of my memory

[quinnick]

hey! this is the byler chicken anon, @swashbuckling-chicken and i'm here to ask you your opinions on the trauma cycle and how it's portrayed in stranger things because i feel like you would have some deep thoughts

Anon, you have too much faith in me and I am slightly terrified that I have gained a status as a "Deep thought" haver (/lh)

But I have never not answered an ask (a lie) so I will try to give some thoughts.

I am not entirely sure if you are referring to a trauma cycle as in a person being unable to break themselves out of constantly being retraumatized or a trauma cycle like as in the act of one traumatized person passing on unhealthy behaviors and traumatizing another person by their healed trauma

I am going to kind of explore both options although I will say that I am not going to go super deep, 1 because I am in a silly goofy mood where I don't finish long tasks and 2 because I am not very well prepared for a long forum post (I say this 2 paragraphs in. This isn't going to be short just not a whole essay)

The characters in the story of Stranger Things are constantly still being retraumatized as the source of their trauma never really goes away. Starting in S1, we know the events must have been traumatic for Mike, Dustin, and Lucas as they are just small kids. They aren't even in highschool. Not even close. Along with this, these three have no trusted adults they can actively talk to about their trauma as the government is actively stopping them along with the fact that even then they are small kids. Traumatic shit happens to kids and they have no idea how to express their emotions or feeling surrounding it because they haven't learned how yet along with this many parents aren't prepared to deal with this either. A professional therapist would be needed but if they can't tell their parents then they can definitely not tell a person not even connect to them.

In season two, we can see that even though the active threat is not constantly present, they still have trauma and big emotions that they can't express. Mike is obvious in that he seems to be acting out in the beginning of the season as they discuss in the family dinner in S2 Ep1. Despite the fact that his parents note this as odd behavior, they don't try to reach out to Mike. Their only response is to punish the behavior to make it go away. In my opinion, a way to get rid of the symptom without actually treating the main issue. Which makes sense for the Wheeler parents to respond with as Ted is inattentive and careless while Karen is attentive, yes, but also only knows how to deal with unwanted behavior with punishment. It's been a moment since I watched S2 in it's whole so forgive me for forgetting a bit what Dustin and Lucas were up to in their small character moments. It is important to note that both these characters are also forced to hide their trauma from their parents. Along with this they also can't talk to Max about it which makes her feel like an outsider in the group.

Dustin does have to scrub the blood of his family pet off his rug so that can't be a bright spot in his day.

If S1 wasn't already traumatic for these characters, they also have to be under threat from something they thought was over. As much as I love a good old fashion, Mike S2 staying beside Will. Mike shouldn't have to deal with the constant threat of the unknown and if his bestfriend/crush could live or die. Not after S1.

I feel like I am starting to go off the rails and not even be tying this back to the orginal subject

Basically, every season so far as been characters reliving their trauma and being retraumatized and also get new ones. All while any adult is either unable to help from their own lack of knowledge, or understanding of trauma, or just the damn government stopping them.

I mean, I didn't even mention Jonathan who was already showing signs of parentification and inability to not put his needs on the back burner for others in S1. I love Joyce and understand her and can sympathize with her but can also understand that Jonathan need someone there to tell him that he didn't need to keep it all together. Which she does but sadly the plot forces her to choose between abandoning Jonathan emotionally or possibly saving Will. Now that I think about it, the casket scene is a good way to show how this all comes to a head and the show outright makes her choose. Jonathan chasing her down and basically begging her to be there for him. But she knows Will is still there so how could she possibly go casket shopping for her completely alive son.

Sorry if this made no sense. I am not used to writing analysis posts so this is more crumbs then actual thoughts.

Thanks for the ask and thanks for listening to me ramble <3