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toongrrl-blog · 4 years

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Part One of Barb Series: Why Barb Died (Character Device Talk)

*Please watch the Betty Draper Francis video first, for extra credit, check out the channel’s vid on Jack Dawson and come with knowledge of Beth March*

Happy end of the 2010s! Before I discuss what Barb could have brought to the Party in Stranger Things I need to discuss how as a character she needed to die.

1. Beth March

In one scene in Little Women, the girls and Laurie discuss their ambitions for adult life. Oldest sister Meg wants to marry and have kids, oldest middle sis Jo wants to become a known and successful writer, youngest sister Amy wants to become rich and famous as an artist and maybe a socialite, and middle child Beth wants things to stay the way they are for her, with her loving family at her side. What’s wrong with this? What the other three sisters have in common is that they are hoping for adult lives which include a lot of change, responsibility, independence (either as a career woman or running a household with little kids underfoot), new experiences, and even new people in their lives (Meg would need to meet a guy to marry and have kids with him, Jo would need to meet people in her professional life, Amy would entertain guests and appeal to patrons). Shy Beth is a talented pianist, vet, and doll collector and is very charitable but she doesn’t seem to want to take the risks it would take to grow as a person and thrive and mature or be noticed for her own merits aside from “Angel of the House” and the future looks pretty hostile; so by the end of the novel, Beth has died in her early 20s while sisters lives have changed (Meg married and had children in a cottage while gaining confidence as a homemaker, wife, and mom; Jo sells her writing and meets a professor who wants to start a school where she becomes headmistress after they marry; Amy goes on a Grand Tour of Europe and marries wealthy and happy).

The series Stranger Things, on a whole, is a coming-of-age series that borrows from the John Hughes and Steven Spielberg films of that era that captured the joys and pains of growing up, while Joyce’s and Hop’s storylines borrow from conspiracy thrillers around that era and somewhat from Hitchcock films. All these films captured ordinary people undergoing extraordinary (E.T., North By Northwest, The Goonies, The Stepford Wives) and life altering events (Jaws, The Breakfast Club, Silkwood) that force them to encounter challenges and make decisions they wouldn’t normally make in their mundane lives. Joyce ends up facing a monster with an axe and even makes demands of people who could wipe her off the Earth, the boys have to ride their bikes to evade murderous men in vans and hide a young traumatized girl, Nancy has to learn to create and use deadly weapons and use her skills of sneaking out for something besides sex, Jonathon has to cut his and another girl’s hand to lure a monster to their trap, Hop sneaks into a morgue just to slit a dead boy’s corpse and find cotton stuffing, Will has to use what knowledge and skills he has to survive another world filled with creatures out to kill him, most of the kids throughout the series have to lie and break laws to save their town.

While the official guide does list Barb as being a varsity softball player and a mathlete and Shannon Purser concurs that Barb would have been the Velma of the group if she lived, there is one big thing that separates the Velmas from the Barbs and Beth’s of the world: Velma takes risks, she would trespass private looking property and dilapidated buildings to solve a mystery. Barb is a loyal friend and honest and studious and smart, but she’s ultimately the good girl archetype: cautious, obedient to her elders, predictable, conservatively and femininely dressed, chaste. An archetype that Nancy is trying to flee (not that the alternative of being a girl who sneaks out with her boyfriend to makeout is going to help Nancy at all) to avoid ending up like her mother. Barb has the fangs (talent and means) to be a Party member, she just lacks the nerve to jump and sink those fangs.

2. Commentary on the Patriarchy and the Tyranny of Beauty Standards

Most of the female characters in the series don’t fit the strict criteria of their Reagan era Indiana small town regarding what makes a good woman. Joyce is a single mother who doesn’t come with well-coiffed hair and she appears to be hysterical and is a working mother in a time and place where all these factors would label her a “bad mother”, Nancy is a frank young woman who takes risks and even asserts her sexuality and herself when plenty of people (like the shitheads at Hawkins Post) would prefer her to be a delicate virgin in pastels, El is physically stronger than the boys with her powers and she is very direct in her manner despite her soft-spoken demeanor, Max is a girl who is interested in arcade video games and skateboarding and brightly colored summer clothing and reads her Mom’s Cosmo cover to cover and is assertive, Erica is an assertive young girl who can talk truth (and shade) to adults and has a knowledge of My Little Pony and Cold War Politics, Robin is snarky and has a style that makes her stand out from most girls in Hawkins and is a teen genius, Kali’s rage and Joan Jett-esque appearance would make the preppy and pastel and autumnal tone wearing residents of Hawkins in Cardiac Care, Suzie has defied notions about girls in science and math and even the Mormon beliefs of her parents by french kissing and dating a non-Mormon boy like Dustin, and Karen despite her appearance of hot housewife perfection is dissatisfied with her marriage and comes close to cheating on her husband.

In contrast Barb is pretty much the most conventional character: she dresses conservatively in ruffles and pink, she is seemingly chaste, follows the rules diligently and worries about getting punished by the Holland and Wheeler parents, and has a more common body type found in cis-gender women (correct me if I’m wrong, hopefully I don’t offend trans pear shaped women) and not often found in the older members of the female cast. But despite Barb’s body being common among women in general and specific to her region (the American Midwest is noted for starchy and creamy and fried foods and is historically farming country, where pioneers would find her strong for work in and out of the log cabin and give birth to the necessary amount of children i.e. extra hands for work), the delicate and slender builds of Joyce and Nancy, the classic proportionate and slender grace of Robin, and the leggy and toned image of Karen are closer to the female standard of beauty in the 1980s. In Barb’s lifetime (1967-1983), the image of beauty was dominated by leggy, toned, slim, busty women or lean women with minimal breasts: no room for tall, broad, pear shapes like herself. And in 1983, Molly Ringwald wasn’t yet a household name that freckled redheads with dry wit and atypical images could look on with pride. Hell I remember reading a copy of Color Me Beautiful where they recommend that women with heavy hips and small waists (similar features of Christina Hendricks and Shannon Purser) shouldn’t cinch their waistlines, the celebration of Marilyn Monroe pinups with round hips, pillowy thighs and tummies, rounded tushes were long gone by then. Basically Barb being her natural self, was not seen as “feminine enough” and combined with her glasses and style (any plus sized or early developing gal can tell you that it is hell to find junior styles that suit your body size and shape) have ruled her as “uncool”.

There is also that Barb does a lot of things that the boys do: being slightly geeky, a loyal friend, has innocent and wholesome interests, chaste, and is quiet (like Will) but she still gets killed. One can sense that #JusticeForBarb came out of an anger with misogyny in media and society that tells women to be a certain way and punishes them whether they fit a mold or not. Women are still underpaid in the workplace, underrepresented in government, still deal with unequal and toxic relationships, are shamed for being virgins or for having sexual experience (Carol pokes fun at the idea of Barb finding the sex sounds too much and yet contributes to the slut shaming graffiti of Nancy), are told on one hand to look a certain way to attract the male gaze and shamed when they indulge in sexual desire (something Nancy can attest to with her glamorous mother who offers to lend her black heels and focuses on Nancy’s beauty before a funeral, the same mom who was angry her daughter had sex), they are either too fat/skinny/busty/flat/frizzy/straight haired/pale/slutty/prudish/dark/feminine/masculine/full-butt-ed/quiet/loud/naive/cynical/smart/dumb/angry/happy, and they deal with a media that sells a very narrow standard of beauty to the point that when they see a drop dead gorgeous actress or model with similar features they feel seen.

Oh Bondage, Up Yours!

*Read this is not a “Barb is a slut shamer!” piece yes that was shitty but she was a teen girl in a small 1980s town and she ISN’T starting a (paraphrasing Kimberly Nicole Foster quote) “no whores allowed campaign” OR trying to pass a law that demands women keep their ectopic pregnancies to full term*

3. End of Innocence

When Barb died, it marked the end of Nancy’s childhood and her needing to grow up. That was the night Nancy went straight from childhood (Barb), teenager (sex with Steve), and then shortly became an adult when she realized that Barb had disappeared. For many women (like myself at ages 9 and 10), the moment they get their period or grow breasts or reach a certain age, marks a dramatic end of their childhood. Suddenly many are told to police their behavior and language around boys, even policing the food they eat or their bodies. There is also extra responsibility and stress, demogorgans being one of them. Nancy is now having to deal with the sorts of issues that adult women dealt with on Mad Men along with scary monsters threatening her town and the fact her parents are not as happy as they look to the world, there is a gap between the experiences of her and Mike, she has a baby sister who probably was conceived to save the marriage, and Nancy can’t confide or trust either of her parents (who are absorbed with their own issues). Now Nancy is making big decisions that Barb, with the sheltering and seemingly close parents, will likely never deal with. Nancy is even taking fashion risks with clothes that are more functional, stylish, show off her figure, and can even withstand flayer blood and exorcising her boyfriend’s little brother.

4. A Huge Threat

Barb was intended to be a character that we connected with, someone to be built up somehow. There was a character like this in a movie: her name was Marion Crane. She was a secretary who has been supporting herself and her little sis since their parents died, patiently waiting for her boyfriend to make more money at his job so they can marry and stop sneaking around sleeping with one another, in desperation she steals a lot of money from her workplace, drives to California where she meets a mild-mannered but strange young man who manages a distant motel in the vicinity of a Victorian house where an older woman is croaking about promiscuity, after talking with him over a dinner of sandwiches in his taxidermy themed office, she goes to take a shower and has decided to return to Phoenix to return the money, then a strange figure comes with a large butcher knife in horribly out of date clothes and starts stabbing her to death.

This was from the Hitchcock film Psycho, the forerunner of the slasher genre that dominated the earlier half of the 1980s, and it premiered to shocked audiences in 1960. The meaning of the grisly murder of Marion, a character the audience was following from the beginning of the film, was that Norman Bates was a huge threat and intensified the need for Marion’s killer to be brought to justice.

The same thing can be said about the deaths of Benny and Barb, to show how much a threat the demogorgan and Hawkins National Lab were to the townspeople of Hawkins (and the world as a whole), basically such big threats that a little boy can be kidnapped from the safety of his home, a young teenage girl could be snatched up and killed from a suburban swimming pool, and a kindly cook and owner of a local diner would be executed for knowing about a runaway child.

5. The future of Women in Stranger Things

Not all is lost, Barb’s death forced the Duffer Bros to take a look at how women were written and treated in their series, and even helped spurred tv viewers (who ordinarily wouldn’t pay attention to social issues) to take a deeper look and interest in how people especially women are treated. For some reason I like to think: Max, Robin, Erica, and Suzie are a way of recognizing Barb’s potential within the series and even what viewers saw.

Now stay tuned to where I figure out how Barb could have been beneficial to the party.

#barb holland #justice for barb #StrangerThings #womeninmedia #beth march #betty draper #1980s women #messy #Not A Space For Character Bashing #Role of Women

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poemsforcowboys · 5 years

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What a Feeling // Freddie Mercury

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Pairing: Freddie Mercury and Katy Newton (OC)

Summary: Before she moved from London to New York at the age of thirteen, Katy Newton had always been friends with Brian May. He was the only one she knew who encouraged her creative side, especially her designs for fashion and makeup. So much so, that Katy is hired as Queen’s newest stylist. But what she doesn’t expect is her knew found friend, Freddie Mercury. Will their casual flirts lead to anything of substance? Or will their relationship just become another lost love as they both make their journey towards self acceptance.

Warnings: there will be smut eventually but not in this chapter, bisexuality (?), feels, mentions of alcohol and drugs

CHAPTER FIVE

Katy woke up the next morning with a horrible headache and one of the worst hangovers she had ever had to endure. She was lying face down into her pillow, drool slowly dripping onto her pink sheets and her dark blue hair was sticking out in all different directions. Her makeup was obviously ruined and she had passed out in the shirt that Roger had ruined the night before. She was lucky she even made it to bed, her drunken stupor had been something of a sight to see, she must have tried to make herself some food when she had first returned because there was a bowl of uncooked pasta on her nightstand with what looked like was cheese on top, the explanation for this escaped her. Today was going to be a hard day, and this was not the cutest start to it. She was going to have to say goodbye to her family and one of her best friends, but she knew she had to. The prospect of leaving one family to find her own was scary but exciting, bitter sweet.

Just then, there was a gentle knock on her door. Before she could respond, and the chances of her doing so were slim, the door peaked open a little bit and then fully when her dog came trotting in and started to lick her hand, which was hanging off the right side of her bed. James came in slowly after, he didn’t want to bother her, but at the same time he wanted to see his older sister as much as he could before her departure.

He was carrying a tray and set it down on her nightstand, moving the weird attempt at mac and cheese farther away. He had tried to make Katy a “hangover cure” breakfast, one with eggs and orange juice and everything the tv used to tell him was important. He didn’t know what she had been up to last night, but he wasn’t too naive either.

Katy got up slowly, stretching and yawning loudly before finally turning to James, when she did, her eyes widened and she smiled. She couldn’t ask for a better little brother. Her older brother, Daniel, still wasn’t aware of Katy’s sudden change in plans, but she knew that the tour stopped Chicago where he and his fiancé lived she could stop by.

“Thank you, J! And thank you too, Rocky!” She patted her dogs head, she would really miss him, and of course hugged her brother. After eating her breakfast and catching up about everything with James, (how he should talk to a girl he fancied, how his classes were going, the typical problems of a thirteen year old boy), she shooed him away and got up to get dressed. She put on a dark green flowing dress that had small white flowers on it and braided her hair.

Walking down the stairs felt different this time, better than ever before. Guessing that her mother would be reading the newspaper at the kitchen table and knowing that she wasn’t looking for job for Katy anymore. As she made her way down, her bare feet sinking into the fuzz dark purple carpet, she heard some familiar voices chatting with her mother. She smiled, Jo was talking to Mrs. Newton about how amazing an opportunity this was for Katy and that she deserved to go, Katy felt her face flushing, could not have a better friend. Downstairs, Mrs. Newton was nodding her head, but in her heart she was unsure about letting her daughter go, worried for her safety and financial security. But no matter where, when, or why, Jo was always the voice of reason and Katy was unbelievably thankful for that. She was going to miss Jo more than anything and promised her that she would call every day, even if it started to annoy Jo.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Newton. You know me, I’ll be doing Dan’s job for him, Katy can be and already is the annoying little sister I never realized I needed” there was a second voice talking now other from Jo’s, Brian must have also decided to come see Katy say goodbye. In reality, the two of them had arrived at the Newton’s apartment fairly early, forty five minutes before Katy had even started to stirr. They both wanted to be the one to drive her to the tour site and when they saw each other’s cars driving towards her building in the opposite directions of each other, it was a site to see but they both in the end still wanted to be the one to drive Katy.

They decided to talk for the first half hour, sitting on the hood of Brian’s car about how annoying Roger could be when he’s drunk. Brian eventually gave in to Jo’s stories about her friendship with Katy and agreed to let Katy ride with Jo and trail behind him as he lead them in his car to the studio. But that was forty five minutes ago, they had been taking turns trying to calm down Clara for the last fifteen.

When Katy peaked her head from around the banister, Brian smiled, extremely happy to see her, and Jo sighed, extremely happy to not have to make small talk with Mrs. Newton anymore, she had asked Jo a few times about any boys she was interested in. Jo had said “Never, well maybe Rog but” and Mrs. Newton just laughed, thinking Jo was shy.

“Morning Mum” Katy smiled and walked over, kissing her mother on the cheek and taking a seat next to her on the couch. She poured herself a cup of tea from the teapot on the coffee table and sipped slowly, noticing Brian had taken one as well.

“Morning Kathryn, or should I say afternoon” Mrs. Newton smiled softly, she fixed her graying brown hair and chuckled in an attempt to distract herself from her real emotions.

“When are you leaving?” her smile began to fade, as she took a look at the clock.

“Well, actually” Brian coughed a little awkwardly, not liking to be the bearer of bad news. “We’ve got to be leaving quite soon, we head out for Detroit tonight and we still have to get Katy’s paperwork sorted out.”

“How soon is soon?” Jo asked, turning her head to face Brian, she was sitting next to him. “We should head over to the studio, like” Brian checked his watch “five minutes ago, shit” he said. When he realized he had cursed, his hand flew to his mouth, remembering when he was little how Clara would yell at him for swearing. She just laughed and shook her head “you’re an adult now, Brian, it’s okay, and a rock star at that. And Kathryn, I don’t want to make you any more late than you already are on your first day. If you are going to do this job, you are going to do it well” her mother tried to hold it together, but by the end of her speech there were tears forming in her eyes. Katy gave her mother the biggest hug she had in awhile, and then headed upstairs to collect her things.

“Brian, I hope you know I’m staying with you guys until the second you leave for the airport” Jo whispered while the two of them waited for Katy to return with her luggage.

“Oh, I figured” he shrugged “Rog will be happy to see you”

“I’m sure he will”

Katy returned, struggling to carry her bright red square suitcase; Brian got up quickly to help her before she stumbled, and Mrs. Newton put her hands over her heart and looked at Jo, who just rolled her eyes.

“Thanks, Bri. I’d say I could handle it, but there are a LOT of heels in there” Katy laughed, shaking her hands that were now free of the heavy weight.

“Yeah, I got that” Brian grunted, struggling a little bit himself as he headed out the front door that Jo held open for him, following behind him as he walked downstairs to go wait in the car.

Katy said her goodbyes to her mother, and James. They were sad of course, but also full of a new hope for the future, one different from any she had felt before. Her father had passed a few years back from cancer, he was a strong lawyer like her mother but he had a softer more artistic side that her mother lacked. He would have been proud of her, Katy and her mother knew that, they cried in the doorway, arms holding each other tightly, not wanting to let go.

Finally, she did, she ruffled James’ hair and then hugged him too.

“Promise to call me if Suzie says something to you, okay?” she whispered in his ear, causing his face to turn red.

“James? Who is Suzie?” their mother asked, putting her hands on her hips. James shot her a look but at the end of the day, it had been the conversation point that ended her mother’s tears. She gave both of them one final hug goodbye and headed out the door, to see both Brian and Jo waiting in their cars but trying to talk to each other about directions by yelling from out their open windows. Katy just shook her head and laughed, running down her steps. She turned around and took one final look before hopping into Jo’s car, she could hear Rocky barking in the distance, and the sound of the tv turning on. She would miss them, she would miss New York, but she was beyond excited for her future.

During the car ride, Katy and Jo could not stop talking about everything.

“Who knows, you might even meet someone” Jo raised her eyebrows, she had just finished ranting about how beautiful Michelle had looked last night and realized it was making Katy quiet and look out the window.

“What about John, eh? You guys were talking a lot last night, or you know I’m sure you might run into the right type of girl more than once, who knows. Right?” Jo said haphazardly, her car following Brian’s slow one, he was unsure about driving in America and right now was really regretting it. He had hoped Katy would drive back. Katy’s face was red, she played with her hands. “I don’t know, I think John and I have a lot in common and I’d rather be his friend” Katy said, she chose to ignore the second part. For some reason she was unable to come to terms with her feelings and sexuality, it was confusing and she’d rather not think about it.

“You know,” Katy started, turning to Jo. “we’re doing a show in Milwaukee, maybe if you’re up for it” Jo started to grip the steering wheel a little. It was her turn to be uncomfortable. Jo had grown up in Milwaukee, where her family still was. Katy had first met her when she was kicked out of her house, she had a black eye and was trying to give herself stitches in the woman’s bathroom. The injuries were from her father, after during their family trip to New York City Jo had come out as lesbian. Her family left the city the next morning, but Jo had stayed there ever since.

“I don’t know, Katy. Maybe I’ll visit to see you but anything other than that is a different story. The flights there are always cheap” Jo sighed, and it had been years since she had seen anyone in her family.

“You don’t have to promise me anything, really I was just throwing it out there”

Jo just nodded.

They finally arrived at the tour site, it had all of the band’s trailers parked and because of the warm weather Katy was happy to be outside. She quickly spotted Freddie and Roger who were taking a smoke break, and John who was loading his luggage into the van. Freddie shot Katy a quick smile and wave, and Roger shot her a weaker one, still feeling bad about having ruined her shirt.

Jo parked and got out, running towards Roger to scare him from behind, it worked and he yelped before turning around to see her and slapping her on the shoulder. Katy headed over to Brian to help him move her stuff, although where she wanted to be was greeting Freddie.

“Newt, I just have to say it again, I couldn’t be happier that you’re coming with us” Brian smiled after they had successful packed the tour bus and were now standing inside of it feeling accomplished. The two of them hugged and let go just as the door swung open to reveal Freddie, John, their producer, and Roger and Jo trailing and bickering about something behind them. Freddie raised an eyebrow and looked at Brian, but Brian just scoffed “ew” he laughed, nudging Katy, who nudged him back harder, causing him to stumble and Freddie to burst into laughter.

“Katy Kat, I was disappointed I didn’t get a nicer greeting than just a wave” Freddie said, coming up and kissing her on the cheek. She turned red but quickly away, hoping Brian didn’t see (he did) and that he wasn’t annoyed (he stomped on Freddie’s foot when Katy wasn’t looking).

“Hi Fred” she smiled, turning back when her face had returned to its normal color. Jo shot her a confused look that quickly put two and two together, she kept her mouth quiet though.

“So your first name is Kathryn, but you go by Katy?” their manager finally spoke up, he had a contract out and was looking for a pen. “Yes, that’s Katy with a y” Katy said, she walked over to him and peaked over his shoulder, making sure it was spelt correctly.

“Why did you choose a y?” he asked out of curiosity more than anything else, handing her the pen, she took it and read the contract over.

“Y? Because she’s cute, that’s y” Freddie laughed, Jo did too but more out of amusement than anything else. Brian did not think that it was as funny as they did.

“Actually,” he said in a matter of fact tone “it’s because Kathryn is spelt with a y, but good try I guess” Roger dropped at Brian’s nonchalant manner, he just wanted to shut Freddie down, and Freddie didn’t know her at all.

“Okay Brian we get it” Jo said, she was also Katy’s best friend and not acting like this. But Brian knew the relationships that Freddie would have, and he knew how sensitive Katy was, he just was trying to look out for his best friend and prevent her heart from being broken, again. He had made the mistake of asking Katy about Harry, and after he found out the truth about him he had felt sorry for ever liking the prick. Katy hadn’t told many people, but when he left he confessed to having seen other girls before they broke up. She didn’t like the loneliness that distance made her feel and never wanted to endure it again, seldom speak about it.

After Katy signed the final papers, everyone cheered. She was officially a part of the team, and, it was time for them to start heading for JFK airport. Jo wanted to cry, but she held her tears back for the sake of her friend and her makeup. They hugged for a good five minutes before Roger finally and sadly had to pry Jo off of Katy, but they wouldn’t be able to handle it on their own.

“Promise me you’ll call?” Jo asked, her hands gripping Katy’s.

“Of course” Katy smiled and nodded her head aggressively, trying to convince Jo she would.

She sighed, as she watched from inside the van window as Jo finally got in her car sticking her hand out and waving it like a princess as she drove by.

Katy turned back to face everyone who were just chatting to each other again, this was the beginning of something new.

AN: Hi guys! I’m sorry if this chapter wasn’t the best, but now that we’ve established this story it can really get going! I am so excited to continue writing and honestly get more done during the week than I do the weekend so I hope to see chapter 6 soon! Have a lovely day :) - June

Tagged: @come-with-me-and-imagine, @runawayxwithme, @feministsatanworshipper, @axxl-rose, @strawberry--harrington

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