Warning: This blog contains SPOILERS for

Season 4. You’ve been warned.

I LOVE Stranger Things. I’ve watched every season at least twice, I know that Gaten Matarazzo and I share a birthday, and for the last 3 seasons I’ve canceled all scheduled plans once a release date is announced. As a loving and loyal fan of Stranger Things, I’ve noticed the show gets more woke every season, except when it comes to making fun of fat people.

Here comes the Season 4 SPOILER, people

Season 4 picks up 8 months after season 3. Turns out that Sheriff Jim Hopper, played by David Harbour, did not actually die in season 3. Duh. Instead, S4 reveals to us that while everyone thought Hopper was dead, he was actually on an all expenses paid trip at a Russian Labor Camp, doing things like getting tortured and being starved!

Along comes Wynona Ryder and a topless scene with David Harbour, where he not only reveals that he’s lost 80 pounds in a cool diet of soup, maggots, and bread, but is also scripted a fat joke about how he “needed to lose weight anyway”. Seriously?!? This character just narrowly escaped death and foot amputation and a demogorgon and the Russians, and we’re going to have him make a fat joke about himself? It makes me wonder how deeply entrenched fatphobia is behind the scenes of this show, that they thought it would be funny for a torture victim to joke that it was all worth it for this hot bod. This is diet culture at its most pathetic, playing into the idea that thinness is valuable above all else.

When Hopper is finally reunited with his Hawkins family a few scenes later, instead of everyone being like “OMG we thought you were dead and we’re so grateful you’re alive!”, the kids make fat jokes. This isn’t accurate for real life and it isn’t accurate for these characters. When your friend comes back from Russian Labor Camp YOU DON’T MAKE FAT JOKES ABOUT THEM. This is just lazy writing.

David Harbour has been open about his weight gain, and now weight loss, for various roles. He has publicly stated that he likes eating, he wants larger actors and actresses to be represented, and that he does not want to lose weight for a role ever again. If you remember a few years ago, the internet exploded in a good way over the thirst trap that was his Dad Bod, and he was all about it.

So what happened, Duffer Brothers? You saw one of your actors was happy and successful in a fat body and thought to yourselves “we can change that, let’s throw him in a Russian labor prison in the show!”. I know it’s a wild theory, but when you factor in the lack of explanation about how Hopper even got to Russia, or pretty much anything about the Russian plotline of S4, it seems even more plausible that this was just an excuse to get Harbour to lose weight. If you think that’s wild, listen to how the Duffer Brothers have treated other fat people on the show…

Author, podcaster, and bad ass fat activist Virgie Tovar, has argued that killing off Barb in S1, was an act of fatphobia, and Shannon Purser, the actress who played Barb, has also spoken up saying “fat actors aren’t allowed upward mobility”. Other moments of fatphobia have turned up over the seasons, including a scene in S3 when Billy yells at a fat child in front of the pool. “Hey lardass! No running on my watch.”. Fans have argued this is a nod to Stand By Me, one of the many 80’s movies that influenced the Duffer Brothers’ creation of ST, but to me, it seems like just another excuse for a fatphobic comment.

It’s also been pointed out that other fat characters have been killed off, including Mrs. Driscoll in S3 who ends up chowing down on fertilizer before being turned into goo, and Bob Newby, who gets eaten alive by a Demodog. In fact, it seems that the only fate a fat person in Hawkins can be sure of is a gruesome death, or being sent to a Russian Labor Camp and starved for 8 months.

I hate it when things that I love are problematic. I love Stranger Things for its strong characters, its nostalgia, and how fun it is, but it makes me sad that something I love so much hates a group of people that I stand in solidarity with. Making fat people into a punchline is an outdated and pathetic reach for laughs, and everything about this show is so much better than this.

Stranger Things has managed to have a feminist heroine and to be LGBTQ+ supportive. It has brought up issues of race, sexism in the workplace, and fought against the trope of females as frenemies. It champions smart kids, honesty between friends, and great music from the 80’s.

If the Duffer Brothers are up for suggestions, my vote is for David Harbour to show up to Season 5 in whatever body he wants and to not write one single line about his weight. Then obviously, him and Wynona Ryder live happily ever after, the Upside Down gets destroyed, and everyone gets pineapple pizza and waffles.

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I Love Stranger Things But Not the Fat Jokes