After season four of Stranger Things aired a few years ago, I made a post about Steve Harrington’s character arc and how well it fits with the narrative framework of the Hero's Journey. It’s my most popular post to date, and after I shared it, I received some asks requesting that I do a similar post for Nancy Wheeler. And I would have love to have done so, except Nancy’s story just didn’t fit.
Anyway, I semi-recently read The Heroine's Journey by bestselling author and archaeologist Gail Carriger, because yes, I am the type of person who enjoys consuming books on narrative structure in my spare time (I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in this sort of thing, especially if you’re a writer). And as I read, I was struck by how familiar it sounded.
Here's a quick overview of a typical Heroine's Journey: A separation occurs, usually when the heroine’s lover, friend, or family member is taken or killed. Wanting to save them, the heroine seeks help, but her pleas are ignored, so she abandons her defined social role and searches for her loved one herself despite the danger. Throughout her search, she uses disguise and/or alters her identities, networks and gathers information, forms a found family who aid her in her search, and visits the underworld to retrieve her lost loved one. A successful journey ends with reunification and connection.
It's not just me, right? This is Nancy's story. It's also Joyce's, Mike's, and Stranger Things overall once you strip away the government conspiracies and interdimensional monsters. Carriger goes into a lot of detail about the kinds of conventions you’ll often see in Heroine's Journeys that really reinforce this, too; for example, powerful heroines often act like military generals, recognising others' strengths and assigning tasks accordingly. This fits with both Nancy and Mike, who are natural leaders. Because of the inherent narrative structure, Heroine’s Journeys explore themes of connection, teamwork, and communication. They're also far more likely to have a happy ending where everyone lives. All of this is in line with how the series has progressed so far.
The Hero's Journey, on the other hand, emphasises the importance of self-reliance and solitary achievement. This too is built into the narrative structure. One of the major beats of this journey is the leaving of the ordinary world. The hero realises he’s being held back by his community and voluntarily withdraws from them so he can become something greater. Steve needs to ditch his awful friends to become his authentic self. Eleven needs to escape the lab and Brenner to find her autonomy and humanity. Independence is framed as a good thing.
I've realised that a big reason why I see such wildly different interpretations of Nancy's character. There are a lot of people out there who are trying to force her into a Hero's Journey. And in fact, it seems like this is where a lot of the anti-Stancy arguments come from, that Nancy ending up with Steve would be regressive because her arc is either about embracing non-conformity (for those who want her to end up with Jonathan) or becoming an independent badass (for those who want her to end up single). Either way, they interpret Nancy's season two break up with Steve as her leaving the ordinary world, willingly severing ties because he’s preventing her from achieving her true potential. To them, Nancy getting back together with Steve is as out of place as Steve deciding to return to his old friendship group and the "King Steve" mantle.
The issue with this is that Nancy is a heroine, not a hero, and no such beat exists within the Heroine's Journey. The heroine doesn't choose separation. It's forced upon her, and the whole goal of her journey is to get it back. In season one, the loved one Nancy is searching for is Barb, who is taken from her by a Demogorgon, and this ends unsuccessfully. This sets up season two, where it’s made clear that Nancy's relationship with Steve has suffered from a disconnection as a result of this. Nancy is traumatised, and their relationship has become a reminder of her guilt and grief over Barb's death. The fact that their breakup occurs when Nancy is blackout drunk, and she can't even remember it the next day, only reinforces the idea that this is not a voluntary separation. And if that's the case, then reunification becomes the obvious conclusion to her journey.
This is because, unlike a Hero's Journey where the ultimate goal is self-actualisation, the ultimate goal of a Heroine's Journey is connection. That's not to say heroes can't form connections and heroine's can't self-actualise, they very much can and do, but they aren't the point. Within the context of Steve's arc, we see how his friendships with Dustin and Robin help him learn to be his true self.
This is why heroes are far more than heroines to die a heroic death or sacrifice themselves. Connection is an ongoing thing that needs consistency to be maintained, but self-actualisation can be achieved in a single moment. A selfish character can choose to make the ultimate sacrifice. A cowardly character can choose to stand and fight. A vengeful character can choose peace. And once they've done that, their story is over, so their death feels satisfying. I think most viewers can, on some level, intuit this difference, which is why Steve, Eleven, and Hopper (all heroes) are so often the top predictions for which character will die. (Don't stress too much about this. They are, at the end of the day, heroes within a Heroine's Journey. As long as they embrace the themes of the show, they're almost certain to survive. Steve and Eleven have already done this, and Hopper is...getting there. I think.)
As for Nancy, people are asking themselves, "what does she need to self-actualise?" But it's the wrong question. Instead, we should ask, “what does she need to find connection?” What will help her find Holly and make her family whole again? What will help her resolve her relationship issues?
And the answer, as obvious as it seems, is honesty and communication. Nancy even says this herself in the hospital. If she and Mike had been more forthcoming with their parents, maybe they could have been spared. The Wheelers have had serious communication issues since season one, and now it’s reached crisis point. So we get the long-awaited team-up of Nancy and Mike. And the first thing they need to do to find Holly is talk to their mother. Even if the scene feels a bit silly because of how obvious the reveal is, it’s still important because of what it represents. The Wheelers are finally all getting on the same page and learning to communicate better.
We can also see this how this is a problem for Nancy’s current group in the Upside Down. Things are uncomfortably tense between them, bordering on antagonistic at times. Only Nancy trusts Steve to drive them safely through the gate; Dustin and Jonathan are both yelling at him to stop right up until the last moment. Steve and Dustin’s bickering results in Steve crashing the car. Jonathan seems more invested in undermining Steve than finding Holly, which only makes his relationship with Nancy more strained. It’s difficult to envision them achieving much of anything as they are now. Compare to Nancy’s time in the Upside Down in season four and how they take care of each other, emotionally and physically. How they build off each other’s ideas instead of shutting them down. How they feel like an actual team. It’s a night and day difference. At this point, shoving their issues to the side to focus on their mission doesn’t work anymore. They need to actually talk through them and reach some kind of resolution.
Anyway, that's one last post from me before volume 2 drops.
Merry Christmas!
