The bad reputation that capitalism has with America’s young people is really no surprise when you consider the way it’s talked about in popular culture. Treachery, selfishness, and outright evil are often associated with a character carrying the mantle of capitalism.
Think 1987’s Wall Street starring Michael Douglas as the manipulative stockbroker Gordon Gekko, or Christian Bale in American Psycho as a financier who moonlights as an ax murderer. These roles are iconic and leave a lasting impression with audiences that can linger for decades. This week, the hit sci-fi series Stranger Things returned to Netflix for its third season, and in a delightful twist, makes an affirmative case for capitalism.
To set the stage, it’s 1984 in Hawkins, Indiana, and the children from Stranger Things have entered their teen years. Most of them are dating, awkwardly learning to kiss, and losing interest with the nerdy antics that defined the first two seasons of the show. Why play Dungeons and Dragons in Mike’s basement when there’s a new mall to explore? The mall is brand new for Hawkins and serves as a junction for all sorts of new characters to fill the plaza, stores, and food court.
(Warning: spoilers ahead).
Enter two of Stranger Things’ rising and new characters, respectively: Erica Sinclair (Priah Ferguson), the 10-year-old sister of Lucas, and Mayor Larry Kline (Cary Elwes). In the first three episodes, these two characters sound off on capitalism and how it plays into their motivations. For audiences, it should say a great deal about what Matt and Ross Duffer, the series showrunners, want you to take away about the capitalism debate.
The mayor is a jerk, plain and simple. He is responsible for bringing the new mall to Hawkins, and in the minds of some townspeople, it has come at the expense of the historic downtown area. Most of downtown is shuttered, and businesses are closed. When confronted about this and the role of the mall in the downturn, he laughs and says, “That’s just good old-fashioned American capitalism,” while lighting a cigar.
Change and disruption is certainly a feature of capitalism. Indifference or glee in the misfortunes of losers in that equation, well, that is something else.
Most Hollywood products leave it here, where the objectively unlikeable character gets the last word on capitalism and politics. In Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, for instance, Indy’s longtime friend George “Mac” McHale sells him out to the Russians for a quick buck. All he offers to account for betraying his friend is, “Sorry Jones, I’m a capitalist, and they pay.”
Actually, he’s just a bad person who needed to justify his awfulness.
Back to Stranger Things, we’re then treated to a series of memorable moments from the young Erica. She’s a sharp-witted child who spends her days at the mall trolling stores for free samples of sweets and harassing Steve Harrington, who is working now at the mall’s ice cream parlor. When Dustin, Steve, and his fellow ice cream slinger Robin need to get inside a secret Russian base beneath the mall (yes, you read that correctly) they can’t fit into the air ducts to sneak in. They turn to Erica in their moment of need and lay before her a banquet of free ice cream to complete the dangerous task. But Erica knows better.
“You what I love about America?” Erica says. “Capitalism. Do you know what capitalism is? It means this is a free market system. Which means people get paid for their services, depending on how valuable their contributions are, and it seems to me that my ability to fit into that little vent is very, very valuable to you.”
Erica extracts from them free ice cream for life. It’s a laugh-out-loud moment coming from a 10-year-old, but she’s right in a way that rarely, if ever, happens on screen.
It’s quite obvious which of these characters the Duffer brothers want you to like more. Erica knows her worth and won’t let anyone get away with undervaluing her skills, and she couches that in an anti-communist worldview and appreciation of capitalism. The mayor, on the other hand, is quite literally colluding with Russia to sell them real estate in Hawkins for secret research facilities. He’s rude, opportunistic, weak, and also a self-described capitalist.
Capitalism, as it turns out, is just like any idea: It’s as uplifting as it is corruptible.
That fair representation in Stranger Things, where audiences can see a vulture such as Mayor Kline and a likable junior entrepreneur such as Erica draw on the same idea to different ends, is as honest as it gets when it comes to capitalism. For that, the shows should be commended.
Stephen Kent (@Stephen_Kent89) is the spokesman for Young Voices, host of Beltway Banthas Podcast, and an entertainment contributor for the Washington Examiner.
