How Dustin and Steve from Stranger Things Break Trends
When one pictures a young nerdy friendship they don’t imagine an old high school king with a toothless nerd who loves radio communication. Throughout a young teens childhood, making friends has always been hard. Many barriers such as age, hobbies, or even rumors, hold people from talking to one another. The show Stranger Things however, portrays the characters Steve, the older and popular one, and Dustin, a nerdy young kid, as best friends. This message that is portrayed through these two characters about friendship has most definitely reached the targeted age group with a strong and positive message about who can or cannot be your friend.
Throughout the episode both characters play very crucial roles for one another. Dustin, while he may be nerdy, gives Steve motivation to start to flirt with his coworker Robin, while Steve firsts rejects this, he realizes that he can’t keep petty views from his glory times in high school. Steve however, plays the smart but stupid role, convincing Dustin that a radio signal they received is secret Russian plans. Both characters seemingly help each other just like great friends even though they may not seem the most compatible.
Another clear observation that can be connected to these characters is to always be yourself. Both Dustin and Steve have developed in there own ways leading to a loud and open friendship. Both of them are not afraid of showing who they truly are. A good example of this is right when Steve is introduced into the season. As Dustin enters the ice cream shop Steve works at, Steve instantly screams and then runs up to Dustin to do some nerdy lightsaber handshake. Sure it’s extremely nerdy, but they both have a huge smile on their faces the whole time. Throughout the first two seasons, Steve was extremely concerned with his image but the first episode of season three, Steve shows a huge growth offscreen becoming much more confident. He’s not afraid of who he is anymore or that he hangs out with a bunch of children. Robin, Steve’s co-worker, even makes fun of him for this exact reason but because Steve has grown out of childish habits he plays it off like it’s no big deal.
Dustin’s character however, is more about age than his personality. While his personality is extremely stereotypical (nerdy kid who likes technology with looks weird), his age is what makes him such prominent character in the show. He is extremely caring for others and is constantly giving Steve fatherly advice. This shows young children that age doesn’t make you mature and that your advice is just as important as others.
The characters storyline through the first episode of stranger things season three is a perfect example of two messages being mixed into one for a prime demographic. Both characters tackle different problems which limit the boundaries of friendship as a whole for younger teens. Steve, with his personality changes, and Dustin, with his age difference, are the perfect characters to give others the confidence to step outside of their comfort zone and be yourself for younger males.
