Since the release of the second season Stranger Things, one of Netflix’s most eminent series, social media has been buzzing with fans obsessing over the show. This season brought new characters, as well as changes in characters from the first season.
Eleven, or El if you will, has dramatically changed since her debut at the beginning of the first season. Her transformation and time away from the boys prove that Eleven is a strong, independent female role model for both young girls and women.
Physically, Eleven changes when she takes on a new look by trading her pink dress and blonde wig for longer locks and an oversized brown coat. After escaping the Upside Down, Chief Hopper takes El under his wing to protect her from the investigations at Hawkins Lab, where she endured horrifying torture.
Left to her own devices, Eleven discovers who her birth mother may be, and ventures off to find her. Terry, her supposed mother, is in a catatonic state and has been since Eleven was taken away from her as an infant. Eleven is able to use her mind powers to communicate with her mom and gets a glimpse of what Hawkins Lab did to herself and Terry.
Through this vision, El discovers she has a “sister” who has special abilities similar to hers. The independent youngster travels to Chicago, where her “sister” lives. Kali, or Eight, was also a victim of Hawkin’s experiments. Kali is now the ringleader of a gang, seeking vengeance on everyone who has wronged them; for Kali, everyone from Hawkins Lab. Eight encourages Eleven to join her on her mission, giving her a badass and bitchin’ makeover. Eight brings Eleven on a mission to kill Ray, a retired lab technician from Hawkins who performed electric shock therapy on Terry, El’s mother.
Ultimately, Eleven realizes Kali’s lifestyle isn’t what she wants and returns home to Hawkins, Indiana, and reunites with Hopper and the boys.
So, how does any of this prove El is worthy of being called a role model? First off, Eleven was entirely dependent on Mike and his crew for the majority of the first season, given that she was new to society. By season two, El remains a pivotal character, but in a different sense.
While the boys fight off demodogs and close the gate to the Upside Down, Eleven is on her own quest to find out about who she is and what happened to her. She does so without any help from Hopper or her friends and manages to find some truth.
Typically, women are portrayed as the weaker sex who rely on men to assist them challenging tasks. Eleven defies this stereotype by accomplishing everything on her own this season. She finds her mom and her “sister” without help from anyone.
Her special powers allow her to do what no guy could do, such as closing the gate to the Upside Down, supposedly ridding the town of the disasters the alternate universe brought.
In short, Eleven is the heroine of the show and proves that girls, no matter how young, are strong and independent.
