The Eddie Effect

Illustration by @geegebee

The “Munson Moment” if you’re feeling fancy.

With the vast range of media available to consume, there’s a character for EVERYONE to connect with. Over the last few weeks, an incredibly niche and totally underground show on Netflix called ‘Stranger Things’ introduced the world to one man – Eddie Munson.

For one reason or another many of us, myself included, have felt some sort of connection with this character. Whether it’s his vibrant and energetic attitude, music taste, or the feeling of being an awkward outcast amongst your peers, many have found a part of themselves within Eddie.

Beloved characters forming such big connections with audiences and fanbases is nothing new. We all have our own comfort characters we love, who may even shape our identity in same way. While some people view it as ‘cringe’, having a character in your favourite franchise shape the way you act is such an interesting and normal thing that we all do. While there are of course toxic examples (looking at all the guys who wanted to start a fight club after watching Fight Club), a character building a part of your identity and shaping the way you express yourself isn’t the character imprinting on you. It’s not the viewer changing themselves to be more like the character. The way I see it, it’s the viewer finding comfort in an onscreen presence, seeing themselves in some way and allowing this character to help them become more… well, themselves.

The reason I’m calling this the “Eddie Effect” is simply because of how recently this example has occurred. Before characters like Eddie, there were certain stereotypes associated with things like heavy metal, DnD, etc etc etc. Pop culture like Stranger Things has brought these forms of entertainment, for the most part, into a broader and more casual space for people to enjoy. The acceptance and love for characters like Eddie have normalised being the energetic weirdo, helping people who identify with such characters to feel the love and acceptance in their social groups.

I know so far this has just been me jumping on the train of “oh my god Eddie is just so cool, right?” but from a more social standpoint, it shows off a really neat aspect about our current mass media culture and the generation consuming it (can you tell I’m a Media Studies major?).

What we’re seeing is a generation of viewers more receptive and open to the idea of difference amongst their peers, with the media they consume reflecting that. In turn, this new generation of viewers is educating the previous generations, their parents and grandparents, on culture, gender, and identity. Not only is this a way to easily introduce those unfamiliar with certain concepts and ideas to them, but it also allows people to have their views opened or challenged around certain topics and discussions.

Stepping away from the whole Eddie angle, mass media consumption has introduced many people to different communities they wouldn’t have any interaction with otherwise, and in turn allowed for those people to gain enlightened perspectives on certain crowds. The biggest example of this that comes to mind is the drag community, through the show RuPaul’s Drag Race and all of its spin-offs. While what is shown is a corporate, catered to the general public piece of mass media, it has allowed for a huge number of people to become more familiar with the drag community, the LGBTQ+ community, and more. We’re seeing so much content made about groups and marginalised identities now that are bringing out real world discussion.

Again, this whole piece started as “Eddie Munson lol”, but the response to that character further proves my point. In the time period of the show, teens like Eddie were outcasts, alienated by their peers for their differences. So many viewers connected with Eddie and feel a slight bit more representation through this character.

Now think of that but from the lens of a marginalised member of society, for example a person who identifies as gay and non-binary, getting mass representation across different pieces of media. It’s not perfect, and as I said shows like Drag Race are very much a product of corporate entities, only showing what they consider should be seen, but it’s still miles ahead of where we were a few years ago!

For all its faults, streaming platforms and mass media have allowed for the normalisation of identities which not too long ago were viewed through a taboo eye, seen as “deviancy”, being promiscuous or just something to be plain frowned upon. Now we have so much more that wouldn’t have been seen available to view at the push of a button.

Which brings me round to my next point – why in the fuck is stereotyping still such a big part of nearly EVERY bit of media we consume?

For a generation who has access to more content about more groups that would not have seen the light of day on television, we sure as shit have a lot of misrepresentation and stereotyping going on in our media. And yes, we may get up and say “this is not okay”, but that doesn’t seem to stop a lot of writers and directors putting it in. The amount of times people I’ve encountered have made comments on certain aspects of society “because they saw it on television” is appalling. We have so much new positive representation appearing, but despite this we still see so much ableist, racist and stereotypical bile in what we are watching.

As we move forward, and more of our generation take the spots in media occupied by people with those views, I think we’ll begin to see less of the old and more of the new. It’s our generation’s job to educate those before us, and help guide those after so we can have more Eddie Effects within our communities.

Because who doesn’t wanna watch Netflix, see their favourite character and go – “they just like me for real.”