#this is ponetially a better written essay than what im giving my school and that says something

[emo-nova]

Honestly, I have opinions about Nancy Wheeler. She is a good written female character and well written as a character. I put the distinction there because in most media they make their women for "diversity" rather than placing the story in first. And in Stranger Things they put the story forward and diversity is included in the story and dealt well as it linked into the character arcs and the story.

Nancy Wheeler in the first season of ST, kinda annoyed me. The reasoning is that as a girl close to her age, I was mortified when I found out that Jonathan had taken photos of Nancy during the pool party. And honestly, I was expecting a bigger reaction to that fact someone took a photo of her in a state of undress without any consent and when Steve as her boyfriend confronted Jon about it, Nancy had taken a bad reaction to it.

If I was her, yes I will be sorry for your missing brother Jonathan, but that doesn't give you the right to photograph me in that state. And if anything, I was expecting Nancy to act like this was a major invasion of privacy. But it wasn't. And it was treated like it wasn't that important.

I will concede points of arguments that Nancy was more worried about Barb in this time as she was missing at this point. Nancy was thinking more about her friend than about her privacy at that moment. But I find this a flimsy argument. However, i do understand the way Steve tackled the confrontation is deserving of her reaction as it's done at school, in front of people she isn't that close to and in a parking lot.

I am going to state that at this point about her being declared as smart when Nancy was out in the woods with Jonathan looking for Will, she willingly looks at a hole in a tree and decides to Alice in Wonderland that shit. She is the first to discover what the Upside-Down looks like on screen, this may help with identifying the Demogoron but it doesn't stop her from looking at the strange-looking organic hole in a tree and not testing it out with a stick at least. This non-testing method nearly got her killed by the Demogoron and by sheer luck and (in character) fast thinking was able to get out. However, there was a struggle of getting out Upside-Down hole/gate because she didn't test the give of this gate.

This is me being nitpicky about her character, but her handling Steve not leaving the house when waiting for the Demogoron is wild. For her character, someone usually needs time to process what's happening to make a plan, it kind of makes sense but pulling a gun on your boyfriend who was there to apologise is fucked up. Especially when he got worried about the fact you're injured and you tried to hide it from him.

First season wasn't a great foundation for me to like her character, as I slowly noticed she was supposed to be the badass female character. Yes, she is a good shot, but she pulled a gun on a person who was unaware of what was happening. Yes, she is on top of her class, but the simple scientific practice of testing out the theory.

I know that she is to represent a book-smart character in contrast to Jonathan's kinda street-smart edge. She does become that foil very well and I enjoy that.

In season 2, they change things up a tad. Nancy is still book-smart but she is learning the world of street-smarts, going out of her way to show that the government is shit and terrible at hiding a girl's death. I like this. Another thing I like about Nancy is the fallout of her dealing with Barb's death. Her being bitter is humanising and having that affect her relationships is brilliant story telling, connecting stories of Steve and Jonathan further into the story while also doing a fantastic job of giving Steve another call for the show.

Season two, in my opinion, handled Nancy Wheeler the best. Using her to have conflict, cause it and also deal with the aftereffects of the previous season. She is well-utilised as a character and more than just "a girl with a gun who is also smart" and I like that.

Season Three, I have mixed feeling about. She is a good character and a better character study of people's ideals and their thought processes regarding how things are not working out for them. Nancy is a foil to Jonathan's idea of why Nancy is disliked in her work environment. As Nancy comes from a well-off middle-class family which is a contrast to Jonathan's single mother's lower-income family life.

Nancy thinks the reasoning is the stigma in America on women working unlike England (where I am living now and know the history of) where women had already proved they are capable of working jobs even men can do and make the bombs for such. However, Jonathan thinks it's because her status as a well-off middle-class girl is making her more outspoken to the big bosses. Something that an INTERN wouldn't normally do. I agree the bosses are sexist but there is also a line of command in this business, and normally Nancy would give the story over to her mentor in this place. She doesn't do this.

I know there is a story to be told and this is the inciting incident to make Nancy engage with the plot. It's just slightly out of left field when she proceeds with speaking up to her bosses rather than her mentor, Nancy is careful with authority from her pedants to teachers to the cops. So I feel her talking to the bosses about the story going crazy is something she would have asked her mentor to ask them and have them let her engage with the plot, giving another example of good authority but also the workings of the board potentially being sexist by having this story brought up by Nancy or something. I don't know, I just think it could have been handled better.

Season 4, both volumes, are ones that I need to look at more carefully as I need to slim down her character's storyline and her interactions with others' storylines and arcs. So I won't be making too many comments about it.

In conclusion, I have opinions on Nancy Wheeler as a character and how she is written more as a diverse card in some aspects than actually a character to just further the plot and others arcs. She isn't my favourite, but she is one of my favoured as a writer and how I would tackle similar characters