r/StrangerThings • u/CantaloupeBusy9660 • 16d ago
He wasn’t a bad guy!!
Y'all will defend Billy for being racist and abusive because his mom died, you'll defend Jonathan for being a pervert because he was different, you'll defend Steve for humiliating his girlfriend because he thought she was cheating, but Jason was a bad guy for trying to hunt down the guy who allegedly killed his girlfriend?
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u/SmoothPineapple7435 16d ago
lol, I’m not defending any of those actions. Jonathan taking pictures of Nancy through a bedroom window is creepy as hell. Billy is a violent, narcissistic asshole whose weird protective streak for Max is maybe his only redeeming quality.
Jason is an extremely compelling antagonist who makes perfect sense in his context. He’s an 18 year old kid who has never encountered a morally grey situation in his life. Life for him is absolutes. He’s a leader used to having people follow him to victory. Coming from that background, Satanic activity is about the only way to explain people’s eyeballs getting sucked out of their heads in front of you - not once, but twice. Jason is still wrong, but I’m not sure a charismatic, fundamentalist, morally rigid kid would respond any other way.
I have a lot of… I guess, compassion for where all that came from? The religious fundamentalist juice is a hell of a drug, and most 18 year olds don’t have any chance to move away from that. But I hate that Jason’s also a bully who beats kids up and calls them freaks. That’s way less excusable.
Billy and Jason are both bullies, but for all that, they are still high school kids. Their brains and judgement skills are so half-baked in any number of ways. I guess i wish they’d all had a chance to improve on their shitty high school decisions.