Oh my god, people on the Internet are mad about something harmless and comparing it to something serious, it must be a day ending in ‘y’. Today it’s because Sadie Sink joked with The Duffer Brothers that her unscripted kiss made her uncomfortable on Beyond Stranger Things, Netflix’s “let’s do a show where we talk about our show” show that is somehow not hosted by Chris Hardwick.
If you watch the clip, they’re laughing about it and trading barbs. Sink says she was stressed about their jokes about a kiss, and the Duffers say they decided to add it in because of how uncomfortable she was. So what’s up with that? Are the Duffer Brothers huge assholes? Child molesters? Is this Hollywood Rape culture?
No, it’s acting. The kids in Stranger Things are supposed to be 12 or 13 years old, at an age where they’re hitting puberty and thinking about kissing and romance but also embarrassed about it. The reason Sink’s anxiety lead the Duffers to want to add a kiss is she was feeling the exact emotions about it that they wanted her character to display. It’s how you get a good performance from an actor.
Do you want to know what happens when you don’t make your actors uncomfortable, when you don’t challenge them and push them to give real, emotional performances? You get Star Wars: Attack Of the Clones. Do you want Attack of the Clones? Do you want Stranger Things to have the same wooden, emotionless performances that George Lucas somehow managed to squeeze out of Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen?
But of course people were mad on the Internet because that’s how this happens. Someone at Gizmodo or The Mary Sue writes an article about how they’re outraged and everyone piles on lest they be caught not being outraged enough, even when they’re clearly mad about nothing.
Same s**t, different Netflix original series. Is it so hard to not actively be a s**t head? https://t.co/4F9nFH3mGQ
— Mario (@TomatoGrandpa) November 6, 2017
Yes, Kevin Spacey went around grabbing every dick that walked past him on the set of House Of Cards, and Matt and Ross Duffer improvised an innocent kissing scene because they thought an actress’s nervous energy would translate into a good performance. Those things are totally the same.
I can help with that, random angry internet person. It’s the intended effect, because they’re doing a good job. It’s a horror show, it’s supposed to make you feel on edge and uncomfortable. That’s the goal. The directors aren’t “creeps” because their camera work “squicks you out,” they’re good at what they’re doing.
Hey Twitter, can you make this latest fake outrage subtly racist?
Stranger Things 2 actor was pushed to do unscripted interracial kiss that made her uncomfortablehttps://t.co/Vm1DntnoE7
— Ehm 1Grand (@Ehm1grand) November 5, 2017
Ahh, there it is.
Of course, not everyone buys into the outrage.
AVCLUB OUTRAGED. IN OTHER NEWS: WATER WET, WELLDIGGERS ASS COLDhttps://t.co/o7y9RBAeas
— ZODIAC MOTHERFUCKER (@ZODIAC_MF) November 6, 2017
Now, people are getting worked up about a 2-second kiss in #StrangerThings . Give me a break.
— Patrick (@pcowles3) November 4, 2017
Personally, I’d just like to thank you all for getting your panties in a bunch over nothing and making me read a bunch of spoilers for a show I’ve been looking forward to but haven’t gotten around to watching yet. It really made my day.
People are stupid for tweets about it, but you wrote a whole article.