Last night, Stranger Things took home the Screen Actors Guild award for best ensemble cast, and David Harbour (who plays Jim Hopper on the show), gave an intense speech on their behalf. Though it didn’t directly mention the recent refugee ban, the theme of the brief speech was protecting the “disenfranchised and marginalized.”
He said, part,
I would just like to say that in light of all that’s going on in the world today, it’s difficult to celebrate the already celebrated “Stranger Things” … Great acting can change the world, is a call to arms from our fellow craftsmen and women to go deeper, and through our art to battle against fear, self-centeredness and exclusivity of our predominantly narcissistic culture. And through our craft, to cultivate a more empathetic and understanding society by revealing intimate truths that serve as a forceful reminder to folks that when they feel broken and afraid and tired, they are not alone.
Now, as we act in the continuing narrative of “Stranger Things,” we 1983 Midwesterners will repel bullies …
We will get past the lies. We will hunt monsters. And when we are at a loss against the hypocrisy and the casual violence of certain individuals and institutions, we will, as per Chief Jim Hopper, punch some people in the face when they seek to destroy the weak and the disenfranchised and the marginalized. We will do it all with soul, with heart, and with joy.
