Sumith Prasad
Veena Sud’s thriller film ‘The Stranger’ chronicles the efforts of Claire, a rideshare driver, to escape from her stalker Carl E., a psychopathic killer determined to break the emotional strength of the former. The film realistically dives into the nuances of toxic masculinity, stalking, and personal privacy. Despite its grounded narrative, the movie is not based on any true event or crime. Still, Sud conceived the narrative originally as a series for Quibi drawing inspiration from several real-life elements, which range from the #MeToo movement to the rise of toxic masculinity. Sud’s series/film uses Clare’s inspiring journey to survival to shed light on the experiences of women!
A Homage to #MeToo
Veena Sud wrote ‘The Stranger’ when the #MeToo movement was changing the world as a cultural storm. As an artist, she wanted to tweak the genre of “damsel in distress” to deliver a “hero story” of a young woman who has decided to fight back against the toxic masculinity she has been facing, just like several women across the world who were voicing against their abusers/attackers/rapists/perpetrators in the wake of the #MeToo movement. “This is a revenge story. This is a story about a woman on the run, who decides to turn and face her attacker and beat the f—ing s— out of him. It’s an homage to #MeToo, and to every woman who’s turned and faced the bad guy,” Sud told Entertainment Weekly.
As far as Sud was concerned, the #MeToo movement addressed the “rage” in women who had decided to not tolerate the crimes against them. She wanted to create a series that addressed the same rage, which led to the creation of Clare, the protagonist. “I really wanted to tell a story and I continue to want to tell stories about female rage, deservedly so. So, I feel like there’s a real sense of anger that has to be arrived at and then unleashed. That was the tidal wave that kind of pushed the character through the story,” Sud told Script. The writer-director’s creation also touches upon several aspects of the social movement through Clare’s experiences, which include acceptance and trust.
#MeToo revelations from a countless number of women were not accepted by the public, leading to the questioning of their credibility and accusations. In the series/film, similarly, Clare is not believed by the people around her. Through the protagonist’s saga, Sud wanted to make it clear that not believing a woman doesn’t make her experiences non-existent. “[…] we find out over the course of the story, that even she [Clare], her voice, her literal voice, even no matter what she says, she knows no one will believe her. […] I wanted it not to matter that anyone believed her, I wanted her to know that this is what she could do at the end, to shut this motherfucker down,” the writer added.
Exploring Toxic Masculinity
Even though ‘The Stranger’ is fictional, the series/film addresses the reality behind toxic masculinity through Carl E. The murderer’s arrogance that he is nothing short of God is a belief countless men have in real life. Clare’s victory over him in the “game” they play against each other can be seen as a nod to women who have really emerged victorious against toxic masculinity. “This movie is about schooling and beating toxic masculinity,” Sud told ComicBook. “I always love the idea of telling a story where we get to win at the end. She won, and she changed, and she went from a woman who understandably cries in the face of extreme terror to a woman that says, ‘No more,’” she added.
Sud considers ‘The Stranger’ as a tale about herself and several other women who have risen from vulnerability to stand against the atrocities they had to face. “[…] it definitely is a parable for many of our journeys from being wounded from these things to saying, ‘Let me retreat from the world because I don’t want to be victimized anymore,’ to saying, ‘F— that, I’m stepping into my power. I’m facing that demon, and I’m gonna kick his ass,’” the writer said in the same Entertainment Weekly article.
Read More: Hulu’s The Stranger: Exploring All Filming Locations
