Jun 28

Jun 28 [Pride 2022] The Historical Significance of Fear Street 1666

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The lives of queer people are often erased from history. Declarations of love between two people of the same gender are explained away as the two individuals being “really close friends.” Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is one of those books in every high school curriculum, but teachers don’t have any interest in talking about Woolf’s years-long relationship with fellow writer Vita Sackville-West. This lack of acknowledgement creates a mentality that queerness is new and lacks longevity.

Queer people have existed forever. Before the aughts, before the turn of the 20th century, before sad white women in puffy dresses stared at each other over the one candle that lit their whole home. People latch onto history and heritage because they provide a sense of comfort and belonging. A proof of life of sorts. Proof that they are part of a community of queer people that spans eons.

The Fear Street Trilogy on Netflix focuses on the town of Shadyside. Since the 17th century, the town has been cursed with seemingly normal people suddenly “snapping” and going on murderous rampages. These instances of horror are a direct contrast to the neighboring Sunnyvale, a picturesque town where nothing ever goes wrong. Each movie of the trilogy centers on events that occurred in three separate years. There’s the present-day storyline of 1994, a flashback to the Camp Nightwing Massacre in 1978, and the origin of the curse of Shadyside in 1666.

The first two movies frame witch Sarah Fier (played by both Elizabeth Scopel and Kiana Madeira) as the villain. The teens in 1994 and 1978 believe that Sarah Fier is the one cursing the townspeople and turning them into murderers. The final installment of the trilogy takes place in 1666 to set the record straight about who is really behind these possessions. It isn’t Sarah Fier at all, but the prominent Goode family, whose roots go back to the beginning of Shadyside. The Goode family made a deal with the devil to have prosperity as long as they sacrificed someone for the curse.

The entire trilogy is centered on enduring queer relationships. In Fear Street 1994, the film’s actions are spurred on by the recent break-up of Deena (Kiana Madeira) and Sam (Olivia Scott Welch). In 1666, the relationship between Sarah Fier and Hannah Miller is thought to be the reason a dark, evil spirit spreads across the town. It’s a misguided belief, one brought on by the religious nature of the town. Sarah is branded a witch who has put a spell on “holy Hannah Miller,” the pastor’s daughter, and their “dance with the devil” has brought darkness to the town.

In a way, the town’s erasure of Sarah and Hannah’s love story is no different than the way real historians exclude queerness. Shadysiders believe Sarah Fier cursed the town, but they don’t know that she sacrificed herself for love. The real villain was a power-hungry man who traded his town to gain prosperity for his family. While Sarah and Hannah might be fictitious, the fact that they were hanged as witches for being gay is certainly not outside of the realm of possibility.

There’s a sureness in Sarah and Hannah’s emotions that is powerful. It’s a declaration of their love in spite of the hatred surrounding them. Sarah tells Hannah that one day they will leave this settlement and go somewhere they won’t have to hide. Somewhere they’ll be able to dance and kiss in the daylight. In a beautiful full-circle moment, Deena and Sam are able to break the curse of the Goode family in the present day.

The final installment ends with Deena and Sam kissing on the grave where Sarah Fier was buried over three hundred years ago. It’s a reclamation of the town’s history and proof of a love that was robbed of its full potential. More than that, the 1666 installment puts queer love openly in the historical narrative. It’s a damnation of the way people use religion to spread hatred, and a celebration of a love that has always existed.