Joyce Byers’s (Winona Ryder) 1976 Ford Pinto* is by all accounts,
a piece-of-crap car that is a bumper tap away from total combustion.
Viewers have come to understand the car as
such, which is why it seems to be a proper fit for Joyce as she, like the car
is on the brink and a brilliant metaphor for the fragility of life that Joyce
endures.
With some knowledge to the defect in the Pinto, we get a taste of
our own ‘Oh, Shit’ moment as she nearly crashes the car into Hopper’s Ford
Bronco in a frantic search for him.
A closer look at Joyce Byers is to see a woman doing her best to
preserve the last vestiges of a normal family, working hard at the five and
dime, living in a house that looks like a composite of paper mache and rotting
wood. All the while worried sick about
her son and his frightening condition.
Enter Dr. Owens (Paul Reiser – in a reprise role a la Aliens) who is
of no help in regards to Will’s unshakeable hallucinations with the Upside Down. He suggests to, “Treat him (Will)
normally. Be patient with him and don’t
pressure him to talk.”
Joyce balks at this, questioning the expert, but then resigns to
the doctor who ‘gets it’ and is ‘on her side’.
As a result, she struggles throughout the series to get clear answers
from the experts and suffers the stigma of someone who is out of her league,
even though her concerns are rational.
It’s enough to drive any mother of a poltergeist-ridden child absolutely
bat-shit and moreover, a candidate for careless driving.
For the sake of viewers Joyce, please drive safely.
*Note: The defect on the
Ford Pinto was in the rear bumper and not the front bumper, to which Joyce
almost rear-ended Hopper’s Bronco. It’s
not an accurate representation of the defect.
But we still yelled “Oh, Shit” when we saw it almost happen.
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