‘Stranger Things 4’ adds warning card after Texas school shooting
In wake of this week’s elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Netflix acknowledged the opening scene to the “Stranger Things” Season 4, released Friday, may be painful for many fans of the show to watch.
The streaming service added a warning screen for US viewers ahead of “Chapter 1: The Hellfire Club” because it graphically shows the bloodied bodies of dead children early into the first episode.
“We filmed this season of ‘Stranger Things’ a year ago. But given the recent tragic shooting at a school in Texas, viewers may find the opening scene of Episode 1 distressing. We are deeply saddened by this unspeakable violence, and our hearts go out to every family mourning a loved one,” the message reads prior to showing a Season 3 recap.
The streaming service has also added: “Warning: Contains graphic violence involving children” to the show’s description, as well as “disturbing images” to the “Stranger Things” rating advisories, Variety reported.
The gory horror montage was first released last Friday in a YouTube preview of the final season’s first eight minutes, but has since been pulled down in wake of the shooting that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers, according to the Wrap.
But still, many were first discovering the gruesome scene today.
“If the shooting in Texas is still really triggering you, avoid this. I mean it,” wrote one viewer on Twitter.
Even viewers who are normally callous to frightening TV said the scene hit them hard.
“I thought I was pretty desensitized and it’s a hard watch,” tweeted a viewer.
“It’s harrowing to watch something in a show when real events took place in Texas,” said another user who also added that while they were “not one to get triggered easily” that first 10 minutes “triggered the f–k out of [them].”
Other fans who looked to the show as a reprieve from the many sorrowful headlines to emerge this week were also greatly let down.
“I opened up stranger things 4 to stop myself from the blackhole of sad news from texas for a bit, but the first few seconds of season 4 starts with this,” one user wrote.
One Twitter user was furious with Netflix for not cutting the scene out.
“You have to be f–king kidding me @netflix how can you show that opening of @Stranger_Things season 4 after what happened to those children in Texas????? That opening should have been removed!!! Will be canceling my subscription asap!” they wrote.
But others appreciated the gesture from Netflix.
“Stranger Things opens with a note to the Texas school tragedy. That’s class,” tweeted another.
“Netflix putting a warning before the opening scene of stranger things following the texas shooting was the right thing to do. It’s not about encouraging people to be desensitized, it’s about giving trauma-informed choices,” wrote one user.
This last season of “Stranger Things,” which now has episodes one through seven streaming, is being split into two volumes. The final two episodes will release on July 1.
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