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Stacey Slater: Is she EastEnders modern-day anti-herorine, or herorine? |
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Stacey Slater: Is she EastEnders modern-day anti-herorine, or herorine?
In many ways, Stacey Slater has been put up on a pedestal and as frenzy of popularity seemed to surround her character, and a continuous spotlight upon her. Throughout much of her time on the square she was introduced as EastEnders modern-day heroine, along with Ronnie Mitchell. This was most notably illustrated in two storylines. The first was the Stax-storyline. There's no doubt that Stacey lost Bradley, initially and got a huge initial backlash after the 2007 revelation via camcorder. However, as the year entered into 2008, a year which would be ''Branningtastic'' it wasn't Stacey, who was the subject of a strong of judgement days, and vendettas but Max Branning, her fellow cheater. It was Max Branning who was depicted as the villain of the piece altogether; and while there's no doubt Max was exactly that, as the amorality and ease in which he conducted his affair, was seen Stacey was equally the villain too.
Stacey had malicious motives for going into the affair in the first place, which she engineered, after she felt hurt by Bradley. Now, I personally don't think Bradley handled the pre-affair situation well at all; but Stacey, took up it a whole new notch when she thought it was emotionally justifiable, to use Bradley's dad as a pawn against him. Because, that's in effect what she was doing. She knew Max was married, and the truth is she didn't give a damn. Like a cunning manipulator, she saw Max for the emotional worth he could provide her, in terms of hurting Bradley and it began like that. And furthermore, she could read Max like a book, she knew how to press his buttons, and that Max was a man who was no stranger to extra-martial affairs; he liked the thrill of the chase, a man unable to control himself and say no. She, as time went by got out-manipulated by Max - she fell for him, while he used her, for instance in early 2007 Stacey's ''I love you'' confession was met with, with a, ‘’well I don't love you - I love my wife.’’ Meanwhile, Stacey was working her way through the Branning family, looking after Lauren and Abi sometimes, and building a friendship of sorts with Tanya, a woman who she shares some traits with. On top of that, Stacey was building a friendship with Bradley, knowing she was shagging his dad. The girl even conspired with Max, after Bradley found out Stacey was seeing a married man, to 'keep him off the scent', by crying the tears only of crocodiles as she pretended 'Jerry' had dumped her, and as Bradley comforted her she looked on at Max, in the Vic at the time too. Both smiled, towards each other. She knew exactly what she was doing. Later, as we saw Stacey tried to take control. When her ultimatum led a cornered Max to flee, from Walford she used Bradley as a shoulder to cry on, and by the time Max arrived, already to give it all up for Saint Stacey, Stacey wagged her engagement ring, in front of Max, proudly declaring, that in effect she had swapped a father for a son, as if she wanted Max to feel pain for her hurt. Stacey was happy to use father and son as pawns against each at varying times in the affair because of her pain, and her hurt which speaks quite a lot about her character. We know Max played one last final card on her wedding day, with the kiss of doom. But Stacey, even that December still couldn't quite understand, or even accept a semblance of responsibility for the hurt she'd cause to Bradley. She was just as much as a villain, as Max was. Skip to 2010, where Bradley and Stacey were reunited. Stacey kills Archie, and lets Bradley's name be dragged through dirt. Yet, she is the victim in all of this, with the culmination of her storyline in December 2010, depicting heroine Stacey, against an evil Janine, as she told a packed Vic, well the truth essentially - with the Slaters versus the Butchers fight commencing, over Stacey's affair (yet again) with Mo calling her the 'bravest woman in Walford, in regard to Archie - and no wonder Stacey's moralism is messed up. Janine, although a complex character, and sometimes even the victim, has the identity of the anti-hero; the user even if it is for her past's emotional scars. This has never been something she's really denied; before Barry died she owned up to, well being a biatch. In a more subtle manner on her wedding day to Michael, she owned up to not being the nicest of people, shall we say - because she ain't. But Stacey is not a saint either; she just as selfish, and even as self-entitled as Janine, and as manipulative, vengeful and even callous in her objectives. Not only is Stacey a homewrecker, a cheater, like Janine has been (Janine had an affair with Archie Mitchell, for instance and cheated on Barry with Paul) but she values people as their worth to her satisfaction exactly has Janine has done notably in the past. Stacey's use of this was best illustrated in Stax, some could even say she used her dead husband as a shield to protect her from the justice she deserved for her crimes. Janine has used and valued people, notably in monetary terms, rather than emotional - Barry, being the most memorable example. And both, have often felt - them being 'wronged' gives them the right, for revenge which often includes a fair amount of collateral damage. The difference is, Janine tends to pay for her crimes, as well as not pretending she's a saint. Although she didn't murder Barry, she did try to con him, and was framed for Laura's ''murder'' as a result, for instance. Stacey, has yet to really pay for anything she's done; she continually done bad things, but karma has never really come knocking. She got away scott free in 2010. And no, Bradley dying was not her karma. He wasn't the love of her life, otherwise she would have had far more guilt in dragging his name through the black - she would have owned up to her crimes instead. Bradley's death, was, for a while a shield for Stacey's freedom; Bradley's death closed a case that otherwise would have been open and pursued and Stacey may have just well ended up in the nick. Stacey, meanwhile for someone whose ''love of their life'' died, in 8 months was homewrecking for a second stint, with Ryan Malloy. So much for missing Bradley, or even putting Lily first. Because, let's face it she should have been a mother first and not have even thought about affairs. We even had a good number of the square justifying murder after Stacey escaped; in how many circumstances has that ever happened? No one justified the murder of Jack Dalton, despite the fact he was a bad-man. Indeed, no one justified the murder of Den Watts, a serial adulterer, a manipulator, a liar and someone who had a plain weird thing of dating women young enough to be his daughters. Hey, no one justified Johnny murdering Andy Hunter - and all of these 'victims', were bad men in their own right, with murderers who, like Stacey were not saints. There's no justification for vigilante justice - no matter how evil said person is, which pretty much everyone agrees; but that does not assure anyone of a god-complex that gives them the authority to take a life. Even Walford's professional victim, Ronnie Mitchell who suffered sustained sexual and emotional abuse from Archie didn't kill him. So why is Stacey, treated like the hero, rather than the anti-heroine, because there seems to be no notable facets of her personality that contrast with her flaws; she seems to be the epitome of the self-entitled victim, of whom we all shed for tears for. She's the very original mould, the likes of New Kat, and Whitney have slipped into. Really, I think Stacey shouldn't be the put forward as the heroine but the antagonist; because it's what she is. |
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#2 |
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She's not a hero she's an adulteress and a murderer.
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#3 |
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Stacey no herorine of mine, yes lacey was a great actress and stacey was an.interesting character.
The girl cheated with a married man twice, killed a man and let the man she supposedly love take the blame, bradley died with everyone thinking he was a murderer. She allowedryan to get close to lily, played a part in breaking his marraige apart then just left him. |
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#4 |
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She's not a hero she's an adulteress and a murderer.
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#5 |
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She's not my hero and I don't understand the worship however rape in soap or violence towards women is always trumped/seen worse than murder, I brought up the point of her getting away with it in my soap opera and society class at uni and that is what is my lecturer said in response...sadly, I agree with him. So she gets away with it without much regret that she took another's life, ok he wasn't good but that doesn't make it right.
She certainly did not make Heather Small proud.
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#6 |
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I'm not a muppet, like I have been accused of on these threads
![]() , I know she had several flaws, but I happen to like the character. She murdered Archie for which I don't condone, but he was that bastard who psychologically and sexually abused his own daughter. Took his daughter's baby away from her, only years later for him to scornfully laugh in her face and lie to Ronnie her that her daughter was dead . Am I meant to feel sorry for this man?Yes, I don't consider her a heroine, just a young woman who was quite deeply flawed, but I happen to like. Sorry for having an opinion. |
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#7 |
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I'm not a muppet, like I have been accused of on these threads
![]() , I know she had several flaws, but I happen to like the character. She murdered Archie for which I don't condone, but he was that bastard who psychologically and sexually abused his own daughter. Took his daughter's baby away from her, only years later for him to scornfully laugh in her face and lie to Ronnie her that her daughter was dead . Am I meant to feel sorry for this man?Yes, I don't consider her a heroine, just a young woman who was quite deeply flawed, but I happen to like. Sorry for having an opinion. And, just on a side note - Stacey didn't know he'd sexually or psychology abused Ronnie, so that has no bearing on her motives for killing him. He did terrible things to Stacey; and he did terrible things to Ronnie and Danielle which she did know about - but none of that gives her any right to kill him. Two-wrongs do not make a right, and Stacey did not deserve the moral highground that the producers always afforded unto her. Not after killing a man - and certainly not after allowing her dead husband's name to be dragged through the mud by letting people assume he was the culprit. |
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#8 |
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I dont feel sorry for archie, i feel sorry that bradley died with people thinking he was a murderer, Stacey let bradley take the blame, if she really loved him she would have confessed.
Bradley was one of the nicest blokes, he would have done anything for her same cant be said for stacey, she couldnt even do the decent thing and confess instead she used being pregnant as an excuse |
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#9 |
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I dont feel sorry for archie, i feel sorry that bradley died with people thinking he was a murderer, Stacey let bradley take the blame, if she really loved him she would have confessed.
Bradley was one of the nicest blokes, he would have done anything for her same cant be said for stacey, she couldnt even do the decent thing and confess instead she used being pregnant as an excuse |
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#10 |
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I think Stacey's punishment came in the form of her losing Bradley.
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#11 |
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To be fair, Bradley was being blamed for the murder and he told Stacey he wouldn't care and they would run off together. He was willing to tarnish his own name. It's not right, but Stacey didn't do anything Bradley wouldn't do himself.
As pointed out, nobody feels sorry for Archie. But what gives Stacey the right to take the law into her own hands? Since when was the death penalty re-introduced, and when were citizens allowed to kill for justice? Disregarding the fact that Bradley wanted to take the blame and the aftermath, the fact remains that Stacey took a life. Now, to further add to her list of offences (immoral, not illegal) she cheated on her boyfriend with his own father, a married man (EDIT: she kissed him on her wedding day!), and she cheated with a married man later on, deliberately setting out to sabotage his marriage. These are the three things she has done which do not allow me to say "poor innocent Stacey" EDIT: Callum Monks, anyone? |
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#12 |
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I certainly don't think Stacey's a saint, but I think her confessing the murder would have meant Bradley dying in vain. He was running away with Stacey to escape the police - cornered, he told Stacey to run. He took the rap and wanted to protect Stacey and her unborn child. She was honouring Bradley's wishes in that respect.
And didn't she want to confess a little while later, but Max stopped her? Or did I make that up? Random: I miss Bradley.
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#13 |
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she was a home wrecking, lying, cheating bitch who had never once showed remorse for her actions, it was just one married guy after another
![]() yet somehow the writers thought she was a hero and deserved a happy ending! I would have loved to see her behind bars and Ryan with Lily. I also hate the way her and Kat used to gang up on janine |
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#14 |
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That's quite a detailed post - and you go into Stacey's character pretty deeply - yet, you've missed out three key parts of her story.
1) She had to live alone with her abusive bi-polar mother, looking after them both from a young age. 2) She was diagnosed with bipolar herself. This was always there - it didn't just develop, it got worse. 3) She was raped by Archie. Now, I'm not condoning any of her actions, I think most of us realise that Stacey is no saint - and I'll be the first to admit, she's one of my favourite characters, but what my three points above serve to illustrate is the following: Stacey was messed up. She needed help, and didn't get it, which is why she became the person she became. |
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#15 |
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she was a home wrecking, lying, cheating bitch who had never once showed remorse for her actions, it was just one married guy after another
![]() yet somehow the writers thought she was a hero and deserved a happy ending! I would have loved to see her behind bars and Ryan with Lily. I also hate the way her and Kat used to gang up on janine I know, Kat actively encouraged Stacey to ruin Janine and Ryans marriage, now she's trying to ruin Janine and Michaels! Why can't the Slaters just keep there noses out of other peoples relationships? The irony of Kat giving Janine relationship, or mothering advice is an absolute joke! |
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#16 |
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I think Stacey's punishment came in the form of her losing Bradley.
Quote:
she was a home wrecking, lying, cheating bitch who had never once showed remorse for her actions, it was just one married guy after another
![]() yet somehow the writers thought she was a hero and deserved a happy ending! I would have loved to see her behind bars and Ryan with Lily. I also hate the way her and Kat used to gang up on janine and even in her more normal days when she first appeared on the show, she was nothing more than a loud big gobbed thieving manipulating yob |
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#17 |
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SS was an attention seeker with no morals. I was glad when she left because it was becoming the Stacey show. They had to find another chav to replace her - enter Whitney.
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#18 |
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SS was an attention seeker with no morals. I was glad when she left because it was becoming the Stacey show. They had to find another chav to replace her - enter Whitney.
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#19 |
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Yes, I don't consider her a heroine, just a young woman who was quite deeply flawed, but I happen to like. Sorry for having an opinion.
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#20 |
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She was just another string in the bow of the morally bankrupt slaters. & those currently remaining all past their sell by.
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#21 |
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That's quite a detailed post - and you go into Stacey's character pretty deeply - yet, you've missed out three key parts of her story.
1) She had to live alone with her abusive bi-polar mother, looking after them both from a young age. 2) She was diagnosed with bipolar herself. This was always there - it didn't just develop, it got worse. 3) She was raped by Archie. Now, I'm not condoning any of her actions, I think most of us realise that Stacey is no saint - and I'll be the first to admit, she's one of my favourite characters, but what my three points above serve to illustrate is the following: Stacey was messed up. She needed help, and didn't get it, which is why she became the person she became. If she had enquired, instead of deciding to murder, she would have found out her hypothesis was rubbish, because (1. Archie had terminal cancer and was going to die anyway and (2. Archie could no longer have children. So, Stacey essentially, killed in vain, killed a man for nothing, a by default led her husband to his death, for absolutely nothing. Stacey was not 'messed up' she got treatment to manage her bi-polar; no one told her to go a befriend deadly Becca. Stacey, is no more messed than anyone else on that square, or indeed historically in the progamme - yet a good number of them didn't turn out to be adultress' or murderers. Kathy Hills (previously Beale & Mitchell) was raped twice in her life, and grew up in a very unstable home with a an alcoholic father who could be abusive, yet she did neither of things Stacey did for instance. Stacey wasn't messed up, Stacey was just selfish. |
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#22 |
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I think that people slamming the character for being a murderer is just purely just because of a dislike they have for a character! Characters like Dennis Rickman and Janine Butcher are hailed as gods on these boards but yet they have commited horrible crimes! Dennis murdered someone in cold blood, Janine watched a man die without helping him, Ploughed over a girl and felt no remorse for it, Tried to kill her husband along with other horrible vile things! Stacey wasnt the only on in the relationship with Max believe it or not he did have a choice and his choice was to go with Stacey and that is after that "Lovely Bloke
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#23 |
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I loved Stacey.... but I am willing to accept that she is not a saint.... however...
Stacey was obviously not brought up very well, having to look after her mentally ill mum and having family members like Kat and Zoe to learn from..... In the relationship side of things Stacey is awful, she has caused 2 affairs and that makes her terrible, infact I shouldn't use her family as an excuse, she is a slut. But when she murdered Archie I believe it wasn't intended, I heard she was wearing gloves? I think that was because it was cold, Stacey never intended to kill Archie, she blacked out and pushed something over, unfortunately killing someone in the process..... still wrong even if it was accidental though. Then she let Bradley take the blame, she shouldn't have, but he wanted her to... and she wanted to turn herself in, she also blamed herself for Bradleys death.... and as for Ryan, I think he was rebound guy, I may be wrong but that is what I think, she shouldn't have got together with him. She left him in the end because she loved Bradley, she even turned down Max. To me that is proof she still loved Bradley. Stacey is by no stretch of the imagination a heroine or a saint, but I can understand some of her actions.. |
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#24 |
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I was not a massive fan of stacey at all but I did enjoy her acting during the bipolar time particularly when she was taken away & begging not to go & the live EP. I believe she was ill during the live but still did a good job.
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#25 |
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I think that people slamming the character for being a murderer is just purely just because of a dislike they have for a character! Characters like Dennis Rickman and Janine Butcher are hailed as gods on these boards but yet they have commited horrible crimes! Dennis murdered someone in cold blood, Janine watched a man die without helping him, Ploughed over a girl and felt no remorse for it, Tried to kill her husband along with other horrible vile things!
Stacey, never paid for her crimes (no, Bradley dying is not punishment - he was not the love of her life, as 8 months later she was shacking up with Ryan homewrecking another marriage). No one defended Janine's behaviour either, I discussed Janine in my OP in reference to Stacey actually - illustrating how pretty simlar they were - except on one big, count. Janine didn't pretend she wasn't a biatch. She admited as such to Barry, before he fell. She did so again to Michael Moon in the June of this year. Unlike Stacey, who plays the victim 24/7. And Janine, has suffered a pretty bad childhood too; like Stacey a parent died - her mother of cancer. Her dad abandoned/walked on her, several times, as Sean had walked out on Stacey. Janine was somewhat moved from pillar to post, and had to fend for herself aged seventeen when Peggy threw her out and Frank abandoned her. But, that doesn't really change the kind of person Janine is - in the same way Stacey's childhood doesn't change the kind of person she is. And as for 'ploughed over a girl - do you mean Danielle; if so Janine did actually had remorse for her actions then, funnily enough (although that was a accident, ala Frank and Tiffany in 1998). Quote:
Stacey wasnt the only on in the relationship with Max believe it or not he did have a choice and his choice was to go with Stacey and that is after that "Lovely Bloke Yes, and Stacey didn't have to go a seduce a married man with children. Bradley's actions don't justify Stacey's one inch, because in that process not only did she hurt Bradley, but Tanya, and Lauren and Abi. Quote:
Bradley was the love of her life thats why she in the end not only rejected Ryan but also Max and suffered remorse for not giving herself up for the murder of Archie!
Really? If he was the love of her life, she wouldn't have been shacking up with Ryan in the first place eight months after his death, who was married. And clearly her remorse wasn't big enough to outweigh the sense of entitlement she felt to let another man's name be dragged in the mud, in death. Quote:
These things would break a normal human being a lot worse than it did to Stacey and thats why i think was just an amazing character!
I know lots of people with childhoods as bad, or worse than Stacey who haven't become murders or homewreckers. I didn't have a pretty happy childhood myself, but I'm neither of those things.
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, I know she had several flaws, but I happen to like the character. She murdered Archie for which I don't condone, but he was that bastard who psychologically and sexually abused his own daughter. Took his daughter's baby away from her, only years later for him to scornfully laugh in her face and lie to Ronnie her that her daughter was dead
