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The Strays (2023)

 The Strays (2023)
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 The Strays (2023)
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The Strays (2023)
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TheStrays2023
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"The Strays" is a 2023 British psychological horror film, distributed by Netflix.Cheryl Blake, a fair-skinned biracial woman living in England, is unhappy with her current life married to an abusive husband, while experiencing financial troubles and racial discrimination. After confiding her woes to her sister over the phone, she leaves a note on the fridge for her husband, claiming (falsely) that she will be going to the hair salon.Years later, Cheryl—now known as Neve Williams—is living a completely new life as a deputy headmistress at a rather posh-like private school, all whilst living in the suburbs with her white husband, Ian, and their two biracial children, Sebastian and Mary.Life could not be better for her.Until one day she catches sight of two dark-skinned Black teens—Carl and Dione seemingly stalking her. Her fears begin to heighten when one the two teens slowly merge into her new family's lives, something that can threaten her new privilege life, and betray the fact that these two teens are from her past as Cheryl.Not to be confused with the similarly-named comedy film also released in 2023.
 The Strays (2023)
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2023-10-19T03:31:14Z
 The Strays (2023)
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2023-10-19T03:31:14Z
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DBTropes
 The Strays (2023) / int_17dbe19a
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Internalized Categorism
 The Strays (2023) / int_17dbe19a
comment
Internalized Categorism: Neve makes every attempt to distance herself from her blackness by disregarding her Black heritage, forcing herself to speak in a posh upper-class British accent, and hiding her natural hair under some ill-fitting wigs. She also forbids her mixed-raced children from exploring their Black heritage, to the point that she absolutely horrified when Mary comes home with her hair in braids (courtesy of Dione).
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Sound-Only Death
 The Strays (2023) / int_18ba2fe
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Sound-Only Death: When Ian's arms give out under the heavy weight of the barbell, the audience is treated to a sickening crunch as the barbell crushes him. The only other indicator of his gruesome death is the blood splatter on the camera.
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Always Someone Better
 The Strays (2023) / int_19d1c1ae
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Always Someone Better: While Carl and Dione befriend Sebastian and Mary and get their newfound half-siblings to get in touch with their blackness, they burst out at them for their privileged lifestyle, and for being Neve's favorite children. Of course, the "favorite children" aspect becomes moot at the end of the film.
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Older Than They Look
 The Strays (2023) / int_2f36d97
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Older Than They Look: Neve's friend at the coffee shop is astonished to see that Neve "hasn't aged a bit".
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Double Meaning
 The Strays (2023) / int_3b4abb27
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Double Meaning: Neve's friend telling her "You're practically one of us" in response to the latter's desperate attempts to prove herself with the Gala fundraiser. While she may have meant it as "Neve is practically a valued member of the community", considering the film's racial themes, it mostly comes off as "Neve is practically white".
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Becoming the Mask
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Becoming the Mask: When Carl sees Dione getting a little too excited about meeting her half-sister Mary, he sternly reminds her of their mission.
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Downer Ending
 The Strays (2023) / int_4e3d253b
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Downer Ending: Ian is brutally killed by Carl in their family gym, and Neve, now with her new life in ruins, runs away with the delivery guy, abandoning both sets of children.
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Sacrificial Lamb
 The Strays (2023) / int_61996785
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Sacrificial Lamb: Poor Ian. He openly disapproved of his wife having abandoned her previous children and tried sympathizing with the Carl and Dione, even after they had broken into the house. Unfortunately, Carl only saw him as a white man who was an obstacle in his new Black family, and crushes him to death with a barbell.
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Big Brother Instinct
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Big Brother Instinct: Carl is genuinely incensed at seeing Sebastian getting bullied by a racist white classmate. He helps his little half-brother "solve" this problem by having the bully bludgeoned by a basketball.
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The Reveal
 The Strays (2023) / int_6b2b3b59
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The Reveal: Carl and Dione are Neve/Cheryl's children from her first marriage.
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 The Strays (2023) / int_6bda9a30
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Meaningful Name
 The Strays (2023) / int_6bda9a30
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Meaningful Name: Cheryl renames herself to "Neve", which means "snow" in French, another blatant attempt to whitewash herself.
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 The Strays (2023) / int_729c69f3
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Politically Incorrect Villain
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Politically Incorrect Villain: One of Sebastian's white classmates refers to him and Carl as "inbreds". No points for guessing what word he really wanted to say.
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Token Minority
 The Strays (2023) / int_7426582d
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Token Minority: Neve, Sebastian, and Mary are not just the only Black people in their neighbourhood, but also the only people of colour.
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What Happened to the Mouse?
 The Strays (2023) / int_863fa679
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What Happened to the Mouse?: It's never shown if the school bully survives being bludgeoned with the basketball by Sebastian. The bone-crunching sound suggests that he didn't.
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Laser-Guided Karma
 The Strays (2023) / int_90e31482
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Laser-Guided Karma: As horrible as Neve abandoning all of her children is, one can't help but feel that Carl at least has it coming, as his spiteful excursion to kill Ian is what provides his mother with the opportunity to make her getaway.
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Abusive Parents
 The Strays (2023) / int_b11ac9f5
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Abusive Parents: Cheryl's first husband, Michael, was all but stated to be this. Cheryl/Neve uses this as the reason why she walked out on the family so abruptly. However, based on Carl's response, she wasn't that far off either.
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DarkSkinnedBlonde
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Dark Skinned Blonde: Mary, who's a quarter Black, has blonde hair.
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 The Strays (2023) / int_b6232725
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Colorism
 The Strays (2023) / int_b6232725
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Colorism: The film all but states that Neve's easy assimilation into her new all-white community was mostly helped by her lighter skin. Case in point, she panics when she sees two random dark-skinned teens merely standing around in the neighbourhood. The jealousy felt by her original children Carl and Dione towards Sebastian and Mary is almost certainly fueled by the fact that the former two are dark-skinned fully Black individuals, while the latter two are white-passing (and their mother's favourite children).
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Double Standard
 The Strays (2023) / int_b6cebad3
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Double Standard: When Ian confronts Neve about having abandoned her previous kids to an abusive father, she points out that she did what men have been doing for a long time.
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It's All About Me
 The Strays (2023) / int_bb18a227
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It's All About Me: Cheryl escaped her abusive ex-husband, but abandoning Carl and Dione in the process. After the latter two attack her new family, Neve escapes the house with the delivery guy, completely abandoning her second set of children.
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Heritage Disconnect
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Heritage Disconnect: Sebastian and Mary try to make some surface level attempts to explore their Black side, such as Mary wearing her hair sleeked back with gelled edges, and Sebastian listening to rap music. Unfortunately they can't express themselves further due to Neve having banned anything overtly Black from the house.
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Internal Reveal
 The Strays (2023) / int_c5ccf60f
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Internal Reveal: Neve is Cheryl, something the audience already knew.
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 The Strays (2023) / int_c819533b
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Rage Breaking Point
 The Strays (2023) / int_c819533b
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Rage Breaking Point: When Neve attempts to get rid of the already mentally and emotionally troubled Carl and Dione by writing them a hefty check, it sends them into a full-blown psychotic episode where they break into Neve's house and attempt to force a new familial relationship with her, her husband and children.
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Freudian Excuse
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Freudian Excuse: Carl and Dione's anger towards Neve and her family was the result of Neve (as Cheryl) having abandoned them to their abusive father and aunt.
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But Not Too Black
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But Not Too Black: Neve's attitude toward her blackness in a nutshell. While she proclaims herself to be a proud Black woman, her actions and lifestyle show otherwise. Her two children, Sebastian and Mary, do not entirely share this sentiment, as in one scene, Sebastian plainly states that he and his sister are Black, and Mary is later seen allowing her half-sister Dione to do her hair in braids.
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 The Strays (2023) / int_e9e35e8f
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Exact Words
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Exact Words: Carl assures Sebastian that he will not hurt his father Ian. He never says anything about killing him.
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Pet the Dog
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Pet the Dog: In spite of their jealousy toward them for having what they never did, Carl and Dione never cross the line into mistreating their half-siblings for this, both coming close (on a rooftop and in a hotel room respectively) but pulling back just in time. As unhinged as they are, they seem to genuinely care about their half-siblings.
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The Strays (2023)

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