will being at a gay bar in the epilogue does not reduce him to his sexuality, that’s what you have chosen to do.
we know will is an artist, we don’t need more scenes of him painting. what we need is confirmation that he’ll continue to grow into his identity, that he’ll find community and belonging. we saw him let go of shame, we also need to see him embrace pride.
will’s story has always been inextricable from his queerness, therefore it makes sense that his ending highlights it. one of the first things we ever learn about him is that he’s good at hiding; now, five seasons later, he’s finally found somewhere he doesn’t have to.
why do you think gay people suddenly stop being complex human beings once they enter a space made for them? why do you see going to a gay bar as some kind of vapid, debasing pursuit? did they reduce dustin to his intellect when they showed him at a big, fancy university?
queer nightlife in the ‘90s fostered and sustained rich culture and history (parts of which a lot of you benefit from today) and will being involved in that is exciting. i’m not saying everything about his ending is perfect, but the way you people are choosing to critique it is just blatantly homophobic.
I have no problem with him taking part in queer nightlife and my thing wasn't "He should painting!" My thing is is that they specifically focus on him being gay and nothing else about his future, not about who he becomes or what he does or whatever else
Just that he's gay and in a club now
But is he successful? Is he in college or something else? Who are his new friends? What's his new life like? Is he doing okay or is he saying he is like he's done in the past? We don't know.
Yes he is gay and it is important but that shouldn't be the only thing he gets to have in his future
Not to mention just the horrible experience he's had with Lonnie and we know this and how it traumatized him, the fucking Duffers know this and they put him there drinking with an ash tray there too meaning he was probably smoking, the Duffers know this is a direct parallel to Lonnie and Will's trauma and I won't believe otherwise because we know they don't give a shit about crushing the rep we have beneath their heel and throwing it at us
I'm fine if Will goes to the bar tbh but the way the Duffers did it, hell I'm not even trying to say he can't drink or smoke if he doesn't want to
Abused and trauma affect people differently so maybe he'd still be fine with it but the fact that the Duffers decided to use it as a direct parallel is what angers me so much. He should be able to be his own person and happy and free, not being like his father. Not saying he can't be free because now he's like his father.
They were purposely trying to parallel him to his abusive father who he'd never want to become
It irks me so badly
He looks sm like him in that scene and even parallels to an exact scene we see of Lonnie
I want to see Will find himself and be able to happily be queer and have a good queer experience but I don't want him to be made by the showrunners to only be gay and forget who his character is and reduce him to "Haha, gay boy who's only here to be gay and has no other personality trait" and then decide to throw everything out about him as well
We've seen Will grow and we've seen who he is so him just being reduced to that is an insult to him and in my opinion, the queer audience
