you don't show a character against "life has been so unfair to you" in the finale trailer and then don't give him the one thing he's longed for the entire show btw
I just realized they shot Byler, Lumax and Jopper’s hugs all as up-close intimate shots where we get close-ups of their faces whereas Mike and El's hugs are further-away shots where we don't really get close-up shots on their faces (establishing less intimacy between them)
Can’t believe I never noticed this but YES the level of intimacy of the camera reflects the level of intimacy between the characters!
That actually reminds me of another scene parallel:
Vs
In the first scene (Mike freeing Will from his possession) the two characters are shot so close up that if you were to just look at the pictures of them in this scene, you’d have no idea that anyone else was present.
In the second scene (Mike telling El he loved her - objectively a more intimate moment on paper) the two characters are shot so that it is impossible not to notice those around them (Will in particular).
There is an innate degree of intimacy between Mike and Will. Their scene is so meaningfully *just about them* that no one else is allowed to intrude. El and Mike’s scene is not given the same treatment. We are asked to view them and the characters around them without separation. If they wanted to make this scene as loving as it should’ve been (if this was a couple we should root for), they would’ve framed it with the necessary intimacy. Why is the love confession the one they depicted so poorly?
The Lumax scene when Max wakes up demonstrates that they can give a couple screentime alone together even in a room full of people. While there are cutaways to other people’s reactions, when the scene is focused on Lucas and Max, so is the camera. They are framed together. We are asked to view them as such.
Just saw one of those "ships everyone loves but I hate" posts and was like haha what are the comments
Queer ships. Almost exclusively queer ships. Only queer ships. Like one or two exceptions and they're very toxic, the rest are just any queer ship.
Byler, Steddie, Enid and Wednesday, Jegulus, Yuri and Kitty - all repeated throughout the comments section and more.
And then like one or two toxic straight ships and then a bunch more people talking about queer ships.
And the format of not having to elaborate let's you hide the fact that you have no reasoning but implicit bias. "I'm such a contrarian I hate popular things" not if you only hate queer things, not to mention I would argue not even popular given how every mention prompts homophobia.
"I'm so brave for saying I hate this worshipped thing" and it's something everyone loudly hates.
why the hell am i just now realizing that the majority of the bouquet is GREEN???
"I know you like yellow but now I'm realizing it's too much yellow...and I know you like purple so I got purple as well, so I kind of did a 70/30 split kind of thing?"
yellow = will
purple = mike + el (blue + red)
bylers say a lot that mike can't balance will and el, which is super true, but we never talk about mike essentially directly saying that. 70/30 split. uneven. 70% will, 30% his relationship with el. and mike knows that's not how it's supposed to be. he should be able to balance them, or keep his attention on el. he realized it's too much yellow. theres too much will in his mind, so when he gets to lenora he tries to force him away. but it fucking fails for obvious reasons
purple is not representative of el, but mike and el's relationship as a whole. (mike will and el are the primary colors; red blue and yellow)
and we all know about green being the byler color because blue + yellow
so....
if they are representing mike and el's relationship through purple...and incorporating that into the bouquet...
"but, tumblr user willielli, does this post of yours mean you believe any ship will be endgame as long as one of the characters is in love?" absolutely not, my lovely imaginary opponent! just being in love doesn't save a character from ending up on a losing side of a love triangle, au contraire, stranger things has a character exactly like that. and, as you might've guessed, it is no one other than steve harrington himself!
so buckle up, ladies and germs, we're doing an impromptu will&steve comparison/analysis! hopeless loverboys, fear me, i've come to dig in your guts-
just to preface, please note that i'm perfectly neutral on steve, which means i have not spent too much time thinking about his character, so i might be wayyyyy off here, but: i firmly believe that steve's endgame is going to be staying single & better for it, maybe finding someone in the epilogue. so, in other words... steve's endgame is exactly what some people on reddit envision for will, lmfao.
yeah, both steve and will are in love with their respective wheelers, both have dreams of happily ever after, but this is about where the similarities end. they are opposites when it comes to narrative ideas and character arcs, which is why their outcomes will be different.
first off, this point has been beaten half to death, but i'll repeat it anyway: stancy goes against the main message of stranger things, while byler supports it. in the jancy vs stancy love triangle, steve represents conformity: nancy choosing steve means leading a life terrifyingly similar to one of her parents, safe, but also miserable. this theme was first introduced in s1 with the jancy gun shooting practice scene, then amplified by murray in s2, and in s4 they repeated it via steve and his six nuggets talk. it's enticing, this image of happy and peaceful life, and while nancy is interested, she isn't won over by it in the end. steve represents an easy way out, but it also goes against what nancy, a very ambitious and driven woman, actually wants in life.
byler, on the other hand, is a queer relationship in the 80s, meaning it's the definition of non-conformity. the other, conforming option for mike (the center of this love triangle) is mil*ven, a relationship that was explicitly shown to be ridden with lies and play pretend. both of them are unable to be their true selves when with each other, both of them act like they are enjoying things they actually don't and are ignoring things they actually love. the biggest evidence here is mike's relationship with d&d in s3 and s4: he acts like he's too grown to be interested in the game while el is in the picture, then doing an 180 and joining the hellfire club the moment she's out. being with el is an obstacle to doing what he actually wants, just like it was for nancy with steve. will, on the other hand, shares mike's interests and encourages him to partake in them, be unashamedly himself.
the second aspect to this is how steve and will's character arcs (the romance parts of them, anyway) are actually total opposites. their starting points are mirrored: steve starts off in an established romantic relationship with nancy, confident and secure that nancy wants him; will is convinced that he will never fall in love — a romantic relationship is simply not an option for a gay kid like him. steve is proven to be incorrect, of course, when nancy doesn't get what she needs from him and breaks up with him, giving his head the biggest thump of his life and kickstarting his arc/development/redemption. the purpose of steve's love for nancy is for it to end up rejected, serving as an inciting incident that changed the trajectory of where steve's character was headed, allowing him to escape bad influence and grow from a douchey jock to the compassionate and open-minded person he is now. his arc is still not over, though, as steve is yet to find his worth, purpose and confidence, the lack of which manifests in his romantic failures, but i have a feeling he's not going to find that through nancy. just as for nancy this relationship means going against who she is, for steve it would mean a regression.
when it comes to will, his conviction is going to be challenged as well, since it's very obviously the Lie — stranger things is not a show that will reinforce a queer kid's belief that he will never be loved romantically. will's love for mike isn't tied to negative aspects of his character (unlike steve's, as his jealousy for nancy turned him into into a jerk and a bigot), as will was shown to be self-sacrificing, loving and supportive of both mike and el, unwilling to hurt them despite all the pain he's going through. moreover, the van scene is him giving up his love, conceding defeat without fighting, which comes as both an outcome and a reinforcement of the wrongful belief that romantic love is an impossibility for him. him ending up rejected would not be the cause of some character growth — there is no lesson to be drawn from a heartbreak for him. it's not giving a thump on his head to make him go in the right direction, it's headshotting a corpse.
now, will's position going into s5 was set up by the writers 100% intentionally. they chose to write themselves into this corner in which mike reciprocating is the only logical outcome, because it's a combination of several deliberate writing decisions. they didn't have to write will expressing that he will never fall in love, his struggle with his queerness could've come in a different form. they didn't have to write him have feelings for mike and mike only, it could've been anyone, existing character or new. they didn't have to write him in love, it could've been an infatuation or a childhood crush. they didn't have to write mil*ven lie to each other about who they truly are, they could've had a strong connection and understanding. they didn't have to write will giving up his love for mike and el's (dubious) benefit, he could've fought and gotten mean with it.
they could've written him being worse for loving mike, but they chose not to.
the writers gave both will and steve love triangles, and both of them are in the position of hopelessly in love third party as of s4, but their arcs are not parallels. both characters are in love, but love serves opposite purposes for them — for steve it's something to overcome and grow from, for will it's something to embrace and allow himself to have.
it's so frustrating seeing bylers writing thousand-word posts explaining why byler makes complete narrative and thematic sense in the show, and then seeing everyone else being completely incapable of giving any actual argument that isn't a variant of "you're reading too much into it", "stop trying to make everything gay", or absolutely distorting the actual story and what actually happens in the show in order to do so. it's truly ridiculous, but i bet it will be real funny in the future. i cannot imagine having byler doubt anymore because this fact says everything: byler is meant to be a sort of plot-twist, it is not meant to be totally obvious to most, just to the ones that can and want to see it. it is meant to subvert most people's expectations. i thought these people were in denial back then but most of them are not. they are not in denial at all, they truly think this. they intended to make it all work in a way that's obvious yet not at all, that most people think it won't happen yet they can't tell you why.
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still can't get over the fact that mike struggled to tell his own girlfriend he loved her for 4 seasons (even when she was crying in front of him during their fight), but then he spent just A FEW MINUTES with will in the van and he was suddenly able to say it because will made him feel more loved than he’s ever felt before.
whenever we mention this, people always get defensive and say "he was just insecure" as an excuse for why he didn't say it to her, and what they don't realise is that they're literally proving OUR points. you're right - mike IS insecure in his relationship with el. we know that. he feels inferior to her and he said that himself. that's exactly why we keep going on about how WILL is the one who made him say "i love you" to el, because will is the only person to help mike with his insecurities when no one else could.
will byers is the one that made mike feel loved in that van and gave him strength and courage. it was WILL'S FEELINGS and WILL'S PAINTING. none of that was from el. it was all will. mike was only misled into thinking it was el, hence why he ended up telling her what she wanted to hear later on.
seriously, several seasons of mike being insecure about himself in his own relationship (pretending to be someone he’s not, feeling inferior, not being able to communicate properly or let his feelings out, suffering in silence with unresolved trauma, and when he tried telling el he understood what she was going through because he's been bullied his entire life, she said he doesn't understand. and i understand her trauma is very different from mike's, but it still would've been so hard for mike to hear that because trauma is trauma regardless of how different it is to someone else's), then he spends just a few minutes with will, the person he’s always been closest to and understands him better than anyone else, where he could finally say how he feels and admit his struggles and fears and insecurities, and will was able to make him feel SO loved and so much better about himself.
all of these characters were struggling this season and their reactions to certain situations are completely understandable, but the point is that mike and el simply don't understand each other the way mike and will do and they'll never be able to. they can't replicate what mike and will have experienced together and what they've been through, and they just don't communicate properly the way mike and will do.
mike was able to make will feel better when he went to his room and told him that hawkins wasn't the same without him and that they should always stick together (will was on the verge of tears and you could see the happiness in his eyes), and will was able to support mike and make him feel better after he admitted his insecurities to him when he gave him the painting and confessed his feelings for him, even though his own heart was breaking in the process (and it just shows how much will loves mike that he's willing to sacrifice his own feelings so that mike can be happy).
but during mike and el's fight when el's heart was breaking, neither mike or el made each other feel better. they just made each other feel worse. mike couldn't say 3 simple words to comfort her and el told mike she'll never understand him. they both felt horrible after it and mike himself said it was like a fight they can't come back from.
the difference between these relationships is absolutely insane and i don't know how people don't see it.
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