Cloudbusting by Kate Bush in connection to Mike Wheeler's internalized homophobia.
Do I think they're going to reuse a Kate Bush song for season 5? No. Is Cloudbusting a song about a young boy coming to terms with internalized homophobia? No. Would using this song in season 5 for an action packed scene in which Mike realizes his love for Will in the middle of a crisis be absolute cinema? Yes, and please let me explain!
If you haven't heard this song yet and listen for the first time, I hope you felt that same sense of hope throughout the song as I did. The song is constantly building towards something, and the faint backround percussion is very very similar to the drums in "Running Up That Hill." It's perfect for someone who is having some sort of realization about themselves and is finally choosing not to hide.
The song opens with a boy dreaming of his childhood. In the actual song, he’s talking about his father. In my interpretation, I believe it’s about a boy dreaming about an ideal childhood with a friend. The yo-yo represents Mike's innocent love towards Will during childhood, the love that soon he realized was dangerous in a town like Hawkins. Mike’s love towards Will had always been special, but Mike himself realized it was dangerous and pulls away, and "buries the yo-yo." This also explains his fight with Will about growing up and leaving childhood behind. Mike went from “I’m the only one who’s normal, I’m the only one who cares about Will,” to “caring about Will isn’t normal," and that scares him.
Then comes the main chorus.
Even if Mike's love for Will scares him, they always eventually come to understand each other. After every fight and disagreement, they find each other again and come to an understanding that often goes WITHOUT saying any words aka "I didn't say it." and "You didn't have to." However, there are certain things that NEED to be said in order for their relationship to work. Something beautiful is going to happen between these two, but it will only happen if Mike accepts himself for who he is and allows himself to love Will.
The second verse
Season 1 and 5 both deal with the government interfering with Will and Mike's relationship. It was the government who pulled Will's fake body out of the quarry, changing Mike's life forever. Judging by the teasers, Will is probably once again going to be a target in Season 5, It'll be when Will's life is in danger when Mike allows himself to assess his relationship with will as something deeper. We saw this once when the Mindflayer gets Will in season 2 and Mike talks about the best day of his life. Mike is now no longer able to ignore and "forget" these feelings.
Chorus and Outro
The last two verses symbolize Mike's acceptance of his love for Will, so that Mike can fully be present in Will's life. And LOL it literally says "your son's coming out." I really have no clue how Mike will come to realize his feelings for Will in Season 5. While the trailer has shown that this season may be the darkest yet, I'm hoping for just the tiniest scene where Mike accepts himself for who he his, and he’s happy about it.
DISCLAIMER: This song is not at all about how I'm interpreting it, but I encourage anyone to check out the original it's pretty cool.
The audience is about to get hit with the gravity of Mike's love for Will in an insane way .
It is Mike's reason for being the twist antagonist.
+ how we defeat Mike!
I will give you a synopsis first because this is the most evidence-heavy, dense post I've ever done.
Mike will be an unwitting antagonist in Season 5, due to a deal he made with Vecna (who was acting as an agent of the Mindflayer) to save Will's life when he died in S1.
The deal requires Mike to conform: help everyone stick to a relatively specific timeline and keep his mouth shut about it. Mike is like the prison warden to our timeline, a timeline cop.
I believe Mike is getting visions in his dreams to guide him to follow the 'right timeline'. That's why Mike sees this coming.
In exchange for Mike doing his job, Will gets to live (get found in S1). Mike puts himself in 'prison' (slowly killing himself - "forced conformity is killing the kids") so that Will can escape 'prison' (his S1 death).
Mike thinks he made out with a great deal. But he has been tricked. Mike did not realize his actions would have TERRIBLE consequences for so many others, and eventually even himself. He never asked how exactly Will would be brought back to life, or what it would really cost.
This is a metaphor for conformity: Mike thinks hiding his feelings and policing his own behavior so as not to get outed will save Will somehow, when really it just results in a depressing life where you forget who you are. On a large scale, it means everyone conforming until we're all a hive mind.
Because Mike is a timeline cop, in order to win we have to catch him off guard and by surprise! Mike does not want to lose, because in his perspective that means Will stays dead, and Mike is convinced his way is THE ONLY WAY. You also can't outright tell Mike what you're doing because the mindflayer is watching.
There is a scientific explanation for how all this works, which is how I found this all in the first place. I'll explain the mechanics in my ST Science post when I finish it.
"If I only could, I'd make a deal with God, and get him to swap our places"
OKAY Let's go!
Mike is the bad guy, but, is he really? I mean he just wants to find someone.
Mike thinks there is only one way (go rewatch Mike looking at Will's photos and that Henry scene, besides the set being identical, they made that kid emulate Finn's expressions, it's sick, I didn't even grab the best pics but you can see it enough in what I got).
But he is wrong.
Mike makes the choice, he follows a man he knows is evil. Despite thinking it's the only way, it's actually not, and Mike is wrong. But, it's too late, he is going to do what he is told.
Mike follows the bad man (yes that's his dumbass saying 'okay' lol). This seems odd coming from "leader" Mike. Mike agrees:
Mike does not think... he follows. LOL. But, he also just doesn't think that he follows. Mike thinks he is getting a great deal out of following the 'bad man'. To us it seems out of character, stupid, crazy, even, for Mike to follow! But there is not anything Mike wouldn't be willing to give up for his, uh, friend, Will. The whole world would probably be an even trade to Mike.
This parallel is so obvious I am surprised I have never seen anyone else post it. We see two comically ridiculous outfits in S4. Anyways, Mike is willing to do anything for Will, including wear this stupid outfit (CONFORM). Again, Mike thinks he made off with a great deal because getting to speak to Will rocks!
Wow even ST theories have boring Russia sideplots, back to Murray and Yuri!
But is it such a great deal? I mean, Mike's end of the deal is keeping his mouth shut (literally gagged) and acting like someone he is not. This exchange between Murray and Yuri has them impersonating each other, swapping places, peanut butter, and breaking out of prison to save Hopper.
Murray is one of the only characters associated with trades. ElMax gets one other 'trade' mention. Don't get trade and swap confused, because 'swap' actually refers to sharing DNA, so no romance in that, lol.
They just think they are so fucking funny.
The trade/swap motif has a double meaning, like all good writing:
Metaphorical Trade : Mike has imprisoned himself (killing himself slowly - forced conformity is killing the kids) in order to break Will out of prison, (death).
Physical Trade: Mike never asked how exactly Will would be brought back to life. The universe has laws!
I'll explain in my science post, but balance is restored by taking someone from another timeline and bringing them here, too. It has to be someone genetically similar to you, like someone from your family, a sort of 'sibling' if you will. If you can't find a 'sibling', you have to bioengineer one, because a lack of balance will result in total timeline collapse.
Anyways, the Physical Trade is represented in the text ALL OVER and I will get super into it in the science post. But in this specific narrative I'll stick to the most relevant evidence.
First, Nancy in the background of Robin's "anything speech" I just cited.
Second, Mike stealing from Nancy's piggybank when he doesn't have enough money in S2 (this little sibling-stealer!).
And third, since we already mentioned Kali I'll use her again: swapping plates. Families all sit at a dinner table, at place settings. If you move them around using Mike's sibling-swapping, you are swapping plates. Your mom from another timeline could be sucked into your timeline and become your daughter (that's not an actual example). But she leaves an empty spot behind which ANOTHER sibling will have to fill from another timeline. Getting messy....
I am not saying Mike is masterminding the sibling swapping, it is just a bad consequence of his wish for Will to come back. A lot of y'alls favorite characters are from another timeline - results of Mike's dominos falling, so to speak. Sorry, lol. Nature has laws.
Project Rainbow is an example of deliberate sibling swapping and bio-engineering.
Anyways, Mike is definitely still complicit as a Timeline Cop. Mike can influence the timeline and has knowledge the rest of the party doesn't. But as @ven0moir pointed out, there is one aspect of the game the Dungeon Master can not control: chance. If he is a willing part of the hive mind, one of the major requirements of winning in S5 will be surprising Mike. Mike will be working against us because he is convinced his deal is the only way to save Will.
The surprise is a pretty obvious answer: it's proving to Mike that there really was "another way" (you may have to read this post twice lol). Mike can reject conformity, and Will will still get to live. Mike can disobey, stray from the conformity timeline, the "normal path".
Where there is a Will, there is a way.
Yay happy ending.
Just kidding... will Eleven be able to forgive Mike for following the same footsteps as One and Brenner? For what his desperation-dominos did to her mother...?
Lucas says it all:
I love you, Lucas.
Anyways, I don't know enough about literature besides Emma by Jane Austen to make comparisons to ST or find evidence for it. But @cypherheartnokey wrote this comparison which I think fits perfect with this theory (scroll to their section). I think literature is a worthwhile avenue to pursue because Mike's favorite subject is actually english, not science, despite science surrounding him and untying his plot.
I think science might be Mike when he is closeted and english is when he is open, per my Closures theory.
This whole post and my upcoming science post are sort of expanding on this original post. There will certainly be differences as I find more evidence and basis but this was my original intuition + OTHER PEOPLES' REBLOGS / ADDITIONS which are the really important and most insightful parts :)
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The red fabric of the tunic and the silk embroidery on its front and sleeves distinguished Jewish women’s dress in the Tafilalet region. The women would wrap a fabric over their tunic and fasten it with pins. The distinctive head covering of married women, the grun (“horns”), was an elaborate construction demanding much expertise to fit and adjust. On the eighth day of wedding celebrations, a married woman would put the grun on the new bride, who would thereafter do it herself every morning. It was believed that this head covering would ensure her a long and happy marriage.
I said Hopper and here you are @hopperboi - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
