she/her, 21, st fan since 2016 and byler since 2022
i write fic which you can read here, and i make/reblog whatever posts appeal to me, whether goofy or serious or something else entirely :)
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non-bylers are welcome just be respectful <3 i’m not interested in making enemies. peace and love
hi. this byler/jancy parallel analysis post post was in my drafts from august 2022. i never finished it and clearly i was wrong but i’m gonna post it anyway!
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the S4 st*ncy plot was only there as a m*leven parallel, and neither are endgame
there are a lot of good analyses about byler/jancy parallels (like jancy on a car talking about how nancy can’t say ily to steve then byler doing basically the exact same thing) and m*leven/st*ncy parallels, but i was recently thinking about the out of nowhere st*ncy stuff in s4 and... i think it’s pretty much only there to serve as a m*leven parallel.
(and btw, this post is probably gonna be byler-centric with jancy used more as an example than a focus, in case that helps you decide whether to read it)
so.. did anyone else find the st*ncy stuff in s4 really random and forced? i didn’t really see the point in it and it just seemed out of place. BUT. it makes more sense if its purpose is to be a m*leven parallel. i’ll show you what i mean with some side-by-side comparisons, starting with jancy/byler to set the stage.
also, for the most part nancy is a parallel to mike, jonathan is a parallel to will, and steve is a parallel to eleven.
(go to “st*ncy / m*leven ‘fake-out’ and false hope” section (highlighted in purple) to skip jancy / byler parallels)
jancy / byler S4 relationship issues
jancy issues plot
at the beginning of s4 it’s established that nancy and jonathan are having some relationship problems—it’s really hard for them to be long-distance and it’s putting a strain on their relationship. they’re both frustrated that the other can’t/won’t come visit them for spring break, and it creates some turmoil that neither of them is conveying to the other; they each think their S.O. is unbothered by not being able to visit.
they’re MIScommunicating by not communicating at all. they’re both getting the wrong idea.
when the integrity of their relationship is questioned (by argyle to jonathan & by fred to nancy) though, they immediately shut it down and go on a little rant about what they love about the other so much. they attest that their relationship is “perfect”, which is obviously not true and isn’t for any relationship, but it shows they want to insist that everything’s fine. it gives argyle and fred (and themselves) the appearance of everything’s good and that’s that, end of discussion.
byler issues plot
it’s ALSO established pretty early on that mike and will are having relationship issues. it’s also really hard for them to be long-distance and it puts a strain on them. they’re hardly speaking to each other, which means they’re not speaking about their problems. (we see this strain manifesting itself in several ways when mike comes to visit california, from the airport scene to the roller rink).
just like jancy, they’re miscommunicating by not communicating (though mike has probably been trying to call will, and is just never able to get through because of joyce’s telemarketing job).
unlike jancy’s integrity being questioned by an outside party, byler questions their own integrity in the roller rink fight, similarly bringing up how much either of them actually cares about maintaining their relationship with the other. the “defending” doesn’t come until later for them, and it comes in the form of an (almost) apology and civil, intimate discussion (the “cool”, “cool” scene). it ends with them wrapping everything up neatly with the appearance of it being resolved, which it partly is, but their conversation only scratches the surface of things.
as far as parallels go i know the point is similarities, but i think the differences between two paralleled things can be important to note, too. here, jancy didn’t visit each other while byler did—it’s clearly for the plot to work out, but it could have other significance too. what comes to mind for me is the difference in time frame between when jancy got together and when byler will get together. jancy is established so they already see each other in the context of a romantic interest, whereas mike visiting cali is probably the first time he and will are mutually seeing each other irl in a romantic-interest context. byler needed to see each other to be “created”, while jancy was already created, so it wasn’t necessary.
a notable difference between them is that by seeing each other byler has a chance to acknowledge (to an extent) some of the problems between them and agree to “be a team again”, but jancy doesn’t have a chance to—and they pretend everything’s alright when they reunite at the end of s4.
jonathan’s / will’s secret
jonathan and will are both keeping big secrets from their love interests, and it’s eating at them. while all members of jancy and byler are at least partly aware there’s things they need sorting out, nancy and mike are both unaware of a HUGE underlying problem going on with jonathan and will, respectively. jonathan is hiding from nancy that he doesn’t plan on going to the college they wanted to go to together, and will is hiding from mike that he’s gay and in love with him.
these are significant wedges in their relationships that they placed special importance on this season. we’re meant to watch how jonathan and will tackle this without the help of the person they’d otherwise usually go to first but can’t, because the secret is largely about them AND they believe it wouldn’t be received well or could even ruin their relationship. they’re putting up a front that they’re happy with the situations (going to emerson, mike and el being together) but they’re not.
for the most part, they let these secrets fester within themselves, barely reaching out to anyone else for help. the only times we see either of them talking to someone else about it is when jonathan talks to argyle, and when will talks to jonathan (in the pizza dough freezer scene). even still, the “reveals” were surface-level, and though i’m sure it provided some catharsis for both of them, the people they confided in can’t offer what they really need: understanding. someone who relates and can really get it.
when you don’t look at it very hard it seems like they’re keeping these secrets for the main reason most people keep a secret: fear. and while that is true, we shouldn’t overlook the other huge driving force shared by both jonathan and will: selflessness. jonathan says himself that if he told her he doesn’t wanna go to emerson, nancy would throw her dreams away in a heartbeat for him and eventually end up hating him out of resentment. will thinks that mike’s happy and in love with el (and thinks the same for el) and he doesn’t wanna get in the way of their happiness and/or make mike hate him. so, yes, they’re both afraid of being hated, but they’re ALSO both too selfless to possibly get in the way of nancy’s/mike’s happiness.
their secrets are squashing the dreams they really have, that they don’t believe is possible. they haven’t mentioned this recently, but jonathan’s dream school is actually NYU. and, of course, will’s dream is to be with mike.
in relation to their secrets they both have a negotiable and a non-negotiable, to make their situations tolerable.
jonathan’s negotiable: he’ll to lenora community instead of NYU. jonathan’s non-negotiable: he won’t go to emerson, and won’t leave his family behind.
will’s negotiable: he’ll ignore his love for mike in favor of mike’s happiness. will’s non-negotiable: he won’t accept losing mike as a part of his life.
st*ncy / m*leven “fake-out” and false hope
this is what inspired me to make this post in the first place. (when i say “false hope” i mostly mean for the audience, but it’s for some of the characters too)
to make this work we’re gonna need to touch on past seasons a bit before we get to S4, because some important parallels don’t line up in the timeline.
early st*ncy
in early S1, st*ncy seemed like the “it couple”. they were introduced quickly without easing us into it, and people liked them—ofc they did, they were cute together! which is obviously all that matters /s. but really, there were some scenes that gave off endgame couple energy (even after steve’s slut-shaming shit, when they got back together) but you know what also came along pretty quickly? jancy. even while nancy and steve were still together they started giving us clues—what everyone could understand to be unambiguously romantic clues, because they’re a straight couple.
st*ncy’s always felt off, even when we were encouraged to root for them. on nancy’s part, her head never seems to be fully with steve, like she’s not in-tune with their relationship—which is more about the status being king steve’s girlfriend gives her than actually wanting to be with him; a symbol. and on steve’s part, he seems almost unhealthily infatuated with nancy, holding her on an unrealistic pedestal as the poster-girl of the suburban family life he wants to live; a symbol. this dynamic doesn’t make for a good endgame couple, and it could never last. BUT, it does make for a good relationship that was made to fail.
early m*leven
they also seem(ed) like the “it couple”, introduced pretty early on and cute together. the endgame energy is/was there too, arguably more so considering their story has been progressing the whole show. it’s the obvious and easy choice, especially since—when viewed from a heteronormative perspective—there’s no competition, unlike the jancy/st*ncy love triangle. except, if you’re a discerning viewer, byler clues were given from very early on, also.
m*leven has always felt off, too. (i think the degree of “offness” sensed depends on the narrative in the mind of the watcher, which is true for anything in any media. the offness could also be written off as due to their ages, el’s upbringing/abilities, etc etc.) on mike’s part, he doesn’t seem nearly as invested in or in-tune with their relationship as el is—it may be more about his idea of growing up and want to stay on track with his peers, which means having a girlfriend; a symbol. on el’s part, she certainly is unhealthily infatuated with mike (think her s4 mike box/shrine), who represents part of a normal life as a normal teenage girl, and her personhood as a whole; a symbol. i’ll say it again: this dynamic doesn’t make for a good endgame couple, and it could never last. BUT, it does make for a good relationship that was made to fail.
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anyway, that’s where i left off with the post. it makes me sad that i was so hopeful and sure of what i was seeing, but i still think i made some good points, even if i didn’t really GET to the point 😭😭 i wonder how this post would’ve ended if i finished it back then… i truly believed all of this was meant to be noticed and examined, and i still believe at least some of it was on purpose, if not most or even all of it. whether or not it was supposed to be endgame, the signs weren’t accidental. i’ll truly never understand why they went through so much effort in setting up byler only not go through with it.
can everyone please stop saying it’s been 5 months since the finale. bc it has very much been 4 months. it’s been 4 months (and 1 week) since the finale
sometimes will gets paint on his wedding ring, but he doesn’t want to take it off to wash it. he’s afraid of it falling down the drain or getting lost or spontaneously disappearing before his eyes. mike likes when will gets paint on it; he feels like it’s representative of who will is and what he brings to their marriage, an imperfect piece of himself on their symbol of commitment. mike knows will wants it clean, though, so after every messy painting session mike insists on taking him to the sink, wrapping himself around will’s back and taking his left hand in his, bringing it to the running water and lovingly rubbing away the colors. the jewelry stays on his finger. of course, will’s perfectly capable of doing this himself, but he yields again and again to mike’s whims. oil’s trickier to wash, needs some dish soap, but acrylic falls away without a fight. mike’s careful efforts leave the ring shiny and untainted, glinting in the soft light of their kitchen, and after will dries his hands mike grabs his and presses his lips to the knuckles, and then a lingering kiss over will’s ring.
will makes sure his pigments spill onto it every time.
these two shots are so interesting, because they both have this strong red lighting but the one with will seems much more intense and romantic, whereas the one with el seems like a rip off of that lighting, it's more artificial and doesn't have the same energy in it
and then in the one with will, mike's hair is wet and his natural curl pattern is emerging and he looks so much more 𝙝𝙞𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛, whereas with el his hair is hidden under a beanie and he's literally wearing camouflage
and then his 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣, don't even get me started
Very likely gonna rework the colors for this one but I also like how it looks right now, so I wanted to show <3
I'm just not happy with the colors idk it's not what I was going for. I liked how the only outlines version looked so much and I was gonna see if I could add color to it. But I wanted to avoid doing 5 layers of lighting and different overlay settings cause whenever I do that I start to get lost a little cause it never really looks like how I want it to look. So maybe I'll do a version that has less color and only some basic lighting. I'm not sure yet. I really wanted it to look like this art I made (the second picture) cause I love how the colors look there. But for this I used just a set color palette without any layer opacity or overlay setting changes. The comic also has 10 pages and so I don't want to spend like 4 hours on each page just adding in all the light and shadow and layers on top and yeah. I love the comic and I want it to look good and give off a certain vibe. I want it to be more minimalist I guess? Or like I feel like if I draw it all like how it looks now then the different drawings and frames are going to get confusing. And the comic layout is very specific already so I don't want the colors to take away from that? Idk, I have no idea if any of this makes sense to anyone but yeah. I think this version is very pretty too but it's just not what I want it to look like, it's not the right vibe...
vecna is using will’s feelings for mike and mike’s presumed lack of reciprocation against him… and i’m supposed to believe vecna won’t be proven wrong? the villain of the show is telling him his love isn’t returned, and what, we’re all just supposed to go “yeah, the villain’s right, you aren’t loved back” ?!?!!?!!?
