[bowstreetrunnergirl]

I don’t think people understand how huge conformitygate would be on a global scale if it happened.

To get the obvious out of the way, it will force general audiences to think harder about the media they consume, and will likely also push creators to invest more in the detail of their shows.

Now, having byler get together in the last episode would’ve obviously caused a lot of controversy and done a lot for the community, but people would’ve moved on relatively quickly, maybe a month at most. After that, they’d likely harass Bylers whenever they happened to come across them, but that’s it.

But conformitygate would be huge, next level.

To give the general audience their ideal, big bang marvel-esque ending where our main characters get seemingly happy endings (except for the poor tragic doomed lovers with no chemistry)

Will, ooooo he gets to be gay with his implied nameless epilogue bf, careful, don’t wanna get too queer! Away from all his friends and family, his fear of being seperated due to his queerness is realised, and also apparently drinking now

Mike is mourning the love of his life, aw so sad, at least he gets to keep writing and believing el is alive! Do I even need to explain?

Max and Lucas, the it couple! And nothing more

Dustin is doing great with all his non-conformity and in college! where the fuck did suzie go and why did he give a damn about that Tracy girl OR her party?

El might be dead, but she also might be living her best life in Greenland, all you have to do is believe! The three waterfalls weren’t even her dream, they were mikes

They get their sad goodbyes, and go about their seperate lives, hanging their childhoods up on the shelves and leaving it all behind. It’s bittersweet, but necessary to move on, right?

—Only to take it away and present them with a fantastical ending full of in-depth lore, heart to hearts, resolved character arcs, an intense psychological battle. but hey, it’s also gay!!!!!

They’d be forced to pick: the boring finale, or the gay one. Intelligent and in-depth fictional media, or shutting out queer stories.

Having byler be canon in the final episode would’ve been incredible, conformitygate would change the world. It’s riskier, bigger, bolder.

If it’s real, it’s 100% a social experiment—imagine the research we would get from this? The way the GA reacted would be studied, the callout on homophobia would be huge. I’m talking massive—REVOLUTIONARY!!!

(And even outside of Stranger Things specifically, that research could do so much.)

They wouldn’t be able to deny the homophobia within their fandom space anymore, not with the shows very creators calling them out on a meta scale. And going forth it would force people to face their own individual homophobia on a much deeper level. Some people would obviously close their eyes and block their ears, but if it’d happened in EP8, damn near everyone would’ve.

I don’t necessarily believe in it yet (though from a logical perspective I am compelled to conclude it’s likely real), but I’m sitting at the bus stop until the Super Bowl.

[is33fire]

I don't think any of you understand how marketing works. Word of mouth is basically worthless, it's a tiny drop in the sea of advertising. Companies spend the equivalent of the production budget on marketing alone not because they hate having money but because general awareness that something is scheduled and happening is what drives viewing numbers. For ST5, Netflix send their cast on a world tour like rockstars and dropped ads literally everywhere you looked in dozens of countries. There are now 130 000 000 subscriber households who have watched season 5 as the result of it. The number of people who still haven't moved on from the finale is in the double digits.

[pezzo-di-merda]

People need to learn to start tagging their hate posts with 'anti *insert bullshit*'

Sick of scrolling through tags of things I enjoy and reading people's bullshit takes. I don't care about your opinion. I'd go scrolling through the anti tag if I did.

This goes for all fandoms, but I'm currently referring to #foah and #conformitygate.

Please respect other people's time as much as you'd like yours to be respected (:

[is33fire]

I thought you were doing an "analysis"? How come your "analyses" can never survive outside a vacuum-sealed echo chamber? The "foah" is also sending me, the next time Noah Schnapps will be in the same room with Finn he will be 40 and bald.

[hideaway311812]

My post yesterday on Conformity Gate and the actor's response to it trying to gaslight us being insane seem to trigger people. Look I was never a CG believer. But I have empathy for people who did. I understood where the desperation came from. We wanted this story to be good. We wanted it so badly. And it was horribly done. This is not a subjective opinion. It's an objective fact. They fuck up in every and all aspects of this story. From plot, to characters, to relationships (platonic or otherwise), to overall massaging. It was a mess. And it was horrible for people who cared. Conformitygate was the product of frustration that was derived from this disappointment. We were so disappointed because we cared. Because we supported this show for years. And I totally understand why the actors may be unhappy with this considering how much effort they put into it. But we never blamed them. Not once. Most of the criticism was focused on the Duffers. It is perfectly acceptable for them to never address it, to not acknowledge it. But to acknowledge it and then minimize our feelings as us 'just missing the show?' That's some insane level of gaslighting and frankly insanely lacks any empathy. We supported this show for years to only be ridiculed and minimized because we expected better from this show. What a slap in the face. So yeah I am hurt by how Caleb and Finn handled it. And I have every right to be. This is not a call for people hating on them or sending them threats or using slurs against them. This is just from an honest fan who expected better.

[is33fire]

No, it is not "an objective fact". Here are some actual objective facts: the finale received decent ratings and extremely high streaming numbers that have continued to increase rapidly since it has aired. Some people thought it was lukewarm but the only people who hated it were obsessive fanboys that are desperate for more content, any content, and bitter shippers.

[hawkinsschoolcounselor]

I seriously considered deleting this blog after the finale. I'm just so...I don't even know. Ashamed? It doesn't seem to fit exactly, but it's close.

All the analyzing I did, all the work, all the research.

All for nothing.

The Duffers never put half the work into the values and motivations of their characters that I did. Not that I expected them to have the psychological expertise that I have, but I thought they at least tried to make them human in the sense that they'd have worked out the whys of their actions in a way that meshed with their established canon.

But, no, they all just did whatever the plot called for, with any explanations being shoehorned in later.

So, now, when I see people reblog or like my analyses, I don't feel proud of them anymore. I feel like I wasted my time, even if they seemed valid at the time I wrote them. I feel like a fool for being so wrong. I know people talk about death of the author and whatnot, but I don't look at it that way, I guess. I looked at this the same way I'd look at a person, only to find out that everything I thought I knew about them was wrong.

So, yeah, I seriously considered wiping all of this out. Maybe someday I still will. But, for now, there's maybe a couple people out there still getting some hope or happiness from what I've written in the past.

And I'm sorry for the miserable asshole I've become since the finale. I imagine I've lost more than a few followers since then. I put my hope in the Duffers' hands, and that turned out to be a fatal error.

[is33fire]

You cannot "analyze" anything if you're emotionally attached to the outcome. That's not going to work. Your mind will make every square peg fit a round hole to arrive exactly at the conclusion you want it to arrive at. Analysis presumes near perfect detachment and objectivity.

[buckleybeat]

Will "born to be the romantic hero, forced to be reduced to the gay friend" Byers

Mike "born to be the leader of the party, forced to be the romantic hero in the wrong relationship" Wheeler

Jane "born to find herself, forced to find romance with the first boy she meets" Hopper-Ives

[is33fire]

If finding yourself is so great why are you so mad that Will got this storyline?

[thewisewill80sbyers]

I think I would have accepted it if it was only Byler being destroyed but it's the whole show how can it be the whole show

[is33fire]

No, you wouldn't have. In fact if Byler happened, you would have called it the best show in the world even if the rest of it was footage of paint drying.

[anberbeee]

just had a scroll through the #anti byler tag and it is a cesspool of toxicity over there oh my gosh. i didnt even know the tag existed until today and we have die hard milevens saying "media literacy is dead"???? "#conformitygate"??? "straight ships are a minority in this fandom", "will was going to hand his love confession to mike at the airport in front of el!!!!"

firstly i want to address the statement "media literacy is dead" in regards to byler shippers.

media literacy enables you to not just take what is shown to you, but breaking down what it tells you (point, evidence, analysis. high school english anyone?).

bylers have mountains of evidence and analysis going into detail on the music, lighting, blocking etc and valid points linking byler to the main themes of the story that a huge team of writers and experts have so painstakingly stitched together; i don't really see any mileven analysis of the same quality or depth anywhere, though that is perhaps thanks to the limited online spaces i inhabit.

conformitygate originated on byler tumblr.

and NO, will was not going to confess his feelings to mike in front of his sister, someone he loves very much, who is dating mike. he isn't a homewrecker, he's repairing the house!

straight ships are a minority in most fandoms because most of the time, they are already canon. god forbid an audience see potential in queer pairings and want their ships to be canon so desperately due to a historical lack of nuanced, developed representation in the media.

back to the topic of byler analysis, and byler evidence often being labelled as "meaningless" by m11s/the ga: creators' work shouldn't go unnoticed or simply dismissed by saying "it's not that deep". why do you think the production of shows and movies takes so long? editing, filming, directing are done with the aim of making every second absolutely perfect. building sets, for example, is very time consuming and expensive, as well as making costumes. every element of a tv show, especially one as well crafted as st, is a result of an active, thought out choice.

also, m11's main arguments are "they've been together for four seasons", "uhhhh he told her he loved her at first sight!!" and "childhood sweethearts". i find these to be rather weak.

you can be in a relationship for a long time and for it not to work out (peep stancy, ted/karen, lonnie/joyce, not to mention the parallels with bob and joyce). i do think they have a special bond given all the things they went through together and mike's several experiences of losing el throughout the show, but not necessarily a romantic one.

people can lie. friends lie.

if he did in fact fall in love with her, it was definitely not at first sight. maybe he fumbled his words under pressure and chose the most stereotypical, "romantic" scenario he could think of. but why? (...conformity)

the "childhood sweethearts" point just pmo because aren't m11s and the ga the same people who hated on will's coming out and acceptance by his friends as it was unrealistic? by that logic, m11's three waterfalls thing and staying together forever is pretty far fetched too.

tldr toxic milevens did watch the show, but took everything at face value like most of the ga. they refuse to look beyond the curtain that grants them ignorance, and therefore safety. they are of course entitled to their own opinions, and i respect that, but attacking another ship to validate your own is quite immature. they might just be retaliating against mileven hate from bylers, which is understandable.

overall, ship wars shouldn't even be a real thing provided we all try to respect each other and remain civil and open in discussions. maybe we should all go outside more often?

[is33fire]

Media literacy is when you're wrong about every single prediction about the media you're "analyzing" (taking a desired outcome, then hacking away at said media until only 10% of it remains, ready to be twisted and tortured into the only outcome you must arrive at all cost).

[imaginefirelizards]

if m*leven is the main endgame couple then why is their final scene together like the opposite of the bridgerton-main-character effect

[is33fire]

Because Bridgerton is a romcom show where each season is focusing on the main couple as the main characters while Stranger Things is a scifi/adventure/horror show with an ensemble cast. I'm once again asking Bylers to purchase some media literacy.

[seonghong]

"It was foah all along" "Byler wasn't in the cards it was all foah"

Genuinely shut up shut up oh my god shut up... the script, the music score, lighting, costume design, camera work, all of these things!!!! And you think Finn and Noah are the reason Byler is the way it is????? Like even if Finn Wolfhard had a giant crush on Noah and just couldnt help but look at his lips, they wouldnt keep that in, they would've just reshot the scene 😐

Like babe, theres dozens of eyes on them when theyre shooting, so if YOU notice those lip glances then professionals, who have been thru film school definitely notice them as well. Therefore, he was obviously directed to do that ....

[is33fire]

Byler is as real as Foah (Finn isn't even close enough friends with Noah that he wants him at this events lmao)

Keep coping

[olirovia]

Imagine that your ending was so bad that a lot of fans believed it was a fake ending and that there was going to be a secret chapter because of so many errors and plot holes.

[is33fire]

Nah you believed it because your ship sank, just like the TJLC guys whose fossilized nachos you tried to reheat

[narrativelogicofbyler]

No bad feelings towards the general m11vens or anything but:

Media literacy is dead. This is quite like saying: "You guys are reading too much between the lines, searching for metaphors in the text" about a book. Like even if they truly didn't like the ship, it's so obvious to see how they were constructing their relationship. I honestly think this is why there's such a disproportionate amount of hate about bylers because they could actually see they were building towards it, and the only resort they had was calling us delusional. When the show ultimately proved them "right," they felt vindicated and proceeded to double down on how we were just crazy for thinking a couple of guys (shocking!) could be gay. I'm amazed at how many homophobes (because there's no other reason to act like this at this point) are fans of this show, but since they ultimately catered everything towards them...

This person in particular is quite unpleasant. I cut the insults and such in their comment

oh absolutely , and speaking as someone who actually studied this stuff and got my BA hons at the end of it, the whole “you’re reading too much into it” line is just… embarrassing. that’s literally what storytelling is. if you said that in a film and tv seminar you’d get gently but firmly dismantled by a room full of people who understand that subtext, framing, blocking, colour, and narrative patterning are the language of the medium. It’s not “reading too much,” it’s reading correctly.

and you’re right: the backlash wasn’t born from confusion, it was born from recognition. they saw what was being built, the emotional architecture, the mirroring, the romantic coding, and it made them deeply uncomfortable. so instead of engaging with the text, they attacked the audience who understood it. calling byler fans “delusional” was never an argument; it was a shield. a way to avoid admitting that the show was queering its central emotional arc in ways they didn’t want to acknowledge.

then the volume 2 and the finale dropped, and suddenly they felt vindicated. not because the text supported their reading, but because the creators folded under pressure and delivered something that aligned with the loudest, most reactionary segment of the fandom. and now those same people are rewriting history, pretending the subtext never existed, pretending the cinematography didn’t frame mike like a love interest, pretending the pink sky wasn’t deliberate emotional coding, pretending will’s entire arc wasn’t structured as a queer coming of age romance.

it’s wild how many people who claim to love this show fundamentally reject the very tools that make it good, metaphor, visual storytelling, emotional continuity. and yes, at this point, the refusal to even consider a queer reading is just homophobia dressed up as “objectivity.”

we’re not imagining the pattern. we’re not overreading. we’re not delusional. we’re doing what media literacy actually looks like.

[is33fire]

Media literacy is when every single one of your media predictions fail (because you chose to hyperfocus on the color of a furniture piece in the back instead of the fact that your designated love interest was explicitly stating attraction to someone else).

[thebestwillbyers]

GUN TO MY HEAD, this is not the same set of hair. The hair in the second image was always off, like what was the hair artist doing here??? Also the lighting changes drastically?

Option 1: The hair and lighting team fucked the fuck up.

Option 2: They had to go back and refilm these scenes because they were too gay originally.

Option 3: Reality shenanigans.

edit: someone else just posted something on this 1 hour ago D: The collevtive human subconscious has spoken. Today is the day of question this scene. Simultaneously one of the best scenes of the season but also most wonky.

[is33fire]

Option 4: the scene wasn't filmed in a single take like virtually every other scene out there. Actors have to go back into hair&makeup multiple times a day to get them touched up because high definition cameras are very unforgiving. Especially actors with a deliberately messy hairstyle since that goes from effortlessly wild curls to greasy actually disheveled looking hair in the projector heat very quickly.

[narrativelogicofbyler]

hey, I wanted to know what you think about this…it’s the music editor that worked on s4 and 5. there was another ask about a byler comment that she liked. I found the post and it seems like she just likes all the comments. I also discovered this…do you think she just wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it? since she did say this though, I think it might be better if you don’t mention that comment she liked

speaking as someone who’s literally worked on and behind sets, this is just my opinion based on what I’ve seen in the industry, but this is giving “controlled engagement” way more than “innocent social media interaction.” music editors on shows this size are locked under brutal NDAs, so of course she wouldn’t be allowed to say anything outright. that part makes sense.

but the whole “she likes everything” pattern? that’s where my film school brain kicks in. when someone in post suddenly goes hyper neutral with their likes, that’s a strategy. it’s the safest way to interact without revealing what they actually think. and the way she phrased that answer? it’s textbook deflection. she’s lying, or at the very least performing ignorance because she has to.

and honestly, there is no way she didn’t clock the romantic intention in those scenes. the “hawkins is not the same without you” moment is scored and paced like a confession, and the van scene is built on emotional proximity, breath control, and musical cues that are absolutely not platonic. anyone working in music editing would’ve been knee deep in those choices. you don’t miss that unless you’re pretending to.

[is33fire]

That's not how NDAs work, you can't share certain info but nobody can force you to lie. Replying to a fan on social media is the most optional interaction there is. I get that you're a freshman doing a film degree so you feel very adult and important compared to the 15 year olds in your replies but that's literally not how any of this stuff works. Nobody who didn't already desperately want to see byler in the show ever saw it anywhere.

[starxycloudfae]

"Conformitygate isnt real!!!!" Well if the demand is up the duffers will have no choice. KEEP DOING THIS

[is33fire]

It's over. It was over before but after the massive harassment campaign you ran, it's truly over. Over 120 million people watched season 5, what 30 people on tumblr think is completely irrelevant.