Stranger Things Finale and Byler
None of us are wrong. The Duffer Brothers, Shawn Levy, Netflix are wrong. This was the most elaborate queerbait in media history (My video). They are ones who embarrassed themselves and should be ashamed.
They fully prepared a Byler ending -- more systematically I believe than any other show -- to increase queer viewership, and didn't clarify it wouldn't happen until the very end.
Byler WAS prepared. It is apparent -- and this likely might never be confirmed in a public statement, and might even be contradicted by the Duffers -- that they were preparing for Byler at the time Season 4 ended. There's just too much evidence for it to have been otherwise. The Duffers literally told Finn Wolfhard that Will's lie about the painting would "pay off." And then at some point they chickened out: some internal power struggle occurred (with Netflix? with the Duffers future employer Paramount?), and the consolation prize is the subtextual ending we got.
So, instead of having Mike's behavior in seasons 3 and 4 be explained by internalized homophobia and a powerful, touching slow-burn childhood-friends-to-lovers queer romance, they decided to make canon Mike being an inconsistent, poorly-written ASSHOLE who was a terrible friend and terrible boyfriend for no reason. And they decided to feature Mileven, an awful model of a "healthy" relationship taped together by Will's love, as the show's "main romance," after all.
No, Duffers: gay inclusion does not mean you didn't queerbait. And you don't earn gay brownie points for "gay representation" either. In a recent interview, the Duffers had the audacity to compare Will's love for Mike to unrequited "crushes" they had growing up. They required "realism" for the long-suffering gay boy who sadly said he was "never gonna fall in love." If this show is about "realism," then why did they make Mike a hetero male self-insert fantasy of a nerdy boy finding a superpowered girlfriend who you can satisfy simply by saying "I Love You" despite treating her like shit? El's line saying Mike has always "understood" and "seen" her, when he completely did NOT understand her, gaslit her, and made her feel like a monster in Season 4, was a travesty. He didn't even say "I love you" when she said she loved him before she died!
Why does Max get to have a boyfriend whose love saves her from Vecna? Why is there no sign that Robin is dating Vickie -- or any girl for that matter -- in the epilogue? (They even made Robin present as more femme as well! And in her scene, we hear about all the other characters' lives, but not Robin's -- god forbid that it's gay!) And Rovickie didn't threaten a straight relationship and would've been low-risk for them, but they didn't do it. Will never even got to fuckin KISS his epilogue date. Duffers: why do only straight people find love in your show? And why did you present us as "safe" and palatable for straight people? A respectful portrayal of a gay coming-out arc wouldâve included Will trying to find a romantic relationship in the show like every straight character did. Why did you have Will ultimately assume his love was unrequited in advance, when you DID show hints Mike likes Will back and even had Will have a look of recognition when Robin talked about shared looks and bumps of the elbow? Why did you erase the existence of closeted gay people who try to conform by dating the opposite sex, and of bi people? And why, on the radio tower, after Will made clear he had a crush on Mike, NOT have them hug when Mike said they were best friends, when they've hugged before? Was it because Mike knows Will is gay and likes him, and so it would be too icky now? We were even denied PLATONIC intimacy between them after Will came out. Will never even gets to kiss his date in the end! Why did Will only plead with Vecna instead of use his powers to kick his fuckin ass? What's "gay empowerment" if Will doesn't ACT on being gay and doesn't use his POWER?
They absolutely built up hope that Byler would happen with how they wrote Mike, El, and Will's relationships, including first and foremost the Cyrano Trope where they had Mike fall in love with WILL'S painting and WILL'S feelings thinking they came from El. (Now that we know the end, they literally let a gay boy's sacrifice and love be what tapes together a straight couple.) And the mountain of other clues and how Mike clearly viewed Will differently -- "It's Hawkins, it's not the same without you." They planted easter eggs even into the last season -- having Ted smash down Mike's closet door, the gay sexual references, the blue and yellow swings -- that they knew Byler fans would catch on to. They had Will talk to Robin about finding signs of interest from Mike WITH HOPE. And all this time the creators never clarified that Byler wouldn't happen, in order to keep queer people watching. In my last video I asked: "With every choice you made, were you in fact LAUGHING at the LGBT+ people you were giving hope to? And opening up to ridicule?" They apparently DID. This was shameful and cruel.
Still, Byler lives on in subtext. All the evidence is that Mike has more-than-friend feelings for Will, and is grieving over the loss of his first love. And El's imagined happy ending did not include a romantic future with Mike.
And, after seeing comments, I rewatched Mike putting his D&D book next to Will's. Mike stares at Will's D&D book which takes up half the frame, and breaks down when placing his own book to it, then caresses it next to Will's. It was a nod to Byler. The Duffers never explicitly ruled out Mike having romantic feelings for Will in canon, and Will's painting is on his wall. It was cowardly, but Byler lives on in subtext.
BYLER IS REAL. It ABSOLUTELY is there. They just didn't make it canon. But they stoked in US a hope and fire that will not burn out. I'm sure there will be many MORE amazing fanfics that come out of this beautiful relationship that was prepared but not made canon.
They absolutely knew we exist and who we are, when they played David Bowie's "Heroes" during the credits. A song about forbidden love that society looks down on, which they didn't have the courage to actually portray. They gave lip-service to heroism, but weren't heroic themselves. Money walks and talks, and the Duffers SOLD OUT.
But no network corporate execs or the Duffer Brothers have the right or the ABILITY to dictate what WE do.
We will continue to live the lives we were destined to live, fictional shows be damned. If we can survive the dark ages of the 1980s, we can survive now. And we are fortunate to have shows with better queer representation than our forebears ever had. Besides, if Byler were canon, it would have been a fictional story after all. What would have mattered is what we'd have done with it after. BYLER LIVES. Byler lives in what WE DO. We'll still create fanfics; we'll fight for the millions of Mikes and Wills out there to be themselves and find love. And as far as I'm concerned, Will's moment at the end of Sorcerer is the canon conclusion of his coming-out arc -- not pleading for acceptance, but asserting his RIGHT TO LOVE. THAT is the fierceness of OUR COMMUNITY who has managed to win huge progress in a society where our love was once illegal and criminalized. We didn't need a Stranger Things when we rioted at Stonewall. We don't need a show to raise our fists and live OUR lives the way WE want to and WILL.
Take care of yourselves, everyone! And continue to EXPECT and DEMAND equality and respect! We are RIGHT to be angry!
