lookingatyourlips

feral for byler 💙🌈❤️‍🔥💛

[lookingatyourlips]

To those who really believed Byler Endgame (like me) pls read this ily

i broke down sobbing at midnight alone while standing in my yard surrounded by explosions and the thought that came to mind was... this world was not made for people like me, and theres something beautiful about that.

y'know.. in the most tragic, unsettling, fucked up way.

the thing i told myself before watching the finale was that no matter what happened, aaaaaaall of the magic i felt in that moment........... all the hope, all of what we've done here..... it was all us. i created that magic that i was feeling, and i can create it again. (i know.. magic is kind of a sore spot rn)

what i've settled into the most through this is how desperately the world needs people like us.

i mean jesus Wills line "how obvious?".. how obvious is it how badly they want to tear us down, ruin our holidays, make us believe we'll never be happy, milk us of every last drop of hope until the last frame. LITERALLY they're doing what vecna did. using our fear and hopelessness to fuel their own vision of how they want the world to be. that's the only way their vision works, is if we succumb to despair.

the repercussions of this outcome are so real, and thats the point.

please PLEASE, as we work on processing this shit ass timeline, know that you are the magic that this god forsaken world needs more than ANYTHING. you are so valuable and such a light in this world and so powerful that billions of dollars are spent on trying to make you forget that.

i'm full heartedly concerned about the people in this fandom and i need it to be so clear that the ending of this show does NOT dictate the outcome for you and your life, and what we watched is propaganda. please think on that until it reaches your soul. there is other propaganda in the show, but how byler ended is specifically aimed at knocking queer people down. it was all so very intentional.

YOU are pure magic, i cherish you, and i'm proud to be queer today. dont you dare let some incel white dudes steal your inner sparkle and sunshine and rainbows and everything thats worth a damn in this world.

[lookingatyourlips]

did they parallel mike/bob w the vampire teeth to imply that mike is wills bob 😐

[lookingatyourlips]

forcing myself to listen to purple rain until my brain overrides the memory of hearing it to the worst on-screen kiss i've ever had the misfortune to witness on THE BIG SCREEN at that.

[mementolittlestar]

They really had El say "I do not fit in anywhere" and Will say "I'm not gonna fall in love" and went with it like they were blueprints to stick by instead of a misbelief that is meant to be disproved as part of their character growth and overall message of the story. Like wdym you presented two characters that have this deeply ingrained internal struggle revolving around their identity and decided to PROVE THEM RIGHT LMFAOOO

[karust]

What's his problem

[lookingatyourlips]

a sad thing about mikes ending being that he chose conformity & to hide from himself and thus be miserable, is that seeing that particular story COULD at least show people (yes even straight people) what happens when you dont accept who you really are and decide to not deal with the difficulties that come with being authentic. BUT THAT'D REQUIRE MAKING IT CLEAR TO THE AUDIENCE THAT HE IS IN FACT GAY AND DOING EVERYTHING HE CAN TO RUN FROM IT.

like not being able to genuinely say i love you to your girlfriend? straight people go through that ALL the time and ruin their lives by getting married to someone they're not actually in love with. they could have played up mikes ending to be even more depressing and it'd at least give people a glaring anti-role model to bring introspection about ones own choices. but they 100% made sure thats not what the story was for.

just absolutely no moral to the story of what was previously a deeply profound, moving tale of the power of love and overcoming the demons in your head.

[peanutbutterbopper]

The reason ppl bring up Ross Duffer’s divorce is because his ex wife was ghost writing for him. And once they got divorced, Stranger Things suddenly went to shit.

Leigh Janiak is a film director and screenwriter. She has done a lot for LGBT+ representation in her films. Go support her work instead of the Suffer Bros

[miwiheroes]

this is what ross duffer's ex wife had to say about queer representation in tv shows btw, like tell us all the tea im begging

[lookingatyourlips]

and if i say i would have preferred the tower scene to not exist?? strongly preferred???

[georgeodowd]

So the show is about breaking free of forced conformity, but…

Mike ends up sad and alone, living in his parents house, looking like his dad

Both Max and Robin end up leaning hard into stereotypically feminine looks at the end after spending the entire show being more masc/androgynous in their presentation, reinforcing the idea that women only grow up by appealing to the male gaze

Will is only able to be himself far away from home in loud gay bars, the only place straight people think queers can go to find company, when he is a sensitive, traumatised kid with an abusive, alcoholic father

Only straight couples get a romantic ending

The only main character death was a woman, who spent the entire show having her autonomy ripped from her over and over again. The only supporting character death was a woman of colour, whose death served no purpose to the plot whatsoever

Before dying, El is told she'll have children of her own without ever questioning whether that's something she wants - a dark echo of all the pregnant women in the lab (who also, ostensibly, die in the end or don't matter enough to have any resolution)

Everyone else just follows very traditional paths of college/work, with the exception of Jonathan, who is making a movie that's framed as an attack on capitalism so absurd it's a joke at its own expense

What else am I missing?

[mikewheelerisaboyliker]

suffer brothers i will NEVER fucking forgive you for turning my highly-relatable comfort character from my decade long hyperfixation comfort show into the very nightmare of forced conformity us outcasts are trying to escape from.

[lookingatyourlips]

me trying to find a way to grow from the experience of my comfort character turning into someone who revolts me

[thewisewill80sbyers]

I've said it before and I'll say it again I am in fact heterophobic, most of you ARE demons

[lookingatyourlips]

i hope frank darabont hated the ending and regrets coming out of retirement to direct for a show that ripped its own heart out, after he said he came out of retirement to do it specifically because of how much heart the show has and how no one else was writing about important and daring things like that.

i may never know and im not about to assume anything positive out of an older white guy again this soon, but god i hope he was disappointed.

[multifandom-madne55]

I have never felt more connected to you all or my mutuals than I have in the past 24 hours. We’re going to be okay and I’m glad we’re all able to go through this together.

[eeriesilkworm]

No, there is no secret ending. Yes, the weird fourth wall breaking and Truman references are still intentional.

The point is, Mike Wheeler the storyteller is unhappy with his ending, and that's why he's a storyteller. He'd rather write fiction than live his reality. He is the narrator of this story, and always has been. He has little to no interiority because he's not supposed to be a character in this story. He's just there. Will and Jane are the main characters.

The show always used recurring door imagery and metaphor, and we are told quite explicitly which doors Jane, Mike, and Will chose in the end. Jane chose the first (death), Mike chose the second (acceptance of fate), and Will chose the third (escape).

Jane represents childhood magic apparently, and although I feel her character was done injustice, I can dig a character being tied to an allegorical concept. So really, that means Jane was an allegory in Mike's story. Perhaps representing childhood wonder, first loves, and innocence? Therefore her death signifies the loss of childhood, and even the death of love itself.

Mike imagines an ending where She (magic, wonder, love) lives on. She's free but she's also isolated. On her own like that, it's not so different to being kept in Mike's basement or Hopper's cabin. Mike must associate something very shameful to these concepts, otherwise he wouldn't constantly hide her away in his story, despite loving her so much.

Still, he wants to believe in this alternative ending where Jane, who is love, and innocence, and magic, lives on in relative peace. He implies that simply believing it can make it true. Will believes too. They share a meaningful look before being interrupted by an opened door, and it's their last ever interaction on-screen.

No, there is no secret ending. There are many endings, and it's just that we've only been shown one of them. The bittersweet one. Mike killed magic, first love, and childhood wonder. Then he gave Will the good ending. Mike thinks the good ending is having Will no longer love him, and sending him far away from him.

Finally, he chose the second door. This means he didn't write the ending he wanted, but the ending he felt he deserved. He will never tell the true story of the mage. As in, he will never clarify what Jane actually represented, and what her death truly meant to him.

[lookingatyourlips]

my fellow queers and allies in mourning, please dont isolate rn. do what you can to get out of your home, outta your bed. leave dipshit duffers in 2025 the best you can, create your own magic, cry when you feel it bubble up, feel it, express it, dont be like mike wheeler. make some art, go confess something to someone, be honest with those around you even when its hard, write down whats inside of you right now. turn it into something that makes this world a softer place.

thinking of you all ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 wish we could cry together & hug it out