Gay rant real quick
SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY FOR BOTH STRANGER THINGS AND HEATED RIVALRY
I think just the dichotomy of the two coming out scenes presented to us tonight really speaks volumes on writing and marketing audience as well.
The Duffer Brothers cannot write gay people. Robin and Vicki's relationship is just like putting the frame of a house up and telling someone to move in. It's sneaky in the way that it's sneaky to date someone when your parents tell you no dating until college. They also did not write Robin's character well overall. This nerfing is seen as what I think is a result from exhaustion and need for something new that isn't ANOTHER new character.
Will's coming out scene? TERRIBLE. It was clearly written by a straight person. I am not here to drag Stranger Things. The writing I feel actually improved with this release compared to the Thanksgiving one. But the coming out scene? That is not how anyone comes out to people. Let alone in the 80s RIGHT AFTER THE AIDS CRISIS STARTS BECOMING SOMETHING MORE WELL KNOWN. I'm all for historical rewrites, but when you have the Cold War as one of your main points and your gay character is central to the story, there will be a littleore apprehension when it comes to coming out as gay in front of some people you haven't even talked to.
And Heated Rivalry? That shit hit home. Hard. I cried about five different times. The difference between these two franchises is that Heated Rivalry cares about it's gay characters because they are people who grew up in a world that cares about authenticity. Stranger Things is not about gay people, and it wanted to be politically correct and uncancellable instead of writing something actually meaningful, even if it is shorter. Even with the same outcome of Byler not becoming canon, there are a million different routes that would have been more impactful and also not super out of place like how that coming out scene was.
Heated rivalry is for people who care about queer stories and Stranger Things was written keeping in mind that "the gays don't want to be queerbaited again ๐ญ"
