the biggest piece of criticism against s5 mike that i've seen this far is that he didn't care about his parents and his sister being in trouble. and that is such a crazy take to me.
did you guys not see this entire scene where mike is talking to holly about masking his emotions? did we not literally see him say, verbatim, that he's scared and hiding it to look strong?
tell me media literacy is low without telling me media literacy is low.
One big parallel between Will and Laura is the similarities between their tormentors: Henry and BOB. There are many connections between both characters, which is why I’ve separated it into its own post.
TW for discussions of child sexual abuse below
Originating from an alternate world called the Black Lodge, BOB is a vengeful spirit that feeds off of the pain and sorrow of others. BOB operates very similarly to how Henry used the Mind Flayer in seasons two and three, by possessing people and using them to commit horrific acts.
BOB, like Henry, is a bit like a hive mind. The people who have fallen victim to BOB live within The Red Room, similar to Henry's Mind Lair.
BOB sexually abuses Laura, haunts her nightmares and wishes to possess her or else he will kill her. In Fire Walk With Me, Laura says that BOB has been coming to her since she was twelve years old, which is the same age that Will was when he was taken by Henry. (Although, a line in The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer suggests that BOB may have been around her for awhile)
This post by @bylrndgm shows a visual similarity between BOB's stalking of Laura and Henry's stalking of Will (via Mind Flayer)
The human being that BOB had possessed in order torment her was Laura's own father, Leland.
Laura's mother, Sarah, was unaware of this nightly abuse, although part of this was because Sarah would be drugged at night by Leland. The show portrays Leland as more or less another victim of BOB, helpless in his situation, however FWWM frames Leland as having a lot more agency in his actions than was previously shown.
These posts here show similarities between Sarah and Joyce
This post I made shows the parallels between the scene where the kids trick and entrap a possessed Billy in ST3 and the scene where the police trick and entrap a possessed Leland in TP
The name similarity between Lonnie and Leland is pretty clear. As for Lonnie's sexual abuse of Will, it's much more discreet than how Leland/BOB's was shown. Instead of going into detail here I'm going to leave a couple of posts I already made here and here. Even aside from Lonnie's hinted abuse, sexual assault imagery between Henry and Will is still present and much more overt.
It's interesting the Bob we get in Stranger Things is not only correlated with Will's father but also with his possession. Bob takes up the role of Will's father figure in his life, and him trying to give fatherly advice to Will inadvertently led to his possession. Not only that, but Will's possession scene is intercut with shots of Bob. (Of course, Bob here is not evil unlike BOB)
So what does this all mean in terms of Will's arc in the show?
I already made a post before discussing my belief in Lonnie's larger part in Will's narrative. Now, I don't think that Lonnie's abuse of Will came from being possessed by Henry, he was definitely acting of his own volition. I do think, however, that there may be a similar reveal as to who the monster in Will's life really is.
In TP, the audience knows that BOB is Laura's killer for awhile. What the audience didn't know until much later, though, was that Leland was the one who was possessed by him and carried out the act of killing his own daughter.
The audience knows that Henry is the monster in Will's life. What they may not know about is the extent of Lonnie's abuse. Furthermore, Will himself may not even be aware of this. Laura knew that BOB had been abusing her, but she didn't know that it was her father until the events of FWWM.
This is related to the idea of Will's missing memories. These memories are likely tied to his father's abuse, as I said in the birthdaygate post I linked earlier. Will is going to have to confront these memories in some way. He probably believes that the only monster in his life is Henry and, like Laura, is going to learn the truth about his father.
Now, Henry is still the "big bad" of the show and his abuse of Will is still apparent, I once had someone think that I was trying to claim that Lonnie was the main antagonist of the show so I wanted to be clear on that. I do, however, still believe that Lonnie is definitely a major antagonist in Will's life and integral to the story.
There are always differences of course, these are two different stories with two different goals. BOB is a mysterious inhuman spirit who is purely evil, while Henry has human origins and his story is building to be much more complex than that. Will, fortunately, is also more likely to have a happier end than Laura. Instead of losing to the evil, he will overcome it.
Will Byers & Laura Palmer Pt. 1– Narative Parallels
I wanted to take the time to thoroughly examine the parallels between two of my favorite characters— Will Byers and Laura Palmer from Twin Peaks.
Will Byers in Stranger Things 2 and Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
I wanted to analyze the similarities between both characters to see if it would reveal anything about the potential of Will’s arc moving forward into season 5. Initially, I wanted this to be just one post, but after doing some exploring with @bylrndgm I realized that there is far too much to be condensed into one post, so this post is going to focus on their narrative parallels.
Now, I could not find any direct source that indicate the Duffers took direct inspiration from TP. I’ve found articles comparing the two shows as they are very similar, but from what I can tell that the Duffers have not confirmed that this was a source of inspiration. However, given the popularity of TP and it’s influential power it’s had over television, as well as further research into Laura’s character, I am convinced that Twin Peaks had to have been a direct influence. If this is true, I could see why the Duffers haven’t said anything, as it could potentially spoil parts of the show.
Everything beyond this point will contain heavy spoilers for Twin Peaks and Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
Narrative Function
Will and Laura share generally the same narrative function. In episode one of ST Will goes missing. In episode one of TP Laura’s body is found. The rest of season one (and part of season two in Laura’s case) is about finding out what happened to them. Despite not being physically there, they still carry large a presence. They are the driving factor behind the major mystery. “What happened to Will Byers?” and “Who killed Laura Palmer?” are the major questions that drive their respective plots forward. (further parallels between their death/dissapearance here)
Will’s “body” is also later found in water similar to how Laura’s body was found on a shore.
It’s revealed a bit later in TP that Laura’s soul is in an alternate dimension called The Black Lodge (also The Red Room), which is essentially TP’s version of the Upside Down (albeit with its own supernatural rules). Similar to Will, Laura finds a way to communicate with the other side when Agent Dale Cooper (who is investigating her murder) is able to contact her in his dreams.
Will communicating with Joyce through the lights and Laura communicating with Agent Cooper in the Black Lodge
Connection to Supernatural Entity
Both Laura and Will have a connection to a supernatural entity. In Twin Peaks, the big bad is revealed to be an evil spirit named Bob. Much like the Mindflayer/One, Bob needs a human host to carry out his evil deeds. Bob also acts as a hivemind of sorts, taking control over many people but still being connected to one spirit. I might make a seperate post going into the parallels between Bob and One, but for now I want to analyze what it means for Laura and Will’s stories.
Bob begins his torment of Laura in 1983 when she’s twelve, much like how Vecna began his torment of Will in 1983 when he was twelve. (Henry also kills his family when he is twelve, thank you @bylrndgm for pointing this out) Bob wanted to take hold of Laura’s body and use her as a host, similar to how the Mindflayer possessed Will and used him as a host. Both Will and Laura are able to fight through their possessions. However, shortly after this, Laura is killed by Bob.
Will and Laura yelling at the evil spirit trying to possess them
Shift of Perspective (FWWM and ST2)
While Will and Laura are both largely absent for their original series, they both get the main focus for the follow-up media, that being season 2 for Will and the feature film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me for Laura. ST2 follows Will a year after he had been taken to the Upside Down and FWWM follows Laura on the days leading up to her death.
Both Will and Laura follow a similar story here as well. Both of them are being haunted by a supernatural entity who wishes to take over their body. I’m gonna link a post that Elz made here for a visual parallel from both of these.
Both of them end similarly as well. In the end of ST2, Will is taken to a cabin where he is tied up as the Mind Flayer is exorcised out of him. At the end of FWWM, Laura Palmer goes to a cabin before she is tied up and taken to a train car where she meets her tragic end.
Other Parallels
Both Laura and Will are very giving and charitable— Laura works for Meals on Wheels and tutors for many of the townspeaple
Laura and Will’s mothers both begin to “see” things after the death/dissapearance of their child. However, they both are proven to be seeing the truth
Both their death and dissapearance were not discovered until the morning after it happened
Both Laura and Will were abused by their fathers
Both Laura and Will had companion books that were “secret diaries” of theirs— Will Byers: Secret Files and The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer
YOUR FANFICS GIVE ME LIFE TOO… U HAVE SUCH A WAY WITH VIVIDLY DESCRIBING CHARACTER EMOTIONS AND WHAT GETS THEM INTERESTED INTO SOMEONE. LIKE CHANCES REASONF RO GETTING INTO MIKE?? KEEP COOKING. STAY IN THE KITCHEN. IM GOING TO THROW YOU GOLD STARS WHILE YOU COOK THIS FIC.
Michance is literally so peak. I literally Cant get it out of my brain its SO peak and i hope the michance drought is over soon…. May this be the start of the renaissance of WheelChance/MiChance content.. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
omg i will literally kiss u rn dont even joke lad 😭 chances character in this came to me in a dream he practically wrote himself honestly ... i'd love to pick ur brain about them ...... i need to talk to more people about them im geeked
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