#narrative tag

[chamerionwrites]

"The ordinary response to atrocities is to banish them from consciousness. Certain violations of the social compact are too terrible to utter aloud: this is the meaning of the word unspeakable.

Atrocities, however, refuse to be buried. Equally as powerful as the desire to deny atrocities is the conviction that denial does not work. Folk wisdom is filled with ghosts who refuse to rest in their graves until their stories are told. Murder will out. Remembering and telling the truth about terrible events are prerequisites both for the restoration of the social order and for the healing of individual victims."

--Judith Herman, Trauma and Recovery

[hawkinsp0st]

i just rewatched “the piggyback” and oh. OH. !!!!!!!

i kept getting hung up on why, if mint chocolate chip isn’t endgame, they would have mike saying i love you to el before the most crucial battle of the episode?

but it just clicked for me.

they show us his monologue to show that it doesn’t help.

look at that image. does it look like mike’s confession saved the world?

the final half of the ep: it’s bleak. we’ve never seen stranger things this dark. there aren’t monsters hidden behind walls or in labs anymore. hawkins is cracking open. this battle is a true loss for eleven, in every sense of the word.

mike says i love you to el at the climax of the episode. and then? they lose. they don’t “almost” lose—they lose. max dies. eddie dies. people in hawkins die. eleven loses.

the way the episode is set up, mike’s monologue marks the start of the episode’s climax.

if this climactic monologue was meant to be a positive turning point, the “falling action” that comes next would be something hopeful—a good example of this is the falling action of cinderella, when the prince is testing glass slippers on all the ladies around the kingdom. hopeful + a resolution is promised soon.

so if mike’s confession were setting up a win and a happy ending, we would’ve seen a victorious battle after that.

but this was no happy ending.

mike “confesses”, the battle takes place, and then the most heartbreaking sequence takes place in the falling action.

may i present to you the outcome of the battle that started with mike saying i love you: max dies. lucas and el are grieving her. hawkins splits wide open.

mike says “i love you”, and then they show us how his inauthentic confession was not enough. his love was not what the heroes needed in that moment, bc it isn’t true love.

they even give us an example immediately after of how love is enough to win, when it’s real. eleven gains strength through her love for max to bring her back to life. eleven’s love for max is why the gang has any hope at all right now. so yes, the show has proven that love can do it.

but mike’s monologue—pointedly—did not allow our heroes this victory.

tldr; the “you’re my superhero” monologue serves the same narrative purpose as the dead mario lopez flowers, and you can’t tell me otherwise.

[mlchaelwheeler]

once again, i'd like to point out that stranger things is a tv show. the characters are not real. why is this important? all scenes and narratives are written a specific way, they don't just happen by themselves. for example, this means:

in 1x03, the writers chose to emphasize mike's reaction to will's "body" being found in comparison to lucas and dustin's reactions. they easily could've shown all three of the boys' reactions, but instead mike was the focus and got multiple scenes of his shock and anger over will's "body" being found.

in 1x04, the writers chose to focus on mike being depressed over will's death. they didn't do this for dustin or lucas, even though all four of the boys are introduced as a group at the beginning of the season.

in 1x04, the writers chose to have mike shove troy in the gym for making homophobic comments about will. any one of the boys could've taken offense to that, but instead, mike is the focus while lucas and dustin stand off to the side.

in 1x04, the writers chose mike to be the one who recognized will's voice over the radio. they could've easily had the entire party there for that scene, but instead it was just mike who immediately knew will's voice.

in 2x01, the writers chose mike as the one to follow will out of the arcade and bring him back inside. it could've been any of the party members, but instead mike was singled out as having noticed will disappeared.

in 2x02, the writers chose to have mike be the one to comfort will after his "episode," even though the whole party is trick-or-treating together. it could've easily been written as group bonding where will tells everyone about his visions, but instead the writers gave us the crazy together scene.

in 2x03, the writers chose to focus on mike at school when will is acting weird. it was specifically chosen that mike was the only one to notice will was "quiet today" and that it was weird he missed class, while the rest of the party didn't notice anything was wrong.

in 2x08, the writers chose to have mike be in the shed with the rest of will's family. there could've been a cute scene of the whole party trying to reach will with stories of their dnd campaigns, but instead mike is the only non-family member present (not counting hopper because he didn't share any memories).

in 3x01, the writers chose to make the movie theater full enough that mike/will and lucas/max couldn't all sit together. this was directly after lucas implied going to the movies was the equivalent of "spending romantic time" together.

in 3x03, the writers chose to have mike and will get into an argument at the wheeler's house, even though lucas was also there. lucas didn't just happen to stay behind in the basement. it was a clear choice that mike and will got into a fight, just the two of them.

in 3x08, the writers chose to give will and mike an individual goodbye scene, even though the only other individual scenes were jancy and mlvn (two couples). there could've been a scene of the whole party saying goodbye but instead the writers specifically had a (flirty) goodbye scene between mike and will, directly contrasting the (extremely) awkward mlvn goodbye.

in 4x09, the writers chose to give mike and will another heart-to-heart in hopper's cabin right at the end of the season. will could've easily told everyone there that he still knows vecna is alive (this is probably what should've happened honestly), but instead only told mike-- when el was right there! the clear choice to give them a special talk right at the end of the season was very telling.

[mysteriousgap]

you steal the protagonist spot bc you know how to make the story like you. and you get so much power but you also feel like a miserable liar and you’re also so so trapped

[hawkinsp0st]

holy shit, this post just made something click for me.

both will and mike’s arcs have revolved around being separated from each other again and again and again.

every season they’re torn apart in some way, and one of them is desperately trying to get the other back—s1 physically, s2 spiritually, s3 emotionally, and again in s4 by physical distance…

yeah, their arcs are woven together and it went totally over my head. their happy ending is each other. it’s written this way.

[hawkinsp0st]

i believe s5 will see our characters have everything returned to them that was taken from them in (or before) s1.

hopper will have a wife and a daughter again. lucas will have the love of his life, max mayfield, come back to him when she’s freed from vecna. dustin will avenge eddie’s—and by extension all outcasts’—name. joyce will have a healthy family and a loving husband. nancy will be free of societal expectations. jonathan will be able to live his life without the obligation to constantly worry over his mom & brother. steve will find that he’s already got the family he wanted, and robin will have a beautiful girl to share her truest self with. el will have a real family, a real mother and father, which was stolen from her as a newborn.

and mike wheeler will get back will byers, the one who’s never fully come back to him since he was taken by the demogorgon—the best boy that’s ever happened to him, who was taken from him by forces of evil and repression on a fateful november night.

and will byers? he’s going to be returned to the arms of mike wheeler, his knight in shining armor, the boy he couldn’t lie to, the boy who has been destined to love him unconditionally, for the rest of his life, since the moment they met.

[hawkinsp0st]

i can’t nail down a specific theory or pattern here, but hear me out:

i find it really interesting that vecna seems to strike at times when will, specifically, is suffering or in his feelings bc of his love for mike. double date with lumax that mike was late to bc he was kissing el? will feels vecna. el and mike ditch the rest of the group when they’re on their way to talk to suzie? will feels vecna. it’s not my fault you don’t like girls? they don’t even get time to make up bc “he’s back,” vecna deadass comes back during will’s breakdown, destroying castle byers. in the closet (at rink o mania)? vecna kills fred. will hears mike say ily to el? vecna kills max. like, pretty much at that exact moment.

(chrissy and patrick’s deaths seem to be the only exceptions to this in s3/4, but i believe that’s just bc these 2 deaths are meant to correlate emotionally with el and help us focus on el’s story. chrissy is killed on the day el is humiliated by angela. patrick dies when el is in NINA with blood on her hands thinking she killed everybody, almost dying of a heart attack.)

i also noticed that when things are really good between mike and will, that’s when vecna loses. s1, mike is fighting for will like hell and they save him from the upside down. mike & will are closer than ever in s2 and the byers are able to exorcise the MF from will (with mike’s help the whole season). byler makes up and has that cute flirty moment at the end of s3 and then we have a whole vecna-free year for our gang lmao. 4x4 they have that incredibly flirty “it’s not the same without you” scene, and then max is able to escape from vecna. 4x8 we have the painting/van scene where mike and will start to rebuild emotional intimacy and throw heart eyes at each other, and our heroes are in an excellent spot that whole episode. it’s almost as if, as they get closer to each other, they’re weakening him.

(i might not be onto anything here and it could just be the rhythm of the story………but……..)

[mlchaelwheeler]

people always say "what about will?" "what about mike?" let's talk about el for a moment.

el who was trapped in a lab and told what to do for the first twelve years of her life. who was told her powers were all she was good for. then she finds a group of friends who seem to love her for her, and mike, who is soft and careful with her. he kisses her, she likes it, and she saves him.

a year goes by and she can't see him, but she watches. she checks in. she makes sure he's safe. she passes the time by watching romance tv, learning what it means to really love someone. she really thinks she loves mike. but she still needs answers, about who she is, about who her family is. she seeks out mama. aunt becky. kali. she finds her sister, learns more about her powers, and saves her friends.

she spends half a year with mike, in hop's cabin. they kiss, they don't really talk, but that's ok. el doesn't want to relive her trauma just yet. but something doesn't feel right. she feels trapped. max opens her eyes to a whole new world of possibilities. el can like whatever she wants! and when she dumps mike, it feels right. she can finally have fun and do things she enjoys. sure, she misses him, but as a friend. her fun is cut short by another battle. suddenly she's lost everything. hopper, her powers, her home. so she clings to the one thing that reminds her of happier times. mike.

el moves and finds a new family, but continues to hope. to dream. if only she can see mike again, maybe it can be like it was before. when she was safe, loved, and happy. but when she sees mike for the first time in nearly a year, it's not what she wanted. he's not really there. he seems interested, but everything is surface level. so she snaps. suddenly, she is offered a way back to her old life. her powers. maybe then she can fix things, bring them back to how they were.

it's not enough. she reunites with mike, with her brothers, but her friends are still in danger. el is the only one who can save them. mike tells her he loves her, but it's not how she wants to be loved. it's fake. she can hear will urging him to confess in the background. it distracts her and in a moment, max is gone. slipping through her fingers and away into the dark. so el hides herself away. she doesn't need mike anymore. she needs her friends, her happiness, max. she's not letting her go, she's not letting henry win. she is getting max back. and she's finding herself in the process.