I recently became inspired by Byler analysts on Tumblr, such as; @teambyler, and many others... I just wanna post content related to my passions.
Long post ahead... I know that the people who need to read this won't because it challenges the curtain they hide behind all the time, and they refuse to hear about other perspectives. I just needed to get this off my chest...
If you are a Byler fan, then feel free to read this and tell me about anything I missed because I wrote as much as I could recall.
If you are a Mileven fan who is open-minded and willing to see from our perspective, then you are more than welcome to read my post.
Mileven .VS. Byler Love Triangle:
Stranger Things Season 5 might finally resolve the emotional tension between these 3 characters. Depending on who you ship, this could be heartbreaking or liberating.
It is a given that Wills' feelings for Mike are gonna be addressed. Season 4's van scene hints strongly to this point. We all know by now that Noah Schnapp, the actor for Will, confirmed his character is gay and in love with Mike. S5 could give Will a moment of emotional honesty, leading to a confession or confrontation.
Meanwhile, Mike's inner turmoil, his realization that his feelings for Will could go deeper than friendship. Maybe even him questioning his relationship with El (Something we have already seen) could be a major turning point for his arc...
While Mileven have had their sweet moments, their relationship had begun to show cracks right from Season 3. S5 could shift their bond back to a platonic one like what we saw in Season 1, especially if El senses Mike's emotional distance. This WOULD NOT diminish their importance to one another – just redefine it.
This love triangle isn't just about romance and ship wars in the fandom. It's about identity, emotional truth, and growth. Whether Byler is endgame or not (I believe that it will be), Season 5 will surely explore these relationships with more depth than ever before. Even with all of the supernatural plot, I believe that the Duffers are good writers who are able to shape characters' arcs, dynamics, and relationships even with all the other stuff going on. So don't give me that 'They won't have time for relationships this season' bs.
Now, there are people out there who give reasons as to why Byler shouldn't or won't happen in Season 5. This ranges from:
"Bylers are just over analyzing things."
"Mileven has been building up for 4 seasons."
"Mike even confessed his love for her in his monologue. It wouldn't make sense to break them up."
"There are no romantic scenes between Mike and Will."
"Will can find another guy."
"Byler is not good gay representation"
"They are queerbaiting (referring to the recent promo for S5)."
"El will be heartbroken."
"Stranger Things would become woke."
"ST already has one queer couple (Robin and Vickie in S5). Why do you need another one that will break up the 'main' straight relationship of the show."
These are some common ones I've seen, and there are more out there. First of all, many of these arguments can easily be debunked if you use more than one braincell and actually try and be more open-minded and look slightly beneath the surface. I will be using a lot of well-known observations and points made by the Byler community to debunk these arguments.
Often, people who view Stranger Things superficially or through a close-minded perspective make these arguments, and it makes me want to throw a block of cheese at them.
I just read an argument from a YouTube videos' comment section, and the person against Byler mentioned a lot of the above arguments.
If you think that analyzing scenes and finding symbolisms in the show is dumb, even though we know that the Duffer Brothers put meticulous amounts of thought into everything, then I am afraid you are incapable of reading between the lines and require everything to be spoon fed and explained to you to help you interpret the story.
Mike and El's romantic relationship had gone downhill from Season 3. Yes, they were constantly kissing, but it was shown to be annoying and unhealthy by multiple characters, namely Hopper. In contrast, Lumax don't need to be physically intimate for us to understand that they are in love. It doesn't take a genius to understand that. Mileven is referred to as bullshit by a lot of people (similar to Stancy), and no, it's not just because they're kissing, its the constant nature of it and the impact it has on both of them. Mike and El don't really have much in common, and they don't hang out together outside of making out. The showrunners and cast often compare their relationship to ET and Elliot. In Season 3, Max comes in to help El understand that she is her own person and she doesn't need boys to feel better about herself (that is why Elmax's friendship is so important to me). Max reminded El of her individuality and showed that she and Mike were neglecting their friends and bringing out the worst in each other, which is not a sign of a healthy relationship.
Mike's "confession" had some parts in it that were truthful, but many parts were inconsistent and straight-up lies. His speech only came about through Wills' encouragement. Mike's speech was NOT the main thing that pushed El to fight. It was Max, too. She was devastated in that scene, and her expressions were not caused by the vines choking her because we see she is able to smile in that scene where Mike recalled how small she looked in the Benny's Burger t-shirt. She knew Mike was lying. His monologue did not "save Hawkins," like some people think. If Mike needed Wills' words to express his own supposed love for El, then think hard about whether someone like Lucas or Hopper would require encouragement to confess their love to save Max and Joyce if they were on the verge of death? The answer is no, they wouldn't because their feelings are written to be genuine and not forced like Mileven
Again, if your interpretation of romance is unhealthy amounts of makeout sessions, pulling away from friends, inaccurate love monologues, and constant miscommunication, I can see why many people fail to see the clear romantic tension between Mike and Will, particularly in Season 4 and Season 2 (the veiled love confession in the van, Mike expressing that Hawkins is not the same without Will specifically and just the whole bedroom heart to heart, Mike talking about the first time they met and that, asking Will to be his friend was the best thing he had ever done, Will's longing glances and the list goes on...) Mike and Will have so many moments of honesty, proper communication, and mutual understanding of each other even though we do see them fight in Season 3 and 4, and their fights are VERY different and more nuanced and they actually get resolved quickly. Mike is easily able to apologize to Will, and they both treat each other differently to the rest of the party cue Mike's "Will Voice"TM
Byler is already half canon. Will is IN LOVE with Mike. It's not just a crush, and they could have easily given Will a new love interest in Season 4 but they didn't (this relates to the argument of 'Will could find another guy' and no, he is not gonna end up with a Random Epilogue Boyfriend) They are emphasizing problems with Mileven while keeping Mike's true feelings unknown.
Two boys from the 80's when homophobia was at its peak. Byler is a great representation of being gay in that time period. Stranger Things is subtle in its execution of queer characters. They aren't loud about it because they CAN'T be loud in that era. Queer representation does not have to be in your face and presented according to what your standards of gay representation are. Representation is representation as long as it's not offensive or heavy on stereotypes.
This has been repeated constantly, but... Writers. Don't. Write. Slow-burn. Rejections. The Duffers are fairly progressive and wrote a show about the outcasts of society getting to be the heroes, and that includes queer people like Will and Robin (Mike and Vickie *implied* so far) so I am fairly confident that they are not as cruel as to queerbait the audience knowing the impact their show has on the fans.
Did ya'll forget how happy El was after dumping Mike's ass. She felt liberated. Literally, all that needs to happen is for Mike and El to have an open and honest conversation as they both realize that they are NOT what the other needs them to be for their relationship to work. They both feel insecure in their relationship. So no, I don't think El will be sad after understanding the truth. They both do care about each other very much, and they will see how much healthier they are when platonic. Also, El and Will are siblings, and they love each other too (I love them as siblings 💗). I will not stand people who claim that Will and El would hate each other cause they both like Mike. Don't forget, Will literally was the person using his own feelings to desperately try and save the sinking ship that is Mike and El's relationship. If the Duffers do a good job, Byler can be a great plot twist that is accepted by El and everything's works out in the end.
This argument is so stupid istg... If you think the inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters and couples in fictional stories is "woke," then this show is not for you, sweetie... there are plenty of "non-woke" shows out there that cater to your homophobia and conservative state of mind. Stranger Things is not one of these shows, so stop acting like progressive shows (like ST) that actually represent minorities in a respectful and layered way while not being afraid of showing different sections of society that aren't all catered to straight, cis, white and conservative audiences are all going "woke" cause they happened to include queer representation.
This slightly relates to my points above, but I genuinely do not understand why people think these arguments are valid for justifying their obvious homophobia. Stranger Things already has a deluge of straight couples in the forefront, such as Joyce/Hopper, Lucas/Max, Dustin/Suzie, Nancy/Jonathan, all the parents, even the f**king background couples are straight. Stop acting like two queer couples, Byler and Rovickie, and the breakup of the clearly unhealthy straight relationship suddenly means that the ABUNDANCE of straight couples has suddenly disappeared into thin air and that now there are 'too many gay characters'. Just admit you don't wanna see ANY gay couples in your perfectly normal, straight-catering, supernatural show.
All of the arguments against Byler showcase the lack of media literacy in those who oppose the possibility of these two being endgame. It's perfectly ok to prefer one ship over another. That's what fandoms are about. However, the arguments against Byler are not good enough to prove why "Byler can't happen."
EDIT: Maybe I will make a part 2 of debunking the arguments against Byler because I discovered ALOT MORE, and this post is already too long...
💙💛
