#st set design

[itswhatyougive]

Time to be bold, Mike Wheeler!!!

[jonathanbyersphd]

Fuck it, I'm gonna yap about his room in s4 because I love it so much

To start, His nightstand! New and improved. New objects include: Painting of trees (done by Will maybe?), random Hair brush, green candle like object replaces big ass candle, trinket tray where he's keeping dental floss? First photo of Nancy (be still my heart he wants to look at her first thing in the morning), Can of shaving cream? Deoderant in the bottom left corner? NEW LAMP. Wooden Mushrooms (Cottage Core Era or Made in woodshop class), the Yellow Mug returns but this time housing a comb, The wooden box is also new but I'm pretty sure those are his photography books underneath (Don't think about it). Idk why he has so much bathroom stuff on this nightstand questionable.

More under the cut because it's a long post)

Moving on to the other side of the bed, the tapesty is upside down (to signal that his life is upside down bc he doesn't know who he is now that he doesn't have to take care of Will) the sheets are also new. The nightstand oh boy so much happening here, Random Tall rock trinket, orange trinket on a gold pedestal that looks like it's made out of porcelain (why does an 18yo boy have this?), what could be magazines on the far right side under the lamp, small gray book? journal? diary? case? a pen, a tool and most incriminating a bottle of lotion. (Insert Argyle Comment here)

ANYWAYS, turning around the room we can see that his sheets from s1 have become his new "curtain" although unlike the og Byers house the CA house actually has blinds. Notable new additions from this angle include: Paris poster (so very very important to me), photo of random cyclinders on the beach, likely the underside of a pier (Nancy has a similar photo on her nightstand in s4), lava lamp, and smiley face light.

The last two you can see much better when Joyce & Murray go in his room. Also Bong (Joyce pretends she does not see)

Murray & Joyce also give us the best shot of this angle of the room overall. (sidenote: wow you can tell that's Jonathan's mom from this angle alright). He's got a new green chair in the corner, the silver lamp is pretty new as well, above joyce's head there's another bottle of lotion or possibly cleaner, next to a new small yellow lamp, There's the photo (?) is above the turntable which is also in s3 that I can't make out but it's his only framed photo (much to consider), he's moved the cassette storage out of the entertainment cabinet to ontop of it, and I think that's new equipment above the vinyls (RIP PEACH CRATE), also an orange circle case on top of the cassette decks. He's traded his old green clothes chair for this white one, not one but two new crochet blankets. Another smaller poster of what looks like a statue in a forrest (we love when environmental storytelling informs us character wants to see the world even though he says he needs to stay at home for his mom and his brother) and a tall skinny candle in a candle holder (... he is actually a sad victorian child)

Continuing on, Will playing stressball offers us this angle which is mostly just even more posters: Random black and white house photo, photo of a lake mountain trees and a rainbow right behind Mike (which could mean nothing), the ocean and some leaves. Again places to be that aren't California. (could a depressed person make this)

This shot, gets us a much clearer view on the nightstand which has been tidied. ("Part of me expected her to be on that plane or something just like hey surprise") And the bottle of cologne from s3 is back. Further you can make out the intercom (present in El's room too) and thermostat, and the much more surferesque/endless summer palm tree painting above the Forrest

At his desk (goldmine of the blorbo archaeology dig tbh) There's another photo of what's likely a pier but this one is framed, a gray vase, a stack of several manilla envelopes (OH BOY THE IMPLICATIONS) , box with an MXR sticker on it that looks to be holding some bottles (chemicals for photography maybe?).

Moving on to the actual desk itself, there's the two black boxes which almost look like catalog cards (storage for old film strips?), above that another wooden box (why does he have so many?) and there on the right hand side is his camera. Another questionable brown bottle with XXX, the slanted books look like they're volumed editions but I can't make out the titles, and his little wicker basket.

Zooming out, we can see a new bulletin board with plenty of ephemera also Hello again Nancy. Other than Nancy, there appears to be a couple concert/show tickets, on the left of her there's a poster that I can't make out the text for but looks band + Space related. and above that is a small square photograph. There's also a gold sailing ship, and a image in a larger photo surronded in black (part of his speacial effects photography possibly ?)

To finish us out, above Mike's head there's another poster on a green background, behind the closet door on the right there's an acoustic guitar and a metal trashcan with a horse on it.

Thank you for coming along on this archaeological dig of Jonathan's room. I hope you had fun. Do you think Netflix knows how much I'd pay for a set design book?

[byler-alarmist]

The thing is. They didn't have to make Nancy's music box the colors of the lesbian flag. They didn't need to make the music box that Robin so excitedly uncovered have a triangle mirror with a pink interior. In fact, it doesn't even make sense for the mirror to be triangular, since that gives the user the least area of visibility. But no, they needed to have pink triangle imagery and that specific color palette. For Robin to discover and present to us.

[runninguplenorahills]

Mike’s bulletin board- garbage pail kids cards

I’m not sure if anyone has found this out before but I did some research on popular 80s toys and stumbled upon the garbage pail kids cards which I’m certain are these cards on Mike’s bulletin board. And the crazy thing is that (almost) all of the garbage pail kids whose cards Mike owns share their names with characters from Stranger Things:

Mad Max

Mad Max who is taking their brain out of their own head, just like our Max who suffers from some kind of supernatural brain death because her mind has been taken by Vecna! Her mind is not where it’s supposed to be, it’s been taken out of her head.

Evil Eddie

Evil Eddie who is a vampire about to bite a Barbie doll, kinda like our Eddie who got framed for the murder of Chrissy, killed by demobats and is deemed evil by basically everyone in Hawkins.

Live Mike

Live Mike who is getting electrocuted……. whatever the fuck that’s supposed to mean💀 I feel like this might be a dig on “Love Mike” but I’m really not sure. Maybe some of you guys have some smart thoughts on this??

Heavin’ Steven

So this is the last one and the kid is called heavin’ steven which could be about Steve?? But I’m really unsure about this!! Maybe some of y’all also have some more smart thoughts in this here.

[aemiron-main]

a message to the “the set design isn’t that deep” truthers

so yeah. maybe try considering that there’s brilliant people who are passionate and skilled at their jobs. just a thought. the painting not only shows a topic that connects to other scenes and shows it in a way that connects to other scenes but was custom made to do so AND to tell us things about the creel family and their home and their dynamic and how the decor reflects this.

here’s the link to the full article!

[bylerschmyler]

What the actual f.....

[there-was-a-hole-here-itsgonenow]

MEAT above Melvin

@howtobecomeadragon and I have been exchanging a variety of ideas about what this sign could mean and we reached some interesting analyses!

This is such an intriguing shot because of that word alone. It’s directly, perfectly centered above Mike and El—perfectly centered in-frame (with the ‘S’ cut off) too. It’s a purposeful shot.

Obviously there’s the flesh monster as a present, looming threat that can be correlated here, but the monster itself isn’t a literal threat that poses to meaningfully separate Mike and El. It’s not like the shot of the very obvious #1 hanging right above (in-between if you imagine a frontal shot) Will and Mike specifically, in the same episode no less.

From this shot, I gather that One aims to get between and separate Will and Mike for his own purposes. Mike is constantly involved with thwarting One’s plans throughout the series, a big one being Mike’s interference with Will’s possession. Will opened up to Mike about feeling the Mind Flayer, and Mike said ‘maybe that’s good’ because Will was like a super spy. Mike later knew Will needed to be sedated when he was possessed because Will had able to open up to him previously. It was also Mike’s “it was the best thing I’ve ever done” monologue that got Will to break through enough to communicate via Morse code. All this to say that these interferences highlight the problem for One: Mike’s bond with Will. Henry is aware of Mike’s power in this bond, and so this analysis of the above shot holds weight.

But then there’s MEAT. Dragon mentioned that Mike and El could’ve been placed in an area where there’s health/nursing/pharmaceutical significance to represent taking care of their relationship, but we don’t get that. And unlike the #1 sign that points toward an outside force wanting to separate Will and Mike for a Henry-specific purpose, we can’t grab a similar analysis from MEAT/ the flesh monster. What can be understood is that Melvin’s relationship is compromised by themselves; Mike especially when breaking down what is about to happen after we see MEAT. One conclusion howtobecomeadragon and I came to is the concept of butchering/spilling blood in the way meat is prepared. It’s a messy, bloody process. ‘Butchering,’ by definition as an alternate description, can mean to spoil something completely by performing or dealing with a situation very badly.

Cue Mike. Howtobecomeadragon describes Mike as having ‘butchered’ not only his apology to El but also his messy attempt to say “I love you” to El. And of course, we have this very telling choice phrase from Mike (along with “Dustin, you’re breaking up”):

Mike and El have been going way too fast in their relationship and aren’t taking the time to understand each other (El is perfectly in-shot by Mike’s head when he says this, emphasizing that point). This truth is further emphasized by this next shot howtobecomeadragon pointed out to me:

A divider is between El and Mike, revealing a divide. The divider itself is not set perfectly between them either, once again depicting how El and Mike are not on the same page. Mike is placed further away from the divider, indicating he is not anywhere near resolving his issue. El is placed near the divider, and, though she isn’t on the same page as Mike, being close to the divider is indicative of her trying to listen/understand. Overall, it’s easy to notice the very clear divide within the divide represented here.

So Mike is butchering his words to El, dealing with their situation badly and even ‘performing’ the role of a boyfriend badly to his girlfriend. Of course, this goes deeper then just being a bad boyfriend. Pair the action of butchering with ‘spilling blood,’ a requirement when cutting meat. Blood is our force of life and, as such, contains our essence. Our essence is within the core of our beliefs, personality, and sense of identity: all that encompasses you. If you know the phrase “it’s in my blood,” this is part of your essence. It means you simply are the way you are/ are born the way you are.

Once again, cue Mike. It is my belief that because Mike says “blank makes you crazy” to El in this scene, Will is automatically bound to this scene due to “crazy” being a word in ST used synonymously with “love.” We know “love makes you crazy.” We know “Crazy together.” We know many examples. It should be clear that “blank makes you crazy,” and Mike’s inability to say “love” himself here, is all you need to understand that love for him is found naturally with Will but not with El. Regardless of your stance on Mike’s sexuality, the fact that Mike can be in love with and attracted to Will/to men is part of what makes Mike… Mike (“born this way”). Tie this with the spilling of blood—the spilling of your life’s essence, which is tied to truth. Your truth. Mike cannot spill his truth here. He cannot profess/‘spill’ “love” to El because that is not his truth. Bring this back around to ‘butchering,’ to spoiling something completely by dealing with a situation badly. Mike tries to force the word “love,” and so makes the situation more confusing (made infinitely worse in s4).

To further expand on this, puberty is a clear theme in s3. Puberty is a messy process. Howtobecomeadragon referenced Mike’s previous assertion to Will, that they aren’t kids anymore, and compared that to Mike trying to get El to say ‘love’ (as he clearly can’t say it himself) during this scene: “it’s what old people say to each other.” Dragon says Mike’s idea of romance stems from aging, which is correct because the presence of puberty in s3 is laying out what Mike believes getting older entails: having a girlfriend and leaving what’s believed to be ‘childish’/not ‘normal’ [in the process of growing up and assimilating into society] behind.

Additionally, he and El can only be physical (kiss) without proper communication. Physical -> Meat -> Flesh -> Puberty, the process in which your physical body begins to change. More than just physically, you are expected to change. While Mike and El are in the convenient store, trying to communicate/figure out their issues, MEAT hangs above them while a flesh monster is out to get them [more symbolically than literally]. The physical truth is out to get them, looms over them, and the truth behind their issues—Mike’s hidden issue particularly (perhaps even expressed through the MEAT sign, as the ME part falls perfectly over Mike and possibly represents a ‘me’ issue for Mike + an abundance of Mike’s blue lighting takes up the center-aisle shot)—is the threat to their relationship. This hidden issue of Mike’s that ‘threatens’ to break Melvin up is not meant to be a bad thing for them (no longer being a couple is the best outcome for them both). It is, however, Mike’s truth that is a threat against him having the norm. His truth is a threat to what is socially expected of him, causing Mike to continue this [butchered] heteronormative performance.

[fandomfoundmyart]

you know how ppl are talking abt this sometimes?? its bc the walls are painted in a cool design;

like i just rly like the set design here bc it is so fucking cool and it goes from the wall to the floor and i assume on the other side it connects the same way making the other side purple up

you can kinda see that in this image bc the rainbow on the floor goes up and starts to wrap around half the room with purple facing up

set design appreciation 💪💪