okay—more comprehensive post on my analysis of the ‘mileven’ scene in the teaser.
to me, these shots don’t seem romantic. maybe i’m crazy, but they just don’t. maybe because there are NO other shots in the trailer that scream romantic, so this would be very out of place even if it did read like that. i pointed this out in my original post, but if this shot was focusing on mike AND EL’S relationship, why is el so dark in the close up with mike?
we’ve also seen mike be ‘romantic’—to me, he just doesn’t have that look in his eyes. he looks more sad than anything, & dare i say, heartbroken.
now i think this is a scene where mike is confessing something & let me explain why.
el is obscured in the shot focusing on mike. we can’t see her facial expression, even from the side, very well—we’re supposed to be focused 100% on mike & what he has to say. el’s hand on his cheek seems to be one of comfort, not a romantic gesture, & so does the hand hold you can see in the other shot.
in the wide shot, too, you can see that they are sitting on something with a door—to me, it kind of look like it could be a bath type thing with a door on the top. now, i don’t know what exactly it is, but to me, sitting in front of an open door could symbolize being more open with each other. & who is doing the talking & being open…? mike. he could be telling el about how he’s scared of losing her, how he loves her, etc. but to me, if my best friend was in the same place, i’d tell them that, too. & it just doesn’t feel romantic, like i said.
also, i feel like people may think this is ‘romantic’ purely because this is showing a girl & a boy. if it was karen instead of el, we’d think it’s a mother comforting her son, or even if it was will instead of mike, we’d think is el comforting her brother.
now, this scene also looks very similar to one that noah schnapp posted on his instagram:
sure, they aren’t touching, but i think what’s important here is that will, illuminated by the light, is talking to el, who seems to be listening, & is on the right side of the screen.
the lighting is also very similar. this could be because this is all from the same season, & seasons need a cohesive look, but the dark room with a light on the ceiling is very similar.
will is obviously this focus of this shot, being the only one illuminated. this goes for both shots—but the duffers love to use lighting to show the focus of a scene—remember the cabin scene from the stranger things 4 finale? the light was shining on will, & will was the one confessing how he still felt vecna’s presence.
not to mention how both will & mike are lit by the same warm, almost orange, light in both scenes. visually, they are very similar to me, & i would not be surprised if they took place during the same episode.
