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[daffodilwill]

tumblr hates me and doesn’t let me post comments but I am reading the replies to this

I 100% understand some people’s want for explicit confirmation. it’s probably my own preference of enjoying digging into things that makes me not as eager for something like a coming out scene. but I know that is important for the general audience who doesn’t analyze as much, especially not with a queer lens.

as for the comments about it being shipbaiting, thats also completely fair. though to me it still seems like there’s potential? I mean there’s another season still and there was definitely more progress in their relationship development in volume 2 (maybe not as much as some hoped for, but some nonetheless). also, after mike’s monologue to el*ven, there were several instances where the show went out of its way to demonstrate platonic love, including actual uses of the word between eddie and dustin. but of course this is me analyzing things that the typical viewer wouldn’t. I just think it’s possible that it isnt over.

I definitely agree though that some writing choices werent the greatest and some characters are still relentlessly being underdeveloped and pushed aside.

am I the only one who doesn’t consider that queerbait??

[daffodilwill]

am I the only one who doesn’t consider that queerbait??

[daffodilwill]

alan turing, a gay man and will’s hero, was in love with his best friend who died of a disease at 18. the disease has symptoms similar to those of vecna’s curse and alan turing tried to learn if his friend could live on without his body. mike is running out of time in the beginning of every season, his last s3 scene includes hopper saying “turn back the clock,” mikes character dies in the dnd game, and vecna is defeated by a force more powerful than eleven. will may have powers, and clerics have healing powers. you get it.

[daffodilwill]

Paladin and Cleric

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I just— them

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mike wheeler is overhated asf ‼️ i’ll defend my boi till the end. ain’t his fault he ain’t straight and doesn’t love el. bro literally jumped off a cliff for his friend and stayed by wills side risking his life thru the entire possession arc. i will not tolerate mike wheeler slander in my house‼️‼️‼️

[daffodilwill]

The main theme of Stranger Things is summed up by Eddie: “Forced conformity that’s what’s killing kids.” The central characters of Stranger Things are outcasts of society. They’re either poor, queer, black, “soft” men, unapologetic women, weird, crazy, or a mix of these undesirable traits.

The Byers and Nancy embody this explicitly enough for the general audience to understand every season. Jonathon and Will are pretty self explanatory. Joyce is always the social pariah of the town and her dynamic with Hopper the “Everyman” is draining at times. It’s draining because Joyce is right and we know she’s right but the rules, the laws, and “common sense” which Hopper is meant to represent, say otherwise. And every season Hopper’s resistance is broken down and he works with Joyce. If he doesn’t work WITH Joyce he nearly dies. If he doesn’t believe her at all, bodies start dropping. You have to go “behind the curtain” and accept the weird to survive or make progress as a general narrative rule, the entire show.

With Nancy, her motivations are justice (which the world is not ready for) and rebelling against the perfectly structured boxes society has put in place. These two go hand in hand, she can’t get justice because people don’t want a disruption to their neatly structured lives. Working around the common people is a nuisance for her. She talks often with Jonathon about how she can’t conform to the lifestyle her parents do (implied racist + homophobic given they support Regan and Karen’s Thatcher convo without actually having to say/show it explicitly in the show) how the cookie cutter lives with reality shuttered out would kill her.

With Lucas in s4, he is trying to save himself from being othered by conforming in the most palatable way he can without sacrificing his own happiness. Him trying to be “better” isn’t framed as bad thing (which is how the audience seems to be taking it for some reason), it’s framed as a hopeless endeavor because it’s never going to be enough. Even if he’s not being targeted at the moment, people he loves are and regardless of what he does it’ll circle back to him eventually.

Eddie is the “worst of society”. He’s a poor good for nothing loud mouthed idiot, obnoxious, disrespectful to authority, crazy drug dealer, and gay (implied). But he’s idolized by Mike + Dustin and the narrative makes him very human and kind. He’s also the only one that gives any relief to Chrissy who is literally cracking under the pressure of acting normal. No one except Eddie and Max notice or says she’s acting weird, no one except Eddie and the counselor try to help her, and Eddie is the only one to make her feel even the slightest bit better. And the reaction to her cracking from her peers is to blame the crazy person instead of admitting she wasn’t perfect which is framed as a ridiculous and violent cult mentality.

This is all to say that every character we are meant to like is a social reject and have a sense of solidarity with other social pariahs… meaning that none of the central characters or “heroes” of Stranger Things are gonna be purposefully or blatantly homophobic or racist. It is the 80s (minorities still existed btw) but it is also a FICTIONAL show. They dropped the ball using a slur towards indigenous people of the arctic, but before that racism and homophobia were punished by the narrative.

Billy was racist. It’s not up for debate. He was racist, among other things, and he was punished dearly for it. The bullies are punished for being racist and homophobic and then never seen or mentioned again. Is that realistic? Nope, but they’re not important after they’ve been punished. The one character we’re meant to like that has been homophobic was immediately beaten up for it and after development has an arc accepting a queer woman.

Steve went from a perfect stereotypical jock and bully unhappy with his life and relationships, to a happy loser working in a video store with a weird kid and a lesbian for best friends. When he gave up trying to fit a mold, he became a better person and his life became infinitely better and he is consistently told how great it is that he’s changed. We don’t ever see his parents reactions or his old friends after he ditches them because their opinions don’t matter. We only see the praise he’s gotten and the fact he’s happier. Is that realistic? No. But it’s the narrative being made.

You know what is realistic though? A tight knit friend group that grew up being ostracized and bullied, witnessing their friend they’re devoted to being bullied for maybe being gay. Even more realistic is that the gay kid is still loved by those friends regardless of whether the bullies had some truth to their taunts. These kids are genuinely hated by most people and only have each other to depend on, every issue they’ve had they’ve gotten over. They apologize to each other ALL the time and they all have a surprising amount of emotional intelligence (yes even Mike, he’s a dick because of trauma + internalized homophobia and he’s aware he’s being a dick and takes responsibility for it when it’s not jeopardizing what he’s feeling is his safety).

In conclusion, none of the characters are going to be homophobic sorry to ruin your fantasies. It’s unrealistic, out of character, and goes against the core themes of friendship and unconformity set up in the show.

[daffodilwill]

tumblr let me post comments and replies pleeeeeaaaaase

[daffodilwill]

getting so tired of people hating on mike for joining hellfire…

no one understands him like I do fr

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I like to joke that stranger things will end with all queer endgame couples. and its definitely a joke because that would be crazy.

but

I’m also convinced the show is all a gay allegory and because of that there is a tiny part of my brain saying it’s not impossible.

[daffodilwill]

mattie/jasper . he/they . 18