stonewall2023

[stonewall2023]

Why Will Byer's is Far More Important than it seems in Season Three of Stranger Things

I remember when I first watched Season Three of Stranger Things, I was disappointed by a number of plot points, one of which was how the Duffers seemingly sidelined Will's character. The first three episodes seem to include him in a plot where his friends ignore him, he tries and fails to get them to play DnD, and him and Mike get into a fight over it. Then, it's like the plot for the rest of the season forgot he existed. Will never played his game of DnD, and it seemed like he never made up with Mike or the party.

However, after having rewatched the season recently, I realized the Duffer Brothers had actually, very subtlety, made Will a very crucial character in the season and did it in a way that was so subtle that it flew over the heads of most of the audience. Will's plot was resolved and not forgotten, because him and his friends played through a real-life version of his DnD campaign, and he got his group of friends to act like a party again. In the process, he restored his friendship with Mike, who was beginning to realize just how important Will was to him. The season also points towards a strong possibility that Will and Mike are going to be a couple by the end of the series. Let me explain.

The main story arc of season 3 is how puberty and the transition into adolescence is driving the party members apart. Mike, the party's leader, becomes obsessed over his girlfriend eleven. To be with her as a couple, Mike has to change his personality, which means spending less time with his friends and not engaging in the things he loves to do. Will, obviously struggling with his homosexuality, is feeling left out as each of his friends get girlfriends. Will desperately wants to get his friends back together. In particular, he wants the boy he loves, Mike, to spend time with him. The party needs to learn the importance of their friendship and not only prioritize their romantic relationships as they transition into adulthood. The monster in this season symbolizes the struggles young people experience with puberty. It literally turns people into zombies and transforms them into something else to the point where their personality becomes unrecognizable. The party needs to overcome the monster if they are to keep their friend group intact. Will is the emotional center of this story, and it is Will that actually gets the party to act in unison.

First, Will senses this oncoming monster before anyone else. Every time he senses the monster with his Spidey sense (the neck tingle), it coincides with a moment when the party is fracturing. When Mike and El walk away from the party as they are hiking up the hill early in the season, Will feels the monster. When Mike shows up late to the theater because he was spending time with El, Will feels the monster. After Will gets into a fight with Mike over flaking on the party, Will senses the monster. Will's emotional intelligence, and his deep fear of losing his friends, makes him acutely aware of what is happening. He is Will the Wise after all.

Will doesn't just sense the monster. He then actively tries to steer the party, and more specifically Mike, back on course so they can address the problem. He tries to get the party together by begging them to play DnD. He chooses a zombie-based theme inspired by a movie him and his friends watched at the theater. He is persistent. Even when they keep telling him no, he doesn't give up. Eventually, he ambushes Mike and Lucas with a surprise game, trying to force them to play. Will is doing this not because he is obsessed with the game itself, but it is way to get his friends together and remember how important they are to each other.

This all leads to an explosive fight. When Mike and Lucas don't take the game seriously, Will shows he is upset and walks out of the basement. Realizing how much he hurt his friend, Mike follows him and tries to convince him to stay. Will then tells him off by telling him that he is neglecting their friendship and only focusing on his romantic relationship with El. When Mike tells him "its not my fault you don't like girls" and "what did you think, we were going to play games in our basement the rest of our lives?", Will doubles down. By telling "I guess I did", he is basically telling him "Yes, I thought we would always be together." There is a very subtle hint here that Will is in love with Mike. Even though Will then rides back home, it is clear that his words led to a pivotal transformation in Mike's character the rest of the season. He becomes his old self again.

Will proceeds to bike home and destroy Castle Byers, his place of refugee, thinking his friend group is now destroyed. In anger, he rips up a picture of himself with his friends. He then senses the monster again. However, Mike followed him to Castle Byers and brought Lucas with him, indicating that Mike was not going to give up on the party. Will then tells them about the monster. Him and his friends immediately drop their petty fight to work together to solve the problem. What is crucial about this is that Max earlier in the season told El, after she dumped Mike, that Mike would come crawling back asking for forgiveness. However, it is not El that Mike ran towards begging for forgiveness. It was Will. While the general audience might have watched this season thinking Mike and El's relationship was front and center, it was actually Will that Mike ended up prioritizing at the end of the day. Mike and El's breakup is treated as comic relief whereas Will and Mike's fight is treated in a very serious manner accompanied by a thunderstorm.

At first, it seems like Will is then forgotten about in the plot, and him and Mike never resolve their fight. Mike has far more dialogue with El and other characters than he does with Will the rest of the season. However, Mike and Will often communicate without speaking. Mike made it up to Will, not by saying sorry, but by acting like the leader of the party again. He asked then demanded Lucas contact Dustin in front of Will. This is right after a fight where Will claimed Mike did not care about Dustin at all. Mike also contacted El to tell her about the monster, fully trusting Will in the process. Mike, inspired by Will, got the party back together and started acting like the leader.

What is subtle here as well is that Will actually did get his DnD game, but it was a real life one. In Will's DnD game from this season, he has the party fight a horde of zombies. Who does the party fight in real life? A horde of zombies created by the mind flayer. Will proceeds to spend the rest of the season getting exactly what he wants: time with his friends as they seek to deal with the zombie threat.

After this, Will seems to be content staying in the background as he already got exactly what he wanted. For the rest of the season, him and his friends spend time together. Will doesn't have many lines after this, but he is constantly shown standing next to Mike throughout the course of the rest of the season, occasionally reminding Mike and the party of the threat they face when he starts to feel it in his neck or throwing out some suggestion about what they should do next or telling Mike and Lucas to stay focused on the task at hand. When Lucas tried to bring up the fight they had and apologies, it is Will that immediately tells him that there wasn't time to talk about it. When Mike starts to complain that the girls are conspiring against them, Will tells him he needs to change his priorities and focus on the task at hand. Will also, with very little dialogue, pushes the party to engage in actions that have a major effect on the plot. Him and Mike for example came up with the "boys only" plan to target Billy, who they suspected of being a zombie for the Mind Flayer. Will very subtly is in the background, directing the party's actions even if it is the other characters that get most of the lines and action sequences.

Will and Mike also have a lot of moments where they don't speak but are clearly gravitating towards one another. When Mike complains about having to sit in the trunk of the car, Will tells him "welcome to my world," and they both get into the trunk. There is then a shot of Mike and Will in the trunk, and Max in the backseat wearing sleaves with rainbows on them. This is a subtle hint that these two might become more than friends. Mike is sitting with Will in the trunk and not with El in the front. Then at the grocery store in the mall, all of the main couples (Johnathan/Nancy, Max/Lucas) are sitting in different parts of the aisle, and Mike and Will are sitting next to each other in the "fruit" section. Fruit is a symbol for homosexuality. While they are battling the monster, they are silently spending their time together.

The party then defeats the monster, and they did so with fireworks on the fourth of July. Fireworks are an important symbol here. Young adolescent boys in the United States bond on the fourth of July by lighting fireworks. It is a past time. Crucially, it is Lucas, who previously did not want to play Will's game of DnD, who came up with the idea and Will, with the single phrase "sweet," quietly approves of Lucas' idea to make use of fireworks. They all then proceed to defeat the monster with a fireworks display.

Then, at the end of the season, we get a couple of crucial scenes. There is one scene in which we see Will donating his box of DnD before he moves to California. Mike then asks him why he is giving it away. Mike also asks about whether or not he will find another party. Will tells him "Not possible". This is telling the audience, once again very subtlety, it was never about a game of DnD for Will. It was about spending time with his best friends and his crush Mike Wheeler. He doesn't have to say it. Mike gets it. It is why he gives him a big smile. Then, we get a second scene, where El wants to become a romantic couple again and kisses Mike, but Mike's eyes are wide open, and he is not smiling at all. It is an awkward moment. Mike realizes in that scene what he wants, and it isn't El. It is Will, the person who loves him in the way he wants to be loved and inspires him to be a hero. It was very easy for the audience to miss this.

In the final shots of the season, Will and Mike don't have a big goodbye speech. They instead have a tearful hug. Will cries his eyes out. Before Mike bikes away, he takes a look at the Byers house. He never says "I'm going to miss you Will". It is shown. He goes back home into the arms of his mother the same way he did when he found out Will had died in season one. Mike and Will, over five episodes, never had a single conversation about the dramatic fight they had, yet they resolved the fight in a very deep, meaningful way.

One last thing. Why all the subtlety? Because the duffers are setting up for a big reveal in season five. Mike and Will are going to get together, and by leaving these subtle crumbs, the audience, upon rewatching the show, will see what they missed the first time around. It was there in front of their faces the whole time.

In conclusion, Will's character is far more important to season three then most people realize. I have a feeling the Duffer Brothers will more clearly spell this out to the audience in Season Five.

[stonewall2023]

A Better Alternative to Being Murrayed

I don't want Mike and Will to get Murrayed, but it would be cool to have a scene where Murray clocks them and before he is about to say something, Joyce gives him a look that can only be interpreted as "don't you dare say a word". Then, the second Joyce and Murray have a second alone, she whispers to him quickly "Let them figure it out on their own." I like the idea of Joyce having always known that Mike and Will loved each other.

[stonewall2023]

Will's Queerness is the Emotional Heart of Stranger Things

I heard a bunch of people claim that Will's character was only made gay because of public pressure or because Noah came out. What show are these people watching? Let's look at the themes of each season and Will's place in them.

In Season One, Joyce tells Hopper that Lonney used to call Will a queer and a fag. His bullies called him a fairy. He spends the season "hiding" in the "upside down" and is "pulled out" due to the love of his friends and family. The rest of his friends are also a bunch of misfits from different marginalized groups who get bullied. One of the show's main themes is clearly tolerance for difference and finding safe spaces (castle byers as a metaphor) where you can be yourself with the people you love. Will's queerness here is mainly subtext but that is going to gradually change over the course of the show.

In season two, Will gets "violated" and "penetrated" by an "other worldly creature" outside of his control. It happens near the anniversary of the trauma caused by the previous season. It causes him to become isolated and depressed to the point where it nearly takes him over. Metaphorically speaking, many gay kids go through trauma and develop depression as a result. To break him out of his trance, Will's mother tells him a story about how his drawing of a rainbow ship (not so subtle Duffers) makes her proud, and his best friend, who Will shares numerous intimate moments with throughout the season, tells Will that asking him to be his friend is the best thing he has ever done. This is what snaps him out of the trance. Clearly, this is a metaphor for how many queer individuals suffer from trauma due to their past history of being abused, and how, once again, through the love of family and friends, they can escape the throughs of depression....Also, Will hesitates at the end of the season when a girl asks him to dance, so if you are looking for something that isn't subtext, there you go.

In season three, the theme is the terror and shame experienced when going through puberty, and for Will, he experiences it as a gay kid in the closet. All his friends get a girlfriend, and he doesn't due to his sexuality, which is clearly making him depressed. His friends are spending more time on girls and less time with himself. He retreats into DnD in the desperate hopes of keeping his friend group intact. More specifically, he doesn't want to lose the person he loves: Mike. This leads to a confrontation with his best friend who tells him "it's not my fault you don't like girls", which sends Will into a nervous breakdown as he destroys Castle Byers, aka, his "safe space". Once him and his friends sense the danger of this oncoming monster though--the monster here also being a metaphor for puberty--and what it can do their friendship, they band together to destroy it. Will and Mike make up with each other at the end of the season as Will tells him it was never about the DnD but it was really about spending time with Mike. Mike smiles back. The theme: don't let puberty, societal expectations, and relationships destroy relationships with the people you love...And if we are looking for something that isn't subtext related, Will spends the entire season in the gayest pair of shorts known to mankind and is disgusted by the idea of getting a girlfriend, which he refers to as "gross".

In season four, Will's experience as a queer kid continues its journey out of subtext and moves more closely to text. Will does a project on Alan Turing, a gay computer scientist that was forcibly castrated and committed suicide. Will makes a painting for Mike, his best friend for who he loves, by drawing him as a hero with a heart on his shield. He becomes devastated when Mike doesn't hug him at the airport or pay attention to him, and they get into a fight over it. They then have several heart-to-heart talks where they make up. It is clear in these conversations that Will is head over heels in love with Mike Wheeler. Towards the end of the season, Will gives his painting to Mike in veiled love confession where he clearly uses El, Mike's girlfriend and his sister who are dating, as a cover for his own feelings. Will is clearly heart broken. His brother tells him later in the season, without directly saying it, that he knows he is gay and will always be loved. Will's depression stems from his inability to live as his true self. As Eddie said earlier in the season "Conformity is what is killing the kids". Since Season Four is really only half a season despite its extensive length, we will have to see how these themes play out in season five, but I have to imagine it is going to end up, at the very least, with Will coming out, his friends and family accepting him with love, and maybe even reciprocity from his love interest.

Sixth months after Season 4 came out, Noah Schnapp came out. Oddly enough, Noah Schnapp did so, in part, because it was Stranger Things that inspired him to do so. It was not the other way around. He was inspired by Will's story.

How people can miss these plot points or the major themes of Stranger Things blows my mind. This is queer story about love and acceptance masquerading as a horror and science fiction story.

[stonewall2023]

#Byler #StrangerThings #NoahSchnapp

An important sociological statement with analysis about activism (performative in internet), about the whole (Stranger Things) fandoms hypocrisy, and how to break the vicious circle to really help the world to be a better place for all

Disclaimer : First of all, I write as an Pro Palestinian activist (not only on internet I was gazed by policeman more than once for denouncing the system), as a Stranger Things fan BUT I'm not a Noah Schnapp fan, I am just extremely sensitive and empathetic and I advocate above all non-violence and I preach communication and education (the weapons of Martin Luther King and the greatest enemies of dictatorships and the extreme right).

(Also, I'm not an English speak, so if I do English mistakes, please be comprehensive and don't twist my words, I'm open to any debate and exchange about the topic you can send me ask)

I've also witnessed for over 8 years in different fandoms how the mob mentality has intensified through performative activism, hypocrisy, and this systemic need to have a scapegoat no matter the community or topic used to target someone on social media like Twitter. My following and multiple points and analysis will therefore be based on FACTS, my observation based on sociology and psychology, empathy and the determination to break a vicious circle which is after all only entertainment for others and not a real cause.

I only gave my opinion once in a big post in response to an ask in April to pour out what I think about this subject but the release of the teaser and the rise in violence that goes with it made me want to make a post once and for all in response to the posts that denounce all the perplexity and the vicious circle of violence that we all need to escape from.

The posts that made me want to write : here - here - and especially this huge post which explains from the beginning to today what exactly happened (all I will say after will be about all these points with proof mentioned on the last post so I really suggest you all to read it before reading mine where I will give my own observation and point of view).

FIRST POINT :

It is time to have this conversation again, especially with Stranger Things returning to the spotlight and Noah Schnapp being a central figure in the final season. The misinformation, out-of-context narratives, and deeply harmful mischaracterizations surrounding him have reached a boiling point, and the truth is getting lost in the noise.

Let’s break this down for clarity, especially for those just re-entering the fandom or engaging for the first time:

What Noah Schnapp Actually Said

Shortly after the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Noah posted a message calling for:

Peace for all Israelis and Palestinians

Safety, justice, and liberation for Palestine

Those are not the words of someone cheering for violence, let alone genocide. His comments were measured, compassionate, and inclusive. He explicitly stated support for both Jewish and Palestinian lives.

The Sticker Video Controversy: What Actually Happened

This is where most of the disinformation spread.

Here’s what’s factually true:

Noah did not make the stickers.

He did not touch, hand out, or post about the stickers.

He was filmed by older influencers during a school-sponsored trip to Israel.

The video was not posted by him nor endorsed by him.

When backlash came, those responsible disappeared, and he took the fall publicly.

He was 18 years old, newly out as gay, and vulnerable.

He later clarified repeatedly that he never supported genocide, and expressed sorrow and empathy for the suffering of Palestinians and Israelis alike.

His Direct Statements

Noah addressed the controversy in:

A TikTok, affirming his desire for no innocent lives—Palestinian or Israeli—to be lost.

A Snapchat DM (now circulated widely), where he explained:

He didn’t endorse the sticker or video.

He was targeted for being visible, young, and Jewish.

He explicitly condemned both Islamophobia and antisemitism.

He has Palestinian friends with whom he discusses the issue frequently and respectfully.

The Real Issue

Noah Schnapp has been turned into a symbol by people looking for a scapegoat. What he’s endured—especially at his age—is not accountability; it’s harassment. The distortion of his words and actions has been so extreme, it says more about social media dynamics than it does about his character.

There’s room for critical conversations around celebrity, privilege, and political awareness—but those conversations must be grounded in facts, not in viral misinformation or hatred.

Why It Matters Now

With Stranger Things 5 looming and Will Byers at the forefront, the public eye is once again turning toward Noah. It's important that new and returning fans—especially those engaging with these issues for the first time—understand that:

Noah has not been the monster he’s made out to be.

He’s one of the few young Jewish actors in mainstream Hollywood.

He deserves the space to grow, learn, and speak with nuance.

If we want better from public figures, we must also be better in how we respond—by sticking to the truth, allowing for growth, and treating people, even celebrities, as human beings.

SECOND POINT :

The damage was real, disproportionate, and grotesquely under-discussed.

Let’s underscore the core takeaways:

Noah Schnapp spoke out against antisemitism and violence.

He explicitly stated support for Palestinian liberation, justice, and peace.

He did not participate in or endorse the video that sparked the controversy.

His words and actions have been twisted into lies that serve social media outrage—not truth.

And most crucially:

He has endured a campaign of harassment that would break most adults—let alone a teenager.

Death threats.

Antisemitic and homophobic abuse.

Fantasies about sexual violence and murder.

Doxxing during a vulnerable moment while filming.

Lies about his relationships with cast mates—each of whom have affirmed their love and respect for him.

Hacking. Leaks. Spam TikToks taken out of context.

Influencers and strangers wielding massive platforms to slander a literal child-turned-young adult, without regard for his humanity.

And now, with Stranger Things Season 5 approaching, it’s all starting again.

Except this time? He’s not 18. He’s 19, almost 20. He’s leading the final season as a queer Jewish actor portraying a queer character. And those who led the charge to destroy him two years ago are already gearing up for another round.

This needs to be said plainly:

What’s been done to Noah Schnapp is not accountability. It’s targeted harassment. It’s antisemitism. It’s homophobia. It’s performative outrage rooted in misinformation.

Noah has never made himself the center of any political movement. He made one empathetic post, was swept into a political firestorm he didn’t start, and instead of support, was abandoned, misrepresented, and vilified by people who chose dehumanization over conversation.

The fact that he’s still here, still standing, still working, and still has friends, fans, and supporters—despite all this—is not proof that he wasn’t hurt. It’s proof that he’s resilient.

And he shouldn’t have had to be.

THIRD POINT :

What we are saying here isn't just a "defense" for Noah Schnapp—it’s a damning indictment of a fandom (or at least a vocal segment of it) that claims to care about justice, identity, and ethics, while routinely violating all three.

Let’s break this down:

A. The weaponization of Noah's personal life while calling him slurs

Using pre-Stranger Things baby photos, family pictures, and intimate personal images to build shipping content or fan aesthetics—while simultaneously hurling homophobic and antisemitic slurs at him—is absolutely deranged behavior. There's no “fandom” justification for that. It’s exploitation, plain and simple. People are using Noah’s real, private identity to serve a fictional fantasy—and then turning around and dehumanizing the actual person who brought the character to life.

It’s not fandom. It’s cruelty wearing cosplay.

B. The fan-casting erasure of Jewish and queer identity

The idea of recasting Will Byers while Noah Schnapp is alive, active in the role, and intrinsically tied to the identity of this character he’s played since age 10 is disrespectful enough. But doing so with non-Jewish, straight-presenting actors—or worse, inserting themselves into the role—isn’t just “headcanon behavior.” It’s a form of erasure.

Noah’s performance of Will isn’t some neutral stand-in. It’s layered with real queer-coded vulnerability and Jewish-coded marginalization that only someone with lived experience could've delivered the way he did—especially given what the show left unsaid for so long. Trying to replace him, while calling him slurs and mocking his looks, isn’t progressive. It’s a eugenicist fever dream wrapped in queerbait.

C. The hypocrisy of still stanning his cast mates

If people truly believed Noah Schnapp supports genocide (which he clearly doesn't), then why are they still idolizing Maya Hawke, Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, and the rest of the cast who actively post him, support him, and film with him happily?

Why are these same fans saying “burn Noah” while simultaneously defending cast mates who:

Follow him online

Post group pics with him

Gush about how much they love and miss him

Say he’s like a brother

Hang out with him off set?

Either all of them are complicit by your logic—or none of them are. You don’t get to wield "guilt by association" when it's convenient to your favorite actor's reputation, and ignore it when it makes you uncomfortable.

What this all reveals:

This isn’t about activism. This isn’t about protecting Palestinian people. This isn’t even about Will Byers.

This is about turning real-world oppression into a fandom battleground and a popularity contest.

And the final point is dead-on: The cast knows Noah better than the fandom does. If Maya Hawke—who is openly pro-Palestinian, politically literate, and emotionally sharp—feels no need to distance herself from Noah and even expresses missing him, what does that tell you?

Maybe it tells you that people who know him in real life understand what he actually believes. Maybe it tells you that the internet blew this up into something grotesquely false, and now some people can’t backpedal without admitting they went too far.

What’s happening to Noah Schnapp is a cautionary tale about what happens when fandoms think they’re practicing moral justice, but end up enabling targeted harassment, racism, homophobia, antisemitism, and dehumanization—all under the banner of performative progressivism.

FOURTH POINT :

It is the kind of clarity, empathy, and moral courage that’s desperately needed in these conversations, particularly in spaces like fandom where nuance is often replaced with outrage and identity is weaponized instead of protected.

Let’s affirm some critical truths poignantly laid out:

1. Noah Schnapp is not just a character actor. He’s a real, kind, socially conscious person.

And so many people know this—whether through watching his livestreams, meeting him at events, or seeing how he interacts with fans and co-stars. He’s gone out of his way, time and again, to show care and support for marginalized people:

He’s stood for Black Lives Matter.

He’s publicly supported trans rights and women’s rights.

He’s lifted up his cast mates—emotionally, socially, and professionally.

There is documented history of him using his voice and platform to stand alongside oppressed people.

None of this is obligatory. He’s done these things because it matters to him. And yet somehow, he’s become a scapegoat in a fandom that pretends to care about those same causes. That contradiction is sickening.

2. What’s happening is not criticism. It’s dehumanization.

I'm not objecting to criticism of Noah Schnapp. I'm objecting to bigoted abuse, and rightly so. What he’s facing—slurs, doxxing, recasting campaigns, death threats, aesthetic mutilation of his image, and mass campaigns to isolate him from his peers—is not activism.

It’s misdirected rage fueled by performative moralism, not real advocacy. And as @hawkins-batman correctly say: antisemitism and homophobia KILL.

These are not abstract “bad words.” These are systems of violence—and what we're describing is how fandom has become a safe haven for people who cloak this violence in progressive-sounding language.

3. Violence against one always ripples outward.

The Finn Wolfhard example is devastating because it proves our point perfectly. Once Noah was labeled "fair game," it didn’t stop with him. Now Finn is being degraded for his appearance, his heritage, and his identity as well. And it will continue. Because fandom does not gate its violence. Once it’s normalized—especially against visibly queer or Jewish people—it metastasizes.

@hawkins-batman wrote something absolutely vital:

"You cannot normalize bigotry towards one person and expect it to stay contained to that one person."

This is one of the most important political truths of our time. And fandom needs to hear it loud.

4. Leftist values do not mean “destroy people in the name of justice.”

I know I'm not alone in feeling betrayed by those who abuse the language of liberation to justify cruelty.

When people take leftist ideals—solidarity, accountability, anti-colonialism—and twist them into tools of harassment, they poison the very causes they claim to support.

Saying “Noah Schnapp doesn’t deserve to be treated this way” is not anti-Palestinian. It is not reactionary. It is not a betrayal of your values.

It is a reflection of them.

5. This isn’t just about Noah. It’s about all marginalized people.

What’s being done to him could be done to any of us. It has been done to many of us. People cannot claim to fight for justice while enabling or excusing the abuse of:

Jewish children

Queer youth

Survivors of harassment

Marginalized public figures

Because that’s what Noah is. And he’s still a teenager.

I write a call to conscience.

We remind you that there’s no liberation in cruelty, and that bigotry under a “progressive” mask is still bigotry.

This isn’t fandom drama. It’s part of a larger cultural sickness—where moral posturing replaces moral action, and real human beings are torn apart in the name of imaginary virtue.

FIFTIH POINT :

Why do some people treat Noah Schnapp this way?

There are several social and psychological mechanisms at work, all amplified by the toxic dynamics of social media, particularly Twitter (X) and TikTok, which foster polarization, oversimplification, and symbolic violence.

1. A need for a "culprit" to punish

Noah is Jewish and American, and is therefore perceived by some as a symbol of the "oppressive side" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It doesn't matter if he is individually innocent, nuanced, or silent on the subject:

for some, his identity alone is enough to condemn him.

This is a dehumanizing, essentializing logic: "Jew = Zionist = settler = accomplice." This shift is fundamentally antisemitic, even if it hides behind "progressive" rhetoric.

2. The Power of the Herd and Virality

On TikTok and Twitter, "callouts" go viral, attacks gain visibility, and people feel validated by attacking an already weakened target.

Noah has become an easy figure to attack because:

He's young.

He's silent.

He's vulnerable because of his queer and Jewish identity.

He's perceived as "replaceable" by other actors.

It's harassment disguised as activism, and it functions as a kind of collective outlet.

3. The "scapegoat" effect in fandoms

The Stranger Things fandom is vast and very young. And like all major fandoms, there are internal tensions: preferences between characters, jealousies, fantasies projected onto the actors, ship conflicts, etc.

Because Noah is associated with Will Byers, a queer and traumatized character, fans have projected a lot of their own pain and identities onto him. When Noah doesn't perfectly fit their fantasy of who he should be (even outside of fiction), the betrayal feels personal. And that's when we move from disappointment to hatred.

What this reveals most:

Many people don't understand the difference between criticizing a system and hating a person because of their identity.

The fight for human rights is used as an excuse to legitimize behaviors that are cruel, exclusionary, and sometimes oppressive in turn.

Some online "activists" aren't fighting for a cause, but for an emotional outlet. (the performative activism)

So my final words for anyone who want to justify this treatment still today :

This Isn't Activism. It's Abuse.

For months now, we've watched Noah Schnapp—a young, Jewish, openly gay actor—become the target of an organized hate campaign under the false guise of "activism." And it’s time to say it plainly: what’s happening to him is not justice. It’s cruelty. It’s bigotry. And it’s dangerous.

No one is above criticism. But what Noah is enduring is not criticism. It is systemic harassment. It is antisemitism. It is homophobia. And it is justified every single day with the excuse of activism—as though the cause of Palestinian liberation depends on destroying a 19-year-old’s life, image, and identity.

Let’s be clear: you can support Palestinian liberation without dehumanizing a Jewish queer teenager. You can care about ending genocide without calling someone a "f*g," without telling him to kill himself, without making disgusting edits of his childhood photos, without trying to erase him from a character he grew up with and helped create.

Let’s Deconstruct the Excuses:

“He brought this on himself.”

No, he didn’t. He was filmed near people in a restaurant with IDF stickers—something he did not post, endorse, or comment on. That’s what started this. Not his peaceful statement. Not a donation. Not a political stance. A sticker. In a restaurant.

Meanwhile, his castmates continue to love and stand by him. They know who he is better than you do. Maya Hawke, an outspoken pro-Palestinian activist, continues to post about missing him and spending time with him. But you, a stranger on the internet, have decided he’s irredeemable. That’s not activism. That’s ego.

“He’s ugly now / I never liked him anyway.”

Then why are you using his childhood photos in your fan edits? Why are you so obsessed with replacing him in fan casts? Why are you making content around him constantly—while saying you hate him?

Let’s be real: you liked him until it became trendy to hate him. Now, you use aesthetics and queerness when they suit you and discard the human being attached to them when he no longer fits your sanitized narrative. That’s not progress. That’s dehumanization.

“He deserves it because he’s Jewish / Zionist / privileged.”

Do you hear yourselves? You're targeting someone because he is Jewish and gay, and you’re pretending that’s resistance. You’re pretending that mocking a 19-year-old queer Jewish actor is "punching up."

It's not. It’s hate speech. It’s violence in the same way it always has been, no matter who’s doing it or why. Antisemitism and homophobia kill. That doesn’t stop being true just because it’s politically convenient for you.

You are not fighting for the oppressed when you use genocide as a license for cruelty. You are just creating new victims.

The Hypocrisy Is Loud

You claim you’re holding people accountable. But you:

Excuse every other Stranger Things cast member who associates with Noah.

Recast his role with non-Jewish actors, ignoring what Will Byers means as a character portrayed by a Jewish, gay actor growing up on screen.

Stay silent when other public figures with far worse statements go untouched, simply because they’re more attractive or less visibly Jewish or queer.

You say Noah’s proximity to a sticker is unforgivable, but Finn Wolfhard’s friendship with him is fine? You say Noah is ugly and irredeemable, but you praise others who look like him or benefit from his work? Your standards aren’t ethical. They’re emotional, biased, and rooted in cruelty.

Let’s Talk About Real Impact

While you're busy calling Noah Schnapp a slur for clout, Jewish protesters in Colorado were firebombed. An Indigenous gay man was just murdered—shot in front of his husband—after his home was burned down.

And yet the fandom that supposedly cares about liberation is focused on… mocking a queer Jewish actor for existing?

Do you think this violence happens in a vacuum?

When you normalize antisemitic and homophobic rhetoric—even in the name of a cause—you are fueling the very systems that hurt us all.

The line between "he deserves it" and "they all deserve it" is razor-thin. And you're dancing on it every day while pretending to be righteous.

You Don’t Have to Like Him. But You Should Care.

You don’t have to be a fan of Noah Schnapp. You don’t have to follow his career. But you should care that the rhetoric around him is rooted in the same types of hate we claim to fight. You should care that antisemitism and homophobia are being treated as acceptable tactics. You should care that someone is being harassed for their identity while people cheer.

You should care because this won’t stop with him. It never does.

This isn’t activism. This isn’t justice. This isn’t liberation.

It’s hatred. It’s trauma projection. It’s people using real-world atrocities to justify internet bullying—and endangering real lives in the process.

If your activism relies on destroying a queer Jewish teenager, then your activism is broken. And it’s time to fix it.

If all the accounts on Twitter that jump at the chance to humiliate, bully and insult Noah like they did for 4 second acting as soon as the teaser came out on Sunday were truly sincere, they would have been present and loud when Riman Hassan and Greta Thunberg needed viral tweets to put pressure on Israel and the complicit politicians who threatened a sailboat with a European MP on its way to help Gaza as I pointed out here.

But NONE even bothered to give a retweet. Because you don't care about the Palestinian cause and all that it implies geopolitically for the whole world and humanity. You want to keep your scapegoat and you don't want to admit that you went too far with him, it would be too hard to admit that you abandon your humanity to do harm when it is to denounce these actions that you started your campaign of hatred against this young man.

What I'm saying is that Kanye West and Chris Brown, who said and did 100 TIMES WORSE for over ten years, didn't get the same treatment and for 10 years they were treasured. (and I'm firmly convinced that the fact that they're not queer and not Jewish has something to do with it).

This was a very long statement, but I needed to get it out of my system. I thank in advance anyone who took the patience to read me, who will have the kindness and presence of mind to share it. You are free to ask me questions or send me your opinion by ask or comment. The important thing is that we can exchange and communicate so that we can unite. And I think that given the spirit that Stranger Things gives, in this Pride month during a period where violence is only increasing, it is more than necessary that we put our foot down so that we all move forward together and stop normalizing any violence against anyone and use our energy to beat the real culprits: the far-right systems of politicians who actively act with Israel. Noah Schnapp, as a young gay and Jewish man is just as much a target of these ideologies, do not believe otherwise. The Zionism of the Israeli government does not care about true Judaism, they only use it to justify their crimes against humanity exactly as the Nazis did to Jews, gays, resistance fighters, communists, socialists (anyone who does not submit to their monstrous ideologies).

Love and peace

[stonewall2023]

Will's Bowl Cut

I think Will's bowl cut needs a proper analysis since it is talked about so much over social media. While a small minority like the bowl cut, most hate it and think it was a bad wardrobe choice on the part of the Duffers. While I also think the Bowl Cut gets progressively worse every season, I think this is done for artistic reasons. Let me breakdown the reasons why.

First, the Byers children quite clearly have the worst haircuts of the characters. They grew up in a poor family. It is probable that they couldn't afford to go out and get a haircut, so their mom had to give them one. It is not only their hair though. It is their clothes, the state of their home, and the car they drive. In contrast, a character like Steve, from the rich part of town, obsesses over perfecting his hair in the early seasons. Steve also bullies Johnathan for being poor in Season one. Will's mom in season one also mentions how Will is made fun of for his appearance. It symbolizes how the Byers are outcasts within Hawkins.

For Will specifically though, the bowl cut has an even deeper meaning. Every season, it progressively looks worse on him as the seasons go by. I think this symbolizes, in part, Will's struggle to let go of his childhood due to his trauma and his fear of losing his friends. While Lucas and Dustin get new hair cut styles throughout the seasons, Will is clinging to his. The issue of hair is even made part of Dustin's story and progression as a character in his interactions with Steve. Dustin's newfound interest in girls and his growing confidence in branching out from the party and dating is symbolized by a change in hairstyle. Lucas as well changes his hair by season four, giving himself a look typical of many basketball players in the 1980s. Will in contrast is still struggling to change in season four.

Will's hair also symbolizes his awkwardness as he goes through his adolescent and teenage phase. He is struggling with the changes taking place with his body--particularly, with his homosexuality. His haircut makes him standout from the other characters in a way that makes him look and feel like an outcast.

What is interesting is that it is not only some of the characters in the show that bully Will for his appearance. Even much of the audience bullies Will for it. He is a selfless, sweet character who always puts aside what he wants for others when it matters most, yet so much of the audience can't get past his awkward appearance. This for me shines a spotlight on the great problem with prejudice that still exists in our society today. Will's class and sexuality make him a loner.

It would be brilliant if the Duffers in season five guilt trip the audience as Will completes his hero's arc in season five. A throwaway line on Will's hair such as "Oh yea, my haircut was so bad because mom couldn't afford to take me to the Barber" would help drive this home. Of course, we already know Will has a much better haircut next season and will come of age. This will involve him coming out of the closet with confidence. The change in his hairstyle will symbolize his transformation.

[stonewall2023]

All of these attacks on Noah in response to his comments on October 6 are really awful. People need to learn to have political discussions with people they disagree with on issues, especially as ones as complicated as the Israeli Palestinian conflict, without resorting to death threats and bigotry.

The Noah Schnapp Situation Going Into S5

With Stranger Things Season 5 coming out this year, we are unfortunately going to see a revival of the debacle around Noah, even though by then it will be an almost 2 year old subject. So, I thought I would get ahead of that with some of my thoughts based on what I've seen these last few weeks and more broadly over the last 6 or more months I've been on this scene.

Spoiler Alert: This is going to be a long one. It'll probably be my new pinned post.

Why Still Talk About It?

Frankly? Because it's still going on. Keep in mind, Liam Payne died in October 2024 (just three months ago), right around Noah's birthday, and THIS is how Twitter responded to that.

And just in case anyone thinks I had to dig back a whole 3 months to find Noah-hate-content on Twitter, here was just random things I grabbed from the last week:

Which brings me to the next point.

Why Do You Even Care?

"Noah doesn't know you." "He's not your pookie."

I know that. The funny thing is, from what little I know about Noah, I'm pretty sure if he DID know me beyond the ONE DM conversation we've had, he'd probably tell me to chill. Dude is very non-confrontational and nice. So, why do it?

Because I think the online movement in favor of Palestinian self-determination has been hijacked by teenagers and performative leftists who care more about looking good for their peers than practicing what they preach.

Because (as you can see above and in screenshots like the one below), people who claim to hold my liberal/progressive/left-leaning values have used this as an opportunity to be openly homophobic and antisemitic towards a then-19-year old who had JUST come out of the closet.

Proponents of the hate campaign against Noah have said that they are just "holding him accountable" or "criticizing him" in the hopes he "learns something."

Look up. Point to me which image is accountability. Point to me the valid criticisms.

There are none. There is just flagrant homophobia. And then there are posts like this one, coming from the same crowd:

This behavior is wrong on its face.

It is violent. It is bullying (which doesn't seem like strong enough of a word) and it's bigoted.

Wanna see more? Look up @noah_schnapp on Twitter/X. See what they've done to his account.

Inevitably, some of the people participating in this will see this blog post. If you've made it this far, this is for you:

This behavior discredits your activism. It makes you look performative and fake to say in one breath that you are a "Leftist" who cares about Palestinian lives as well as the lives of minority groups worldwide, and then to turn around and talk like this about a Jewish person and a gay KID. Because he WAS a kid when this started. Furthermore, it makes it clear to those of us who actually hold the beliefs we claim, that you are vapid enough to use Palestinian suffering for your own personal vendettas. That the APPEARANCE of goodness is more important than goodness itself. And that you will shuck solidarity with minority groups the MOMENT one of them steps out of the lines you have drawn around them.

Not to mention...

It's Based Mostly On Lies

As a reminder, this is what Noah Schnapp actually said shortly after October 7, 2023:

Read that again.

"...we will hope and pray for safety, justice, liberation, and self-determination in Palestine." That was part of the very first thing he ever said about the issue.

And then this happened:

This was the image he was crucified for.

Stickers that weren't even his. That he wasn't holding up or making. He was in a cafe, someone else came up to him with them, and he was videoed with that person.

That's it. That's all. All those tweets you saw above? The fake stories made up about him like this one?

All of that was supposedly "accountability."

The harassment of his family. Murder threats. Rape threats. All for stickers that weren't even his.

There's even a paid Stranger Things author on this very site, styling herself as a Byler shipper, who has contributed to the lies that have further added to the hate campaign I've described.

As an aside, Noah wasn't the only one in that video. The influencers that actually posted the video and HAD THE STICKERS?

Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

And just to be clear - I don't think they should get hate. I think non-Jewish online Leftists appropriated a term from Jewish culture, redefined it, and are weaponizing it to beat down Jews all over the internet—which is par for the course for this charcuterie board of performative activism.

Yet the point stands. Noah was specifically targeted; and the homophobia that IMMEDIATELY came from the Left suggests to me that it was his sexuality and cultural/religious identity that motivated the attacks.

Again, I'll say, this is wrong.

Noah Has Since Responded

It hasn't stopped the bullying.

Didn't stop him from withdrawing from spaces he loved. From needing therapy from what we've learned from his now-deleted second TikTok.

And that really says something, does it? He cleared up his point. He tried to clarify and even apologize.

They didn't accept it. Not because it wasn't good enough. Not because it was "too late." Because this was the point. They wanted to keep doing it. They get sick joy from it.

Which is why...

I'm Not Shutting Up About This

This post doesn't even nearly cover the whole situation. The Byler fans who try to replace Noah's image in fan art and fan fiction. Who fan cast themselves as Will instead of Noah. The stalking and doxxing on Twitter. People reporting to GIANT hate accounts his location and when he's alone, PRAYING for him to be hurt.

I wish I could cover it all.

We have to stand up to this. On tumblr, on TikTok, on Threads, Twitter/X—everywhere we see it.

For our gay and Jewish siblings who see how Noah was attacked and feel less safe in their online spaces as a result, we have to speak up and say something.

And yeah. We have to say something for Noah, too.

The person who replied to me like this:

Him?

He did it because he needed to see a show of love from his fans. Doesn't mean he's perfect. Doesn't mean he won't mess up or do something in the future.

And no. Standing up for Noah, or for Jewish people, or other gay folks does not make you a genocide supporter or apologist. It doesn't mean you want any innocent people harmed. Don't give them the power to talk down to you like that. It's bullshit. You know it, and I know it.

All standing up to this vile shit is is an acknowledgement that Noah is a living, breathing person, as some of these people tend to forget.

And he didn't deserve this.

Any of it.

[stonewall2023]

Has anyone else used Byler to process their own childhood trauma created by their homosexuality and unrequited love from a best friend who they fell in love with?

[stonewall2023]

Good Fics

Any good fics that have been posted recently on A03?

[stonewall2023]

To Those Politicizing This TV Show

I respect most people's political beliefs, and it's cool if you want to choose not to watch a show over it...However, it is a getting a little exhausting being alive these days. Everything has become politicized, and everybody has such a negative partisan attitude towards nearly everything. Everything from the NBA to Bud light to Marvel films are now the center of a non-stop noise machine of partisan hate. I like shows like Stranger Things because it is a temporary break from reality...a reality that is school, work, the existential fear of death, the 24/7 news coverage of dozens of conflicts taking place in other parts of the world, etc. Of course, I support a Palestinian state, and there are some things Noah said a few months ago that are very objectionable...But for fucks sake, he is a teenager living in the United States halfway across the world, and what he said was actually really tame in comparison with most of the rhetoric you will find on the 24/7 news cycle. I am going to continue watching the show--not because of some commitment to Israel or Palestine, or because of supporter or opposition to Noah or anyone else on the show--but because the show gives me a break from reality. I need some things in my life to not be so damn political. I myself have spent quite a bit of time in Palestine, and even Palestinians need activities--football, Ramadan, weddings--etc. where they can tune out the rest of the world and just enjoy being alive for however brief a moment of time. People come to tags like this to enjoy discussing a show. There are other spaces for political discourse--you can find them in your communities and online. Use those spaces and try to stay out of spaces that are apolitical. Would you go up to someone's wedding with a sign that says free Palestine? Would you do this in a movie theater? Would you do so at the Thanksgiving table? No. So do the polite thing and keep this incendiary rhetoric out of the tag.

[stonewall2023]

Always be skeptical of most of things people say on the internet--Byler or otherwise. Unless a person has original content (pics, video, etc.) or can prove in some tangible way they have insider information on the show, then they are probably a troll looking for attention or, even worse, a scam artist.

[stonewall2023]

Happy Pride Month!

Happy pride month to everybody in the LGBTQ community and their friends and family.

[stonewall2023]

Reality Check

Noah Schnapp does not support genocide, and I am really tired of people claiming otherwise. All Zionism means is support for a state for the Jewish people--a not so radical idea given the history of the holocaust. You can support a two-state solution and Palestinian rights to self-determination while still being a Zionist in much the same way that you can still support the right of Israel to exist even if you are a Palestinian activist. The supporter of the Oslo Accords in the 1990s, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, was a liberal Zionist. He supported peace and a two-state solution as do millions of other Israelis and Palestinians. Like Palestinians, almost all Israelis were born in Israel/Palestine and have a right to be there regardless of what happened a century ago. Noah, at no point, has ever openly supported in his rhetoric killing or hurting people, nor has he openly supported what the Israeli government is doing in Gaza--he has made it quite clear on many occasions. This hatred for him comes down, quite frankly, to not understanding his use of a single word and an unhinged online environment where people so easily dehumanize each other.

[stonewall2023]

I always actually thought something was a bit off about their relationship when I first watched season one. What kind of straight boy falls head over heals for a malnourished bald girl that could be mistaken for his best friend? She reminded him of Will--someone who was sweet and innocent.

Bro I just realized the more feminine El gets through the series the less Mike likes her

[stonewall2023]

I have a different perspective. I actually do think that the Duffers are really progressive and are purposely writing this not as a piece of 80s nostalgia but as a critique of the 80s. The whole theme of the upside down is that you have this supposedly picture perfect, stereotypically 80s town but growing underneath it is this rot symbolized by the upside down. The duffers here are criticizing the Cold War, nuclear arms, homophobia, the excesses of capitalism, racism, etc. Take the mall. A casual viewer might see this as a piece of 80s nostalgia reminiscing about how great the mall is, but if you pay closer attention, you'll notice that the mall is putting all of the small businesses under in the old downtown. For all its glamour, it helped destroy middle class America. The mall, by the end of Season 3, is destroyed. The heroes of this story are not the typical heroes of 80s films (hyper masculine jocks and beautiful women) but a rag tag bunch of losers from different marginalized groups.

REAL. where did this crazy idea that the duffers are some progressive radicals who are primarily writing a subversive queer text. obviously they are liberal people who wanted to include some queer characters in their show (will, mike, robin, vickie). But they’re still primarily writing a nostalgic 80s monster show that appeals to a wide audience. S5 will be gay, but not THAT gay.

i think it ties into the whole over-analysing, rose-tinted glasses type view so many bylers have where they think every little detail is about byler, even scenes where they are nowhere to be seen

[stonewall2023]

This is a really beautiful post.

Here I am, late at night, thinking thoughts…

I realized that there is at least one point of view I’ve yet to see in this Noah discourse, and I’m brave enough to make a post about it, so here we go:

{I’m happy to clarify anything I say in this post. So don’t assume. Ask.}

Thank you Noah Schnapp for making mistakes so I didn’t have to.

Thank you for posting about your feelings in the first place. It made me do research about Israel and Palestine.

Thank you for liking those islamophobic posts. It made me wonder how easy it is to hurt people while supporting other people. (Also thank you for unliking them.)

Thank you for being in that video with those stickers. It made me really read up on zionism and it’s complex history and different interpretations.

Thank you for making the clarification tiktok. It made me notice how differently people react and interpret things, due to their own experiences in life.

Thank you for getting me involved and making me listen and learn and think.

Thank you for trying your best to unlearn and learn and grow, even if you can’t directly show it to the world.

Seriously, Noah being uneducated about the topic did more good to the world than him being educated about it in the first place would have done. He made people do their own research and to talk about it. If he’d done a post saying ”free palestine,” people would have forgotten about it in 3 days. Maybe in a week if that had made him get fired like Melissa Barrera.

Mistakes are the portals of discovery. We learn more from failure than success.

So, thank you Noah. I know you’ll probably beat yourself up over this forever (and so will do the people who’ve yet to learn what humanity means). But I hope you’ll have at least a few moments of enjoyment on set. You deserve it after making me and many others learn and do better. And you also deserve it because you’re a human and making mistakes doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever be happy again.

[And before anyone comes at me: You can (and you should) acknowledge that there are innocent people suffering on both sides. It’s not antisemitic or islamophobic to do so.]

[Another disclaimer: I am aware of the pain he caused with this and I don’t mean to downplay it. But acknowledging that pain and acknowledging everything I said in this post can co-exist.]

💚

[stonewall2023]

The final results of my poll are in with the bowl cut winning by a landslide.