#Henry Creel

[conflictofthemind]

Thoughts on "Escape from Camazotz"

Oppressive Suburbia, Conformity, and Season 5 Themes

I've long thought that a major focus of Season 5 will be the contrast between the families of The Wheelers and The Byers, and exploring how non-traditional family environments can be freeing vs the oppressive structure of the nuclear family.

In a Wrinkle In Time, Camazotz is a planet controlled by the big bad of the book, the "IT", who forces the citizens into a conformity that resembles American suburbia. All of the houses the same, the citizens the same, doing the same things at the same time without individual identity. Without anything different. Different means a lot of things, but with Stranger Things dropping different in reference to Will's identity and the presumable themes of this season, it will heavily codify as queerness and how it threatens the cisheterosexual family model.

Henry was raised in the 1950s, a decade still revered by conservatives for it's traditional family dynamics that supposedly were the peak of culture and happiness for all. That was all a lie, of course, and Henry knew so as he shows to Nancy and Eleven during his monologue. The second most conservative decade aside from the 1950s in American society is widely considered to be the 1980s.

The Creels will serve in parallel to The Wheelers; the worst example of what they could become and the damage that this type of family could do to a child that is different in any way. Notice how Vecna selectively shows Nancy visions of The Wheelers dying, but not anyone else she may consider family or friends (like Jonathan).

That is; unless they change their ways and come together as a healthy functioning family facing their traumas, The Wheelers will be toast.

Karen has been moved up to a main character role this season. Ted's actor says the father starts to show up more for Holly (hold that) and realizes he wants to act differently. Holly has been recast. Finn has said Mike goes on a much more personal journey this season, and steps up as a leader.

Oh, also: the catalyst for all of this is that Holly goes missing. The contrast will help show how the Byers (including El and Hopper here) were able to pull together and help solve Will's disappearance, versus how the Wheelers as a closed off nuclear family grapple with Holly's vanishing.

Each of the Byers is in some kind of a non-1950s conformist relationship, but particularly Will (not in one now but we all know he will be). I think El might represent, after she breaks up with Mike, the fear of the unmarried woman being satisfied without a husband. The above shot really emphasizes my point.

I predict that Will will end up coming out to his family rather early on, and we will see all of them immediately accept him with little surprise or push-back. Will is a visible gay man who comes from an open minded non traditional family (divorced, non-married, adoptive) that is willing to have honest conversations.

But this theme will place the most focus on the Wheelers. Mike is the main character of said family and this will particularly focus on his arc, and his acceptance of his queerness in the midst of suburban conformity.

He is not visible, he comes from a Reagan-supporting family who don't communicate with each other. He is not particularly close with his family like Will is. He pushes his feelings down and tries his damn hardest to be normal despite it all. His trauma hasn't really been addressed at all. He is falling back into his usual habits - the one thing he dared to do different (grow his hair long) has gone back to how it was.

It's not all doom and gloom though. This season above all will be a redemption arc of the American nuclear family, how they choose to escape their conformity and learn to be there for each other, thus overpowering Vecna. Not that the Wheelers are going to end this personally.

"Great, more hysteria. Just what we need". "It's the news, now indistinguishable from the tabloids".

[henrysglock]

new recordings just dropped on twitter:

https://x.com/sthingsspoilers/status/1784309763112632801?s=46&t=rhxHfgWowhhAyDRI88-1IA

and like. does anyone want to tell me why!!!

the impies....bro the IMPIES.......

[cryptidvillageart]

Henry Creel and His Young Self, in the style of Ivan the Terrible and His Son (Ivan)

tagging the following folks bc I think they'd appreciate it 🥹: @henrysglock @aemiron-main @luxerit

[aemiron-main]

Does Flaying Combine People With Their Alternate Timeline Selves?

So, today I was thinking about how Will’s S1 missing poster said that he had brown eyes:

Versus S2 Will not having brown eyes-

-until he gets flayed/the flaying progresses:

And then I was also thinking about how flayed TFS Henry has all of these Edward references surrounding him, but still doesnt seem to entirely be Edward, and how he also speaks about “us,” and says “he’s right here,” when Alice asks where Henry is:

Point is, he speaks as if he’s two people in the same body.

Which makes me wonder: does being flayed result in a person being merged with their timeline counterpart?

Ive theorized before about the idea that the hivemind transcends timeline/dimensions (ie a person flayed in 1959 might be simultaneously mentally connected to a person that got flayed in 1983, two flayed people in separate timelines might be simultaneously mentally connected etc etc), but now I wonder if that goes beyond just a connection, and instead, ends up merging a person with their alternate timeline self, maybe if both selves are flayed.

Like what I mean is that because two flayed versions of a person from alternate timelines (ie Henry and Edward) are connected to the hivemind, theyre therefore connected to eachother, right? But what happens if you connect the “same” person to themselves? Like if we think of the hivemind as being sort of like a computer, then what typically happens when two identical files are put in the same folder? One of then gets overwritten.

So, I wonder if that’s what’s happening here- if one version of a person is overwriting the other (but not as smoothly/quickly as it happens with computer files), and if that’s why Will’s eye colour changed as his flaying progressed- he may have been “overwritten” by the alternate timeline brown-eyed Will, just as TFS Henry may have been “overwritten” by Edward or vice versa.

This would also explain why Flayed Billy’s eye colour doesn’t change to brown- because the alt timeline Billy still has blue eyes.

This could also explain the emphasis on “weakness” in TFS and why Henry gets so upset when Brenner calls him weak- because the “weaker” version of a person might be the one that gets overwritten.

Anyway! Lots to think about.

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Theory:

This is primarily going off the titles that were dropped recently: The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler and Escape from Camazotz.

I took note yesterday that Camazotz is the name of a planet in the novel A Wrinkle in Time. It's a world controlled by the main antagonist IT, a malicious brain that subjugates the inhabitants to its will, similar to how Vecna/The Mind Flayer uses the hive mind to control the monsters of the Upside Down.

In the novel, Meg Murray (the protagonist) has her father go missing while working on a scientific concept called a tesseract. It's later revealed he's being held prisoner on Camazotz, and (with the help of Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Witch) Meg undertakes a journey with her brother Charles Wallace and her love interest Calvin to rescue her father.

Now, in regards to the title referring to a Wheeler vanishing, there is a possibility it could refer to Nancy or Holly, or even Karen, just based on the number of asterisks. However, this number could also be misleading, and it might actually be referring to Mike (I seriously doubt it's Ted).

What if Vecna somehow takes Mike prisoner to a Camazotz-like location (either in the Upside Down, or a different location that will be revealed in S5 as Camazotz) as a means of luring both Will and El into a trap to either kill them or enslave them? The journey both characters could undertake to rescue Mike could have parallels to the journey Meg undertakes to rescue her dad (and later to rescue Charles Wallace when he falls under ITs influence).

Maybe the Duffer Brothers plan to use parts of the novel as a blueprint for S5's story? It's always a possibility.

[asexualenjolras]

Stranger Things: the First Shadow shows us that Henry Creel was 12 when he first stumbled upon Dimension X (something that the show will be exploring, I'm sure of it, it's significant that Henry disappeared into this and not the Upside Down).

Will Byers was also 12 when he first went missing and entered the Upside Down.

If the title "the Vanishing of ***** Wheeler" for season five episode two is referring to Holly Wheeler, I'm so excited about what the significance of 12 is for the Upside Down.

Because there has to be something.

What do Henry, Will and Holly all have in common? They're all sensitive youngest children.

Eleven, Twelve...

The battle of Dimension X vs. the Upside Down, maybe?

I cannot wait.

[henrysmindlair]

I delivered

[justahaterintheworld]

He's sooooooooo🤌🏻

The Henry hair killing me always, i need to braid it🙏🏻

[bylerpolls]

Edward Creel theories are…

a) an example of cornplating off a cliff

b) an excuse for henry stans to absolve henry of his crimes against humanity

c) big if true, but I’m not fully sold

d) possibly true, but I don’t really care. If it’s true, we’ll see in S5. but I’m here for byler rn

e) true/brilliant/captivating/earth-shattering/fascinating/life-altering!

f) completely true, but I’m still here for byler and don’t care that much

g) what in the name of ted wheeler is an edward creel?

[bebx]

“I don’t need therapy because my comfort characters are my therapy” and it turns out the comfort characters in question are the ones who need therapy the most

[henrysglock]

who do you think the ultimate evil, ultimate villain, ultimate big bad of ST is if it’s not henry/vecna/one? is it brenner? the mind flayer? (so basically an eldritch, lovecraftian terror) edward? dark will or dark el? normative, predatory, homophobic society in general? Is ST a “we live in a society” story ultimately lmao

Hot Take: There is no singular Big Bad Evil Person to blame for every single bad thing.

That's the thing about people-centered stories: Everyone plays a role.

Who made Vecna the way he is? Brenner, definitely. El had a role, though. And Virginia, too. So did the Mindflayer, sooner or later. Who's the BBEG? The one who runs the lab, the one who put him in the lab, or the one who sent him off to become buddy-buddy with the Mindflayer in the first place? Who opened the gate and let the Mindflayer in in the first place?

Can you kill this in a single stroke? The answer is no. Your so-called BBEG is a victim, too. So is the guy who ran the lab that created him. So is the mother who sold him out to the guy who runs the lab. Henry kills Virginia, but it doesn't solve the problem. El "kills" One, over and over in different forms, but it doesn't solve the problem. Kill Brenner, and another doctor will pop up to take his place. Kill the Mindflayer, and eventually some other creature will crop up looking to cause trouble. Killing one guy will not solve your problem, because the problem is bigger than that one guy.

That said: ST isn't going to be a "we live in a society" story, because society isn't the root of our problems. It didn't help, but ultimately...society is a symptom. Society will reflect the systems in power. Government.

This has been a continuing theme since ST1: The system created the problem.

The government funded Brenner's program. The government covered it up. The government sanctioned the Philadelphia Experiment, which kicked everything off with Dimension X if you go by The First Shadow.

We can delve into a little of the reasoning behind the government's actions, though. Why did the government accidentally send Brenner's father to Dimension X? Fear of the Nazis in '43. Why did they fund Brenner's program? Fear of the Commies from '59-'83.

Fear.

As Joyce says when discussing the central idea of Dark Of The Moon in The First Shadow: Can love defeat fear?

The government is your overarching BBEG, and our driving motivator is fear. In order to solve the problem, the systems in power must change. Killing one guy will not solve your problem.

[theultraviolencesblog]

[aemiron-main]

A Boy Like Me- Over A Shot Of Karen Wheeler? Ft “Henry” Creel is Not A Chick & Swapping Places: What’s With Lipstick and Gender Swaps In ST?

So, these shots of Karen are very interesting to me:

Because why is the lyric “a boy like me” playing over Karen Wheeler while she puts on lipstick?

Especially with the TFS scene where Walter says that Henry Creel “isnt a chick/hes not a chick,” versus Henry complimenting Patty’s lipstick (which is the same colour as Virginia’s lipstick and as Karen’s lipstick here) right after that “not a chick” scene. (and then there’s also the whole “henry vs henrietta” swap in fringe where a character named henry becomes henrietta due to a timeline change)

So, right now, we have two instances of lipstick being connected to weird gender swap references- we have Henry’s line about how he “likes Patty’s lipstick,” right after Walter says that Henry “isnt a chick,” and then we have Karen putting on lipstick while the lyric “a boy like me,” plays.

And then further connecting the lipstick to weird gender swap stuff, we have Patty’s lipstick scene versus the whole “Patty” vs “Patrick,” thing- so that’s three instances of lipstick being connected to gender swap stuff.

And just regarding gender swaps in general, not only do we have Owens mistaking Max for a boy, but Max also has a whole scene associated with a song about a man and a wonder swapping places (Running Up That Hill), versus Karen’s gender swap scene also involving a song/the “a boy like me” lyric.

What’s going on??? What kind of weird timeline gender swap Matrix-esque trans allegory stuff is going on here??

[thegayhimbo]

Stranger Things Spoilers on X: "BREAKING: According to Jeff Sneider, these are the episode titles of the next 6 episodes of #StrangerThings5: Episode 1 - The Crawl Episode 2 - The Vanishing of ***** Wheeler Episode 3 - The Turbow Trap Episode 4 - Sorcerer Episode 5 - Shock Jock Episode 6 - Escape From Camazotz…" / X

So.........which Wheeler? Mike or Nancy? Or even Holly (as both @skellybonesandtrees and @stillhidden have noted in the replies)?

I could see Vecna coming after Mike as a way of hurting both Will and El, and even using Mike as bait to lure them into a trap.

However, I could also see Vecna coming after Nancy as revenge for how her plan to take him down in the season 4 finale nearly resulted in him being killed.

Or he could also target Holly as a means of hurting both Mike and Nancy.

Also, isn't Camazotz the planet IT controls in the novel A Wrinkle in Time? 🤔

EDIT: Camazotz could also refer to the Mayan "bat spirit" who served the Lords of the Underworld. Maybe a reference to either the demobats in service to Vecna in the Upside Down, or the progenitor of the demobats that the Party will have to inevitably fight?

[madmaxsmayfield]

*[tender emotional music] starts playing*

vecna: ah will byers is finally here

[cuethemulti]

001 was right. Every day we wake up, eat, work, get queerbaited, die