#elmike sibling parallels

[l393ndjean]

I finished the first scene of my Will and El role reversal fic!

Only ten billion more to go...

[radagasttt]

i used to be such a creelers denier but day by day i come around to it more and more. thinking about mike being related to henry and el being "related" to him. all the lab kids having henrys blood injected in them, mike having creel blood, the elmike sibling parallels.... idk

[runninguplenorahills]

We win every single time, don’t we?

Mike allegedly got El this ring and regardless of if it’s actually the same ring Nancy’s wearing or not, the rings are insanely similar and both El and Nancy wear it on their right hand’s index finger {same place} so there’s a connection nonetheless {and therefore a connection between El and Mike’s sister}!!

Wearing your ring on your index finger also symbolizes power and capability which is simply wonderful considering El’s independence arc <3

A more detailed post about the placement by @bookfansworld

[gayofthefae]

Aww. And as a younger sibling who never stopped looking up to their big sis into adulthood, even if I faked resentment at that age, I can so relate. I'm sure I brought up a boy crush or two to bond with her in my day.

This makes total sense. It's not just about opportunity. It's about seeking out relationships. We see in season 3, too, how he bonds with Lucas over having a girlfriend. And how sweet is that as an audience remembering where we started with them fighting more in season 1. How sweet it must be for them too, even though it's been a while.

Mike blows up at Will about feeling excluded because he "doesn't like girls" because he's protective of El but he's also protective of the relationships she nurtures for him - just as a topic of conversation even.

We even see this in season 4. When Mike, Dustin, and Lucas are in a rough, stressful place, what do Mike and Dustin default to talking about their girlfriends. It's bonding between boys. It's a conversation starter between siblings. It's normalcy.

The world is going to shit but how is your girlfriend? Oooooh~ - isn't that sweet to do? You can't have that if you don't have a girlfriend. You CERTAINLY can't have that if you have a boyfriend, that just adds to the stressful topics instead of distracting from them.

Interestingly enough, it's similar to El's model Nancy Wheeler life with the family the best friend and the boyfriend, maybe being with El isn't the best course of action for him. But he does want to "have a girlfriend". For the same reasons she's been seeking things out. Though he tries to deny it, and though he doesn't outwardly try to SEEM "normal", he does want to FEEL normal.

He wants to be a guy with a girlfriend. If a popular guy asked, he'd have an answer. That's how you get people to be nice to you, right? Not even about being bullied for not having one. Just something to have in common with them so they think you're on of the good ones.

And now I'm also thinking about THIS when you bring up specifically Nancy

and how her reaction may then have been a very impactful one to his "I love you". Earlier in this conversation she was also invested in the relationship with her engagement on being surprised they broke up, so if he's seeking out her opinion, it's there. And she's the one he's looking directly at. - Now he should tell her......right?

Dating as connection in conversation topic. Thank you for that. Great idea.

Objective truths to me as of my first watch:

Mike did not consider El romantically until Lucas suggested it.

On Halloween night, Mike gave up on El being alive when he hung up the radio for the final time.

In season 3, Mike was being performative in an attempt to act "like a boyfriend to his girlfriend".

All of these were always true to during the time that I had never considered Mike or Will being queer. They meant something more separated and unimportant to me at the time. But context is everything....I think some people are gonna have fun with their rewatches and reflecting.

Even when I thought Mike was straight, I didn't think liking El was his idea. Even when I thought Mike was straight, I thought him calling on Halloween was his final attempt before starting to move on. Even when I thought Mike was straight, I thought he was trying to perform heterosexuality. Even if I thought it because of gender roles, I still thought it. All of these things are and have been true. "They didn't hint at it" no. They showed you overtly. Through a subtle lens. Will is all about the subtle through overt lenses. Mike is all about the glaringly obvious once you adjust your glasses.

I never once thought he was straight because I thought he hadn't behaved that way. It was a dismissal of events I knew had occurred. An alternate explanation will make audiences feel smart, not dumb. An "I knew it" even for those that didn't. Because they did. They knew there was something. Just like me when I rewatched the Snow Ball with Will and the girl and the open eyed kiss, I never thought they were queer at the time. But I knew something was off. I just didn't know what.

Dismissing it doesn't mean you didn't ask the question. They're gonna love an answer. It tells you "you were write. It was questionable, wasn't it"

[brionysea]

an elmike scene in season 1 referenced star wars which had a fake out romance bait between unaware siblings, and season 3 had a back to the future cameo plus steve and robin's whole drugged up conversation about the mother unknowingly hitting on her future kid, and a lot of people have been wondering who el's biological father is after season 4, and max asked el "are you real? did i make you?", and max and mike have so many parallels they're difficult to count, and mike paralleled brenner talking about how el can or cannot fly/move mountains/do general superhero stuff, and mike in season 1 said his sister was gonna be el's sister and his mum was gonna be el's mum but couldn't explain why he wouldn't be her brother, and mike named el which is usually something parents do, and max had to tell mike that el isn't his, and el came out of nowhere with the exact skills to find will right when mike decided they needed to find him, and el thrives in supernatural situations but struggles to adjust to normal life, and el was told that her mother died "making" her, and

[paintingformike]

the only thing that bothers me is that if mike had genuine feelings towards el, then why did they have to make the family parallels so obvious? like every scene has either a parallel to family/st@ncy or is just unhealthy behaviour

i have a different opinion regarding the “family parallels” (imo its not what people think they are, mike is just constantly associated with hopper and brenner because they’re the men in el’s life that had some degree of control/influence on her at some point) and tbh i dont really like how people have been interpreting the “familial dynamic” between mike and el bc its weird to apply to two people who have already dated once like they wont just suddenly see each other as siblings when they break up 😭 seriously we can prove platonic elmike without trying to imply that theyre incestuous. and the stancy/mileven parallels would still apply because theyre similar in the sense that although mike/nancy liked el/steve and were attracted to them they werent actually fully IN LOVE with them, its the same situation where they cant really form a deeper romantic connection with each other.

[willthecleric]

When Mike and EL breakup, do you think it will affect their ability to maintain a non-awkward friendship? I just hope they will stay close friends.

They already are broken up lol. Not sure why so many people think they got back together when we never officially saw them get back together. Not even Milevens can agree when it happened - because it didn’t. 😂 That said, I think there probably is confusion between them where Mike knows they are broken up, and El thinks the ending bit means they are back together. I think they have further miscommunication and stay on the wrong page. Why the ending seemed ambiguous with them. It was showing how they are continuing to not meet eye to eye. Plus not sure why they wouldn’t have a scene where they outright got back together if it happened. They wouldn’t need to keep things from us like they do with some Byler moments. As far as being friends, it’s possible but in order for that both Mike and El need to start seeing each other as people and respecting each other. Trusting each other. It’s certainly possible but I think it will take some time. I love Elmike, just not sure how canon their friendship would be. The familial parallels could mean they become like siblings, or that it just isn’t romantic. But if El doesn’t integrate or return to the inner world (yes, I think El is an alter), I would like to see her close to Mike and Will.

Idk that’s just my thoughts. :)

[starmanbyler]

this. people act like the parallels between brenner and mike, whether explicit in the show, or our own perception, are made to make mike seem like the bad guy. it’s not about that.

the reason these parallels exist is to highlight only certain similarities

non romantic relationship

attachment to a familial (??) figure

infatuation with els powers

no we aren’t implying that mike is abusive or is secretly holding a bunch of children with powers.

he’s paralleled to hopper which shows familial love, not that mike is like els dad (although you could argue that figuratively). he’s paralleled to nancy in the context of stancy, to show a loveless relationship, that doesn’t mean el is gonna start bullying will. and also karen and ted (doesn’t mean mike has to be an emotionally unavailable father) and to be honest that really supports tedxlonnie byler 😍😍. he’s paralleled to will to show once again that elmike is a familial/platonic love, that doesn’t mean we think that milkvan is incestuous or literal siblings (although we did get ‘will you be like my brother’ which further proves that point)

so yeah, mike isn’t at all as bad as dr brenner, but el’s feelings have explicitly compared them and it’s been mentioned so many times that ‘mike only loves el for her powers’ or ‘he thinks she’s the monster and makes her feel guilty’ (which are quite interestingly opposite ends i could probably talk about more). so yeah, el notices the similarities between brenner and mike but that doesn’t mean we hate mike.

edit: i just realised how many times i said so yeah LMAOO

so yeah, el loves you mike, and she always will 🥺

The… the… SHOW compares Mike to Brenner multiple times in Season 4. With visual flashbacks to hammer in the message. Did they not watch the season? It’s not like we’re comparing Mike to Jason or Billy or the Mind Flayer or something we arbitrarily made up.