#mike acts the way

[queen-of-hawkins-why-ler]

I may believe that Mike and Will love each other the same amount, but something about Will fell first, Mike fell harder just hits different. Like, yes, Will is in love with Mike, don't get me wrong, like he sees that boy as his knight in shining armor and is totally taken and enchanted by him. But like, Mike is more horrendously down bad for Will than Will is for him imo. MIKE is the one who radiates "Oh my god here he comes, he's walking over here aCt NorMaL AcT NOrMAL" energy. Will does not trip over himself talking to Mike, but Mike can barely handle the sight of Will without melting into a complete mess of love, anxiety, and horniness lol. Like, Will loves Mike but can actually maintain his dignity about himself, whereas Mike is a bumbling gay disaster around Will. Will can call Mike out on his bullshit, but Mike probably cries himself to sleep if he thinks he might've hurt Will's feelings. They have the dynamic of regular boyfriend and horrendously down bad himbo who kisses the ground his love walks on boyfriend. And I love that for them.

[wrongspacetime]

The Fall of the House of Usher 1.08 | The Raven (2023)

[kaiminluu]

happy birthday to our most beloved will byers :) here're some byler grease concept sketches

[butterflysonnets]

absolutely insane that mike literally p a n i c k e d when will was like "well what about us?" because will wasn't even really making things gay he was honest to god just inquiring about the state of their estranged friendship and wondering why mike didn't make time to talk to him when they're supposed to be best friends but MIKE was the one having an aneurysm like "🏳️‍🌈⁉️ W H AT!!"

“WE'RE FRIENDS” “i know mike” “WE'RE!!! F R I E N D S!!” “right so why don't you call me — ” “I HAVE A GIRLFRIEND” “… that in no way answers my question"

[tender-emotional-music]

Redditors being like “The Duffers did Mleven so dirty in s3/4… how would you fix it?” …. “I would have El compliment Mike on literally anything,” “I would have them listen to each other,” “I would have them communicate so they end up on the same page after they fight,” “I would have them actually look interested in each other,” “I would have them team up for the season.”

Besties, you’re literally just describing byler.

[bangtanthoughts]

you know the ship is shit when the actors who play the shipped characters don't like it or used to but switched to a different ship

[gayofthefae]

They're the same picture.

[oceanic-sunsets]

I think there’s someone he likes, because he’s been acting weird.

People have pointed out how Mike was linked with the word weird the same season El uses it to describe Will, guessing it’s because he likes a girl.

But let’s for a moment go back to vol. 1, pre van scene. And let’s think about the story from the audience’s perspective, not from the narrative.

WHO was the one the General Audience perceived as “acting weird”, “being out of character “, “regressing”?

It wasn’t Will.

Some people didn’t even notice his crush on Mike even if it was painfully obvious. They noticed he was emotional, but didn’t label him as being out of character, or having a major shift considering the previous portrayal of his character.

That’s because Will was acting normal, like himself, even with everything going on, his reactions made sense. He was staring longingly and hopelessly at Mike, and even then SO many people didn’t catch up what was going on!

But what did EVERYONE notice?

Mike Wheeler.

[bylertruther]

yk. the resistance ppl have to so much as considering the idea that mike might not jump to immediately and enthusiastically engaging in obvious n indisputably gay shit with will publicly is kinda funny in a puzzling way when season three and season four, where he does exactly that the entire way through, are literally right there for us all to watch on netflix.com. like. Okay ❤️

[mikesbasementbeets]

are you arguing that bi mike believers, unlabeled mike believers, and those who are undecided are homophobic?

no. i’m not arguing that any person or sets of people are homophobic. i do think that there are certain avenues of thought that come up often in arguments against a definitive gay mike reading which stem from homophobic biases that, given the benefit of the doubt, the people arguing them may not realize are homophobic or even realize that they hold those biases.

believing that mike is bi or being undecided about it doesn’t mean you’re homophobic. obviously. however, plainly acknowledging that mike canonically does not exhibit attraction to women and then insisting that he could still be attracted to women in spite of that, to me, indicates a (possibly subconscious) bias against men who are not attracted to women. if your instinct when confronted with a character who presents a categorical lack of opposite-gender attraction, concurrent with active displays of same-gender attraction, is to round up every possible alternative explanation, all equally hypothetical and unsupported by canon, to avoid coming to the logical conclusion of that specific narrative dichotomy (homosexuality), then all i’m asking is that you examine what biases you might be holding onto that lead you to that reaction.

[emblazons]

I know I'm trying for on a creative/analytical hiatus (just to clear my head/get back into the groove of new schedules in my real life) BUT:

This is the quote The Duffers included with The Piggyback script release, and…well, I know for a fact it’s not all about Mike, but it certainly applies to him as much as anyone else. I’ve said once, and I’ve said it a thousand times: you were meant to feel like you lost S4–no arc is “done,” nothing was “resolved,” and to think so is to fundamentally misunderstand the story aka that god forsaken "I love you" (x9) did nothing to fix things.

—still, and as they've said repeatedly: even though the penultimate season felt like everyone lost, including the characters who aren’t Eleven aka Mike and Will …what The Duffers ultimately want is to give kids hope that they can overcome anything?

People who struggled in high school, who are struggling to “fit in" and struggling with acting "normal—"

—and who are trying to understand who they are—

—felt hopeless this season...but are going to feel like they can overcome anything....& run out of the darkness and into the light? 😂

I just. You don't even need to focus on the fact that he's also in love with Will to figure out wtf is happening here, and yet people remain clueless about how he's moving away from El and toward Will 😭 Sort through the themes of the show, and you can figure out the ending. With the duffers, that’s just how it is, and I’ve been saying it’s critical to understand the story and Mike’s arc for several months.

[mlchaelwheeler]

anyways. i truly believe that any "fan" of stranger things who hates mike wheeler does not understand the whole point of the show. like. make it make sense

[cluelessbees]

288 days since this scene was released and I haven’t known peace since

[camzverse]

Nooo cam u dont want to analyze the psychology behind mikes actions in the bite of 83 even though scott didnt put anywhere near your amount of thought into it noo dont do that. freak

[cringengl]

Odd you say that because I think Will getting his sisters other half is boring and high school drama and literally has no place in a show about science

"Highschool drama has literally no place in a show about science" quick question r u being serious

[bookalicent]

made a post about this on my twitter but i wanna post it on here too: ik everyone loves to point out just how "pathetic" art is and how he's so down bad for tashi but in the same breath, make patrick out to be this manwhore who's a flirt and objectifies women. the latter isn't necessarily false-- in fact it's true. but to paint art as someone who respects tashi and has done nothing wrong is just missing the point.

in 1915, charlotte perkins gilman published the novel herland which is about this utopian society where only women exist and they defy the patriarchal ideals. in this novel, three men see it for themselves and gilman uses these three men to show how men irl view women. the one named van is irrelevant to this post but there's terry: he is this loud, sexist, unashamed flirt, who objectifies women and even commits acts of sexual violence. patrick can be associated with this (less so however). he outwardly objectifies tashi ("i want her to fuck me with that racket") and is aggressive in his flirting.

there's the third character named jeff. jeff seems harmless at first. he's chivalrous and doesn't say mean things about women-- but he puts them on pedestals. gilman utilizes this character to make a critique about "the nice guy" and how putting women on pedestals is still treating them as this inhuman idea-- which is still objectifying and demeaning, even sexist, but it's so sly and because it's not outward objectifying, we don't see it as such. this, i feel, can be compared to art. we see, in response to patrick's objectifying flirting, he disagrees and says she's a "talented young woman".

but despite this, we see him trying to get to tashi. he says to patrick that "she doesn't love you" and says to tashi "i don't think he loves you" and both of them see through it but the fact is, he tried to pursue her even though she was unavailable. he still wanted her despite the fact it was not reciprocated (at the time). he's only made out with tashi yet he still tries to pursue her, even though that's his best friend's girlfriend! that's breaking bro code! it's mean! not just to patrick but to tashi who he doesn't see as fully human who's capable of picking which man she wants to date. he still sees tashi as someone who deserves to be with him and not his best friend. it's objectifying and dehumanizing. to treat tashi, a black woman, as not capable to make her own decisions is problematic!

his manipulation (which a lot of people who are team art (whatever that means) love to deny) is outwardly said in the film. it's driven by this objectification he has of tashi and we even see the physical representation of it during the scene in the bedroom when she sits on the bed, her posture is tall, and he's laying on the bed, kissing her hand. the blocking for that was insane but it shows exactly how patrick views tashi.

yes funny haha pathetic men but to portray patrick as the sexist man and art as the only one of the two to treat tashi with respect is just flat out wrong lmao. putting women on pedestals is still objectifying. still trying to pursue women even though they're unavailable (and have said nothing about wanting you) is still objectifying.

tldr; art still objectifies tashi, he's just "nice" about it