#stranger things color theory

[shippingfangirl013]

I know we’ve analyzed this scene over and over again, and someone else has probably pointed this out, but I thought this was interesting.

Will has blue behind him.

Mike has blue and yellow (and green) behind him. And yellow in front of him.

I know we’ve figured out the blue & yellow = Mike & Will and Byler = green.

(I’m also looking right at Mike’s “I asked for vomit green and I got vomit green.” And green = blue + yellow together [byler])

But, I thought it was interesting that the blue light is next to Will, because the boy he loves is right in front of him. Will is wearing blue. He’s talking to Mike, and the blue is there because he’s thinking of Mike and he’s upset over being a third wheel. (Who wouldn’t be?)

Then, we have Mike.

He’s wearing a bluish purple shirt and yellow over it. Just like the flowers, yellow is overwhelming the purple… I wonder why?

The lights behind Mike’s head and in front of his head kind of clue us in on what the characters are thinking about. Mike is thinking about Will as indicated by the single yellow light between them, (because that’s the thing… somehow, Will has always been between Mike and his failing normal relationship with El), and Mike is also thinking about his relationship with Will differently. The lighting is telling us directly what Mike is thinking of… and that’s why he’s so thrown by the “And us?”. Because Will just wants to know where he stands, he thinks that he can live with it if he just rips the bandaid off and moves on from Mike. But Mike took the “And us?” As something more, as if he’s thought of his friendship with Will as something more…

And I think it’s funny & interesting that after this fight, Mike’s wardrobe shifts. And Will’s does too.

This is the aftermath of the roller rink incident. The colors are definitely muted here, they were loud at the roller rink, but here? The colors aren’t as full force, there’s some yellow in Mike’s flannel and there’s some blue and green on Will’s polo. I think the colors are muted here because of the fight, but it’s still showing that they’re thinking of that fight through the clothing itself.

But once Mike and Will have that heart to heart… the loud colors are back again. The clothing isn’t muted anymore, and these are the outfits that they wear for the rest of the season.

I know that the teal shirt was custom made and designed to look different in certain lighting, but what I started thinking about, was the blend of colors and lighting from before.

Blue and green make dark teal, but yellow lightens it up… meaning that Mike is thinking of being with Will in a relationship (blue and green make dark teal) but you need equal parts of blue and green, and equal parts of yellow and green, to make the teal on Mike’s shirt. (Meaning that I think Mike has come to terms with his love for Will and his feelings shifting from friendship to something more by the end of S4. They still have a lot to talk about and discuss… but there’s also a span of 2 days that we didn’t get to see as an audience.)

But Will hasn’t let himself think of being with Mike as an honest option, after the painting. He ripped off the bandaid, he’s trying to allow himself to move on and give up hope that Mike will ever love him in the same way. . . Which is why I think, his shirt is mostly yellow with blue patterned in lightly. And maybe, if they plan to continue with the color theory, we’ll see some changes again in season 5.

But… I keep thinking that Mike’s monologue was a veiled response to Will’s veiled confession in the van… and it would make sense, because they’ve been using El as a cover for every argument (and almost every conversation) in S4. Mike even uses his fight with El to talk to Will about their fight from S3.

I’m just saying, I think early S5 established or almost established Byler is something we could be looking at.

[stranger-chichka]

Blue and yellow on Steve’s sleeves at the end of s3 and s4👀

[sapphireshorelines]

We know that Mike in yellow indicates his identity crisis, lying to himself trying to be someone else.

Now, Eleven in yellow outfits:

The very first time Mike meets El is while they are looking for Will and she's in yellow, almost like a replacement for Will (or more accurately a weapon to find Will as Mike said). She is barely seen as a human—monster, superhero, weapon, anything but human.

The next and only other time so far we see her in yellow in the second half of season 3.

El was in this outfit trying to find Billy when Mike in the heat of the moment sputtered he loves her and can't lose her.

In hindsight we know that El overheard that. El as others thought his love to be true but his concern for her is unfounded. The opposite turned out to be true. El does get tricked by the Mind Flayer while finding Billy and later loses her power (even loses Hopper), all the while she was in yellow.

Like Mike, El in yellow indicates her identity crisis, but unlike Mike, it is due to her loss of agency.

[strawberrybyers]

the outfit parallels to season 1 are going to put me in a god damn coma,, if you hear nervous laughing sorry that’s just me because WHAT THE FUCK

[morganski-19]

Steve seeing something on tiktok and trying it on Eddie

Steve: You know what I kinda really want right now, an orange

Eddie: Do we even have the oranges?

Steve: I’m not sure

Eddie: *getting up* Let me check. Nope, be back in ten

Steve: *to the camera* I was not expecting him to go that far

Ten minutes later

Eddie: *comes back to the apartment with a bag of oranges* Do you want peeled or sliced

Steve: Peeled

Eddie: Ok

Steve: *looking at the camera* I think he passed

Eddie: *handing Steve a bowl of peeled orange slices* Passed what?

Steve: Nothing

[whynotimtired]

I don't want to be mean but you all sound batshit when you try to convince milkvans byler is real by talking about pure subtext and color theory and "Mike was checking Will out in this scene!!!" there's CLEAR plausible deniability in your own interpretation of someone's acting. The duffers intentionally kept it all vague enough that most people wouldn't figure it out until they get the chance to shove it into people's faces and if the majority of people look at the scene you're analyzing and go "aww they're finally friends again yay" and you go "Mike was blatantly checking wills ass out in the beginning" when...he was taking a breath to settle and prepare to reconcile with someone he's been "off" with for a year... you end up sounding a little insane. Those types of takes are subjective, and you can make a funny video with zooms implying that that's what he was doing but actively trying to convince someone your headcannon is canon will almost always make you sound deranged.

There's a reason you don't go up to milkvans and go "b-but blue meets yellow in the west" and start talking about the intricacies of making film and how everything is on purpose, that stuff isn't for normies. Analysts love that shit but to someone who just watches the show for fun they hear you say all that and go "you're reaching" because you took someone who is at a zero and shoved them into a thousand without showing them why you ACTUALLY ship byler and just tried to prove that it's real

[byler-alarmist]

Blue and yellow in S4 💙💛

[cleradin-archive]

BYLER  //  parallels !

when it rains, it pours

[62percentmaplesyrup]

hii !!! i'm remaking an old post of mine about the color coding for will and mike especially, but the "pink is el's color" thing is rlly rlly interesting !! would you mind if i added it to my post? (with credit ofc <3 and its totally ok if not!!)

OMG YESS TOTALLY I ACULLY HAVE MORE TO SAY ABT THAT

Ell doesn't feel like herself or pretty in season one till she puts on that dress and wig, and i think that's so cool

She also scenes like this are supposed to be romantic you would probably think they be purple bc there colors are pink and blue but there always just blue why is that

Is it bc they both like boys or maby ell is reforming herself to like mike or mabey there relationship is just sad idk pls update me on this tho

The more feminine ell becomes the less Mike seems to like her, and i think that's why so many of her scences alone shes wearing pink but with mike is in blue

[gayofthefae]

Thinking about how Will only takes off his robe in 3x03 when he's pained and what is his shirt underneath? Grey with tiny blue and red stripes. Mike and El's colors.

[heartsgettingwiser62]

Anyways shout out to the time I recreated the MLM flag with these 3 pics of Mike's outfits through s4

[somesaintiam]

hey so guys i just noticed something it's kinda weird so

we've always seen the stripes on mike's shoes in season 2 as black.. yes?? we can see that here and i even made sure that yes, the shoes are black (unless it is the lighting but very unlikely since on the color wheel it was on a very dark red that's basically black)

BUT..

Mikes season 2 funko pop has green stripes on his shoes?? This came up because i mean we've talked about how byler's shoes in season 5 are swapped and i thought the green stripes which changed on mikes shoes on the Funko pop, but not will's is really strange?

do you think they just wanted to change the color or do you think it means something.. because i mean i think black stripes would be better with that outfit but.. instead they're green??

and i mean we know that yellow and blue makes green but i might be looking too much into it, but again, there's always a chance it could mean something so i cant just rule it out

[t-dubber]

Colors are weird!!🍂🚲

Testing different colors/palettes for Kids on Bikes— which do y’all prefer? Which feels more Hocus Pocus/90s/Fall themed? Which LOOKS better?

[chirpsythismorning]

I just found myself typing up a ridiculously long word vomit deep dive into Mike's feelings for Will and El in early s5 based on Mike's shirt, now that we got it in proper lighting, only to delete it bc no i cannot subject anyone to whatever that was

[groucholiv]

How can people say color theory isn’t real when this photo exists

[romainlettusdinnerparty]

byler endgame anyone 👀