#stranger things symbolism

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

I rise from my coffin The blue plaid flannel shirt represents parental roles, so when Lucas gave El the shirt to cover herself with, it was both a sign that Hop and Joyce were not going to be on her life for a while and the fact that Lucas does not ever fill that role for El, but he also doesn't let her feel alone I lie back down stiff as a board in an arc motion lest the sun disintegrate me

[stranger-chichka]

At the end of s4 we have this scene with Karen, who took some toys from the attic (the place where we see Vecna regaining his strength) and one of the toys is Nancy’s Mr. Rabbit. I feel this scene somehow parallels the one from s2, when Karen forces Mike to give his toys for the yard sale, even the ones that “have way too much emotional value.” On the contrary, she lets Nancy save Mr. Rabbit if she wants (however, Nancy decided “he’ll be more loved in his new home”).

We see Mike's giving away a monkey which is associated with childlike playfulness and curiosity (=Mike being forced to grow up -> "We're not kids anymore"), but he saves a dinosaur which may represent different things such as a dragon, protection (Will = protection), fear, past, Karmas, strength, courage, nobility and bravery.

(besides monkeys and dinosaurs there're sharks, a cow/bull and... is it a horse?)

Also, Dustin's wearing a hoodie with a dinosaur while he's reaching him in the same scene through the walkie-talkie and hearing Dart in his trash bin in s2 + he's the one mentioning the dinosaurs while talking about the Upside Down in s4.

We know that the dinosaurs are associated with Mike and Will. We see a lot of them in Mike's basement and Will's room. In s1 Mike shows El his toys: a Yoda figure and his dinosaur Rory ("red king"), but she looks totally uninterested in it.

In s2, when Will's drawing a "Zombie Boy" picture, we also see a dinosaur in his room (also, there's a smaller dragon toy near the terrarium and a picture of a tiger on the wall).

And in seasons 3 & 4 (credits to @howtobecomeadragon).

Dreams are an important part of s4, right? So I looked up what seeing a dinosaur in your dream could symbolise and OH MY GOD -- THAT STUFF IS SO TELLING!

A dinosaur in a dream indicates your old problem coming back and haunting you, just as you seem to have forgotten about them. Dinosaurs represent monsters from your past (=past traumas which the Upside Down represents as it stuck in the past). And they also indicate the dreamer's fear of change ("growing, changing" -> "you've grown"), fear of not being needed (=Mike's fear of not being needed), not knowing how to act & control emotions, overcoming life difficulties, beginning of a new phase and luck in your love life.

As for monkeys, to dream of them shows your desire to cleanse your life of anything immature and childish. It may also indicate a twisted personality (=Mike pretending he doesn't enjoy DnD in s3), being under the evil eye (= being watched by Vecna), not being taken seriously and some scandalous events.

Some other animals associated with Mike and Will are dragons, tigers and sharks.

Dream about dragons is symbolic of inner demons, internal (=internalised homophobia) and external (=bullies, homophobes & forced conformity) enemies, something that scares you & great prospects. If you see a dragon in your dreams, it means you are strong enough to face your fears and difficulties in life. You are also ready to protect yourself from any danger you may encounter. Seeing a dragon in dreams shows your bravery and patience in achieving your goals.

Seeing a tiger in a dream can symbolize a threat in real life. But also it's an embodiment of freedom, power, intuitive understanding, strength, courage, optimism, free spirit and protection. This mighty animal also reflects your subtle emotions and feeling of being restrained (= boys restraining their feelings toward each other)

Dreams featuring sharks may be our subconscious mind trying to get us to confront how we really feel (AND WE SEE "JAWS" POSTER IN THE SCENES WHERE MIKE REACHES OUT FOR WILL).

"We won't let him."

"Whatever it is, I think we should work together [= crazy together]. I think it would be easier if we're a team. Friends. Best friends."

A shark can also symbolise the humiliation you have faced in the past (both Will and Mike were bullied and humiliated) as well as anguish in your walking life, some challenging situations, a message for you to take action, and overcoming obstacles in real life.

And, of course, dogs my beloved (I already mentioned them here, here, here). They're associated with the boys and El. Dogs in dreams tend to symbolize human relationships, but are also associated with emotions you might be feeling toward a difficult situation in your life. Most often though, dreaming about a dog is a sign that you need to protect someone, or that someone unexpected might be protecting you.

The symbolism is insane!!!! And there're so many other animals associated with the characters, like owls, hawks, eagles, rabbits, butterflies, spiders, bears, deer, cows, bulls, horses, frogs etc. The brilliant minds, such as @kaypeace21 , @swftsrecord and definitely some others whose nicknames I can't recall already wrote about some of them. It is definitely worth being discussed in depth in a separate post because we have one more interesting scene with the toy reference.

6x04, the Cali gang is in Suzie’s house, where almost everything is from Mike’s POV. After the scene in the kitchen with two of Suzie's siblings cooking and adding salt into the dish, saying “Father’s kidneys! Father’s kidneys!” (I really like @doriandrifting 's analysis of that scene) Cornelius (the one who shoots a yellow arrow at Mike) turns off the electricity and we are shown Mike’s reaction. Eden says: “How many times do I have to tell you? That (=electricity=love) is not a toy!” Then she leads him past the boys (we can see Jonathan, Argyle, Mike and the grandfather’s clock but we can’t see Will) and sits him under the “TIME OUT!” poster with the words: “You make another escape, I’m getting Father.” Why do I have the feeling these words apply to Will? He escaped from the Upside Down in s1 and now Vecna threatens him with Lonnie?

I also found a subtle parallel to this scene from s1. I would never notice it if it weren’t for the timer. So, Karen is the one who visits Joyce in s1 and sees the lights in her house. She knocks 7 times (we hear it very clearly!!!) and brings a casserole with her.

Casse means “breakage”, “heist”, “damage”, "wrecker” from french, and rôle means “role" or “part”. Someone related to Karen caused damage/played a part in what happened to Will? 

As Joyce opens the door and talks with Karen the blue light behind her flickers.

When they're sitting in the kitchen the light from the window behind Joyce is yellow (yellow=Will=good) while it’s blue behind Karen (blue light= Vecna=evil because we see a lot of blue light associated with him). But Mike is also associated with blue, so the Creels & the Wheelers must be connected.

s1: Joyce explains light flickery as "electrical problems" to Karen when they're talking about Mike; s4: Eden says to Cornelius "this [electricity] is not a toy";

The lights flicker before Will goes missing and says "It was a 7." Light flickery = electrical problems = love problems. Mike needed more time because he wanted to finish the game = he needed more time to realise his feelings for Will, but TIME OUT. After "The demogorgon. It got me" (=Will already realised his feelings for Mike, because 7 is a capital L written upside-down -> Love) and "See you tomorrow" Mike let Will leave his house without saying anything to him. The demogorgon represents Will's feeling of shame, disgust and hate towards himself, because of 1) forced conformity and 2) the thought of his feelings not being reciprocated.

Holly is the one who notices the blinking of the lights (while Karen says to Joyce: “If you need anything, anything at all… Ted and I are here for you," then they’re talking about Mike and how he's dealing with Will's disappearance) and she follows them to Will's room. I wonder if she told something about what she saw Karen or not…I'm looking forward to Holly having her big moment in s5 (and Karen too)!

[superstarcadet]

A very belated Day Six of @byler-week! Now I am completely aware that what I have made only SCRATCHES THE SURFACE of what a confession regarding The Painting could look like. A comic going THAT in-depth would take me way too long! Mainly wanted to draw my vision of Will screaming that he's in love with Mike at the top of his lungs and everything suddenly clicking into place for Mike after the fact. Idk it was very cathartic for me :-) Day Seven will be coming ASAP! Thanks for sticking with me as I wrap up this challenge! <3

Day Six Prompts were: Develop, Drawer, Valuable, White/Black color scheme

Part One || Part Two || Part Three || Part Four || Part Five

[gayofthefae]

Not Mike getting LITERALLY less "buttoned up" once they get back to Hawkins. Look at his goddamn shirt.

I'm done. This isn't even serious anymore, Jesus. He had two buttons done the whole time and now it's completely unbuttoned. This is stupid.

Edit:

And he used to be fully buttoned up, in practically the same shirt (one that also has a parallel to his father's of that season) Jesus Christ

Edit 2:

And him the next episode after another day not back together with her. My god.

It never ends.

[greenfiend]

Bend to the Will WIP

[sleepymrshmllow]

insp 🌸

[gmaybe666]

wasteland baby, i’m in love, I’m in love with you

and i love too, that love soon might end,

be known in its aching, shown in the shaking,

lately of my wasteland, baby

day 1 of bylerween/ trapped in the upside down

inspired by @kidovna’s flicker gate byler artwork ✨

[mocha-mochii-blog]

guys I just noticed this on the left is Dr. Frank-N-Furter from Rocky Horror and on the right is Mike Wheeler’s main s4 outfit the triangle over the heart on the left was historically used to indicate people as gay and has now become frequent lgbt imagery (e.g. in Robin’s shirt) this is making me crack upppp

[sade-alicious]

i dont care how it comes up, “you make me feel crazy,” “this is crazy,” etc, but there HAS to be some kind of mention of crazy during the byler kiss

[thatonesongyouretryingtoremember]

WHO WAS LOOKING FOR BUTTERFLY SYMBOLISM BECAUSE MAX HAD AN ORANGE ONE IN HER BEDROOM

[superstarcadet]

"Despite my urges to put it out, it persists." Day One of @byler-week!! Just some standard, but not-so-standard Will Byers angst (it's devastating) I'll be building upon my submissions for each day so stay tuned ;-) Today's prompts were: Fireworks, Cuddle, Outgoing, Teal/Brown Color Scheme.

[gayofthefae]

It's not that he threw away El's note. It's the symbolism of him throwing away El's note right before Will sat down. Put El away so Will can come. Because they are mutually exclusive. And knowing that, he's picking Will.

[greenfiend]

Back to school (in the apocalypse)

[counting-stars-gayly]

They’re not going to rebuild Castle Byers because Will can’t rebuild his childhood, which is the reason he destroyed Castle Byers in the first place. He’d been trying to hold on to a level of carefree ignorance that no longer existed for him. The problems Castle Byers saved him from have been replaced by new problems that are bigger and stronger than a child’s fort. He needs to face them differently. Thank you and goodnight

[therainscene]

speaking of your famous rod phallus theory, what do you think of the gooey tentacle that comes out of the mind flayer's demogorgon mouth in s3? its dripping, oozing, its like the puberty metaphor for s3 but also very phallic and invasive. if the monsters are all manifestations of will's sexuality etc, could this be an additional rod symbol? or symbolic of rape etc? the whole s3 billy villain setup is very evocative of serial killers/rapist/abuser behaviour ('keep quiet' etc).

Hi anon, thanks for the ask!

The Flesh Flayer tentacle strikes me as a possible Alien reference -- very consistent with the sexual horror vibes of the Upside Down, which is also lousy with Alien references.

However, my phrasing in the rod analysis aside, I wouldn't go so far as to say that the monsters are manifestations of Will's sexuality, per se.

Rather, they're manifestations of toxic 80s attitudes towards non-conformist sex -- which has obvious implications for the visibly gay kid, but straight (or "straight") characters deal with sexual horror in this show too:

Nancy had conformist sex with Steve while Barb was left all alone where the Demogorgon could get her -- and was quickly slut-shamed as punishment for drifting away from that conformity in order to investigate what really happened. (To say nothing of the guilt that's been haunting her for four seasons.)

Mike largely manages to avoid the horrors, but I think it's notable that he has a few close calls in S3, all of which are associated with protecting El -- almost as though he's unhappy about performing traditional masculinity for El's sake as sexual maturity looms on his horizon or something, I dunno, I'm sure it's nothing

Billy has sex with a lot of women, but note the homoerotic tension between him and Steve in S2 -- he likes the feeling of power it gives him to sexually intimidate other men. This doesn't necessarily make him queer, mind -- the point is that he views sexuality as a tool for control and power, which makes him a perfect conduit for the horrors.

So yeah, the Flesh Flayer tendril isn't one of Will's rods -- but you're definitely not misreading the phallic symbolism there.

[kingofanemptyworld]

genuine question, am I really not supposed to read into the fact that Kaneki ate part of Hide’s face, of all things? his mouth??