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pinkeoni · 8 months

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What the Upside Down Means for Will’s Narrative

(and why it’s so important for him to go back)

For this post, I’ll be using my own handy-dandy little Hero’s Journey chart that I made for this post.

Quick summary: The Hero’s Journey or the monomyth is an idea proposed by American writer Joseph Campbell that all stories follow this similar structure, using Homer’s The Odyssey as a guideline for naming different parts of the cycle.

So! With every story, there is a divide between the “Known World,” the world that the heroes feel comfortable in, and the “Unknown World,” or the world that the heroes must “cross the threshold” in to that they must learn to navigate.

Not every story is going to follow this structure, although I know that this show took inspiration, considering that their Known World and Unknown World has a very literal interpretation in this universe.

The Known World being the Rightside Up, and the Unknown World being the Upside Down.

But of course, elements of the Hero’s Journey (or monomyth) are meant to be transformative. For El, her Unknown World is the world outside the lab, and for the rest of our protagonists in season one, I would describe the Known World as “The World With Will Byers In It” and the Unknown World as “The World Without Will Byers In It,” considering that his disappearance is what kickstarts the story in the first place.

But still, the existence of this literal Other World is still present

And yet the one character who actually crosses the threshold into this Other World… is Will.

Well that’s untrue… kind of. There are other characters who spend their fair share of time inside the UD. Nancy goes on a little jaunt through there in s1. Jopper go in to rescue Will at the end of s1. The teenagers have their little mission in there in s4.

The difference between all of these examples has to do with when in the story it occurs, creating a different meaning for each of their respective narratives. With all of the above examples, the threshold has already been crossed, making the Upside Down more of a trial to be conquered.

I guess I should mention El’s brief appearance there in the beginning of s2, although I would argue that while yes the UD is connected to her, her story tends to revolve around the lab and the outside world.

This means that the Upside Down is more narratively significant to Will than to any other character

I just lied again.

While we don’t see Vecna enter the Upside Down until the end of s4, chronologically speaking, it does mark the beginning of a new chapter of his story, and preludes the rest of the show as we know it. (Yet another similarity between Will and Vecna)

Why does he have to go back?

Considering the confirmation that season 5 is going to focus on Will…

There’s a step in the Hero’s Journey called “Master of Both Worlds” where the hero becomes, as the name suggest, a master of both the Known and the Unknown world. Will may have been able to outsmart the Upside Down by hiding, but I wouldn’t say that he’s really a master of it.

Furthermore, there’s another step in the Hero’s Journey that comes before crossing the threshold and after the initial “call to adventure,” which is “refusal of the call,” where the hero turns away from what the story calls upon them for, before crossing intentionally. Will was taken by force into the Upside Down, so all of that agency was taken.

Will needs to master the Upside Down, in whatever form that may be, and he has to want it

The term “coming of age” is used a lot when describing Will’s journey in season 5, which is interesting considering that the Hero’s Journey is often closely associated with coming of age stories.

My prediction is that Will is going to be following this cycle very closely and very literally next season, crossing the threshold from the Rightside Up back into the Upside Down, becoming the master of both worlds and finally coming of age.

#this is what insomnia will do to a mf #okay going back to bed now #will byers #stranger things #my analysis #the upside down

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paintingformike · 2 years

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actual canon and factual things found in the show itself that reveals the red flags and problems of mileven and shows how they’ve been treating byler’s relationship way more seriously and as a healthier relationship that directly contrasts mileven:

mike’s place in his relationship with el is the source of his insecurities. he constantly tries to be another person in order to impress el and feel worthy of her, as he feels inferior in their relationship (he even admits it himself, calls himself a “random nerd” that can’t begin to hold up to her level). it would be all fine and dandy if it was actually el herself that reassured him that it doesn't matter and that she’d love him either way, but it was will comforting him instead, the selfless pining love interest that prioritizes his happiness over everything else.

will, the second love interest, was the only person who gave mike needed reassurance and comfort throughout the entire season and he’s seemingly the only person mike is able to open up to and be vulnerable with. he continuously fails to actually communicate and express himself to his own girlfriend, but spends the entire season doing the exact opposite with will.

mike and el don't seem to be able to connect and level with each other the way will and mike can. in the mileven season 4 argument, el goes out of her way to tell mike that he will never understand her struggles, even though he has also been bullied his entire life. she feels different from him. however, mike and will don't even need words in order to understand each other (“i didn’t say it” “you didn’t have to”). they see each other as equals in every sort of way (“i think it’ll be easier if we’re a team”).

lumax and mileven this season were both written to have major relationship problems, but the difference is that lucas and max solved their issues with proper communication and didn't need to have other people involved in the mending of their relationship. however, when they seemingly “fixed” mileven’s relationship, they made the conscious writing decision to make will be the one to push mike to talk to el in the hopes that his words would help her survive. it wasn’t something mike himself planned, he was just prompted to do something. will was also the one who talked mike through his insecurities in the van when he was on the verge of giving up on his relationship, convincing him that el still needed him. it wasn’t the words of his own girlfriend that made mike feel cherished, loved and needed, but will’s. they effectively tied the second love interest so deeply into the narrative direction of mike and el’s relationship so that he’s the sole reason they’re still holding up right now. mike would’ve never done anything if it hadn’t been for will reassuring him that his relationship with el still had a chance, since he wholeheartedly believed that el didn’t need him anymore. but will lied and masked his own feelings in order to achieve this. how does will know for sure that what he was saying about el was what she truly felt? how do we know for sure that mike wouldn’t start questioning his relationship with her once the truth is revealed, and that everything he believed to be el’s feelings were actually will’s?

the writing choices made for mileven seems to contradict how they’ve been writing the other good canon couples in the show. jancy, lumax, and jopper have never needed verbal expressions of “i love you” to affirm that the romantic love is very much still felt from them. it is shown, not told. so what does it mean when el seemingly needs a verbal affirmation of love from mike in order to feel secure in their relationship and feel romantically loved by him? why can't they just prove it through their actions and their moments together? and no, you can't just use the “every relationship is different” reasoning, because these are characters from a piece of media and a show/series, not real life people, meaning their has to be a specific pattern followed by the writers in portraying real, authentic relationships. mileven shares little to no similarities with the other relationships they’ve built up over the seasons, but is eerily similar to stancy, a relationship that was portrayed to be shallow and ultimately failed to last. they’re also the only relationship to be portrayed as a “love at first sight” trope, while all the other relationships are built on a developing friendship and are somewhat slowburn (including byler when they eventually become canon).

since season 3, they have been directly contrasting how mike deals with conflict between will and el, and everytime he has a fight with el, he also coincidentially has one with will. they also all happen back-to-back, meaning you’re meant to compare them as opposing parallels.

with el, mike would deflect blame and has to be pushed by other people to apologize and take action. in season 3, he was complaining and wondering what he did wrong and needed lucas to constantly coach him through confronting el, and in season 4 he blamed outside forces like “mouthbreathers” for ruining their relationship when the main problem was with himself. this time, he never apologized to her at all (although you could argue he was about to do it in the surfer boy pizza scene but was ultimately interrupted).

with will, mike immediately takes responsibility for his own actions and doesn’t need to be pushed by other people to apologize to him. in season 3, he bikes through the pouring rain and calls himself the asshole for going too far, and in season 4, he looks affronted at the mere idea of will thinking he deserved the treatment he got from him, and calls himself the self-pitying idiot for the way he acted towards will.

it is undeniable that all the intimate heart-to-hearts between mike and will this season were portrayed to have romantic undertones. oh, but aren’t they just two completely platonic besties that happened to be glued next to each other throughout the majority of the season while most of the other characters played a role in the supernatural plot? where’s the proof that their scenes were meant to be read romantically? well, an obvious romantic trope where they were constantly interrupted from staring intently at each other was used across all their crucial scenes together, which is something they’ve only done with canon couples in the show 🤔

meanwhile, will sabotaged the few moments that mileven had together in season 4, and they never got to be alone except for their fight. and if you really think about it, even in the past seasons, mileven moments are mostly very lighthearted or comedic and almost always in public spaces where they never get to have serious, deeper and meaningful conversations (especially in season 3 when their relationship was played as a joke), while the majority of important byler moments are private and its always them having a genuine heart-to-heart with each other. there’s underlying tension in their scenes that isn’t present in most mileven scenes.

think long and hard enough on why mike was purposefully separated from el for the majority of the season and they had him spend the most time talking about his feelings to will, while showing how somehow, the second love interest knows exactly how to reassure him through his problems the way his own girlfriend has never actually shown to be doing before. while they gave the person in the middle major problems with the person he’s currently in a relationship with, they simultaneously developed his relationship with the second love interest and built up romantic tension between them. it’s literally a writing technique and a way of showing which would actually be the more compatible partner for the one in the middle, no matter how you look at it.

“ok, but didn’t mike already say ily to el? theres no chance byler is gonna happen when theyve already fixed their relationship” maybe i’d buy it if they decided to do this in the last season, where there’d be no more room left to doubt. however, there’s still an entire season left which also happens to be will’s coming of age season, meaning anything could happen and the trajectory could completely change. trope subversions and plot twists exist, and coincidentially, little women was in the inspiration board for season 4 wherein one person in the middle of a love triangle declared a love confession towards the one person people thought he’d end up with, but the story still went a complete 180° and he ended up with her sibling instead (who happens to be a painter like will 🤔), when the story was nearing towards the end. sound familiar? maybe you shouldn’t get too cozy and comfortable when the writers have said they are going to complete will’s arc and tie all loose ends, meaning the relationships will continue to develop while the chararacters interact with each other over the course of an apocalyptic setting. they aren’t just gonna spend the entire season fighting monsters, their personal relationships are obviously gonna continue to move forward in the plot, especially when the major villain of the story also takes advantage of their personal traumas and histories to prey on them. their personal arcs are still tied to the supernatural plot, one way or another.

#another long post to quell anyone with byler doubts #because we have enough proof in the narrative itself that points to byler endgame #not just with lighting or color coding or minimal subtext #the painting itself still hasnt fulfilled its purpose in the willelmike situation #and will’s arc cant be completed without mike learning the truth about everything including his feelings #byler #byler proof #byler analysis #will byers #mike wheeler #st #stranger things #byler analysis by me

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