#this is gonna be smthn I talk abt in my gay Mike analysis but….. ppl cherry-picking what scenes they think the set design has meaning in vs

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the ST set design put the word “henry” behind Will’s neck in s4 and yet I’m supposed to believe that the word “women” being behind Mike when he’s upset and talking about “bullshit media propaganda” isn’t supposed to mean anything?

#stranger things #byler #like hot take but seriously what is the point of that if Mike is attracted to women??? #It Doesn’t Make Sense #It Only Makes Sense If He’s Gay #this is gonna be smthn I talk abt in my gay Mike analysis but….. ppl cherry-picking what scenes they think the set design has meaning in vs #which ones are ‘random’ and ‘ur looking too far into it’ gets so annoying sometimes #by all means disagree with my analysis but it’s like. if you believe that the set design team is capable of doing things like the detail of #henry behind Will’s neck and all of the byler details then why are they suddenly not capable of that same level of detail when it comes to #gay Mike? the logic just Doesn’t Make Sense #I’m not talking abt people disagreeing with the analysis of what the ‘women’ behind him means I’m tlaking abt people ignoring/dismissing it

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sooo I’m thinking thoughts abt all the sauna scenes in s3. and the implications of the imagery of Mike helping lock a sauna door while a somewhat queercoded, shirtless dude tries to break out when considered in the context of mike’s internalized homophobia + the fact that billy DOES break out, he, much like mike’s sexuality and IH, can’t stay repressed forever. especially since, like I’m gonna talk about in my gay Mike analysis, Mike is the one who holds the sauna door open (despite people yelling at him to shut it) and then looks disgusted with himself.

like I don’t have many firm thoughts on billy & queercoding yet, but he IS a character who’s associated with negative perceptions of queerness (getting called a faggot by his father) & so it would make sense for him to be a character who ties into a representation of mike’s IH, as he’s associated with hateful/negative perceptions do queerness- and specifically, his dad’s line is about billy “staring in the mirror like a faggot”, so the homophobia is narratively linked to self-perception/the mirror, much like how internalized homophobia is linked to self-perception/homophobia towards oneself.

to be clear: im not saying that the billy scene is JUST about mike’s IH because it’s not. but it IS another extra layer imo, just like how many other scenes in ST have multiple meanings/layers. they could’ve written billy to be trapped anywhere else. but they didn’t. they chose the sauna. a setting associated with mike’s ih. I’m also not a billy apologist but I think there’s a difference between discussing him & the imagery surrounding his character vs apologizing for/liking him. and also I’m not saying mike has a crush on billy or anything, I’m saying that billy in certain scenes acts narratively as a representation of internalized homophobia and queerness for Mike.

there’s also something to be said for how mike’s the one who tries to attack billy when Billy’s attacking El, and Mike failing with his attack. smthn smthn Mike is losing the fight against his IH smthn smthn El saves him again (which, I’ve talked a lot abt in other posts abt El ‘saving’ Mike in situations like this and at the quarry and how it ties into the way that mike’s relationship with El ‘saves’ him from homophobia etc in the short term bc ppl think he’s straight but makes things worse in the long term bc he has to repress himself), but it’s only a temporary save, billy isn’t defeated in that scene, just like how El and Mike’s relationship with her can’t permanently save mike from his own IH/from facing homophobia.

#stranger things #byler #mike wheeler #Mike wheeler analysis #gay Mike wheeler #st analysis #mike’s IH #billy hargrove ref #st the sauna #el saving mike