#yes she doesn't want her whole narrative to be about him that doesn't mean theyre not family anymore | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

i-am-autistic · 2 years

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Not much is said about how Jonathan Byers is a teenage boy in the 80s who embodies his mother a lot more than he embodies his father/any male mentor figure. I think Jonathan literally learned how to build relationships from Joyce and it's both led to good and bad things for him. Clearly there's very big communication issues because in s1 he tells Joyce "this is not a time for you to shut down". I imagine she did shut down when he was a kid. I think Winona has mentioned how Joyce relied on Jonathan too much in s1 and it's clear that those shut downs led to Jonathan often probably very young. I know the writers say in s1 that Will is 13 and Jonathan is 16 but ngl when I first watched I saw the kids as 8/9 years old. And I'm sure other people did too. So I imagine Jonathan from a very young age, with Lonnie either gone or unsupportive and Joyce emotionally unavailable had to learn how to pick up the pieces, get Will to school on time, get something ready for food. Probably also put him to bed,entertain him,etc. Something I don't think Jonathan realizes he probably gets the caring side from Joyce too, Joyce wasn't totally neglectful of Jonathan either. I imagine as a young kid she also cared for him and took care of him when Lonnie shit got too heated. And I think when you're a young kid, you have that feeling of someone caring for you and making you feel happy, and loved. Especially in an abusive environment you never want that feeling to go away. So I think that's where Jonathan learned how to care for Will from. I think he always just wanted Will to be happy and feel loved like he wanted to when no one was there for him. Castle Byers and the Lonnie scene come to mind. You see Jonathan picking up the pieces and caring for Will. But something you notice is how Joyce says "I don't know what's going on with you at all" in season 1. And note Jonathan's own communication problems with Nancy and Will. I don't think Jonathan ever learned how to just listen, and how to comfort or how to express things clearly. Like yes he loves Nancy, he loves Will and Joyce. But he's never had to express it in words before. He's never had to talk about his feelings before, or listen to others. He never learned what that's like. That's why in s3 he doesn't listen to Nancy, though ig the messaging is kinda muddled there because Jonathan also has very valid reasons. But I always found it weird that Jonathan focused on the money, because it's not like an internship pays him huge money. And I'm sure there's jobs at the mall for him. I always thought the stuff about finances was just the way he was expressing it. Because what actually happened to him was that he got a job he loves doing. I mean working minimum wage sucks total ass. Getting a job to shoot pictures all day? That will look great on the resume? Hell yeah. And losing all that probably hurt him a lot. Brings me to s4 and how Jonathan can't really talk to Will. I imagine Jonathan has some inclination as to what Will's problems are but he just doesn't know how to listen. And with Nancy he doesn't know how to express himself. Something I'd like them to acknowledge on screen is that Jonathan's problems are valid. They sort of make him sound stupid for having feelings. And Idk I just don't think that's the way to handle it, he's valid for having his feelings, maybe theyre not good for him in the long term. But I don't want Nancy to just dismiss them something along the lines of "Are you just planning on doing this your whole life". I want her to actually just acknowledge he has valid feelings, and help him work past them or reassure him. If Nancy does get upset I don't want the narrative to just treat her as right. I think like after seeing your brother "die",come back, be possessed, you'd also not want to just leave him.

#Jonathan Byers #Joyce Byers #Will Byers #Stranger things

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