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conflictofthemind · 3 days

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Thoughts on "Escape from Camazotz"

Oppressive Suburbia, Conformity, and Season 5 Themes

I've long thought that a major focus of Season 5 will be the contrast between the families of The Wheelers and The Byers, and exploring how non-traditional family environments can be freeing vs the oppressive structure of the nuclear family.

In a Wrinkle In Time, Camazotz is a planet controlled by the big bad of the book, the "IT", who forces the citizens into a conformity that resembles American suburbia. All of the houses the same, the citizens the same, doing the same things at the same time without individual identity. Without anything different. Different means a lot of things, but with Stranger Things dropping different in reference to Will's identity and the presumable themes of this season, it will heavily codify as queerness and how it threatens the cisheterosexual family model.

Henry was raised in the 1950s, a decade still revered by conservatives for it's traditional family dynamics that supposedly were the peak of culture and happiness for all. That was all a lie, of course, and Henry knew so as he shows to Nancy and Eleven during his monologue. The second most conservative decade aside from the 1950s in American society is widely considered to be the 1980s.

The Creels will serve in parallel to The Wheelers; the worst example of what they could become and the damage that this type of family could do to a child that is different in any way. Notice how Vecna selectively shows Nancy visions of The Wheelers dying, but not anyone else she may consider family or friends (like Jonathan).

That is; unless they change their ways and come together as a healthy functioning family facing their traumas, The Wheelers will be toast.

Karen has been moved up to a main character role this season. Ted's actor says the father starts to show up more for Holly (hold that) and realizes he wants to act differently. Holly has been recast. Finn has said Mike goes on a much more personal journey this season, and steps up as a leader.

Oh, also: the catalyst for all of this is that Holly goes missing. The contrast will help show how the Byers (including El and Hopper here) were able to pull together and help solve Will's disappearance, versus how the Wheelers as a closed off nuclear family grapple with Holly's vanishing.

Each of the Byers is in some kind of a non-1950s conformist relationship, but particularly Will (not in one now but we all know he will be). I think El might represent, after she breaks up with Mike, the fear of the unmarried woman being satisfied without a husband. The above shot really emphasizes my point.

I predict that Will will end up coming out to his family rather early on, and we will see all of them immediately accept him with little surprise or push-back. Will is a visible gay man who comes from an open minded non traditional family (divorced, non-married, adoptive) that is willing to have honest conversations.

But this theme will place the most focus on the Wheelers. Mike is the main character of said family and this will particularly focus on his arc, and his acceptance of his queerness in the midst of suburban conformity.

He is not visible, he comes from a Reagan-supporting family who don't communicate with each other. He is not particularly close with his family like Will is. He pushes his feelings down and tries his damn hardest to be normal despite it all. His trauma hasn't really been addressed at all. He is falling back into his usual habits - the one thing he dared to do different (grow his hair long) has gone back to how it was.

It's not all doom and gloom though. This season above all will be a redemption arc of the American nuclear family, how they choose to escape their conformity and learn to be there for each other, thus overpowering Vecna. Not that the Wheelers are going to end this personally.

"Great, more hysteria. Just what we need". "It's the news, now indistinguishable from the tabloids".

#stranger things #mike wheeler #the wheelers #the byers family #byler #will byers #st5 speculation #henry creel #the specificity of this title alone and the themes gives me no doubt that these are all real #i also think this is the episode where byler is canonized and where mike finally escapes conformity #holly wheeler #ted wheeler #karen wheeler #i didnt really mention nancy at all sorry girl #if youre reading this PLEASE search up my username on youtube you will find it SO RELEVANT

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fleursfairies · 3 days

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the vanishing of n a n c y wheeler

the vanishing of k a r e n wheeler

the vanishing of h o l l y wheeler

one of the wheeler girls are vanishing

im actually hoping its my girl holly

itd be like the vanishing of will byers part two

wait i love that

#vecna taking the youngest siblings #holly wheeler #nancy wheeler #karen wheeler #mike wheeler #ted wheeler #stranger things #stranger things 5 #will byers #stranger things theories

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strawberrybyers · 13 hours

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okay so after that video was posted of the screams at the radio station, i remembered i wanted to look up info on what these episode titles mean and i think it gives some insight as to what the hell is going on at that radio station. so yeah let’s get into it 👇

first things first: the episode titles of the first 6 episodes has been released via jeff sneider. apparently sneider is an award-winning film critic so idk i imagine this would be legit considering he wouldn’t want to lose his credibility considering his status?? but who knows

episode 1: the crawl ( i wrote about this episode when they first announced the title)

episode 2: the vanishing of ***** wheeler (personally i think it’s karen going missing. it just makes so much sense to me. she had her own poster for s4. she has had contact with the mindflayer when she tried to have an affair with billy when he was a host. there’s interesting parallels between karen and the creel family. like karen is going missing i just know it. and nancy also said in s4 that something happened to her mom in one of the visions vecna showed her!)

episode 3: the turbow trap (ok so apparently a turbo trap is an acoustic tool?? so my assumption after reading up on it, is that a turbo trap basically absorbs the bass through the tube of it because there is a hole on the top of it and depending on the size of hole, dictates the air flow which then puts out a certain frequency. basically, the more air a turbo trap can “trap”, the lower the frequency it can reach. i imagine they are going to be creating a big turbo trap involving music and/or sound since that is a deterrent for vecna and it also attracts the demo bats?? and they’re also filming at the radio station a lot and radio stations are frequencies (think FM and AM radio stations you go to to listen to music or the news or whatever))

episode 4: the sorcerer (i mean my immediate thoughts went to el, but then after reading some D&D lore about the connection a sorcerer has with dragons (imagery/mentions of dragons throughout the seasons and the painting was of the party up against a dragon), a possible touch of a demon (vecna/mindflayer), and the mention of how they’re competitive to the usefulness of wizards (will the wise) in a party… i’m like holy shit is the sorcerer potentially WILL????? like will finally evolves to becoming a sorcerer in s5?? or the sorcerer is el and will remains the wizard and we get the super duo willel???)

episode 5: shock jock (this is the definition of a shock jock. i’m thinking which character would fit this description and i say it’s murray. that would also make sense as to why he’s filmed there at the radio station. remember murray’s character was introduced as someone who was investigating the russians and the lab and all that, so for him to start a radio station being the “humorous, controversial guy” in all this mess makes 100% of sense to me lmao)

episode 6: escape from camazotz (i feel like this title gives some insight as to what the hell was going on in the new footage of screaming at the radio station. a camazotz is basically a death bat. i assume it’s the demo bats making a comeback from s4. but here’s the thing: a camazotz is described in one description from some computer game to have a very specific screech. if this screech, hits an enemy god then the sound wave will echo. just think back to the explanation of the turbo trap and what that does. so yeah, i think camazotz are at the radio station and the screeching was THEM. the screams sounded so chilling thinking it was steve or someone else, but i don’t think it was human screams! i think they were demo bat screeches 😎 also, steve was attacked by one of these things so idk does he have some connection with them now and that’s why they’re after him???)

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lillie98 · 2 days

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How to Save the World—Stranger Things 5

I’ve had some time to sleep on the episode titles and think about them, read theories, etc. and I now believe they might be real.

Hear me out: Stranger Things is all about cycles, parallels, tropes happening over and over again. The Duffers love taking a moment and repeating it in slightly different ways to prove a point. The story started with “The Vanishing of Will Byers” because we needed to place a small, innocent child in the center of our story, something to bring our character together and drive them to action. Well, that child is no longer in danger and our team is ripping apart at the seams. It’s almost like we need something similar to reunite everyone and drive them to action again.

Remember: The Duffers love parallels. Will’s disappearance brought his deeply fractured family together, uniting them for a common cause. It also brought Nancy and Jon together when their families needed them most. Now, the Byers are a united front, ready to tackle any monster that comes their way. They are the glorification of the avant-gard family. Now which family is struggling? The Wheelers. The perfect, All-America Nuclear Family: Mom, Dad, 3 kids, and a picket fence. They look perfect to the outside world, but behind closed doors, they are deeply struggling. They don’t communicate, the parents have idea what’s happening in their children’s lives, and if they’re not careful, if they don’t come together and form a united front—they’re going to lose everything, potentially causing the end of the world. (Why? I haven’t gotten that far yet!)

Now, how do we inspire them to action? Maybe by taking the child who was born to save their crumbling marriage—the one has seen everything but, up until this point, been too young to contribute. Now, she’ll be the same age Will was when he disappeared and Mike and Will are the same age as Jon and Nancy. The Duffers are trying to illustrate the idea of “The Next Generation.” This evil, this Upside Down dimension is NEVER going to stop until someone from the Wheeler and Byers families breaks the cycle. Children will continue to vanish, the world will continue to crumble, until someone steps up and says ENOUGH. The Wheelers and Byers (parents and children) must step up and face their pasts in order to move forward.

The “Stranger Things” are not only LGBTQ+ matters, they are the skeletons we hide in the closet that literally eat us alive. They are the dark, festering parts of ourselves we don’t let anyone else see. The invisible cancers that slowly and silently kill us. Until we face them head on, until we bring them to the light, they will NEVER die. Stranger Things is about owning your past, facing your fears, and finding the light again.

So yes, Stranger Things will end with Will Byers making it home from Mike Wheeler’s house on November 6, 1983, but not in a time traveling way, in a finally letting go of that scared, pained little boy who thought the world was better off without him. It’s Mike accepting his sexuality and place in his family. His role as a leader. It’s Joyce accepting love from Hopper, who must accept that he is not actually cursed, but that sometimes, bad things happen to good people, even when they think they’re doing the right thing (Vietnam). it’s Karen and Ted falling in love again and fighting to save their family. It’s Eleven discovering that love, not anger, should fuel her powers. It’s mourning your stolen childhood while stepping into the version of yourself that child never got to be. It’s stopping the cycle and creating a better world for the Will Byers and Mike Wheelers and Jane Hoppers of tomorrow. THAT’S how you become a Hero.

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athiestpaladin · 2 days

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my thoughts on who the Wheeler in question is that consists of very repetitive points that just about everyone else has said already

Holly: She was recently recasted, but this could also be so she could be more involved in the disappearance of her family member. Frankly i'm hoping it's not her; it'd be soo fucked considering she would be even younger than Will was

Karen: Had a poster in season 4 although she had maybe the least importance s4 than any of the other seasons?? [s1 and s3 she was there for Nancy and Mike, and s1 she was somewhat involved with the lab's search for El. I can't remember s2, though] So she may have a big role in s5, whether it be in Joyce's position or Will's (I'm leaning towards Joyce)

Mike: not the right amount of letters, but i wouldnt put it past them to go for a lil silly trick. There is a lot going around about him being hurt in the upside down, and while it may be due to him disappearing, it could also be from him trying to save someone else mentioned. I hope it's him so we can see more into his mind, but i'm very doubly since he's meant to take a leader role in season 5 (unless the disappearance is an episode or two at most) [Edit: Vecna harming Mike would deeply affect both of the people he seems to be most after; Will and El]

Nancy: She was given a vision by Vecna, meaning she's already had a run in with him. While this could make it more likely for her to have another run in with Vecna, I think it means the opposite. She was let go very quickly and more or less harm free (if you dont count the mental damage of her seeing her family dead.) This makes it seem like Vecna had clear intentions of, in a way, just playing mind games with her, and will probably leave her somewhat alone since he already inflicted her with something that will stick with her (and possibly drag her down.)

Ted: absolutely not. he wasn't even mentioned when nancy was explaining her vision about her family being hurt. wrap it up.

The most likely characters are Mike and Holly, but I don't really think one is significantly more likely than the other

edit: This Post has changed my mind; it probably will be Holly (I still need a lil view into the Mind of Mike Wheeler

++I heard there are 5 asterisks in the title because the original leak said "blank wheeler" I don't know how true it is but its a cool lil fact if it is

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theevilpickler · 18 hours

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This has probably already been done but I can't find one so I made one. I think it is either Holly or Mike based on Nancy's Vecna vision

#stranger things #byler #idk how to tag this #if you see typos #no you didn't #mike wheeler #ted wheeler #holly wheeler #nancy wheeler #karen wheeler #stranger things 5

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aemiron-main · 21 hours

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A Boy Like Me- Over A Shot Of Karen Wheeler? Ft “Henry” Creel is Not A Chick & Swapping Places: What’s With Lipstick and Gender Swaps In ST?

So, these shots of Karen are very interesting to me:

Because why is the lyric “a boy like me” playing over Karen Wheeler while she puts on lipstick?

Especially with the TFS scene where Walter says that Henry Creel “isnt a chick/hes not a chick,” versus Henry complimenting Patty’s lipstick (which is the same colour as Virginia’s lipstick and as Karen’s lipstick here) right after that “not a chick” scene. (and then there’s also the whole “henry vs henrietta” swap in fringe where a character named henry becomes henrietta due to a timeline change)

So, right now, we have two instances of lipstick being connected to weird gender swap references- we have Henry’s line about how he “likes Patty’s lipstick,” right after Walter says that Henry “isnt a chick,” and then we have Karen putting on lipstick while the lyric “a boy like me,” plays.

And then further connecting the lipstick to weird gender swap stuff, we have Patty’s lipstick scene versus the whole “Patty” vs “Patrick,” thing- so that’s three instances of lipstick being connected to gender swap stuff.

And just regarding gender swaps in general, not only do we have Owens mistaking Max for a boy, but Max also has a whole scene associated with a song about a man and a wonder swapping places (Running Up That Hill), versus Karen’s gender swap scene also involving a song/the “a boy like me” lyric.

What’s going on??? What kind of weird timeline gender swap Matrix-esque trans allegory stuff is going on here??

#stranger things #karen wheeler #henry creel #patty newby #the first shadow

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hawkinsincorrect · 1 day

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Karen: Isn’t it amazing what siblings learn from each other?

Mike: I learn a lot from Nancy because she makes so many mistakes.

#source: arthur #i miss their dynamic #incorrect quotes #stranger things #karen wheeler #mike wheeler

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human-ithink-yt · 3 days

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the vanishing of Mike wheeler is such a good episode title and I love how full circle it would be (but it probably won’t happen or if it does it he will probably go into the upside down with someone)

I think that if any of the wheelers go it would be holly or Karen and I’m leaning more toward holly right now because of the casting change

#byler #<<target audience #stranger things #st5 spoilers #st5 leaks #but actually is this real or is the guy who did it just making it up #cuz I really don’t trust any spoilers #especially anything this big #st5 #holly wheeler #karen wheeler #I’m aware Nancy could be the one too but i really don’t think that makes sense plot wise

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elya-doodles · 19 days

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🫴

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hellshee · 1 year

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Grief is not a feeling, but a neighborhood. This is where I come from. Everyone I love still lives there.

—Brenna Twohy, from Swallowtail

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tellthatbrokebitch · 1 year

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st text posts pt. xi

#tellthatbrookebitch #stranger things #stranger things textposts #text posts #dustin henderson #mike wheeler #karen wheeler #steve harrington #robin buckley #nancy wheeler #ronance #argyle #jonathan byers #jargyle #byler #just bc lol #the lemony on my snicket is so fucking funny to me #ttbbtp

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goonflower · 7 months

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nancy wheeler textposts (except they get progressively sadder)

#stranger things #nancy wheeler #character text posts #nancy wheeler core #karen wheeler #barb holland #eldest daughter #nancy and barb #ronance #< target audience #guncy #shes so real

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samgelina-jolie · 1 year

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Stranger things + headlines (6/?)

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cleradinthealps · 2 years

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mike better count himself lucky that he lived in the 80s because karen wheeler with access to facebook would be too powerful

#the party would stalk karen’s fb and relentlessly make fun of mike #will would try to hold in his laughter but alas the pictures of mike as a toddler are too funny #shoutout to dustin’s mom who i think would also be an avid enjoyer if fb #but she’d have more pictures than of her cat than dustin probably💀#mike wheeler #byler #karen wheeler #wheeler family #stranger things

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xoxothatgirlx · 1 year

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Stranger things modern au hcs

-Max and Mike kick each other out of the party's gc constantly but El always adds them back

-Nancy is a pinterest girlie

-Steve and Robin have an ridicoulously long snapchat streak

-Karen is a facebook mom

-Billy makes those cringy y/n thirst povs on tiktok (yk the ones i'm talking abt)

-Dustin is a Minecraft Addict

-Murray is a redditor

-The party did the 'passing the phone to' trend and it went viral on tiktok

-Will is kinda popular on instagram for his art

-Joyce created a gc for everyone in case the ud shit starts again

-Argyle posts the most unhinged shit on tiktok and his videos had like 7 views everytime until one of them blew up and then he became super popular and even verified

#stranger things #stranger things hc #stranger things modern au #byler #el hopper #max mayfield #mike wheeler #nancy wheeler #steve harrington #robin buckley #karen wheeler #dustin henderson #murray bauman #will byers #joyce byers #argyle

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