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wiz1ys · 2 years

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Byler, Mileven and the flower symbolism in season 4

Hi everyone ! It is my very first post on tumblr and first analysis im making.

So i was rewatching some byler scenes from funsies. Of course, i get to the infamous airport scene. No need to explain its context, i think anyone in this tag knows what i’m referring to.

So Mike comes to Lenora. El obviously looks super excited to finally see her boyfriend that she didn’t meet for 6 months. El and Mike reunite, and while they hug, Mike tells her “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present”. This line is very important and we will be coming back to it later.

The present in question is a pretty bouquet of flowers that our boy Michael picked himself on that one hill in Hawkins. Keep in mind, the hill appeared twice (correct me if i’m wrong though). Once at the beginning of season 3, when the party are about to try reaching out to Suzie and when El and Mike go back home. Yes, in that one scene Will describes their relationship as “gross” and Dustin as “bullshit”. Dustin’s points of view is very important to me because he’s always described as the smartest in the party, but i digress. The second time the hill appears is at the very last scene of season 4, but again i will come back to it later.

COMING BACK TO THE AIRPORT SCENE. It is a yellow and purple bouquet, “because [El] likes yellow and purple”. Now what’s important in the following : Mike says, i quote :

“I know you like yellow, but now i’m kind of realizing that it’s too much yellow […] so i kinda did some 70/30 split kinda thing”

Ladies, gentlemen and non-binary legends, we ALL KNOW that Mike is blue, Will is yellow and El is purple. The 70% in the bouquet is yellow, the remaining 30% is purple. YOU HEARD ME. The bouquet is supposed to show El how Mike loves her, but it is made of 70% of the other “love interest” ’s official representative color (assuming Will is a love interest because DUH) .

In short : the bouquet represents Mike’s love for El ; but it is actually just 30%. The other 70% of his love is for somebody else. The yellow. WILLIAM BYERS.

Coming back to the line “Careful careful, you’re squishing your present” I mentioned before. It is to highlight the way the bouquet was between El and Mike. I MEAN EVEN WITHOUT BEING A BYLER TRUTHER ANYONE WOULD TAKE CARE OF THAT BOUQUET AND TRY TO NOT DAMAGE IT. But it’s not Mike’s case: he uses it as some kind of shield. I like to parallel it to the scene at the end of season 3, where El says I love you to Mike. When she kisses him, she has Will’s old teddy bear in her arm, which kind of keeps them apart. Also, in that make-out scene in season 3, we notice how there’s one of Will’s drawings in that room. At a very random place, like, the room is almost empty. YOU ARE MEANT TO NOTICE IT. I think it implies how Will was always there, every time Mike and El have a romantic scene. This is reinforced in season 4, where the only scene Will is absent is the one when they fight.

Now. The hill scene. The final scene of season 4.

Flowers on the Hawkins hill decay. As i said before, it is supposedly the hill where Mike picked up his flowers. The bouquet represented his love for El. Now its flowers withered, and their relationship faded.

The couples are standing up the hill. Jonathan and Nancy, Joyce and Hopper… and Will and Mike, while El is alone, in front. Because El’s arc is about her finding her independence, who she truly is, not as a “superhero” but as a normal girl, as a person.

Thank you for reading, and the may you have a fantastic day 🫶🏼

#byler #byler nation #mileven is bones #byler tumblr #roses are red #violets are blue #mike is gay #and so are you

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strangerwheelerthings · 1 year

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Deep Dive Into The Heart of Nancy Wheeler: The Introduction Scene

Link to the full Heart of Nancy Wheeler Series

I can’t think of a better way to start a character study than to take a closer look into how they are introduced. Barb’s death changed everything for Nancy Wheeler, but her response to that trauma was shaped by who she already was. In order to understand where a character chooses to go, you have to understand where they came from.

The very first thing we see is a typical teenage girl talking on the phone about a boy. She shuts a door in Dustin’s face without a word when he offers her pizza. While her attitude is relatable for many teenagers, it’s not a particularly endearing intro. However, what’s interesting is the care the writers took to quickly flip that first impression on its head. The very next scene involves the Party discussing her, and how she’s changed since she started dating the ‘King of Hawkins High’. Aside from her little brother, all of them seemed to have held her in high regard before then. Her ‘turning into a real jerk’ is recent.

“Nuh uh. She used to be cool. Like that time she dressed up as an elf for our Elder Tree campaign.”

Instantly, she’s given more depth. This is an older sister who was nice to her brother’s friends. She played D&D with them at least once, if not multiple times over the years, going as far as cosplaying for a campaign. She was a little nerdy like them, very smart, and most definitely kind. Especially with knowing what we do now about the boys, it’s the only way they would admire her so much. The previous scene is recontextualized. The very fact that Dustin thought to include her in the offer of pizza implies a familiarity with each other, a relationship beyond him being the boy that her brother invites over sometimes. Her kind of rude response is sibling-like as well. That, along with the comment about Dustin being her favorite during the snowball, solidifies this understanding; they weren’t mere acquaintances. Nancy had her own friendships with each of Mike’s friends before the Upside Down, maybe not super close ones, but still present and good.

One might assume that the change was just a factor of growing up and teenagerdom, which it was in part, but both Lucas and Dustin state that there was a very recent shift in behavior. Something changed for her when Steve Harrington started giving her attention. (In all honesty, just their very knowledge of what the change was, of Steve’s relationship with her, is another sign showing how well this group actually knew each other pre-canon.) What this conversation starts to establish, aside from a small view into the depth of their relationships with her, is that Nancy was in the middle of a good old-fashioned teenage identity crisis when we met her. Her jerkish behavior was not a straight-up personality trait, but a result of typical teenage angst and rebellion.

#I am of the firm headcanon that Nancy and Jonathan each babysat this group a lot growing up #you cannot convince me otherwise #the duffer brothers themselves could not convince me otherwise #I actually think this conversation is so fascinating #and I desperately want to read a dnd oneshot where its shown she knows how to play #obviously some of this is speculation since we know so little of their relationships before #but idk it kinda seems like mike and nancy used to be closer #and Nancy is actually kinda nice to his friends throughout the show even if we see very little of her together with the younger group #nancy wheeler #dustin henderson #stranger things #st meta #nancy wheeler meta #lucas sinclair #mike wheeler #the heart of nancy wheeler

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spitaught · 5 years

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eleven + lucas, season one: an examination of their relationship.

context: what happened before eleven to colour their interactions.

MIKE AND LUCAS. not only are mike and lucas directly called best friends in episode six of season one ( to which mike argues that all of the party are his best friends, a sentiment that dustin only half - halfheartedly agrees with ), but there are multiple other references to this throughout --- he talks to lucas the most on the walkie talkies because ‘he lives so close’, lucas asserts that ‘mike would never rat us out’ ; the two of them, though their relationship is basically non - existent in season two, are BEST friends and arguably the closest of the party. it’s not radical to say that lucas is jealous when eleven starts taking up so much of mike’s time, but it’s important to note that this is a time where lucas needed his best friend. will was assumed missing, or dead, for the majority of the series. and mike, one of the only people who would understand lucas’ mourning ? he had abandoned him for some stranger --- this shades a great deal of his feelings towards eleven who takes the full brunt of his anger.

PENTHURST. in what could be considered a throwaway pair of lines in episode two, lucas says that eleven is likely a runaway from penthurst ( the local asylum ) and dustin asks if lucas has a lot of family there. though it’s obviously a joke, these are young boys and i don’t trust that they wouldn’t make fun of something sensitive. which is to say, a personal headcanon is that one of lucas’ aunts, who he used to spend his summers with when he was much younger, was sent away to penthurst. the kids mirror their parents a lot and i think his language of ‘weirdo’ / ‘freak’ in relation to eleven was a mimic of his parents language to his aunt ( consider : he and max mirror his mother and father’s relationship ). therefore, in seeing someone who closely reminds of someone he loved and then lost, who was subject to his parents’ disapproval, was pretty unpleasant.

THE DILEMMA OF GIRLS AND STEREOTYPES. eleven is the first girl to ever enter the group and she can’t exactly be seen as a ‘normal’ representation as a result of her own trauma and upbringing. therefore, she does not fit into the stereotype that he has crafted ( most of his female - based interactions are with his sister, his mother, and nancy --- who play their roles pretty efficiently in season one ). eleven goes outside of the norm ; as a young black boy in the 80s who has to FIT IN to not be persecuted, the idea of someone who breaks stereotypes is a scary and, moreover, angering sight.

content: what happened in season one and what it means to their relationship.

‘Lucas was right about you. All along.’ Mike Wheeler. Context: after the train track scene.

though lucas is not present in this scene, this is the most important definer of their future relationship ; it is mike using lucas against eleven in order to hurt her --- i don’t play eleven, and i can’t speak for eleven players, but this sort of mediation between the two ( who are quite clearly not getting on ) would have an impact on her ability to trust him. and lucas doesn’t give his trust to anyone who doesn’t trust him BACK, so even after they apologise to each other, even after there is resolution in their arc, i feel as if this idea of lucas, as portrayed by the person eleven trusts most in season one, shapes how eleven reacts to him --- which, in turn, shapes how lucas reacts to her.

“I mean, look at her.” / “If the weirdo heard him...” Lucas Sinclair. Their first meeting / after its said that Eleven can talk to Will.

the first sentence is used in a derogatory manner ; as i’ve said, lucas doesn’t have much contact with women, so he’s subject to stereotypes ( he, though he gets decidedly better, is shaped by 80s culture and how it portrays women --- overly feminine and petite, weak and docile ). eleven doesn’t fit into any of the represented norms that he’s used to, so he rebels against the image of her, ‘ look ‘ an obvious attempt to make the party SEE that she isn’t normal. this is to do largely with his own encounters with racism and expectations placed on him ; he doesn’t like someone defying the norm when he has to play into it. as for the ‘ weirdo ‘ comment, not only is it dismissive, but it plays into my headcanon about his aunt and the mimicking of language.

“I’m not spending my time on her anymore.” Lucas Sinclair. Argument with Mike.

MY time. lucas has viewed eleven as a personal investment of his time. because she’s taking away from time that could be spent on will ; i think it’s very interesting that lucas thinks of interactions as investments and transactions. there’s a thousand other words that can be said when he stops wanting anything to do with her, but he specifically changes the situation so it’s about him, about spending his time. this ‘ interactions as transactions ‘ is shown again when lucas refuses to be friends with mike if he keeps seeing eleven. i think this really shows how strategic he is, even with his own friends.

‘Weirder than normal.’ / ‘Because she’s a traitor. You did it, didn’t you?’ / ‘I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks.’ Lucas Sinclair. On the train tracks and after.

in the ‘ weirder than normal ‘ scene, we see that it’s lucas who notices something is off with eleven --- mike clearly idolises her too much and dustin is distracted by the compasses. it’s important to note that lucas has been watching her enough to notice a change, so he’s clearly taken note of her behaviours. once more, lucas is the most analytical of the group, so it’s not a surprise ; to play in with my headcanon of his aunt, lucas felt as if he didn’t watch her enough, and that it was somehow his fault when her state began to deteriorate. by watching eleven so heavily, he’s attempting to make amends. the ‘ i saw her ‘ also shows how lucas relies heavily on eyes and what can be seen.

use of the word traitor / freak / weirdo throughout show how lucas succumbs to stereotypes --- even despite how logical he is, he thinks that people fit a TYPE. he believes that people can be fit into a single world. 80s culture was defined by a wave of upheaval, with the people in power ( johnson and kennedy ) only attempting to make changes that impacted society. due to this, and the various attitudes towards black people in the period ( negatively socially, and politically rather lacklustre ) meant that lucas was raised in a time of great CARE. he had been conditioned to follow stereotypes so he naively puts them on other people.

“Maybe she’s the monster.” / Lucas being throw across the field by Eleven’s powers. / “That was awesome. It was awesome.” Lucas Sinclair. Multiple times, when Eleven uses her powers.

MONSTER. lucas has already strove throughout the season to dehumanise jane, but the use of monster is obviously the most violent language he’d used in regards to her ; at this point, lucas’ idea of a monster is pretty muddled --- he’d seen glimpses of horror movies and he’d had THE TALK at school about human monsters. but, really, his only interaction with monsters are in d&d. not only is he dehumanising her to himself, he’s fictionalising her. logically, he can’t quite fathom her, so he files her away with the monsters mike had described. it’s also another linking of mike&eleven in his mind.

as for his interactions with her powers, they’re initially used AGAINST him. she reminds him of troy, of the bullies in school at that moment --- even after he compliments her powers, showing an apparent reconciliation, he doesn’t ENJOY eleven’s powers. he thinks it’s cool, sure, but in the same way that caged tigers are cool. it’s cool when it’s not used against him ; he’ll wince at any use of eleven’s powers and, on the whole, feels very negatively towards them.

“Keep Eleven out of sight and keep her safe. That’s the most important thing.”

okay, everyone has seen the pool scene where lucas starts taking care of eleven after she’s used up a lot of her powers. more than that, this line is important because it shows how quick lucas is to form loyalties and bonds with people ; after spending so long resenting eleven’s presence and what she represents, it takes one apology from mike and her for him to commit himself entirely to keeping eleven safe ( she’s also become useful to him now, interactions as investments --- ). it’s not fair to say that lucas is completely comfortable with eleven after season one, there’s healing needed on both sides, and lucas is still a little scared of her powers, but it’s pretty easy to see that lucas’ leadership qualities have made it so he’s dedicated to eleven.

#ooc.#meta.#headcanon.#it's sort of a mix of both #this is like. important and it'll guide a lot of my interactions with els #this is really mismatched and only bits are NEW information #but i like analysing lucas' chara!! he's interesting n no one in the tags is doing it #long post /

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michael-hearteyes-wheeler · 6 years

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Movie Night

Hey Everyone! So this is the first oneshot of my new series. Its all based on an au where The Losers Club and The Party are childhood friends. Its going to be sweet and sappy, and explore the hilarity that would come from having all thirteen of these teens living in one town (and more or less all living at the Byers house).

Hope you Enjoy! And Check out @losers-party for headcanons based on this verse. (Read on AO3)

“Are you sure we can trust you with this?” Stan crosses his arms, looking down his nose at Richie.

When the prospect of a movie night was suggested, the entire Byers home excitedly debated potential films and genres. After much bickering, Richie ‘graciously’ offered to walk to the blockbuster himself. It seemed like a good idea, but Stan was unconvinced of his motives being pure.

“Aw come now Stanley! I'll make sure to pick something brilliant.” Richie, chuckling through his famous british guy and winking.

“Ugh I'll go with him.” Max groaned, rolling off of the couch.

“So that you can get some cheesy gore fest? No thanks. I'll go.” Mike W sighed, rising from the floor next to El and Will.

“Why don't you all just go.” Joyce offered, emerging from the kitchen with a smile that said ‘its not an option’. Mike and Max shrugged, and joined Richie on the lawn.

It was the perfect day for a walk, so no one bothered to grab their wheels. Even Max left her board at home. The blockbuster hadn't been open long, but the kids frequented it enough to know the best shortcut, and for the bored store clerk to know them by name. Mike debated between The Goonies, and The Breakfast Club for awhile before getting both. Max slipped in line behind him and cleverly hid the title of the undoubtedly horrifying movie she picked. The two of them waited outside, taking in the afternoon sun, waiting for a suspiciously long time for Richie to finish finding his movie. It probably was for the best that he didn't go alone, because when asked, he only smirked in reply and clutched the black plastic bag tighter to his chest.

Back at the house, Dustin and Ben were back from their own trip to the supermarket for snacks. Dozens of boxes of candy, bottles of soda, and cookies from the bakery lined almost the entirety of the Byers kitchen counters. The smell of burnt popcorn seeped out from the open windows and filled the yard at they walked up the dirt driveway.

After some bickering over who got which box of candy, who got to take the couch, and who got to sit where, it was almost sunset. Max and Richie whispered and giggled with one another as they hid there vhs tapes, and squeezed into the weathered armchair.

Mike W ignored them and decided to play The Goonies first. It was one they had rented before, but the magic of the film, and the inspiring group of kid characters was all too familiar. It felt like a life each of them had lived.

Mike W, El, and Will crowded the couch next to Joyce. Dustin emerged from the kitchen with the last of the bowls of popcorn and found an open place on the floor next to Lucas and Ben. The coffee table had been pushed against the far wall long ago, leaving room for the tangle of blankets and pillows that seemed to permanently litter the living room floor. Thirteen teenagers crammed together, eyes transfixed by the movie on screen, laughing at jokes they had heard dozens of times before.

Stan and Mike H held hands under a warm blanket. Bill doodled absentmindedly in a sketchbook while Bev leaned her head on his shoulder. Dustin and Lucas tossed popcorn back and forth before Hoppers booming voice filled the room.

“Hey, if you are going to have a food fight then you need to actually clean it up.” The police chief got home just as the credits began to role for the first movie, and an inky blue night sky settled outside.

“Oh like you didn't start the last one.” Bev teased, turning to look up at him.

“And I won too.” Jim winked, leaning over the back of the couch to kiss Joyce's head and ruffle El’s. All he had to do was snap at the giggling kids in his chair to send them to the floor. “What’s playing next?”

“I grabbed The Breakfast Club.” Mike stood to change the tape, stepping in between the unoccupied spots on the floor.

“Actually, now that it's dark, I thought we could watch something a bit more... thrilling.” Max smirked, unearthing her secret movie pick. Dr. Terrors House of Horrors. A horribly dated looking and well loved box cover depicting the classic style of 1960’s horror.

“God Max! I knew you would pick something messed up!” Mike sighed, but reluctantly let her play the movie. He could see where this was going, so he pulled Will’s hand and dragged the smaller boy into the dining room. Neither being a big fan of horror, whenever Max got her way they would settle for finding something else to occupy their time.

As the sounds of sweeping orchestral music played from the tv set, Mike grabbed the scrabble set from the shelf. Everytime a shriek from on screen made the smaller boy flinch, Mike would grab his hand or make him laugh by placing down a ridiculous word. Mike was no scrabble champ, at least not compared to Stan or Max, but he was good enough to keep Will’s attention away from the gore on screen.

After the first act, Stan and Mike H joined them at the table. Stan looked practically woozy from scenes that were making Max and Richie cackle with delight. It didn't take long for him to get in the zone however. Playing words like ‘Foliage’, ‘Oxazepam’, and ‘Philanthropist’. They had an unspoken rule to not even bother keeping score if Stan was playing (although he kept his own score in his head). One round turned to three, and then five, and then they lost count. Giggling and sipping sodas and ignoring whatever was happening in the living room.

Eventually the numbers in the living room dwindled. Ben and Bev decided to leave to one of the back rooms when they had been aggressively shushed for the last time. Bev thumbed through a magazine while Ben put his New Kids on the Block tape in Jonathan’s old boombox.

Eventually Lucas joined them too. Not even lying shoulder to shoulder in between Max and Dustin could save him from the headache all the screaming was causing. Lucas really enjoyed spending time with this quiet couple. Lucas curls up at the foot of the bed and flips through a stack of comic books, making sure to share his favorite panels with the other two. Ben has his nose buried in a journal. He keeps sneaking glances up at the other two on the bed, and Bev takes notice. Part of her wonders if he is writing another poem, and the way he curls the edge of the journal up to block her view, she thinks he might be. She blushes at the thought.

Some point later they can hear the stomping of a sleepy Hopper make his way to bed. As well as the giddy laughter of the board game turning into more of a ‘lets see how ridiculous of a sentence i can make’ game when Bill and Dustin join the table.

That leaves only Richie, Eddie, El, Max, and Joyce in the living room. Eddie fell asleep some time during the beginning of the movie. Richie runs a lazy hand through his hair while his eyes stay glued on the screen. Joyce smiles out at the group of kids in the dining room, and silently wishes Jonathan could be here too, as well as those two terrific partners of his.

Stan and Mike H get up to get ready for bed after Stan realizes his nightly routines have run a few minutes behind. Not long after, a sleepy Will shuffles back to his room as well, followed slowly by the others one by one. Mike W collects El from the couch and walks with her to Will’s room that has more or less become a community slumber party room.

Mike H comes back out and scoops up Eddie, carrying him to his sleeping bag with a smile. The chatter in the house quiets to only a few hushed whispers as one by one the kids drift off to sleep.

Once the movie ends, Max drags herself to curl up in between Bev and Lucas on the small bed, certainly only meant for one person.

“Are you tired?” Joyce smiles down at Richie, the only person left on the mass of blankets in the darkened room.

“Not really. You up for one more movie?” He swaps out Max’s tape for his own and Joyce nods.

“What do you have in store?” Joyce smirks. It has become a secret tradition between the two near-insomniacs. Richie makes a game out of finding the strangest movies in the ‘foreign’ section. Whatever has the most interesting box art, or the most obscure description.

“It's called ‘The Holy Mountain’. Its spanish, from 72, but the back said that it isn't for the faint of heart. I figured we could handle it.” Richie took his seat next to Joyce on the couch and let the film play.

Usually Richie feels the need to make jokes during movie night (much to everyone's chagrin), but that need is never present with Joyce. Her unceasing understanding and patience. It's like she just gets him, no strings attached.

Inevitably, the droll of spanish lulls him to sleep. Slumping against the arm of the couch with his glasses falling crooked. He never remembers it, but he always wakes up in his sleeping bag next to Eddie.

Movie nights don't get to happen as often as they all might like. Given their various schedules and after school activities, but it's always a reminder of what they are. A family. Strange and often chaotic, but full of love and acceptance.

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