ghostlycleric

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Maybe the ST5 teaser was the friends we made along the way

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WAITWAITWAITWAITIWJEKRORNRKRK

Yeah the suspense IS killing me why was that ALL CLIPS WE’VE ALREADY SEEN

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bylers and the byler-adjacent side of the stranger things fandom are/is such a double-edged sword because on the one hand it's fantastic to have thousands of super well-thought out analysis posts easily available but on the other hand it's hard as shit to come up with anything that somebody hasn't said before in some capacity

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Every once in a while I remember that Will’s romantic love for Mike is confirmed canon, and I just lose my mind all over again. Like that’s INSANE.

I know we’ve all kind of moved on because, yeah, obviously he loves Mike we never needed confirmation. But like the difference the phrases “Will is 100% gay and in love with Mike” and that one Duffer brothers interview made for byler as a whole is insane.

Because that didn’t just confirm that Will loves Mike. It confirmed that we’re dealing with a love triangle. A. Canon. Intentional. Love. Triangle. That alone recontextualized literally all the byler evidence we already had. Yeah the framing of Mike and El’s breakup as happy and bright and Mike and Will’s “breakup” as awful and dark and sad is insane by itself… but now we know that those are the two sides of this canon, intentional love triangle. That is how they chose to frame two options for the CANON, INTENTIONAL LOVE TRIANGLE.

There is no room for “they’re like brothers!” arguments or “why can’t guys just be friends!” arguments anymore because Will is CANONICALLY IN LOVE WITH MIKE. They’re not like brothers. Their relationship is special and “you could never really tell if it was something romantic.” THAT IS INTENTIONAL. CANON.

They proved that they’re willing to take this queer plotline seriously, unlike queerbaits in the past. They don’t laugh about Will loving Mike or joke about them being together in or out of the show, unlike queerbaits in the past. Will loves Mike and that is a sincere, delicately crafted portion of the plot just like all the straight relationships got.

Like I know we’ve been over this a million times, but I don’t think I’ll ever truly move on.

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This is a really long interview, so, in case you don’t feel like scrolling or reading, here’s the rest of the question that prompted this response.

i think the worst scenario for us byler shippers is not mileven being endgame, but rather the fact that ST ends and never confirms whether byler is canon or not. or if the duffers show that mike returns will's feelings but does nothing about it, and in the end we the audience are left questioning or creating scenarios that maybe the two ended up together... or not

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Literally S3 Will Byers after the rain fight

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NO WAY MO WAY NOW EIDJDDJEORN

THEY ACTUALLY GAVE US S5 PICS OMH TKEOENSNED HELP

BYLER ON THE SAME SCREEN TOGETHER SLMEONE SEDATE ME

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WHAT. WHAT. IWHAT DO TOU MEAN THE RIGHTSUIDE UP WHAT BRIDGE WHAT

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MILLIE DODGING THE FIRST QUESTION REGARDING THE MONOLOGUE

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Will getting to be the kid he was before he went missing just for one moment. Holly potentially going missing after this race (just like Will did), tainting that happy memory with UD trauma too. Guys.

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What if I said Will was blurred out here because he was smiling and that's not what they wanted for the shot? If they focused on Will's face here, like they did with Robin, it would send the wrong message.

In a season so focused on how sad Mike and El being together makes Will, suddenly including a moment where he was happy about them wouldn't make sense. But, they couldn't make him look upset, like Robin did, because that would make it seem like he was upset they found El (which would be out of character and bad for audience perception, which has been important to his character since s1).

Basically, they wanted to do 3 things: convey Mike and El being together as something that hurts Will, parallel Rovickie/put Will between them like usual, and convey Will is still ecstatic to see El. So, to do those things, they blurred Will out completely while standing between Mike and El. After that, they had him come into focus in a seperate shot where it's very clear he's only happy about El and not about he reunion with her boyfriend/his "crush".

That's why Will wasn't in focus in that shot. They couldn't have conveyed everything correctly if he was. That blur is what makes it a direct parallel to the Rovickie scene.

And no, they didn't just want the focus to be on Mike and El's moment. If they really wanted that Will wouldn't have been in the shot at all. They put him there on purpose when they really didn't have to, and it would've made more sense for him not to be.

Will being in focus and smiling wouldn't have conveyed the right message. Will being in focus and sad wouldn't have conveyed the right message. Will not being there at all wouldn't have conveyed the right message.

Will being there and blurred out conveyed the message they intended.

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I don’t remember if the Duffers themselves said anything, but I know Shawn Levy did.

“Each episode of the new season is double the length of a typical Stranger Things installment, running an hour or longer. Shawn Levy, the show’s director and executive producer, promises more action, but remains focused on the characters. ‘This show has always been an anthem to the outcasts,’ said Levy, whose next project is directing Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool 3. ‘Whether you were the popular kid in high school or the one on the margin, everyone knows what it is to feel on the outside looking in. And Stranger Things in many ways is about the ensemble of characters who share that experience. It’s about the struggles, but also the strength that comes from struggles.’”

This article is where I found it. It quotes like every actor, you just have to scroll a bit to find this paragraph. I don’t know if there’s any other specific place (like an interview) they got this quote from, but it’s all I could find.

st fans i need help with something!!

i'm writing an essay on stigmatization in the media for school and in the part where i have to talk about fictional characters i choose to talk about will byers (because of course i fucking did) and i wanted to mention how st has kind of sold itself as a show for "freaks" and "nerds" and whatnot because i remember they kind of did that in actual promotion posts in social media, and also that the duffers kind of implied that or said that in interviews??? maybe i'm crazy... so i wanted to ask if you remembered something like that happening cus i've been googling it and i can't find anything... if i'm crazy just tell me that <3

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OH MY GOD

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Am I insane or is he sitting on THE couch???

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New/old byler BTS 💗

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still thinking about how one of the simplest yet most powerful byler proofs is that stranger things is the duffer brothers’ love letter to DnD and byler is the only couple in the show whose love language is DnD