#and now has set them up for a much more s1 & s2-esque s4 which would be very welcome

[hudders-and-hiddles]

i'm having a lot of feelings about din choosing to go back and settle on nevarro. like, yes, they retook mandalore, but he has no true connection to the planet, he hadn't set foot there before this season, he tells us repeatedly that he knows little of wider mandalorian culture—the darksaber, pog soup, those who do not walk the way—and throughout the seasons other mandalorians have continued to look down on him and his way of life. so yes he helped them retake their home planet because it was the right thing to do but also ultimately said that is not what home is for me.

because what he actually said is, "perhaps it is time for us to live in the light once again on a planet where we are welcome, so our culture may flourish and our children can feel what it is to play in the sunlight," and the place he spoke of wasn't mandalore, it was nevarro. because for him, home looks like a place where he'd once only lived in the cover of shadow, in comings and going, but now can live—can stay—in the light and the relative safety, security, and peace that it offers. a place where they can flourish. a place where he's wholly welcomed, with friends and allies who respect him and the life he's chosen to live and where he can indeed watch his son feel what it is to play in the sunlight

[radiosandrecordings]

Okay getting DEEP into the Jon Design Timeline with @mcwebby and I have a theory/meta that sounds kind of outlandish but stay with me. And it’s about why people transferred from drawing Jon with jumpers/sweater-vests to cardigans. It’s about the emotional vulnerability, which turned into androgyny, and also the visual appeal of a well composed Jarchivist. No really, stay with me here. 

So it all really ties back to the hair as far as I can see, and how the hair is... tied.. back... Hah. When he’s given long hair, the styling of it depends on the artist, but commonly it will be tied back in some fashion, often with a centre parting. And this just generally looks nice with a cardigan, because it sets up the centre as the focus point for his design. There’s just a line going down the front the whole way and it’s all very Graphic Design is my Passion. 

Now for the meta stuff. So I genuinely think you can tie something to the fact that people seemed to switch over to cardigans during S4, when so far his designs had primarily stuck to jumpers or sweater vests, much more generic or sometimes Cecil-esque. S4 is when Jon goes through a lot of his more emotional moments. I still hold up S3 as it’s key moment of his humanising when compared to S2 and especially S1, but S4 (especially as it’s when many people joined) was when we saw Jon at his emotional lowest. In season three he at least has a goal, travelling about and trying to stop the ritual. In a lot of S4 he’s kind of... Listless, depressed, plot still progresses but he’s sad and we really get a sense for the more soft, emotional Jon, the one who contemplates his own humanity and pines after Martin. So am I claiming that “He is more open emotionally, and thus, he is now wearing open knitwear as opposed to the single-piece closed jumper or sweater vest”... Yes that is exactly what I’m claiming actually. There is a certain degree of vulnerability to it I think! It’s also still recognisable as somewhat formal, but not really the office attire of S1. It’s a little bit more relaxed, often it’ll be slightly oversized to emphasise how he’s kind of small and gangly and not at all physically intimidating. Even artists who draw him with cardigans the majority of the time often give their S1-2 iteration a jumper because, I think, of that sub conscious association? 

S4 is also when a lot of GNC/Non-binary Jon was popularised (It was around a little bit before, but it mostly came from when Entombed came out and the summary referred to Jon as ‘they’ and it spiralled a bit, as far as I remember). And as stupid and cisnormative as it is, I do think there’s something to the fact that traditionally cardigans are more feminine and jumpers more masculine, and how people started playing with Jon and gender, especially again influenced by the long hair. People doubled down on the grandma look for a bit, either that or just going full Hot Jon. So maybe it wasn’t intentionally that deep and I’m projecting all of this in retrospect, but I think there is definitely something to say about the designs for him and how I would be analysing them from a film or theatre perspective if one were to be taken and used as an official visual for him. Kind of makes me want to write something in the style of an essay for my theatre or film class about how I would dress him as a character from a director’s POV in something. Make it symbolic instead of... reading 600 words into Nothing about a cardigan 

[kaypeace21]

So you're saying that the Duffers did a "bad season" on purpose? I'm all for theories, but why on earth would they do that??

No ,  that’s not what I’m saying! I’m saying just like how they made fun of mileven in s2 (they did so even more in s3). They showed all the romantic relationships that aren’t going to be endgame as dysfunctional . And they gave the fans “everything they wanted” (by showing how bad their ideas are- ie ships , evil russians, el is the ‘chosen one’ who is over reliant on Mike) while still forwarding the narrative . Aka mileven is bad and inhibits the growth of Mike and el .So  let’s show how it’s bad for el by reversing all her character development from s2 .Aka El saying “friends don’t lie”-to lying to her friends to suck face with Mike (and have Lucas even call her out saying “they’re lying”). And have El who tried to escape the cabin all of s2 to see her friends - willing stay isolated in the cabin to be with mike (and ignore all her friends for 6 months). Let’s also have mike go from team leader to inhibiting their plans and fighting with the team - except when Mileven was fighting and mike made the sauna plan. And have Mike pretend not to like d&d until the end when talking with Will and when mileven is broken up. Let’s have Mike also never apologize for lying , and compare him to controlling Hopper who says people are “corrupting her” , while the gals (max and Joyce) say both don’t respect El’s ability to make “decisions”. And just compare mileven to Hopper/El like we did in s2.And compare mileven to stancy in multiple ways- like calling both relationships “bullshit”.   And have El spy on Mike when they’re broken up and never apologize for it (like how the song they danced to in s2 “every breath you take’ is about a stalking ex gf). Etc.

Let’s reference “never ending story” as a reference of El being an alter and the “false chosen one” like the child hero atreyu in the movie. “Atreyu (who was deemed the ‘chosen one) is knocked  into the sea of possibilities. There he wakes on the shore of abandoned ruins. There Gmork (The Mindflayer) reveals himself, having been lying in wait. And then latches his jaws onto Atreyu’s leg.” Aka just like El- who by the way didn’t save any of the 30 + people cause they all relied on her to be the chosen one. Instead of actually relying on team work- like prior seasons. She lost her powers and the team had to save her in the end.

The Empress in the story later tells Atreyu, that despite being told he was the chosen one (he never was). And that it was always Bastian (Will) who was the chosen one -that could save them, all along! “Bastian (Will) is a shy-outcast (with a bowel cut) raised by a single parent, and teased by bullies from school. The book Bastian starts to read, describes the fantasy world of Fantasia which is slowly being devoured by a malevolent force called “The Nothing (the upside down- the Duffers originally called it ‘the nether’).And the empress says Atreyu’s (El’s) story, and “others” (the rest of the st cast) are following Bastian’s (Will’s) story all along, making them all part of his neverending story. Aka like how Will’s d&d campaign foreshadows all of s3. The Empress tells Bastian that he has the power to save them using his imagination since he created everything in the first place .*Bastian even temporarily goes evil after he loses his memories (just like Will).

And like I mentioned in my DID theory post- the cartoonish Russians are one of many  constructs of Will’s mind that came to life. Why they’re so over the top. And while discussing the mf they alluded to the darker story of trauma that connects back  to Will & Lonnie - like Jon checking Lonnie’s trunk for Will/ the mf throwing people in trunks, “bad screams vs good screams”,“stay still it’ll all be over soon”, the tub parallels. Having the d&d story Will wrote connect to the whole plot of s3 . And also connecting the Russians , hopper, and kali/el, to the mf. And I also explained why the mf pretended to ignore Will in s3.

The st production workers ,  in a netflix podcast criticized Erica’s pro capitalism comments saying they were  (”like a sociopathic veep character”). At the s4 video store they have a poster of  “the coco cola boy’ ( an anti corporate/ anti coke film). Specifically about coke affecting small town businesses - and the film also being an allegory of American imperialism .  And we see how (on the 4th of July) the mall affected small business in s3- and the mall (aka big business)  which was controlled by the ‘villains’/corrupt mayor were burned to the ground at the end of the season.

In s2 , Max criticized the s1 story while talking to Lucas- in a very meta way (saying about s1/lucas’ story. “ I really liked it. I mean, I had a few issues. I just felt it was a little derivative in parts. I just wish it had a little more originality, that’s all.” So lucas has a similar scene but for s3.Lucas says “new coke” (which was hated by pretty much everyone at the time of its release) is better than the original coke and the whole cast disagrees with him . In April 1985, Coca-Cola decided to change its recipe, abandoning what we now know as Coca-Cola Classic for a new flavor that was not well-received. Known as “new coke”(shown all over s3). Aka- the new upbeat setting of s3 which also takes place in 1985 (who’s plot , ships, and characterization appeared shallow on the surface). It’s a meta commentary of what they were expecting people would say about s3 , which also takes place in 1985 . (Aka s1-2 are better than s3, on the surface).  If you take everything at face value and don’t look behind the surface you will not like s3 as much (examples being)- the pro corporatism/ pro America stuff when the US gov used to be villains,or if you don’t realize how/why the chemical plots of the Russians/mf connect , or if you actually know what a healthy relationship looks like and saw the dysfunction of all the couples, or simply noticed the ‘plot holes’ of El being the ‘chosen one ‘ -the mf being was supposedly after since s1 , creates. Aka mf chased and posessed Will at school, when El was also at the school at the same time as Will/mf. But the mf ignored her at school, and instead the whole year he stalked Will . And he even said he wanted to kill everyone but Will last season -to supposedly wanting to kill everyone including Will. So when Lucas disagrees (saying the NEW coke/the NEW season is better than the original ) the whole cast glares at him in disbelief , saying “What?!”And Mike argues with Lucas saying  he’s “insane” .  And El (the ‘chosen one’ of that season) angrily cuts their argument short. They even say coke vs new-coke is “the same concept” as comparing the original ‘The thing’ movie (s1-2) with it’s remake ( s3/NEW season).Right before El says to stop fighting about it.

Duffers gave the fans what they wanted on the surface all under the guise of pro America corporatism on the 4th of July  (and hid the real stuff behind the surface) all while getting money from coke while dissing it. And criticizing pro-americana capitalism. Even s3 being advertised as the “summer of love” is a diss cause ‘summer loves’ are flings that don’t last after the summer (aka after s3) . I talked about all the evidence of why certain pairings (jopper, jancy, mileven, and lumax) are probably not endgame here. But, just looking at coke. Karen drinks newcoke while looking at billy. Mike drinks newcoke when complaining about el. max/el spun a newcoke bottle while spying on their then exes . Jopper drank new coke together. El being experimented on has been associated with coke since s1. Steve in s1 even puts coke on his black eye when talking about Nancy. And we know s3 compared mileven to stancy constantly. Lucas drank new coke and said it was awesome even when historically almost everyone in the 80s hated the new formula. The pairings advertised in the official “romantic” new-coke commercial were lumax, mileven, Karen/billy, and Steve/ some random girl named Tracy. And prior to season 3, Coke was always given a negative context, mostly being associated with the inhuman experimenting on El . (El in s1 has a ptsd flashback after seeing a coke beach -summer esque-commercial and then thinking of the time Brenner forced her to crush the coke can.) And they showed that s1 flashback in s3 , when El tries crushing a new-coke-can she found in the “trash” , and realizes unlike s1 she can’t anymore).