#comp het mike

[lalallalas-posts]

aww he's trying to convince himself

[hypoclericalcunt]

Comp het and internalised homophobia is very real. I knew that people could be gay, i had many queer friends, i would always think of myself as an ally, I always thought women were hot, it was always i support gay people, people can be gay, women are hot, but IM not gay. Definitely. Very straight. This is why I sympathise with Mike so much, I am so fucking gay, and it's not even the 80s so there's not as much homophobia as there used to be. My own friends had randomly asked me if I was gay I was like WHAT ? NO ! i used to have a MASSIVE crush on a friend of mine and she herself was bi and STILL i thought I was straight. lt feels so good to be true to myself and stop pushing that part of me away, I live in a conservative place with a conservative family, but my brother is a huge liberal, and STILL i felt unsafe. I knew about byler, I knew about MIKE'S comp het plot, and STILL I was like, he's gay, but IM not. No way.

Anyway I made this post because Mike's storyline means so much to me and to so many others. This is another reason why byler becoming canon would be huge and help SO many people.

[sunflowerbyler]

When you make up a curfew for you and your gf and your friends think it’s cause your sweet and romantic but really you spend hours kissing your girlfriend to convince yourself that you like her because you know if you spent any more time with your best friend there would be issues

[bluestreetlights]

watching stranger things with my sister is so weird….

tell me why she ships mike and el together 😭

cmon on now we know the show is just 5 seasons of slow burn between will and mike

[willthecleric]

I love how Milevens ignore that Mike literally told Max El was dead shortly before she came back. 💀 He can bs he ‘never gave up’ as much as he wants, but it doesn’t change facts. He didn’t go out looking for her. He thought she was dead and he was seeing things whenever something pointed to her being alive. And if anyone tries to argue with that he literally told Max she was ‘like Bob’ after Bob died.

They established a deliberate contrast between Byler and Mileven with S1 and S2. They’ve contrasted the two ships throughout the series. And if you watch this show with your eyes open and your heteronormative goggles off it’s obvious who Mike is in love with and can’t live with out.

i'll do you one better

when will disappeared mike ACTUALLY FUCKING WENT OUT AND TRIED TO FIND HIM EVEN THOUGH ALL AUTHORITY WAS TELLING HIM NOT TO AND HE LITERALLY SAW WILL'S DEAD BODY YOU ABSOLUTE MORON

"held onto every bit of hope he had for her"

mind you this ^ is mike when he literally SAW HER. he did not hold onto every bit of hope as you say, he thought he was going crazy. which is OKAY, it does not make mike a bad friend or person, but it's just insane to me how mlvns will say ANYTHING THEY WANT and pretend it's true even if it contradicts canon😭 they want mlvn to be way more than it actually is. he did not latch onto every tiny sign that el was alive and launch a calculated plan to find and bring her back, he did that for WILL. IN CANON.

my top 3 most hated online communities:

1. r/strangerthings

2. mlvn twitter

3. mlvn tiktok

[loversnoworse]

Mike’s face after he tells el she’s pretty btw

hey Siri define comp-het

[nobylerdoubt]

Analyzing it coldly, Mileven is even a little inappropriate, El grew up in a laboratory, she didn't even know what love was, much less romantic love, and suddenly she has a boyfriend, like???

Born Sexy Yesterday

Some pulls from this Wikipedia article.

"...the term describes a common narrative device in science fiction, among other genres. Female characters are typically stunning yet childlike, embodying a paradox of adult sexuality paired with social naivety, and are often even artificially created. They often awaken in new and confusing worlds, relying on male counterparts for guidance." "These characters may take forms such as robots, mermaids, or otherworldly beings, consistently displaying childlike innocence despite their mature appearances. While these characters often serve as heroines, their portrayal perpetuates harmful stereotypes about female innocence and male dominance. McIntosh's video highlights the prevalence of the trope in various films, exposing its underlying sexism and paedophilic implications." "...cater to a male fantasy of innocence and sexual purity, positioning their male guides as "the most extraordinary man" in their lives." "Television shows like Stranger Things (featuring Mike and Eleven) exemplify the trope."

Yes, Eleven has very little understanding of the world, and one of the first things she's made to understand is romantic interest. Now I'm not gonna villainize Mike for this - he was also a naïve child when the two started their relationship - but I will villainize heteronormativity. I firmly believe that Mike was pushed into this relationship almost as much as El was - be it by peer pressure from his friends, or the comp-het that comes with the idea of "she's a girl, I'm a boy, and she's my friend... we must be boyfriend girlfriend." (It's a feeling I personally very much relate to.)

El has never had the opportunity to learn love organically. Mike is fooling himself into believing this relationship is love.

[dapperapple]

Mike's crush on El does not necessarily contradict him being gay rather than bi

I wanna start off by clarifying that if you see Mike Wheeler as bisexual rather than gay, THAT'S 1000% VALID don't let anyone take that from you babe

this is just my perspective as a lesbian who thought she was definitely straight until the end of 10th grade (age 16, a bit older than Mike and Will are in canon)

I was rewatching a lot of scenes from the show, mainly s2 and s3, to see if I thought that Mike's feelings for El came across as weird/forced or if their relationship felt off

and honestly it left me (a Byler shipper) pretty confused at first

because YES there are a lot of odd things about his feelings and their relationship

BUT ALSO

there are a few moments that are so cute and feel so genuine I didn't know what to do with them for a sec

mainly all the scenes where they're together at the Snowball dance

because that shit seems real to me, it's cute as fuck, that is a Mileven win right there if there ever was one

and honestly, the forehead touch when she and the Byers are about to leave, and again when they reunite in s4

dude that shit is so sweet okay

(Mileven shippers are valid even if I disagree with it for the narrative)

ANYWAYS here's where my personal experience comes in to help out with my confusion over this

Mike in s1 feels the most obviously comp-het to me

because I had a big crush on a boy in kindergarten, another in gr2/3

I didn't even know what gay people were, I knew girls liked boys, so if a boy was my friendly, and nice to me instead of mean, I probably would've liked him or thought I liked him

Mike in seasons 2-4 reminds me of myself in gr7/8

the most intense crush I had on a guy was in gr7/8

I was more used to being friendly with guys at this point but this guy was becoming a close friend of mine

a cute confident guy who was nice, funny, and taking an active interest in me as a person was like wooaahh

I really do believe that Mike unintenionally idolized El, putting her up on this pedestal, with his self esteem all wrapped up in her liking him back

but I also don't think that's his fault, when you're young you don't know any better

the pressure to date starts to increase a bit, and low self esteem is kicking your ass

I did the exact same thing with the guy I liked, I had this whole other version of him in my head and I started liking him less and less the more he didn't act like that ideal

(insert Mike's behavior towards El after she assaulted Angela)

even after I figured out that the kind of person and the kind of connection I wanted in a relationship was something I was far more likely to find with a girl, I still thought I was straight, so it just made me kind of sad

like- I had resigned myself to the fact that I would struggle to find a guy that I TRULY liked

maybe it was lingering internalized homophobia, idk, I had lots of gay friends, but I just hadn't felt that way about any girl at all before, I didn't think I was capable of being attracted to girls

and then there was her

we became very close friends, she was such a kind person, so fucking funny, an incredibly skilled artist, and absolutely gorgeous

and it finally clicked

finally my mind registered the fact that I COULD be attracted to girls

I still consider her my first love

and then there was no turning back

WHICH IS WHY

I wouldn't be surprised AT ALL if it takes Will coming out to Mike/the party in order for him to consider Will romantically

not because he isn't already in love with him subconsciously

but because I don't think he has registered it as a possibility for EITHER of them

moral of the story:

COMPULSIVE HETEROSEXUALITY IS REAL GUYS AND IT CAN FEEL MORE REAL THAN YOU'D EXPECT

especially since when you're young, the differences between boys and girls (both physically and how we're socialized) are much less apparent

MIKE WHEELER I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE (because me too!!)

[sooocty]

The other day on a s1 rewatch cements Byler for me (even if it isn’t canonized in s5) (Also someone has probably said this before but idc)

El and Mike honestly don’t have a lot of romantic Chemistry (even in a puppy love sort of way)

The almost kiss and then actual kiss is just El mirroring Mike, because she has never seen that behavior displayed by anyone around her at the lab (for obvious reasons) She even is comfortable with the idea of her and Mike just being siblings.

For Mike I think it’s a comp-het reaction

As we know poor baby Will is known as “the gay kid” for whatever reason. Mike being his best friend probably gives him this label as well. So he pounces on the “first girl no grossed out by him”. Then proving “look I’m straight! I have a girlfriend”

Or in TLDR I think Mike was using El as a beard in S1

[cloudycleric]

tl;dr for my bi vs gay mike truthers video

basically, summarized, through my own research ive concluded... mike wheeler is....

unlabeled!!

i don't think the whole bi vs gay mike truthers thing needs to be a thing. like i dont get why it was ever as controversial as it was. you can very much interpret the first few seasons of stranger things through the lens that mike wheeler did in fact have a crush on el. or, you can support the theory that neither of them had a crush on each other, but mike felt a sort of comp-het impulse to have a crush on el. whichever theory you support is fine.

but, (if you believe this) just because mike never had a crush on el doesn't mean he can't be bisexual, mike could very well be gay as well & only experience attraction to men, but honestly, who cares! i don't think we need to force a label onto mike if the show doesn't want to give him one (yet, if they do in s5, i will update this).

being a bi mike truther doesn't erase mike's obvious queerness, & being a gay mike truther doesn't make you biphobic. it's just not how it works. at the end of the day, mike wheeler is queer in some way shape or form whether he chooses to identify as gay, bisexual, unlabeled, or whatever the fuck he wants.

i'm learning different styles of literary theory & criticism in my english classes right now, & i think something that they said in the class about criticism & theory about writing (& various forms of media, it doesn't just have to apply to writing) is that criticism & theory helps us see stories & interpret things in an infinite number of ways, & i think that's really nice. the only problem is when people start declaring their theories as true.

i've fallen into this, i'm sure a lot of bylers have, into the over analysis train. as much as i love theorizing about byler, looking at the cinematography & writing & editing & lighting & whatever, at the end of the day, we're all just theorizing based on the evidence that is presented to us. just because a light shines on will doesn't necessarily mean that mike sees him as his sunshine & true love, but we can definitely theorize that that's what it means! & after byler is confirmed canon in s5, (or god forbid it's not), we can finally have a resting answer to our theories. but again, a story is a story, you can still have theories about it even if the show is over.

it's your choice whether or not you want bi/gay mike truthers to interact with your page, it's your social media experience & you should be able to tailor it to how you see fit. the only thing i get upset about is the fighting over it. i just think the whole super heated debate about it is a bit silly.

anyway, that's my two cents. this was longer than what i thought it was gonna be & honestly more comprehensive than the video, so. i hope this makes sense. if you're a gay mike truther, you're valid. if you're a bi mike truther, you're valid. if you're an unlabeled mike truther, your valid. if you're using your analysis & theories as facts & as justification to be mean to others over the internet, you are in fact NOT valid.

[strawberrybyers]

found this rant in my drafts from last year and i believe it still applies so here it is:

i sometimes cannot handle the mental gymnastics of trying deny will has been gay from the start. will being gay didn’t come out from nowhere. will being in love with mike didn’t come out from nowhere. i’ve been saying it and i will say it again: if will was a girl, then everybody would be rooting for byler. none of the bullshit that has been said would be said and i full heartedly believe that. this is why byler becoming canon would be historic. enough with the stereotypical queer characters. enough with putting queer characters in their death beds after experiencing trauma after trauma. we need will and mike to become canon because they break the mould of what hollywood and society has been trying to say is acceptable in films/tv shows in regards to queer characters. like the progression of will’s character with his sexuality is very relatable to a lot of people. and if we are right about mike being queer, then him being repressed, dealing with internalized homophobia, dealing with comp het, like all of that is also very relatable for a lot of people!! and all of this would be written in one of the most popular tv shows in the world. mike and will’s story is important and if you can’t see that, then please just leave queer people alone, go find another show to watch where everyone’s straight (trust me that won’t be hard to do!), and kindly fuck all the way off.

[threebooksoneplot]

Episode 32 - "Son-Zoned" (Show Notes)

listen along here

General New Moon content warning for ongoing discussions of suicide!

[00:05:44] Wikipedia's article on "comp het"

[00:06:14] Brokeback Twilight

[00:08:06] Maggie Stiefvater's substack about page-to-screen adaptation from an author's POV (spot the Catherine Hardwicke mention. And oh quelle coincidence, I wonder what happened to that adaptation of the Raven Cycle?)

[00:13:10] Donate to the Quileute tribe's Move To Higher Ground project here!

[00:20:30] M references Gravity Falls season 1 episode 04 (Bella be like)

[00:30:33] “Carpe Diem. Stand on your desk”

[00:32:51] Sweethearts candy, for the rest of our not-so-tragically deprived international listeners

[00:33:19] vs. Sweetarts

[00:34:37] M is correct, it’s “Kim, there’s people that are dying”

[00:35:54] Face Punch

[00:36:01] The irl Crosshairs movie (yeah it looks bad)

[00:39:06] Tomorrow is Forever

[00:41:51] I can only assume M is referencing this moment of Bob's Burgers

[00:44:24] “Like that Predator gif” (Jacob and Mike be like)

[00:46:26] - A glimpse of M’s new “Jacob’s music” playlist

[00:50:47] The movie theater non-handholding scene from G’s tumblr header

[00:58:25] The Julia Cudney video where she reads all the Bridgerton books and discusses misogyny

[01:04:16] G references the Bible verses about “cutting out your eye,” Matthew 5:29-30, while M references Much Ado About Nothing act IV, scene i

[01:05:26] “Ok A/B/O” (G is alluding to the Omegaverse trope of “claiming”)

[01:15:30] By “it’s her little Pretty Woman moment,” we assume M is alluding to the scene where that movie's sex worker protagonist, Vivian, refuses to be financially "rescued" by her love interest

[01:17:53] “Nemo” is Shannon’s Honda Fit and “Priya[nka Chopra]” is G’s Toyota Prius hatchback

[01:30:57] G is making an extremely unintelligible reference to The Picture of Dorian Gray character Sibyl Vane, an actress who finds fictional romance is ruined for her because it doesn’t compare to the real thing (cw: suicide mention)

[maybanksbabe]

https://www.tumblr.com/maybanksbabe/737347016135458816/unpopular-opinion-alert-i-think-i-dont-really

again, if the showrunners weren’t COWARDS they would explain Kie’s interest in all the boys by comp het, bc even tho she seems to be coming onto all of them at one time or another, she doesn’t seem to really like any of them or anyone else. there’s so much to be done with her character i don’t get why they keep her so boring and surface level. the more i watch the more insensitive she comes off. getting on the boys about using plastic, when they prob don’t have the resources to be all environmentally conscious and the ‘would be so much easier without parents’ like girl..

the person we see her get the realest with is always sarah (imo) and their whole falling out is 110% giving Sarah realizing Kie is lowk crushing on her and she’s crushing on Kie too and panicking. She basically gives John B and Kie the same speech abt running when people get too close, just with a different conclusion. i don’t wanna say queerbaiting but in my head S and K slept together when the boys put them on the boat

-🐝

Yk what? I thought about that too and it just makes more sense, dynamically?? And ESPECIALLY the boat scene the vibes are There and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they had slept together whilst stuck on that boat 🤷🏼‍♀️

And tbh after giving it a bit more thought, Kie probably wouldn't feel comfortable/able to come out, not in a place as small as the island, where everyone talks about everyone and with her (I don't want to say reputation BC that doesn't feel right but I can't think of the actual word) reputation, her parents social standing on the island, she probably couldn't come out even if she wanted to (and Mike and Anna give low-key unsupportive vibes on the front yk?)

There's just so many ways they could've gone about it but instead they gave us what we have now and we're having to do all the leg work lmao 😂

[whynotimtired]

Mike being gay wouldn't cheapen his relationship with El. He wasn't actively using her, he was confused. It's HARD. Figuring out your sexuality is HARD. Especially when everyone you know is pushing you into being in a relationship with a girl and telling you what you should be feeling. And the end of it all you can look at all of their "big moments" and see that they aren't inherently romantic. He loves her, he does. Just not like that.

You'll list the reasons that mike being gay would make him an asshole and then turn around and say that other gay men who dated women before coming out are completely valid when you clearly don't believe that. The 80's were really hard for queer people. A good amount didn't even realize until their 40's after they were married and had kids. Cause they were finally in a safe environment where they could think and self reflect. That doesn't mean they didnt love their spouse. That doesn't mean they were using them.

The same goes for mike. He loves her. Just not like that.

[nobylerdoubt]

Hi! I have to admit, I’ve been pretty strong with my byler doubt. I’ve been a byler since 2019, and I honestly avoid mileven spaces in general to protect my peace lol. And as a result, I’ve been super confident

But recently, I’ve made a new friend irl who really likes mileven and was also in the fandom back in 2022. We were talking about season 5, and I got genuinely scared 😭

She was pointing out how much stuff bylers have gotten wrong in the past. I honestly forgot about all these theories until she said them :/ Like we thought the monologue would be for Will, or how lots of bylers (not me tbh) thought the hug between Jonathan and Will was actually Will and Mike, or how we thought they’d get Murrayed. We thought Mike would have letters for Will saying love, and how I genuinely believed Mike and El would be broken up at the start of s4.

It just seems like we have been wrong a lot in the past. And now I’m like, what if it’s all for nothing? What if we actually are being queer baited? I’m just scared cause I really connected with Mikes story with comp het.

Just because you're wrong before doesn't mean you'll be wrong again.

And honestly? All the things you pointed out that Bylers were "wrong" about in the past were based on leaks or speculative theories.

Sure - we were wrong about the hug and the monologue. That was based on leaks and we held out hope of what it would mean for our boys. But its not a crime to get leaks wrong. Almost all interpretations of leaks are wrong. They're crumbs of information for us the interpret how we will - and we make a meal out of it.

And byler getting murrayed? lettergate? Those are fan theories based on (almost) nothing. (And honestly, jury is still out. It could still happen.) someone came up with an idea based on something small. They're more like stories or fanfics, something to think about to pass the time.

Well let me break it to you. I highly doubt we'll get flickergate. Churchgate could be about acompletely different plotline. Birthdaygate has a lot of promise, but I wouldn't be surprised if that didn't end up happening either.

If leaks and speculative theories were all we had to go on, I'd be worried too.

But its not. We have so much more.

Let me tell you a story. It's the story of how I became a Byler.

So I've been aware of Stranger Things since season 1. My mom and my sister watched it together, but I was staunchly against watching horror (still am) and I didn't want to watch it.

Season 2 came along and I'm lingering a little too long in doorways, watching in small bits in pieces, but leaving for the scary parts.

Season 3 comes along, and I'm a little more brave and a little more curious. I'd seen the Hillywood parody, and clips online about it. So I ended up watching it. (This is honestly my process for getting into a lot of fandoms.)

And I loved it.

Will was my favorite, which my mom and my sister thought was weird because they didn't like him for whatever reason. Losers. But it was because I was really getting into gay media, and I clocked Will as gay early on. That boy definitely had a crush on Mike.

I knew about Byler at the time, but I hadn't noticed anything that would indicate Mike liked him back. It would be cute, I had thought, but Will is moving and there will probably meet someone in season 4 that will become Will's love interest.

But then Covid game and it was 3 years until season 4 came out. I had drifted and honestly never super got involved with the ST fandom

I had waited to watch the first part of season 4 until part 2 was about to drop. I was working at a summer camp at the time so I wanted to try and watch it all close together.

I watch volume 1 and... no boyfriend? And Will and Mike are spending... a lot of time together... and it's almost... flirty?

And then the PAINTING?! The weird encouragement speech? Superhero?! Mike you should know better! Mileven on the rocks by the end of the season?! Byler's gonna happen!

I made the leap: I'm gonna join the fandom! I get on Tumblr and -

Everyone's devastated?

I went on to do my own digging through the show, watched theory videos and with every passing day I became more sure that Byler was endgame. The fandom obviously came around too, lol, after the initial shock.

But the moral of the story is this. What might have felt like a massive failure to you, might not be as bad as you think.

Sure, the hug wasn't Mike. The painting wasn't a swing set. The monologue wasn't for Will.

But what did we get instead? Jonathan noticing Will's feelings and supporting him. The Cyrano trope with the painting, and Will pouring his feelings into giving this gift to Mike. The monologue was such a disaster El didn't talk to Mike for two days when they were in a vehicle together the whole time.

We were wrong about how it happened but... none of these are Mileven wins. They are almost certainly setting us up for Byler endgame.

Maybe all the theories around the leaks and episode titles we have are wrong. But that doesn't mean that Byler isn't happening, because when we step away from the theories and look at what we have in the show - we're golden.

We might be wrong about how Byler will happen. But I highly doubt we're wrong about the idea that it will happen.

[gaysforbyler]

Definitely. Straight people call us delusional because they simply cannot fathom why Mike would date El if he was gay. They have never felt the pressure of society in the way we have, and they assume that if you like men, you would inherently know that. They don’t understand comp het, or even just being wrong.

And this is why I feel like it’s homophobic to be so anti-Byler. Rather than listening to queer people when we say “no, this is actually a valid and common experience,” they brush us off. Because obviously queer people don’t understand their own experiences. That would be crazy

dare I say i think the main reason why a lot people are ANTI BYLER is because they are just STRAIGHT which means they can not conceptualize the concept of interalized homophobia.