#mike wheeler is queercoded

[blingyu]

since netflix wants to talk about hidden rainbows in their shows, i think this scene in vol 2 is funny

they show argyle and his silly little rainbow socks and then bam we’re gonna pan up to mike wheeler’s face

[gayofthefae]

https://youtu.be/-hedzc5H7eQ?si=2chk-YA3uUUht7gv

Long but great analysis. Loved the points about the queer experience of possessiveness of same gender friend and now I'm totally thinking about how Will could have easily been queer without his relationship to Mike, narratively speaking, but Mike's behavior with Will is vital to Mike's. They're closer than the rest, but that didn't need to be true. And "closer" is a MUTUAL thing.

If their closeness queercoded Will, it queercodes Mike too.

It was Mike's decision to single himself out especially in season 2 with Will. The crazy together scene happened because he forbid anyone else from coming along and taking Will home. They aren't just closer. Mike makes a point of Will being his and seeking out alone time with him.

Will loves Mike deeply but he doesn't initiate things like this as much, as we know. They aren't just closer by default. That would be different. They're closer because time and time again Mike finds ACTIVE work arounds to ensure that he is with Will and even alone with Will.

If they were just close, they'd be besties who hang out every day etc. But that's not them, that's the party. With Mike and Will, Mike leaves the group to find Will instead (2x04), Mike bars others from following when he does spend time with Will (2x02), Mike prides himself on his closeness with Will (2x06, remembering him), and he makes it clear that he views Will differently than he views their other friends (2x08, 4x04).

They aren't special because the writers told us they are. And they aren't special because the gay guy with a crush on his best friend told us they are. They're special because Mike says they are.

The thing about this and Mike is, just like how they're "all best friends", it would be easier to have them all together all the time. Mike tells the entire group that he's gonna check on Will after school. They all look for Will.

It's not the Duffers. It's Mike. They all looked for Will, they all waited at the hospital, but Mike stayed up and ran fast enough to get to hug him first and alone. They all worried about Will's episode, but Mike made himself physically close and physically took him away from the others to go with him. They all missed Will, but Mike bought the plane ticket (and not just because of El, the other guys love El too).

The writers put them alone together, yes...well, sort of. Rather, the writers write Mike to take the initiative to get them alone together.

The difference is that Mike and Will are not in repeated forced proximity. They did not have to be alone together. Mike himself took action to ensure they would be.

[chirpsythismorning]

INTERESTING a storyline that ppl say would be impossible for Mike bc of x y z and yet here is Jack Mcphee in Dawson's Creek living his forced conforming lifestyle, dating a girl and denying his sexuality, having a mental breakdown in his nuclear family front hallway and everything...

[sophskullz]

Mike’s OPENING scene for season 4 having him being framed inside of a closet, the closet light is on, there’s a one way sign pointing to the closet, and in the frame before this we can see rainbow on the bottom of the letter is insane. They were basically screaming at us “HE’S GAY AND IN THE CLOSET”

[divinisable]

Can't believe there was a time when we fought for our LIVES to prove that there's a chance that Will might be gay and THEN we had the audacity to say that he might have feelings for his best friend and that's CANON now

[lordystrange]

Mike Wheeler’s queercoding with pride flags/rainbow colors 🌈

Max’ sleeves

Argyle’s socks

Him pointing to El whatever rainbow coloured is in front of Jonathan

Rainbow apple

Again idk what those are but rainbow colours anyway

Rainbow colors on his pillow case

El’s letters/drawings

And ofc the season 4 outfits

Comment or reblog with more!

[mikewheelerlikesboys]

Honestly if byler isn’t endgame we still aren’t delusional, the duffers are, because there’s no way they wrote the best gay slowburn and added so much subtext and queercoding without even realizing it

[doriandrifting]

One Way Signs as Queercoding: Subaru’s Gay St. Ad| Mike Wheeler’s bedroom

[Image one shows street signs on a pole outside businesses. One sign says “Gay Street”. The other says “One Way”. Below it is an ad featuring a Subaru. To the left it says, “KNOW WHERE YOU’RE GOING.” Underneath the car is their classic slogan, “It’s what makes a Subaru, a Subaru.”]

[Image two shows the opening scene of Season Four with Mike Wheeler in his bedroom. Hung above him on the wall is a “One Way” sign pointed directly into his open closet.]

[oursonwithagirl]

lmao i’d be terrified for season 5 if the character i’ve been trying to defend as straight had this introduction in the latest season

the rainbows???

the open closet????

the one way sign???

and even freddy mercury???

[bit-of-a-nerd]

What Mike’s Room Means About Byler

we’ve all talked and hear about mike’s rooms queercoding. people talk a lot about the posters, which have two things: fantasy and men. men is obvious queercoding when you look at other characters rooms. the lack of women is interesting when making the case that hes gay not bi. but theres something that people dont talk a lot about

mike and el have a very strong sci-fi coding. that makes sense, its a sci-fi show, and their biggest season together was the season based as an homage to classic 80’s sci-fi films. creators have made comparisons to et, her powers in s1 had a strong “alien” vibe from sci-fi, and imagery with things like star wars. 

however, byler has a strong fantasy coding. their first scene (both at all, but also their first one on one scene) had to do with dnd (fantasy game). this coding does go away for a bit in s2 when dnd takes a bit of a backseat (except for dustin coining the name of the mind flayer). but its back again in full force for s3. their major s3 fight (with TONS of queer mike coding and byler coding in general) was after the failed dnd game. will’s dnd game had some of the most pure fantasty vibes that we’ve seen of st dnd games.  the music he used, the costuming, the village all screamed medieval fantasy. 

not to mention dnd used to point towards mikes conformity. him leaving it in s3 is a sign of conformity, but him returning shows him starting to embrace himself. his costuming at rink o mania show’s thats not fully the case, pointing towards something else being the root of the conformity. then one of the (if not the) biggest byler scene, and the crux of what will be a major byler focused plot point, is will’s painting and the van scene. the painting? A FANTASY DND FIGHT! there’s a reason people love cleradin au’s and love the ship names cleradin and wiseheart. because dnd, and by extent fantasy, are woven into byler.

so keeping all that in mind, lets talk about rooms. rooms are usually a place for self expression. posters and things that express who you are and your interests. we've seen the duffers use rooms to express this in the past. but, they’ve also used rooms to show attraction. we dont see the second point much in mikes season 1 room, but we see the first. his room is a reflection of his nerdy interests and his friends mainly (also closet imagery!!!). but now that hes growing into a teenager it makes sense that we would begin to see the second part when we finally get his room again in s4. 

so: interests, we see his fantasy posters and his guitar. his fantasy posters line back up with his participation in hellfire. not TONS there, but some signals to him adopting eddies style due to some facsination/hero worship/crush(???) of the guy (an example being the guitar).

but attraction is where his room gets REALLY interesting. he has MULTIPLE posters of shirtless men. his one way sign to the closet. does more need to be said? it does. because attraction to men and being closeted, doesn’t mean much for being in relationships. (again bi people do exist!! he could be closeted and still in love with his gf)

In this scene he’s reading a letter from his girlfriend, in their ‘perfect’ relationship, their sci-fi coded relationship. so, even with the attraction to men coded, maybe the duffers didnt see the need to recode his female attraction, they just added coding of his relationship into his room, right? he might just not be the guy to have a shrine to his partner, he might just be more subtle?

except all the posters are more fantasy leaning. which is a different genre from scifi. his room does not point towards his relationship with el. but we fantasy is the coding behind his and will’s relationship. the same relationship that in their time apart he’s somehow managed to start acting weirder around his best friend, and feel the need to assert that they. are. just. friends. the same friend who just got confirmed in love with mike, and is now a love interest. 

I know theres been a lot of talk about mikes room but people haven’t really talked about the fantasy aspect, or bylers fantasy coding and mlvns sci-fi coding. I think it’s a lot more important than people are giving it credit for. 

[wheelercurse]

Mike Wheeler + Closets

or a brief guide to Mike's queercoding.

Using a closet is the most basic and overused way to queercode a character. This is one of the classic symbolism. Of course, not every time a character is framed next to a closet means that they're queer-coded, it depends on the context, but Mike has this motif when the scene is related to his relationship with El or Will.

The closet is used as a metaphor to represent an LGBT person hiding or repressing his true identity because they conform to society's expectations. Mike's arc has been about accepting his true self and stopping conforming.

Here are some examples of when they used the closet motif to queercode Mike (and Will too):

1.

This is the loudest one of them. El told him she loved him too, and Mike couldn't say it or kiss her back. And that scene happens when Mike is perfectly framed in an open closet. They're telling you what's the reason he couldn't say it.

In the last shot, he's literally left confused, and the closet illustrates his inner conflict: the tension between embracing his true self or conforming.

This scene is after his heartfelt moment with Will, which works as the resolution to their conflict in this season. They promised to keep playing d&d.

During the rain fight, Mike revealed his mindset. He believed that growing up meant stopping playing games and starting dating girls. He clearly was conforming.

2.

The first shot of Mike this season is him reading El's letter while next to an open closet. And then they gave us a shot with a big "one way" sign pointing at his closet. The same way they introduced Will painting his gift to present his subplot this season. Mike's first scene showed his inner conflict this season: embracing his true self or keep conforming.

Then we saw him putting on his Hellfire Club shirt. It seems like he was accepting himself and embracing who he is. That he keeps wanting to play d&d.

But then, he arrives in California dressed as how he thought Californians wear and start acting weird with Will, and he can't even write "love" to El.

3. In the closet (at Rink O' Mania)

I can't believe they got away with this one. The track that plays during their fight at Rink O Mania is called that, and it starts playing when Mike is in the frame.

Yes, it's also called that because El was in the employees-only room hiding, and it's like a closet. But again, who was the one perfectly framed in front of it while arguing with Will that they were only friends? Mike.

Of course, the song is also to queercode Will, who is also in the closet, because this season, his whole arc is about hiding his true feelings for a boy.

Fun fact: This melody is a variant of another called Tribulations, which means troubles and events that cause suffering. It's like they're suffering because they're in the closet.

4. Will's room.

The closet is present when Mike apologizes for his fight at Rink O Mania. You can see Mike sitting in front of the open closet. Again, it’s a symbol for both of them. Mike is opening up more about his feelings, but they still hide their true romantic feelings.

At the end of this scene, Will takes his painting. They’re a step closer to being honest with each other. I talk more about the painting subplot here if you’re interested in reading it.

5.

What if I told you Mike’s queercoding has been there since season one?

This scene alone doesn't give us queercoded vibes because, yes, Mike was hiding El from his mom to protect her. But then... we have this conversation with Karen and Mike.

Karen brought up Will in the conversation and said she didn't want Mike to feel like he had to hide something from her. And Mike was hiding a girl (his future girlfriend) in his closet. It's self-explanatory.

And it's more incriminating that Jonathan and Will's scene, when he's clearly talking about Will's sexuality, it's worded similarly.

Both invited them to talk and assured them they would always be there.

Conclusion: Mike is also queercoded, and saying he's written as straight, it's just plain wrong.

[gayofthefae]

The use of "Bambi" but the line being "I'm so bad at this, I'm like Bambi on ice"

He's attempting to be a "Bambi", pretend to be heterosexual, but he's "so bad at [it]"

[emblazons]

"come on. just ignore them."

Mike Wheeler in S01E03 - Holly Jolly

[pyxy-styx]

My friends all went to sleep (I think), so I'm pestering my father about random things because idk what to do with myself

[brionysea]

manifestation theory being a thing that almost every important character in the show has figured out by now is making me emotional. they were really like yes mike keeps accidentally making dangerous things happen but the alternative to letting it continue is telling him that something he can't control is hurting people and letting him be dangerous to himself instead and that's unacceptable. like do you even get it. collectively forming a mike wheeler protection club whether he likes it or not is SUCH a concept

[pholiabanna]

If Mike and Will were characters in High School Musical, they would be THEM:

(and this is exactly the song they would sing)