#stranger things 4

[bylerbean77]

YALL PLEASE REBLOG

THIS IS ALMOST AT 1000 LIKES OMG

No one died. Mike’s just grieving his heterosexuality

[cerebraljopper]

i know someone has probably posted this before but i’m rewatching friends and this sent me 💀

[mashkdemss]

The fact that Will prepared a project about Alan Turing means so much to me💔

[bylertruth3r]

*Lucas knowing Max's favorite song"

Mike about Will: "He was singing that weird song he loves"

They know their partners so well <33

Plus in s2 Mike stayed overnight with Will at the lab and in s4 they made Lumax parallel that by making Lucas stay with Max overnight at the hospital, this means that the Byler scene was always supposed to be romantic 🙂‍↕️

[t3ll4xd]

OHH THIS IS SOO COOL

There is always a game of tug of war going on between the real world and the upside down, and Will is the rope

[love-byers]

thinking about mike and will's outfits on this day being color coordinated with the primary colors (red blue yellow)

even down to the shades, dark blue, lighter blue, yellow, and red

[michaelwheelerdefiodental]

The myth of the general audience shipping milkvan is crazy. I remember in 2022 everybody was bashing Mike and Eleven as a couple and thought the confession was HORRIBLE. 3 years without a season really make some people forget about it.

Literally what i wanted to do as a casual watcher in 2022 after watching Mike's confession:

[scroofy-was-here]

what we should've gotten 😞😞

byler and elmax at rink-o-mania because why not ✨ *insert you spine me round by dead or alive*

[phoebebuggers]

a long cold war with the kids at the front.

[clericsandpaladins]

I will never not crack up laughing at this scene because of Michael Queerler.

[qqwim23]

gayest man alive.

[neptunian-a]

Papercraft of the boyfriends

Originally these were going to be just for my friends and I but I really liked how they turned out so I'm sharing them with you in case you want to print them

[burgundywing]

so i was talking to one of my friends about how Ive learnt a lot about queer culture and history through reading steddie fanfics and shes asked for reccs and i was wondering if anyone knew of any where eddie talks about queer history or explains things like hanky code and other identifiying methods. i think its a really interesting way to learn about queer history and i cannot find any of the ones ive read in my bookmarks

[bylertruth3r]

Joyce looking for Hopper in s4 with Murray's help parallels Mike looking for Will with El's help and Mike and Joyce both knew Will and Hopper were alive, the Duffers just copy and pasted the couples.. plus Mike looking for Will was intentionally romantic because Byler did it first and they made Jopper (an official couple) parallel that, plus Joyce and Murray are totally platonic btw like s5 Elmike

[lune-moon-nuit]

This is definitely the best analysis on El I have ever read. Everyone should read this analysis, especially on twitter !

El "Jane" Hopper — Independence, Selflessness and Male Trauma, A Character Analysis

Hello again. As you may know, I typically post Byler analyses and I also posted that I was working on a Mike Wheeler post but along the way of rewatching and rewatching, it became clear to me that El is the character that truly needs to be understood here, not just in regards to everything I have said in my posts, but in regards to her entire place in the show and who she represents. She is such an important character and I'm so excited to analyze her!

**So to my Byler readers: READ THIS ONE! I know you may only be interested in anything that "proves" Byler but I promise you that reading this will give you a clearer understanding of how El is the central character in this love triangle and how she's the one who holds the power in it, not Mike or Will. It's very purposeful that they made Mike her love interest.**

But without further ado, El Hopper:

I think El is such an important character on the show because her arc represents the trauma a lot of women deal with at the hands of men. And I don't want to make this post about men, this is not my intention, I want to make that very very clear, but I think for many women world wide our lives are heavily impacted by how men treat us, intentionally or unintentionally. So I think it's so important this story was told and El is an amazing character to tell it through because she is the embodiment of being independent her entire life. Also, please note that I love all the women on the show and they contribute to this theme in all types of ways as well, but this post is simply about El!

Independence And Intelligence, The Basis of Her Character

From the very beginning we know El is extraordinarily independent and strong; this is something that can never be misinterpreted because physically she's capable of a lot more than most and what sets her apart from 95% of the rest of the women on the show. But she's also emotionally and intellectually strong as well; she not only is able to endure many years of captivity and brainwash, she's able to free herself from that captivity at the mere of age of 11? 12? She's not as naïve as the some would like you to believe; when the boys find her, they suggest telling their parents, which is obviously reasonable. But El knows better, even if she doesn't know "They're going to take me to CPS" she knows telling an adult will lead to her getting taken back to the bad men. She's keen. She also points Will out of the pictures, indicating she has a big heart and would be willing to help them find Will, even though she doesn't have to even clue them in on any of it. Obviously narratively it helps the story along but it also indicates that she's a good person with empathy; she's emotionally intelligent even though she has not been lent the same empathy in most of her life. Not only is she able to care for herself but she saves the characters each season; In season one, she kills the demogorgan, in season two she closes the gate, in season three she fights til she can no longer fight and in season four she banishes Vecna. This proves that El isn't just the most independent character in the series, she's also the most selfless, constantly pushing herself to her limits in order to save the rest.

People would also like you to believe that she was/is completely unaware of social cues and norms. Which yes, there is definitely a lot she didn't pick up on because of her environment, but she's not completely unaware. In the first season she looks at the picture of Nancy and calls her "pretty", meaning she's knows what girls typically look like in society and may or may not want to look that way too. When she steals eggos, she knows she has to use her powers to get away because she has no money and she looks like a lost child. In season three, she doesn't automatically believe what Mike says about nana - she goes to Max because she knows something is off, even without a lot of social interactions and examples. All of this shows that she's a very perceptive character and understands other people a lot more than you think she does when you first watch it. The fact that she can go and find people in her mind also represents that she's very perceptive to others even if the main story line would like you to think otherwise. She's also very smart and finds other creative ways to describe what she wants to say. Despite knowing nothing about DnD yet she's able to use the game pieces and board to convey where Will is. She has survival skills. At Benny's she gets out of there as quickly as she can. Before that, she only tells him as little as possible in order to get food. She understands what he's saying and could answer "yes" or "no" but didn't. Most children would if they had been lost in the woods and homeless. Furthermore, she survives in the woods for presumably at least a little while, while it's freezing out. She finds food and warmth. She doesn't need someone else to come and save her, even though Hopper does. Further along in S2 she goes off entirely on her own in the Lost Sister episodes and is confident that she can survive out there by herself; she knows to some degree how independent she is. In season three, when Jonathan is trying to remove the creature from her leg, she tells him to stop and does it herself - she is completely capable on her own and knows how to survive without anyone else and there are plenty of examples of it throughout the show.

So now we have established that El is the most independent character on the show. But what we haven't talked about is if El views herself that way - which she doesn't. Of course to some degree she knows she is because of her powers and is seen by the risks that she takes but she still has codependency issues because of Papa, which is what we will see her come out of in S5.

Male Trauma

El ends up having three main males in her life: Brenner, Hopper and Mike. Now at first glance they all seem like completely different characters, and they are, yet they hold similairities when it comes to El's life and expericences with them. Now hear me out because I know that may sound insane. Hopper and Brenner? Alike? Mike like either of them?

However, there are clear and distinct parallels between them. Hopper and Mike actually truly care for El and that's why it makes the dynamics difficult for not only El but also us; it's harder to see.

So we know Brenner keeps El locked up her entire childhood. He's not outwardly sadistic towards her majority of the time though. He has a gentle voice, he pretends he's helping her with her powers rather than reducing her to a lab experiment, he convinces her that he protects her, calls her daughter and refers to himself as her Papa, etc. We as an audience can see how sadistic his behavior is but El herself doesn't fully understand until years of abuse and even after she escapes she still struggles with it, because it's all she knows until the of 12. That's a long time to go in an atypical abusive environment. Because she doesn't fully understand him being a bad person she has conflicting feelings for him. Her relationship with Brenner sets the tone for all of her relationships with other men; confusing poor treatment with love, fearing they don't love her for her but for her powers, fearing they're scared of her for her powers, fearing they're not telling the truth, etc.

Hopper, on the other hand, clearly cares for her, and we as the audience know it. El knows it. We know he keeps her inside to protect her, and in the beginning El understands this too. Even as season two progresses she on some level understands it's for her protection. But at the same time she is still a child and has been locked inside a house for a year now. This clearly resembles her previous situation, at least to her. She's heard lies from Brenner before, contradictions; and now it feels like she's hearing them from Hopper too. That he's the one keeping her locked away this time. She knows it's obviously different but to her, to this child who's emotions are only just beginning to develop into her own, it's confusing and on top of that she doesn't want to be locked away anymore. She even compares Hopper directly to Papa, indicating she definitely does have a difficult time fully understanding the difference in their behavior. Another parallel that is formed between Brenner and Hopper is when Hopper says "I protect, I feed, I teach" which is essentially exactly what Brenner did/claimed to do and what El perceives Brenner's actions as. Furthermore, once the tensions get to a point and Hopper and El begin to fight, El begins using her powers to express her anger. Hopper exclaims "What the hell is wrong with you?!" which can parallel what we figure out Brenner says to her in S4; "What did you do?" indicating she used her powers for bad and it makes her a bad person. What other character also says this to her? Mike, after she's hit Angela, this time not even using her powers, just reinforcing to her headspace that she's a bad person, this time with or without powers. This line/theme that is said to El throughout the show also reinforces the fear that the people, specifically the males, in her life are afraid of her because of her powers. Not only that but Hopper, in their fight, exclaims he can send her back to the lab, indicating to her (remember, a child) that as soon as she becomes difficult, she's to be given up on. I love Hopper and he's only saying it in the heat of the moment but he's also talking to a child who interprets, internalizes and connects things differently than an adult does. It's similar to her relationship with Mike, especially in S4; once she has no powers, she feels as though she's recognized a distance in Mike (still not being able to say ily) and that he doesn't love her anymore. She's become too difficult or useless (no powers) so now she's to be given up on (Mike doesn't love her anymore.) This is also why she doesn't tell him about the bullying even knowing he has been bullied and Will already knows; because again, she's become too difficult (Can't defend herself from bullies), and will be given up on (Mike will see me as weak and leave me.) Mike's behavior only strengthens this thought in her mind. It also goes back to her being the most independent and selfless character even if she doesn't realize it; she doesn't want or need Mike to defend her. She doesn't want to be seen as weak, especially by the men in her life, because she perceives her powers as why they love or care for her (Brenner, Mike) or why they took her in (Hopper, Mike).

Both Hopper and Brenner "lock" her away, creating a distinct parallel between them, even if they had completely different intentions. But how do we create this parallel with the last main male in her life, Mike? Well I'm sure a lot of you are aware of the subtext in the scene where Mike puts El in the closet in S1. If you're not, basically he hides her in his closet and the he has a very coming out coded conversation with his mom and many people think this points to him being gay, myself included.

However I feel as though no one has taken a look at the scene in the context of El and what that means for her character. This is yet again another instance where a man locks her away, in reality or metaphorically. In the scene El looks scared and frightened, which narratively reflects the trauma she has from being locked in cells by Brenner, creating a distinct parallel between Mike and Brenner. Obviously we know Mike and Brenner are nothing alike and Mike didn't mean to traumatize her by locking her in there, but it's very symbolic. Essentially, it foreshadows how El is going to feel in their future relationship; locked away inside Mike's secret closet, completely in the dark about what their relationship even is. And Mike, in the subsequent seasons, is totally unaware of this up until a certain point which reflects in how he comes back upstairs and is surprised to find her crying when he finally opens the door. He shouldn't be surprised though;. he already knows she doesn't like to be in closed small rooms because she told him the day before. You could make the argument that he forgot, but it's a script so it's important. He also says something along the lines of "you have to" or "it'll be quick"; can't remember the exact line but something conveying that he knows she doesn't want to go in there but she has to for his sake. Brenner did everything he did to El for his personal gain, not El's. We're not supposed to see the connection in real-time, only in retrospect.

So basically the men in El's life have all treated her similar regardless of their very contrasting personalities. By the time we get to season 4, this shows her that men will hurt her, intentionally or not, no matter how different or better they seem than the last one or the others in her life. The fact that the connections begin in the very first few episodes shows that this is a huge part of her characterization and heavily flows in each and everyone of her seasonal arcs.

In season four, we finally see her starting to let go of Mike, even though she began the season obsessed and heavily emotionally reliant on him. And although I'm sure Hopper and El will always be close, he's right behind her in the last shot, while she's descending downwards on her own, with Mike, Will and Joyce also behind her. This suggest she's not only moving on from Mike, but gaining even more independence from men and her family (Hopper, Joyce, Will). Remember, even though we as the audience know El is incredibly independent in all kinds of ways as I've explained, she has not necessarily understood that throughout all of the seasons, at least not entirely. That's why she clings so closely to Mike or Hopper and why she had trouble letting go of Papa until the very end of S4. It's obviously very reasonable that she would; Mike is her boyfriend and the first person to take her in, Hopper is her true father figure and in S4 she thinks he died, creating even more trauma and codependent issues to arise, and Papa was her very first father figure. But next season, we are going to see an El Hopper who does not need anyone and knows it.

How This Reflects In S4 and Sets Up S5

This brings us to S4, which sets up the precedent for El's final arc in S5.

In S4, we meet El where she has lost the most important male figure she's ever had; Hopper, while simultaneously being separated from the only other main male in her life who has treated her nicely, Mike. She's finally by herself, AND without powers, which gives her the time to finally understand her true self.

When she's being bullied and can't defend herself because of her loss of powers, it reflects how El thinks of herself without powers. That she's weak and can't defend herself. We see that because of her past, she has put her self worth into being a super powered person. Again, pointing to why she doesn't tell Mike. She's embarrassed and doesn't want Mike to see her as worthless now that she can't even defend herself; after SHE used to defend THEM from bullies. Of course this has to affect her self esteem deeply. She's never really been without powers, so at this point she's connected that to not just her entire persona but her value as a person. She thinks it's the sole reason other people are attracted to her, or want to help her.

This is why Mike not being able to say I love you and separate her powers from her as a person is so important to El's arc. While yes it says a lot about how Mike feels, it also says a lot about how El has felt this entire time.

Having her own boyfriend, the person who is supposed to love her no matter what, only see her as the one thing she's been told her entire life is what gives her value, hurts her deeply, especially now that that "value" has been taken away. It hurts her more than people are willing to admit. This is the one person she wants to love her for more than the surface, and he can't.

And she confronts the topic when she has no powers and says "so you don't love me anymore?" indicating that she used to view him as someone who loved her for more than her powers, even though he's never told her that verbally. Now that she doesn't have her powers and he is very obviously not saying I love you (for his own reasons), it reinforces her idea that her powers hold her value. And that's why she goes and gets them back; not because she truly wants them. I'm sure she misses them and wish she had them in certain situations like Angela, but if she had never been offered a solution or a problem (Mike wants me to have powers, my friends in Hawkins are in danger) she wouldn't have tried to find one just to get her powers back. Note that her reasons only strengthen her selflessness. Throughout the entire show she has been incredibly selfless and the journey she goes in in S4 is meant to show how in S5, she's for once going to be thinking about herself (not just being independent but knowing you are.)

This is the catalyst for El finding her true self; and it's only metaphorical that she has to look deep inside her memories for what truly happened, which on the surface seems like it's strictly related to the main plot line with Vecna or getting her powers back. However, it's extremely important for El's character development. She's going back into her mind to understand that she is not the monster, even though that is what she's been intentionally or unintentionally told her entire life, even just a few days ago by her boyfriend. This whole time this is what she has believed and for the first time she's processing her trauma and realizing the truth, that she's so much more than her powers - she's a good person (when she banished One to the Upside Down for the children he murdered). I think the idea that she struggles with knowing she is a good person because of the male treatment she's been subjected to, is further supported by her solo episode, The Lost Sister. Her sister is practically the only one throughout the show who truly shows her the value of her powers and how her powers don't make her bad, they make her strong.

The shaving of her head is also very symbolic of her journey from being independent but not feeling that way into someone who knows how strong she is. For viewers it seemed very traumatic and wrong that they did this, which I definitely agree with narratively. But it's trying to convey that El is going through a rebirth - she's cutting out all of the old and starting fresh again. Cutting the hair off is typically symbolic of this. It also shows that it wasn't her choice but she's going to have to embrace it anyway. It wasn't her choice but it's time she grows out of this cycle she's been in with others, especially men, in her life. And it's only more ironic that presumably men are the one's who cut her hair - they are forcing her to let them go. Mike's behavior is causing El to realize her self worth. Hopper's death is forcing her to confront the reality that she doesn't truly need him and never did, though she may love him deeply. Brenner being the person behind this maximizes the theme to the fullest, because he's where all of her trauma stems from, and we know she is finally able to let him go this season. She's worked through her trauma and is realizing her own independence, how strong she is.

This theme is further emphasized at the very end when she is the only one to descend into the rotting flowers, just coincidentally the same ones Mike, a male in her life, picked for her. The old is rotting away for her, her old self is disintegrating and her new self will rise. Furthermore, she's also wearing all white, which can represent many things like innocence (I wasn't the monster this whole time) and rebirth (now that I know I'm truly good what will I do with that?)

We're going to see a huge, probably amazing, shift in El's character in S4 from feeling dependent to knowing her independence. She isn't going to be paired with anyone and she's going to be a huge character because she'll most likely be more powerful than ever now that she understands herself and how her powers do not give her value. I'm not sure how this will reflect narratively but get ready for an even more bad ass Eleven for the finale season! I'm so excited for her to break away from everything she thinks she needs and grow into her own!!!

[omgbyleromg]

Guys. I was JUST about to start editing but I can’t even use CapCut bc of the TikTok ban😪. Does anyone have any good editing apps that are free? (Please I have so many good byler edit ideas)