#stranger things rainbows

[stranger-chichka]

The amount of rainbow imagery before 'Cool. Cool' scene (+ Argyle's socks, but they're not in frame)

[stranger-chichka]

There’s a guess it might say “If you can dream it, you can do it", but it’s impossible to read😒😒😒

what a great day to remember mike was written as gay since the very beginning

[willnmike4l]

still in my Will Byers slump 😍😍😍😍

[manon-herself]

Ok well if ST isn’t queer so…

WHY ARE THERE RAINBOWS EVERYWHERE??

[bylertruth3r]

one of the guys Mike was looking at had a rainbow flag on his book, just a funny little detail, and the clock was ticking (Vecna detail?), maybe the fact that he only likes boys will be what gets him Vecna'd?

Mike has been associated with rainbows before (and Will has drawns a rainbow spaceship when he was younger, he's canonically gay)

[stranger-chichka]

Do Argyle’s socks count too?👀

the fact that rainbows on peoples shirts have connected mike and will twice 

[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...

[elephantshoetoo]

The Gay Beautician / Hairdresser Trope

(I'm looking at you, Mike Wheeler.)

Has anyone asked themselves why, in season 1, when the boys wanted to dress El up like a girl, they felt the need to put makeup on her?

Why would she need makeup to look like a girl?! She IS a girl!

All she really needed was the wig, since it was her buzz cut that was throwing people off. The dress was just a frilly bonus. But makeup? How many 12-year-old girls wear makeup? Maybe a few, but not many. So, what was the point of this?

At first glance, it seems like just a sweet bonding moment between Mike and El, and I think that's how the Duffers meant it to come across on the surface level, but I believe they also took this opportunity to add a subtle bit of queer coding for Mike, if you take the time to look for it. Because why is Mike the one putting makeup on her? She could easily do that herself.

Oh, she doesn't know about makeup, you say? Okay sure, but then... why would a twelve-year-old BOY know about makeup (especially in the 80's, when gender roles were pretty rigidly observed) ... unless he's GAY.

I'm not saying Mike himself is into makeup or girly things, per se -- not all gay boys are -- but the symbolism of him applying the makeup on El is pretty blatant, since it is quite common for young gay boys to want to experiment with girly things -- makeup, dresses, high heels, etc... And of course, there's the stereotype of the gay hairdresser / cosmetologist, which these shots play right into.

So, I think when the Duffers decided to have a scene with Mike putting makeup on El, it was meant as a little wink to the audience that Mike may not be quite as straight as he would have you believe.

Because there really is no plot-driven reason for this to have happened. Mike could just as easily have found her "pretty" had she come out with just the wig and dress. The whole makeup scene could be removed completely without changing a single thing in the show. Its only purpose is queer coding.

I rest my case.

[stranger-chichka]

Does it… ring any bells?

He’s the one who catches up everything D&D related:

+ he sings “Never Ending Story” which is also the title of the book.

[stranger-chichka]

YEEEES

[mel01837]

MORE BYLER LEAKS?? AND THEM SPOTTED WITH A RAINBOW BOOK?? OH IK WHAT YOU ARE MICHAEL

[unsurebazookacore]

guy not Holly just having a giant postage stamp with rainbow hearts hanging over her bed

like the fuck

[gl1tched-r4bb1t]

Caine hosting a multifandom tea-party

Wanna join? ☺️

[goddammiteverythingstaken]

Duffer brothers? More like duff-inetly making some weird gay ass choices like what

[upsidedownlurker]

"I rEwAtchEd aLL Of sTrAnGer tHinGS anD I STiLL diDN't FiNd aNy eviDeNcE FoR ByLer."

Because you're not looking for it.

"I aM LoOkiNg fOr iT ThoUgh."

Not in the same way.

As soon as the guy and girl characters smile at each other, audiences stare unblinkingly during every scene those characters are together, mentally noting down every infinitesimal instance that could possibly be seen as romantic. And when the guy and girl do get together, they aren't surprised, because they were already looking. They already knew.

"Ooh, is that a smile? THEY'RE DESTINED TO BE IN LOVE!!! I MUST FIND MORE PROOF!!!"

When it's two guys, people don't give them the same amount of attention.

They don't care about the way they look at each other, or that two of the guys in the friendship group are in fucking tears every time they sit down for a heart-to-heart. Just bros being bros.

Plus, it's a big TV show– one set in the 80s, no less– why would gay people be in it? Gay people are reserved for the little shows about gay people, or as irrelevant side characters to be killed off. Not two of the most integral characters to the show.

That's just not how the media works.

If one of them was constantly decked out in fucking rainbows and spoke with a lisp, maybe then people would start looking for it. That's what we expect. The gay character is always the gay character, nothing more, nothing less.

We've been primed through years of previous media experience to ignore any possibility of a same-sex relationship, and focus on the straight ones. If the show isn't about the gæ, why would it have the gæ?

I know because I thought that way a couple years ago, and I'm an actively-on-fire queerpocalypse of a person.

Anyway, I bet that when/if Byler becomes a thing, people will finally rewatch the show and look for it. Then they'll go, "Oh. Ok." Then a rainbow will shine over their house and shit glitter everywhere in celebration.

[fairyrona]

What's wrong? Rainbow.

Okay this post is a little of a brain vomit, because I've read so many smart posts lately and I have some thoughts that kinda tie into all of them or maybe provide some pieces.

So, let's add some maybe fresh thoughts. If somebody had already said all that, please step forth lmao

First, the Zombie Boy drawing and different/changing timelines. (and project rainbow) For For context, @willbyersabyss 's post.

S1 version mentioning the mind control experiments.

-> completely erasing that timeline/version of events by the said mind control. -> And now Will Byers has become the Zombie Boy

It's almost unbelivable how much timeline-wrongness/loops S2 hides under it's sleeve.

Trapped in an artificially created time loop / timeline.

What's wrong with Mama? Rainbow. Timeline's wrong.

Oh, what you say Nancy-in-Terry's overcoat/costume?

Murray's? But not yours?

Oh, then what if Murray's timeline?

Zombie Boy version. The one that says Will got lost in the woods. Our timeline. And then we get Lucas telling Max the truth. (Events of s1, that represent the Zombie Boy version.) But on this particular timeline-train of thoughts, he literally repeats after Nancy:

Will didn't get lost in the woods. The timeline's wrong.

And then it get's even more messy, because Max thinks this story feels derivative. This is literally us reading the s1 article. But then, why is she reacting to the s2 version like that?

And then she calls him out for lying. We get told multiple times, that Lucas is not telling the true version of events.

Friends don't lie. Never ever. No matter what. Is that right? Then how do you explain this?

Out of order. The timeline is wrong. Out of order.

Friends don't lie. Never ever. No matter what. Is that right? Then how do you explain this?

Now, lets go back a little. And add some MKUltra.

What's wrong with mama? Rainbow. Timeline's wrong. Out of order.

I don't think I've seen anyone mention the fact that we've got not 1, not 2, but at least 3 Rainbow Rooms.

terry ives' mind loop (with different colour-gradings)

Ray's, the lab ward's home in Chicagoproject nina tape-based memories project nina tape-based memories (with different colour-gradings)

While we're at HNL colour grading I wanna quickly add that Terry's sequences are a lot warmer, I'd even say the walls are different paint all together. But it could just visual clue of time passing, renovations and all.

However. It's a cool detail that while Terry's memories are warm-ish-> turn greenish just as it cuts to little Jane and Kali and then the lighting immediately becomes cold - like in Will's scenes. (And Ray's, ''true'' version is warm as well. Outside of the girls nightgowns, that are more cool-toned. and that's another mindfuckery detail, bc Ray's kids are dressed more like lab subjects than the lab subjects.) (out of order)

I wanna talk bout the middle Rainbow Room. And its possible connection to MK Ultra.

First. Light is important. Here are two posts about light's and rainbow's involvement in the experiments'.

For context, go to the two @conflictofthemind 's posts.

breathe. sunflower. rainbow. three to the right, four to the left. four-fifty. breathe.

breathe. (He isn't breathing!)

sunflower. (follows the light. Joyce to find Will, El to talk to Terry etc. Will's house being all lit up in the pilot. AND the shed. And the light bulb thing. followed the light? and went back?)

rainbow.

(electromagnetic spectrum gets separated. different wavelengths reflect at a different angle. but in the end it's still just an optical illusion. it doesn't exist in a specific point in the sky.)

Rainbows are actually full circles. The antisolar point is the center of the circle. Viewers in aircraft can sometimes see these circular rainbows. (The horizon obstructs our view. It's as if the second half was under. In the Upside down.)

three to the right, four to the left. 43. 1943?

four-fifty. (Turning up the dial on the machine. 450° degree angle? it loops.

breathe. it loops.

Also, the safety vault, the rainbow and the dial is all circle shaped, and it ends on the dial being turned, as if we're actually going round on it's axis. (But in Terry's memories, and Ray's flat, we're only seeing one half of the story. S4? we get too many versions. A half circle, the rainbow going around the room, turning upside down etc.)

In that scene they are in Ray's apartament. (another light reference)

And I have a few theories. This is the writers telling us that

there are multiple versions of the event

these memories from another timeline. which i'll touch upon in a different post, to keep things in order

the event is replicating itself in different manners

Okay, now a rundown of the scene:

-> The Kali Gang bursts in. The RAY-guy begs for his life. Says he's gonna help El find Brenner.

-> Nobody believes the guy, neither the audience nor the characters, but the thing is - he was telling the truth! Now, after s4, after being introduced to yet another, COMPLETELY different rainbow room, we know that.

What also interest me is that Ray said Brenner trusts him - thus he knows Brenner is alive. Was that a secret between the bad men as well? Is Brenner being alive something more than not succumbing to injury circa s1?

The things is!! El and Kali never entered Ray's rainbow room.

And Ray telling us the truth feels like a check mark - this! This is the one!

I think either:

a) there are different versions of the event: Where the girls in the room were not El and Kali, but some other two kids, possibly actual siblings.

a.1) this only happened once - and Jane is not El.

b) The original event that keeps weaving itself into the plot his hasn't happened to Terry specifically.

c) Or there was no ''original'' but it keep's repeating to trigger something, or replicate an effect. Somebody finding two ''kids'' in a rainbow room.

This really feels more like a visual and storytelling metafor.

Same with @erikiara80 post about colour green.

Especially with what happened st Ray's place.

El and Kali on different sides of conflict, Kali being the more blood-thirsty, revenge seeking one.

-> Kali and El want to kill Ray. But Kali want it to last, to make him suffer. -> For a moment El listens but then Kali-Gang find the girls in the rainbow room -> El notices a photo frame with Ray and his daughters and doesn't kill him in the end. -> This pisses off Kali, she want to kill him, but El stops her. And they evacuate without killing the guy.

vs. El showing 'empathy'.

But we know that NINA's memories are not entirely trust-worthy... (s4 Owens: how much did you skip?)

This might be a nod to the fact that El doesn't actually relate to the strong emotions Kali is feeling about this. (That El is not Jane, Ray didn't torture her mother.)(Or that they originate from different timelines.)

Oh and, let's not forget about the staring point. The Zombie Boy articles. And how Will-Joyce-Hopper are involved in that scene sequence.

Want it or not, in this color grading, this car looks like Joyce's green pinto.

And this, also, looks like Joyce's green pinto.

Now, why am I suddenly pulling Joyce and Hopper into all of this? Because Hop says a funny line in s2.

"You wanna take him back to Chicago?'' (about Will having episodes. They also mention Boston, where another comic takes place.)

All in all, Hopper discourages Joyce from looking for help anywhere else but HNL.

But take this car parked by Ray's place, take that one line, and take the fact that Ray was not bullshitting El?

And to that let's add that the Zombie Boy event having ''Chief Hopper'' literally written all over the page? Zombie Boy is encircling him for gods sake. (in green) Pointing fingers.

(Which Chief Hopper tho haha)

oh and

I really hope this makes sense. Might not. Hopefully it does.