The new year was supposed to be filled with joy and hope for improvement, yet on January 1st, I awoke to a feeling of disappointment, of emptiness. The reason for this is, admittedly, slightly embarrassing, but the implications of it are far too important to stay silent. The night before, on New Years Eve, I watched the much anticipated Stranger Things 5 Finale and, as many fans have not so kindly pointed out, it was a let down. But plot-holes and overall lukewarm writing aside, the part that made me so mad (I’ll admit I even let out a tear, like I said, embarrassing) was the following dialogue from Mike Wheeler.
“Friends? No thanks. Best Friends”
This single moment really destroyed any claim the show had of “queer representation”. The whole purpose of the show was that it was made by outcasts, about outcasts, and for outcasts. For 5 seasons the show did an incredible job of defying stereotypes from 80s movies with every single character, most notably Steve, Nancy, and Joyce. So why is Will, the only queer main character, excluded from this? Why does he have to fall into the, “gay teen crushes on his friend, gets rejected, but at least he learns to accept himself,” trope, when he was written and characterized for so much more? And why does Mike’s identity, which was characterized through his friendship with Will as having queer undertones get completely erased in the final episodes? Now, this is not a “byler ship post”, in fact I don’t believe the characters should’ve ended up together, nor is this to hate on the Duffer Brothers (well… it kinda is), this is to question the integrity of Netflix(or whoever was responsible for making decisions on the storyline) and that of the viewers who continue to condescend the fans that hoped for a satisfying ending to Will and Mike's arcs, especially if that included anything romantic. The “byler shippers” are not delusional. It is an objective fact that the Stranger Things production deliberately included well-known symbols of homosexuality to draw in a queer audience. For them to then use their justified excitement for good gay representation in mainstream media (which is and always has been rare) to build anticipation for season 5, just to let them down so badly; it feels manipulative. For the series to end with “Heroes”, the epilogue boyfriend, and the aforementioned “best friends” scene that, mind you, Noah Schnapp had to beg for, it feels like a slap in the face. Netflix is mocking the gay community. It is truly disheartening because this would’ve been an amazing opportunity to represent queer joy in a series not inherently targeted for the LGBTQIA+ community, yet the creators actively decided against it.
Luckily, there has been much push back against the writing in the final season that hopefully producers realize the impact they can have on society and strive to be better.
Idk how to end this but, I'll probably write a longer essay on this topic.
See yall next week!