Byler: Canon or Queerbait?- Part 1

Ever since season four of Stranger Things gave viewers confirmation that Will Byers was gay, the ship Byler—him and his best friend Mike Wheeler—has become even more of a hot topic within the fandom than it was before. What makes the situation more complicated is that Mike has been in a long-time and extremely unhealthy relationship with El, which has caused those who ship Byler and Mileven to be at war with one another. As someone who has been watching Stranger Things since the start and has been a Byler shipper since season two, I wanted to take this opportunity to fully flesh out the ship Byler and why it would be monumental if the Duffer Brothers made it canon. 

Back in May of this year, I wrote an article for Her Campus essentially about how Netflix hates queers because even though they include shows with LGBTQ+ representation, these queer characters are never given the chance to fully develop, and the shows get canceled before there is an opportunity to develop their story as part of the queer experience. 

Stranger Things is a show that is supposed to highlight the “outcasts,” so naturally it makes sense that one of the main characters is gay. Now, because this show is set in the 80s, most people claim that it would be unrealistic for Mike and Will to end up together, since society was not as welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community back then. However, the general audience has already not been very open-minded to the idea of the Byler ship, oftentimes making homophobic comments to downplay the potential couple. People who claim Byler would be “unexpected” or “ruin the show” clearly haven’t been paying attention to what has been in front of them the last four seasons. The fact that, on a show that features supernatural elements, what people think would be the most unrealistic thing is two queer boys being together highlights how ostracized the LGBTQ community is in the media. 

To counteract some common points of contention, considering that the show is supposed to uplift those who don’t fit the norm in society, it would make more sense for them to get together. The reason the general audience is so passionate about bringing this ship down is that the show has become so mainstream in the past decade, and those people don’t understand that the show is not about them and what they want. Stranger Things is the closest Netflix has gotten to letting a mainstream queer couple take center stage. What non-Byler shippers fail to realize is that the Duffers have clearly been developing their relationship to be more than best friends since the first season, so it is not like the relationship would come out of nowhere. Don’t believe me? There is an almost three-hour video where a lawyer breaks down their relationship and why they should be endgame, and if nothing else, it will definitely get you in the Byler mindset (like me). 

Now, the biggest factor at play here is whether Netflix will allow the Duffers to have the main couple be queer. To get to the argument of why Byler is possible, I first have to acknowledge one of my least favorite heterosexual ships of all time: Mileven. One of the biggest reasons I am in opposition to them is that their relationship felt rushed from the start, and in seasons three and four the show goes out of its way to highlight how they are bad for one another by showing the faults in their relationship. They had a cute friendship in season one, but that died the second they tried to pursue anything romantically, and mind you, she should not have been getting into a relationship after escaping the conditions she was in. The end of season three has some of my favorite details that hint at Mike’s internalized homophobia, starting with the goodbye kiss between El and Mike in front of Will’s closet. When El pulls away, she looks happy, while Mike is left with a look of confusion on his face and appears to have a moment of realization. Fans have speculated that this could have been a moment of him realizing that maybe his feelings towards her are not what he wants them to be or they are not as strong as he thought. There are multiple instances in season four where what Mike says parallels the things Dr. Brenner has said to El in the past that have made her feel like a monster, so why would the writers parallel El’s boyfriend to her abuser if they wanted us to root for them? It is clear that Mike is struggling to say “I love you” for a reason, and that reason could likely be that maybe he is starting to recognize that he does not have romantic feelings for El anymore. However, he wants to keep up this heterosexual persona, but the cracks in the foundation of their relationship are evident from the fact that they continuously present false personas of who they are to one another, proving yet again that they do not work as a couple because they do not bring out the best versions of each other. I do not think Mike would be the one to instigate a breakup, so he is stuck in this cycle of confusion of what to do because every time El is the one who breaks up with him, and he does not go running after her. He just expects her to come back so that way he does not have to face his own emotions. My additional tidbit to this argument is that the Duffers told Finn Wolfhard to improvise the “I love you” scene, which means that Mike’s feelings are not as genuine as people claim them to be. To contrast, the van scene where Will pours out his feelings and claims them to be El’s, which creates a misunderstanding between the two best friends, took twelve hours to film. Finn Wolfhard has also voiced that Mike was oblivious to Will’s feelings at the moment and that that scene would “pay off” in the future. So which scene sounds more purposeful and meaningful to you?

The voice-over of Hopper talking about being “scared of change,” and the camera continuously shows Mike. This could potentially be hinting at Mike realizing he likes boys and not wanting to accept that because it is outside society’s expectations. Staying with El, a girl, is the safer option. However, nobody can deny that he loved her at the beginning, but once they got together, it ruined their characters. Although I wouldn’t necessarily say ruin for Mike because I deeply believe he is struggling internally, that’s not an excuse for his actions. I believe that them breaking up and branching their own paths would benefit them greatly, and giving El an independence arc would be something big because oftentimes you don’t see woman protagonist characters being allowed that. Just because she’s a woman does not mean she has to be with the main guy on the show, and season three exemplified that her being out of a relationship with Mike allowed her to flourish more and find herself better. I would respect Stranger Things as a show if it could break away from the norm of an unhealthy heterosexual couple being the main couple.

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