“Stranger Things” is a TV series that uses monsters and alternate dimensions to explore themes of finding identity in a world that forces you to grow and change as a person. The writers, Matt and Ross Duffer, do this by holding up the “freaks” of the world, people who are misunderstood for simply being themselves and not conforming to social norms, and portraying them as so much more than what society makes them out to be. The main group of the series -Mike,Will, Eleven, Max, Dustin, and Lucas- are the embodiment of the “freaks” of their world. They’re often picked on for their obsessions with Dungeons and Dragons, superheroes, science, ect, but above all, their relatability and their strong, fearless attitudes towards their ever changing world is what drives the plot and keeps the audience so attached to them. 

As the show progresses, the focus shifts to the presence of a love triangle involving Mike, Eleven, and  a Will, making certain fans look past this theme of uplifting “freaks” and become more invested in the controversial relationship between Mike and Will, despite it being a big example of how catering to fans can have a huge impact on the quality of writing for any form of media and how that influences LGBTQ+ representation.

The writing starts to really decline around season 3 and 4 for many reasons but most importantly, catering to fans; letting fan opinions influence the making of the show. The most major way this was done was the Duffers’ heavily implying Byler in season 4-5 and ruining both the ship in the eyes of Byler fans and Will’s character in the process. 

For those who don’t know, a ship is a pairing between two fictional characters that often doesn’t actually exist in the canon of the fictional universe. Shipping culture has existed since the early 1990s and has shaped many media fandoms since then. The bad side of Ship culture is infamous for mainly shipping male characters, casting aside the female counterparts they often have, and becoming way too obsessed over ships that couldn’t be further from canon. Here’s an article that describes more examples of what ship culture can look like: Expert insight: There’s so much more to ‘shipping’ than wanting characters to kiss – Western News.

Will’s crush on Mike has been hinted at since the start of the series which went over the heads of most fans at first. But as the Duffers play the crush up more towards the beginning of season 4, when Mike visits El and Will in California, this didn’t come as a surprise because of how close Mike and Will have always been. 

What did come as a surprise, however, was when Will became a weird third wheel to Mike and El. He acted insulted by El’s presence every time Mike’s attention wasn’t completely on him. And despite having these feelings for Mike, Will never confronts them, he just gently hints at it to Mike. This battle for Mike’s attention clearly makes Mike uncomfortable because  how is he supposed to know that someone he’s always viewed as a close friend likes him all of a sudden, especially while he’s in a relationship with a girl he’s been in love with for years, who’s also effectively Will’s stepsister. 

This sudden shift in writing paints an insensitive and selfish light on Will’s character, making his feelings outweigh his love for his friends and shows how the Duffers’ threw away Will’s character so Byler could have more credibility, sidelining Mike and El’s relationship in the process despite it being very important to the development of both characters and the plot, all to cater towards Byler fans. 

The writing gets even worse in season 5 when Will actually accepts his sexuality and comes out to all of his friends and family.

In volume 1 of season 5, the Duffers’ treat Will’s sexuality as something he finally fully accepts about himself and literally becomes stronger as a person because of it which he does with the help of Robin (who’s an open lesbian person) most notably without needing Mike which was very beautiful and satisfying to see. But the Duffers’ soften this important character development in volume 2 with the infamous coming out scene. 

In the scene, Will gets almost every character significant to the season into a room and tells them he’s gay in your average, corny coming out speech. The amount of people, the overall atmosphere in the room, and even down to the lighting took away from the intimate feeling this conversation should’ve had. 

In the grand ending of the season, when the main group’s future endeavors are shown, Will is shown at a gay bar, a scene that was supposed to show him putting himself out there but once again reduces his character to just his sexuality.

By the end of the show, Will’s character is effectively reduced to his sexuality and this is made obvious by how the Duffers’ treat Robin in comparison. Robin’s fun personality ties in beautifully with her sexuality and how she helps Will accept himself. Even when the personalities of all of the characters dulled in season 5, her sexuality didn’t become her defining trait unlike Will which reflects how the fans viewed him after season 4 and how that influenced season 5.

As for Byler, the ship obviously didn’t become canon in the final season as Byler fans hoped. In fact, Will and Mike did have a final scene, just the two of them, that cemented their friendship and only their friendship. Surprisingly, this scene was actually requested by Noah Schnapp himself who plays Will so the Byler fans could have closure, meaning that the Duffers’ never intended for Byler to go anywhere in the end.

Byler fans all over the internet exploded at this. Many videos of fans of the ship  screaming and crying hysterically at their screens circulated on social media. The most shocking video I’ve seen is a grown woman ugly crying and asking why two minors can’t be together sexually. This is where the love for the ship teeters on fetishization or the bad side of ship culture. These obsessive and parasocial attitudes these fans have towards these two fictional characters started the massive ship war of Mileven (Mike x Eleven) vs Byler which is the direct consequence of the Duffers’ catering to Byler fans. 

LGBTQ+ representation is already rare in modern TV today, especially gay teen relationships and this lack of representation is a massive part of what fueled the support for Byler in the first place despite Mike and El’s very canon and loving relationship being the needle that should’ve bursted this Byler-bubble. 

So the Duffers’ trying to insert Byler into the show to cater to fans despite it being so out of place is what put the ship on the completely wrong track since the moment it was heavily hinted at in season 4 and is why Will’s crush on Mike feels like it fits but them actually being in a relationship doesn’t; it simply just doesn’t make sense in the show.

So to sum it all up: It starts with the Byler fans the Duffers’ cater to. This leads to bad writing because Byler makes no sense in the show. This bad writing influences the expectations of Byler fans, resulting in them essentially being queerbaited by the Duffers’ and in a way, themselves. 

Starting ship wars and becoming way too obsessed over characters being gay shouldn’t be how the LGBTQ+ community strives for representation. If a piece of media is going to have LGBTQ+ representation, it should be authentic and respectful, not a harmful stereotype that’s just there to give that piece of media representation. 

If the Duffers’ wrote Byler into the show from the very beginning and nixed Mike and El’s relationship, it could have been a beautiful representation of a gay relationship in the 80’s, something that I, as a queer teen, would love to see. 

We deserve to be seen, not made up and exploited.