#codegate

First of all, I must say this: the deeper you dig within the story the more spectacular it becomes. There has been a hidden deeper story within the story this entire time. Check out this Substack article that delves deeper into that!

The symmetry of the layers and metaphors are ever so carefully crafted. I hope I’ll be able to properly articulate the beauty of this within this post.

The Hays Code

For those who don’t know, the film industry was heavily censored from the 1930s-1960s. Explicit depictions of homosexuality were banned. This led to the creation of queer coding. Queer coding was a way to imply queerness; to show but not tell. Essentially, queerness had to hide within the metaphorical closet: the subtext. Many media today still shy away from explicit depictions of queerness due to the potential backlash and rely on queer coding and metaphors to depict queerness. I think Stranger Things is breaking free of this.

“The Hays Code forbade the use of profanity, obscenity, and racial slurs and included detailed instructions outlining how certain topics should be shown on screen, especially proscribing graphic violence, criminality, substance use, promiscuity, miscegenation, and homosexuality.” X

Queer Coding

Queer coding was the loophole filmmakers found to depict queerness. Queerness was implied but never explicit. Within Stranger Things, most of us are well aware that the queer coding is abundant. Will Byers, especially, has been heavily queer coded since the very beginning. It wasn’t until the most recent season that he emerged out of the metaphorical closet (the subtext). The painting and his speech made his homosexuality explicit for the audience. Mike, on the other hand, remains within the metaphorical closet (for now) with many implicit clues.

Much like Alan Turing, Will Byers is a “code breaker”, meaning- he broke the queer code. He may also break another queer code.

Codes within the show

Codes and secret messages are frequently used within the text of the show. Our character struggle to find the answers and the true meanings behind the codes. It’s a reoccurring theme for a reason.

Computer Codes

As said in this post:

Mike - has print of Charles Babbage in his basement. He was known as "The Father of the Computer".

Will - did a project on Alan Turing. He was known as "The Father of Computer Science". He was specifically known for breaking the enigma code. And of course, he was gay as well.

Mike is a computer with a code. Will is the code breaker. The code?

Perhaps... the very first song sung by a computer? That just so happened to be the same song in the background of the Russian code being spoken in ST3? That song being...

The song itself is of one person sending a message to the other. A love message which conflates "crazy" with "love" and the original sender's name is "Michael". The code itself came from the basement (!!!) of the mall from Russians who asked Joyce and Hopper if “Mikhail” (Russian version of the name Michael) sent for them. Meaning... Michael was the one sending the message. I’m telling you this is all intentional, the writers cleverly set up this hidden code for us to crack.

The Russian Code

Robin, our first explicitly queer character, hypothesizes that the true meaning of the message (the Russian code) would only need to be masked if it were sensitive. It's something that needed to be hidden. Much like a gay person in the 1980s or a film with queer themes during the time of the hays code.

The Russian code itself is a hidden message of Will and Mike's love story. Blue = Mike, Yellow = Will. I do think there's multiple layers/meanings to the code as well, but one major one (in my opinion) is of Mike and Will connecting at Lover's Lake and entering a new world. More on that in this post.

Will always had to communicate in code

At the very beginning of the show, Will (who is described as overtly gay by others) vanishes to the Upside Down. Let’s take a step back and look at this through a meta lens. Will is perceived as “too gay” (by the audience) and is forced into a hidden realm (the subtext) of the story. Will is forced to “hide” in the story and only express himself/communicate to others through codes (through the lights, walkie talkie, etc) much like the whole concept of queer coding. He doesn’t have the luxury of being direct because… people won’t like the truth (the audience and the people of Hawkins).

Will and Mike communicate their love in code

Due to risk of their own safety, Mike and Will have to express their feelings carefully and subtly. We often see them speak about their feelings indirectly, hoping the other understands the true meaning of their message.

It’s well established that Mike and Will use “El” and “DnD” to communicate their feelings indirectly. But I think they have been doing this in other scenes as well, even in this scene:

While I may not know the exact message being sent here, the fact that Mike looked confused is a huge clue that there’s a double meaning here… a hidden code. More about this in this post.

The direction I think the story is heading

While some who have noticed Will and Mike's love story hidden within the subtext do not believe it will emerge within the text itself, I wholeheartedly disagree. I think a huge theme of the story is the importance of being true to oneself. To be proud of being authentically different. To go against what has been done before. Obviously this works within the story with Mike and Will expressing their love explicitly, but it also works on a meta level. The show runners are doing something different here by making the implicit queerness explicit. They will tell us the truth, even if some may not like it.

I also have to add to the earlier point I made about the Upside Down being a metaphor for subtext. At the end of ST4, that hidden realm became undeniably real, and completely exposed to the residents of Hawkins. This parallels with Will coming out of the metaphorical closet by revealing his painting to the audience. The truth is partially out in the open now.

Key word: partially. We are half way there! Luckily there's an entire new season to come. I think we can expect the curtains to open up real wide (and the curtains behind those curtains too!)

I believe the show has even cleverly hinted to us how the truth will be uncovered back in ST3:

"I know this is a difficult conversation to have... but I hope you know that I... care about you very much. I know that you both care about each other very much. Which is why I think it's important to establish these boundaries... moving forward... so we can build an environment... where we... all feel comfortable and trusted and open... to sharing our feelings..."

Being open and sharing feelings will lead to order being restored! The logical conclusion here is that Mike and Will will both come out of the closet and the metaphorical closet together.

Conclusion

Hidden at its core, Stranger Things has always been centred around Will and Mike's queer love story. This story has been hiding within the show’s subtext this entire time. No, this does not mean other characters or relationships aren’t beautiful and important. No, this does not mean that self love and acceptance aren’t important aspects of the story. The point is that everything connects back to the love between these two boys. Their love holds everything together. "Without heart, we all fall apart".

The two of them will need to choose love over fear and need to learn that being different is a beautiful thing. This will be the solution to the show's major conflict.