#stranger thoughts

as I suspected, they do view the queer relationships and love as less deep than the heterosexual ones.

they wrote them to be "less deep." every het relationship lasts or has closure: Joyce and Hopper, who's relationship has foundations in highschool, stayed together; Mike and El's middle school relationship was given a big send off intended to carry a lot of emotional weight and depth; even non-endgame jancy and stancy (also high school relationships) were afforded depth and closure. yet, Will's three* season long love was dismissed as a shallow crush and rovickie was given minimal development and broke up off screen. that's how they chose to write queer love. so, what does that say about the writer's biases?

*it's debatable whether Will fell for Mike in s2, s1, or even earlier, but he became more aware in s3

Although the actor did amazing, take my hand as we imagine Henry's character gender flipped. She MUST remain just as gorey/viney as Vecna. In fact, she looks exactly the same as Vecna form in the actual show. Change nothing so that the characters and audience have been assuming Vecna is a guy the whole time.

Imagine the extra punch in that reveal.

This could also allow for some differences in parallels, contrasts, and themes- particularly involving motherhood. There is already the father contrast with papa & Hopper, but Terry and Joyce don't really have this. Gender flipped Henry could allow for that.

Keep gender flipped Henry with the same love interest in the the play. Make Joyce suspicions have a tinge of internalized homophobia to them. This would add layers to her character development with having a gay son.

Imagine the more direct 'get away from him you bitch' nod to Aliens.

high school boy that’s seen as a freak or outsider by his peers? jonathan byers was already established as being this character for two entire seasons.

high school boy is ostracized after being seemingly involved in the murder of one of his classmates, wherein he was the last one to see her alive? also jonathan. the duffers so easily could have given him his own plot in S2 where the hollands believe he’s involved in barb’s disappearance/death because he was literally the last one to see her alive. you mean to tell me that between steve, tommy h and carol NONE of them told the cops that jonathan byers was creeping around that night? bullshit. in the original pilot draft callahan even outright calls jonathan a suspect because of the punk/metal/rock/whatever poster he has hanging up on his wall.

dustin has an older male friend? steve. commit to killing a fan favorite instead of inventing a new character to provide a budget version of the same concept.

male character whose character arc is “not running away”? they literally did this with steve in S1 but with more impact, no cheap death, and more subtlety. tommy h literally screams at steve to “run away, just like you always do” and steve almost does exactly that at the end of S1, but comes back to save nancy and jonathan, completing that brief arc.

male character has ties to music to be relevant to the “music saves people” theme of the season? jonathan and will are both right fucking there. their thing in S1 was music.

steve gets another guy his age to bond with and they slowly realize they were wrong about their previous judgements of each other? jonathan. fucking. byers. this would have been full circle after jonathan expressing his dislike of steve while monster hunting with nancy in S1.

implied shitty dad? jonathan and steve???