"you're just mad at the duffers because byler didn't happen"the writers and directors of the show needed maya hawke to remind them while filming that lucas didn't know robin is a lesbian in the 80's who is dating vickie, so they should whisper about their date at enzo's and their relationship instead of talking loudly about it. yeah, they totally handled very well queer representation.
I'm sorry, but after all the horrid things people said about byler -mocking it and calling it ridiculous or disgusting, mocking Will for his feelings towards Mike, and the duffers calling us 'noise' after we cheered for something they decided to put there.they made Will have those feelings for his best friend; they decided to explore it through numerous parallels and romantics/warm focus in their duo scenes, only to shut those feelings down suddenly. they gave Will Byers confirmation that he couldn't get the love he doubted he deserved for years. they used Will's pain and love to 'fix' a dysfunctional straight relationship until the end. they made him feel insecure and heartbroken after accepting his love for mike it's not something bad and something he should be afraid of, after he accepted being queer it's not bad.
Will chose to love Mike; he wanted to be with him, not to makeout, he wanted to be by his side even though he can do better than him, will loved and wanted him. they even made him have hope again in s5, after he had already accepted his 'unrequited' love and seemed ready to move on in s4, just to break his heart again.
That is why I found it refreshing to see Maya Hawke naming byler as 'cutest couple that never was' and later calling them the 'best couple'. queer people who were looking for byler deserve more than being called ridiculous and illogical. they created this; we were just paying attention. It is not our fault what they decided to do with their bond. queer people deserve fair representation in media, we deserve to be seen more than putting certain 'hints' we got called crazy later for looking at those details of mike wheeler being queercoded until the finale. we deserve to be seen as capable of loving and accepting ourselves, but also as deserving romantic love we are denied to have in media.
people love to pretend they care about will byers when they can make edits calling him 'attractive' or 'hot' because of his powers(when he’s only 16) yet, as soon as he becomes vulnerable about his fears, his secrets, his sexuality, his love for mike, his pain, they go back to calling him a 'crybaby', he gets called 'selfish'. It’s as if they forget that being both sensitive and strong it's a big part of who he is as a character, who is a teenager.
suddenly when he gets scared, emotional, when he goes through low self-esteem and his fears in his mind, he’s 'useless' and 'never contributed or changed anything in the plot,' even though he survived an entire week alone after being kidnapped in the upside down and survived with nothing but a gun. he climbed trees and fought monsters for his life when he was only 12 years old. he communicated with his mother through lights and tried to protect her while he was going through hell with no food or water with vecna behind him after all he did to will. why can’t he be perceived as both strong and vulnerable at the same time? why is now normal to joke about how he was SA'd and make horrible 'takes' saying he's gay because of what vecna did to him, implying he enjoyed when vecna caught him again during s5? (what pushed him to came out in front of 13 people because of his fear to being abandoned by his beloved ones for his sexuality)
I hate seeing how a show that, from the beginning, aimed to empower marginalized voices and give them the opportunity to be the protagonists of their stories with happy moments in the cruel reality of the society of the 80s, has fallen into the hands of a general audience that fails to see the depth and human side of its characters beyond mere aesthetics, it's a huge lack of empathy.