Personally I think the argument that byler isnt unrealistic since supernatural things happen in the show isn’t that strong. You can have supernatural elements in your show and still try to keep the human and relationship based aspects of it realistic. However, I don’t find most of the relationship dynamics, especially the romantic ones, in stranger things to be very realistic either. And that’s not a bad thing! Who wants to watch a show with completely realistic characters all the time? Thats so boring! I think the argument here shouldn’t be ”the show is already unrealistic”, it should be ”there nothing wrong with a show being unrealistic”.
If your concept of ”realistic” ONLY applies to the queer ship, I’m sorry to say but that’s kind of homophobic.
Also as a side note, to me, byler is actually painfully realistic in some aspects, like the internalized homophobia, the comphet, the sacrificing your feelings for someone so that they can be ”happy”… AND I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH, GAY PEOPLE EXISTED IN THE 80S!! And a show like this is a perfect opportunity to explore that since we don’t only see characters from other people’s perspectives, but we can actually see the moments when they’ve alone. That’s a perfect opportunity to explore the journey of people who aren’t out yet.
So ig what I’m trying to say is, why should this be limited to what’s realistic, when it’s a fact that relationships on tv are almost NEVER realistic?
Why would I want to sit and watch the same boring, unhealthy hetero ship for the purpose of REALISM??
WHY WOULD ANYONE WANT THAT???