#i feel like so many current fandom people came in during s4/felt the effects of s4 and s2&3 just arent brought up the same

[mapicccc]

s4 really was the life changing season in this fandom huh

[inmyarmswrappedin]

Imo: in being good and having this (better than) expected, clean and well fleshed out story, it seems druck just stayed afloat. Instead of being outstanding and enticing more viewers, it fell into doing what it was intended to do with only a portion of it's old viewership. S5 was good, but it didn't do anything out of the ordinary or experimental or particular interesting. If they stick to this formula, which works to an extent, they'll need more eclectic or charismatic mains to give it an edg

Hi anon 🎨 I actually think this season did something experimental, by using audio and video cues to portray Nora’s disassociation. The only other season to use cinematography to portray a main who experiences reality in a different way was Arthur’s, and imo they didn’t properly stick with it past a certain point. 

But I mean, by charismatic, do you mean gay? 😂

Here’s my thing. Personally, I’ve felt like the Skam phenomenon, such as it is, has been on its way out since around the time Skam Italia was first cancelled. And not even because of skamit itself, which was in fact brought back because of Italian outcry. That was just the point where I felt we’d start hitting diminishing returns, the remakes would never become much bigger than the heights of popularity reached from January to June 2019 (and definitely would never reach the heights that Skam got in Norway or abroad). I also thought the “fad” of buying the rights to adapt Skam had passed—no other producer would agree to NRK’s conditions and make an eighth remake. From that point forward, I felt like we’d only keep losing remakes, not gaining them.

As an additional note, I only have follower numbers for Isak’s account (the most followed account of all the Skam characters) from 2018, a full year later Skam had finished. At that point he had 685K. Cris, the character to have the most followers out of any remake character, never broke 200K.

Let’s talk Wtfck. The Isak season dropped during fall 2019, past the Skam remake golden era. Despite the fact that Robbe and Sander are white and cis, and that the show exploited their physical relationship as much as they could get away with... By the end of the season, Robbe and Sander had less ig followers than Matteo and David had by the end of theirs. A couple that included a trans moc, and was thus rejected by large sections of fandom. It doesn’t matter that endless moaning about Kato or endless moaning compilations have made it the most popular show on tumblr this year. When it comes to Instagram numbers, Robbe and Sander were solidly a flop. (And, of course, so is Kato, who Nora passed in followers around ep 3 or 4 of Nora’s season.)

Now, let’s talk Skam France. Arthur’s season was also the yawn collectively heard round the world. It kept losing followers on Youtube every week, despite the fact that at that time the show was not geoblocked (it’s geoblocked now) and Youtube still allowed random users to add subtitles. (In comparison, Amira N’s season aired when community subs were no longer allowed.) Lucas L’s season was, at least imo, the season that ushered the remake golden era. Despite the fact that Martino’s season aired a few months earlier, and was also not geoblocked, they didn’t get the attention. Skam France just knew how to promote their gay season effectively and, in so doing, also garnered attention for everyone else. Fun fact: before Lucas L’s season, no remake character had reached 35K followers on ig (Megan Flores had the largest amount at 33.6K). 

So, if Skam France, with its keen sense of promotion and their Lola season that aimed to fulfill every request fandom had (wlw main, the explicit s*x scene eskam didn’t deliver, Daphné subplot, Eliott subplot, substance abuse issues, mental health issues) didn’t reach the numbers Lucas L’s season got, did in fact not even come close (Lola has 31.7 followers on ig. That’s less than Megan before the Isak seasons really got going!!)... Do you really think this is an issue of Druck not being enticing? 

There’s also Norway. The Skam format, with “real time” clips, has a longer history in Norway. Skam was maybe the third or fourth show with that format. But none of the shows in that format that came after Skam have been as successful locally as Skam was. Lovleg was cancelled after 2 seasons. Blank closed shop with 3. 17/18/16 keeps going, but the format isn’t exactly the same (iirc every daily drop is actually an episode unto itself, and the shows drop over a period of less than 20 days). Afaik, lik meg is the only show in the Skam format currently airing, and it’s aimed at a 10-12 y/o demographic, not the 16 year olds that Skam targeted.

Anyway, fwiw, shortly after Amira M’s season finished, s4 had 12.7M views. As of two days ago, Nora’s season had 11.4M views (danke, @tirpse). Nora has 28.3K followers, only 3K followers less than Lola, despite the fact that Nora is a straight character and she didn’t get a s*x scene. 

I gotta be real with you, I don’t think these numbers will improve with Fatou’s season, because both Fatou and Kieu My are woc. If there’s a main who fits the “exciting” bill (I know it’s not the word you used, but I just feel like Druck mains are generally charismatic, if not eclectic), that is Ava. And we all know people will find many reasons not to watch Ava’s season. 

So, all in all... I guess Druck will remain a small show, unless something happens with one of the still existing remakes, and the Skam phenomenon gets a second wind. Because I really don’t think a flashy main is going to turn the tides around, anon.

[lucidpantone]

Hey, lucid! Regarding your commentary on the kynicole’s YouTube video comments.

I have to say that after the massive car crush season 4 was (I am literally getting angry at Wtfock as I am typing this) there is at least one thing that i am glad for and it is the conversations that have happened and still happening regarding representation in the media, accountability of creators to the audience and also accountability of the audience to the pieces of media they choose to consume.

There was a lot of animosity in the way the fandom treated each other during that time and that was painful to see but saying that I am glad that finally voices that were shut down before, were heard. People came forward and spoke about the pain that comes with creation of such insulting content. And those voices reached the ears of white male board members who are used to make decisions behind closed doors with money as their only motivator. And they didn’t achieve their goal. And I glad for that. Because they didn’t get the level of financial gain they were expecting and they were forced to listen.

I only wish that the fandom didn’t start expressing that aggression towards each other but rather gather that energy and target the advertisers which are the soft spot of Wtfock. I wondered why no one ever reached out to them. Why no one just said hey what you are endorsing is creating a massive uproar and it hurts people. If there is a lesson for us as a fandom to learn is next time just reach the sponsors. I have been in a fandom before where that really worked. If you wanna make a production company pay for their insulting content hit them where it hurts and stop making the fandom a lions’ den where people are afraid to express opinions.

The fandom has to be a safe space where even wrong opinions are met with educational response and not a stone attack. Because no nothing changes with shooting. It is not about people who already know the truth to just discuss between each other, it is about those people educating, opening the eyes to the ones that choose or are too previleged to see.

Take the movie Fight Club for example. The solution to fighting an oppressive situations is not coming by becoming a rebellious aggressor who fights just for the sake of fighting.

Thoughts after the cut

Thanks for this anon it really hit home because it took me back to the beginning of s4. I think its been a long enough time where I feel I can talk about this and be frank. I think s4 really exposed some of the ugly truths that were happening in the wtFOCK fandom. I think before s4 they were definitely cliques. I remember a period of time where those quizzes would go around and it was the same top group of blogs that were in on the joke. That never really happens now and a lot of those people left the fandom. Those cliques felt very evident going into filming s4 and I blame wtfock for this.  Because most people that extra-d weren't going into filming thinking they would have to harbor this secret for wtfock that Moyo had been passed up for Kato. It also created this extremely weird vibe where all these extras that were mostly young white women stepped in to defend wtfock and their decision to cast Romi without actually knowing what the season would be about.I kinda of get it to ya know? Imagine you have a good friend and they make a questionable decision you tell your friend what you think but you also wish them well and hope for the best. So I get why so many mostly young white women felt the need to defend wtFOCK but there is defending a casting decision and asking your mutuals to give it a shot and then there is silencing the effected class of people that were offended. I also saw a lot of condescending attitudes concerning people that brought up why utilizing Kato as a vehicle to tell a story about racism was deeply tone deaf and in the current climate and that it felt like a slap in the face. Instead of listening people fought back saying “you can be white and still experience aspects of racism”. Yea we get that but that's not what people were saying. Perfect example Ava/Mailin storyline happening in Druck now.People were saying using whiteness as a vehicle to explore a topic that is deeply penetrating society and a campaign for change did not need “whiteness” to validate it. It was a story that should have been told via the eyes of a party member of the effected class. PERIOD. I just think people, particularly those who extra-d and hard core stans couldn't imagine that their fav remake would create something like this..... I really do believe they believe they thought that wtfock had a better moral compass then they actually did and so they followed them blindly down the path of self destruction and in turn paid a price. It was sad to see how prominent the divide between the defenders and the critics became and it got really ugly but I think it got really ugly because the defenders wouldn't listen they kept hope going for too long they got sucked into this vicious cycle. In the end a lot of people left the fandom, a lot of people took a hiatus off tumblr and honestly I dont blame them. I am not here to defend people that literally belittled the voices of poc who had valid critiques of the season but I saw some stuff that made me really sad. Like I was on twitter and one of the big players on there shamed someone via their government name and I was like really? and it got so bad I just felt like people wanted blood at no cost and I just thought like guys stop already. Stop kicking this person while they are down. Like their fucking name was everywhere on twitter, insta and here and its like I think they got the point. You wanted to bury them and you did. So just stop now. Like you said anon I dont want to be part of a space (virtual or not) that makes others feel unsafe and s4 made the fandom very unstable because of the divide it caused. I like you am also happy that wtFOCK paid the price mainly because if this season would have even been slightly good those white dudes would have never got the wake up call they deserved but it makes me sad for the cast (which were obviously upset) and certain crew members (that I heard spoke up and were ignored). I hate that those people had to be collateral damage so a bunch of white dudes could realized that maybe they do indeed still harbor racist tendencies and suffer from inflated egos and am sad that s4 basically tore the fandom apart but I will say this. I really like the vibe of the tag now. I think its funny other skam remake stans come into the tag talking trash about wtFOCK s4 and am like people we talk more shit about s4 then other remakes do like aint no one defending s4 in the tag. Most people get triggered even seeing Kato’s face in the tag and I also think everyone took their rose colored glasses off and sees wtfock for who they are versus who they hoped they would be.