#my skam meta

[ineffable-opinions]

BL Genre

[source post | latest version ]

BL is a genre in itself – practically well as the way Masala is a cinema genre.

BL / romance

I don’t think BL is romance or even a sub-genre of romance. Many BL are romance. Many more of them have at least a romantic side to them. There is enough overlap between those genres to give the impression that BL is romance. (I remember the discussion Killing Stalking had prompted.)

But there are plenty of BL devoid of romance. Like One Room Angel, Social Reform Season, and The Orc Bride. Similarly, BL is not exactly porn even though there are plenty of ero/porn-BL.

Also, there are plenty of BL where romance takes backseat such as The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Blue Morning, Brother, Lawless Gangster and Thousand Autumns.

BL / queer

Queer – Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex. Can I call it a genre the way I call BL a genre?

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi (queer) author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

[W]hat exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

I think the problem persist even when I think of queer as a label.

Then there is the issue with conception of “queerness” itself. Like, in a way it is a limiting term. Is it fair to call normative or customary male-male erotic practices such as masti and Launda Naach, “queer” just because that’s how it is perceived elsewhere now?

To quote what Kaustav Bakshi wrote in Writing the LGBTIHQ+ movement in Bangla:

In the last decade, the question of decolonizing queer epistemologies was being raised periodically, whereby queer politics, despite having a shared agenda of toppling heteronormativity, and queer culture, albeit having a shared aesthetics, became more and more regionalist – not in a negative sense – but, with implications of difference, which can be interpreted and understood only when one subjectively experiences the ‘region’ with respect to gender, class, caste, ethnicity, physical and intellectual ability, access to education, metropolitan cultures, and most importantly, the internet.

[T]he attraction towards the launda is not understood as ‘queer’ – non-normative or out of the ordinary – but, as an integral part of sexual life, which is not always compulsively alert to the heterosexual-homosexual binary.

Imo, decolonizing queer epistemologies comes in handy when discussing BL since there are plenty of BL dealing with:

Historical BL set in eras and locations that had customary male-male sexualities and practices.

BL with special settings, like omegaverse and dom-sub-verse, with different (if any) idea of queerness.

BL / other queer content

I wonder if it is apt to consider BL the way western queer shows (such Verbotene Liebe, Queer as Folks, Os Nossos Dias and SKAM) are considered? Won’t it be better to evaluate BL in relation to local non-BL queer content in BL producing countries? But then, there are BL inspired by western queer culture such as Partners by Tamaki Yura.

Just as Japan has gei-comi, and other manga like Shoujo Manga Artist Minamoto-San Comes Out, and Kieta Hatsukoi (shoujo), What Did You Eat Yesterday and My Brother’s Husband (seinen) beside BL manga, different countries offer diversity in queer content with noticeable overlap. But clubbing them together would not be easy. Moreover, this diversity is as much cross-sectional as it is temporal (tanbi, JUNE, shonen ai, yaoi, BL in Japan).

There is lot of overlap between BL and gei-comi. Gengoroh Tagame first published in JUNE (a magazine that contributed to BL we know now). There are magazines and anthologies (Nikutaiha BL) that offer crossover between different streams of queer content.

Similarly, there are danmei (Chinese BL) novel written by queer men such as the autobiographical works: Six Records of a Floating Life and Waiting Until 35 Years Old by NanKang BaiQi and Bei Cheng Tian Jie (北城天街) by FeiTian YeXiang.

The main difference between BL and other queer genres is BL’s focus on moe (affect). Anyway, BL predates LGBTQ+ acronym. It predates de-pathologization of homosexuality in many BL creating regions. Fu-people (BL fans) were creating BL before mainstream media started representing queer people in media. Fu-people battled state and its censors everywhere along with queer people.

Live action BL is commercialized and we get mostly feel-good content with happy ending since they appeal to the widest audience. But that is capitalism (and the State) reaping the dividends of decades of fu-people’s labor of love. But as the scope expands, it is likely that BL is romance perception would change too, like with up-coming adaptation of Smells Like Green Spirit. But it is also likely that audience members may reserve "BL" label for works that they think are BL - that's just moe (affect) in action.

[ineffable-opinions]

BL is a genre in itself – practically well as the way Masala is a cinema genre.

BL / romance

I don’t think BL is romance or even a sub-genre of romance. Many BL are romance. Many more of them have at least a romantic side to them. There is enough overlap between those genres to give the impression that BL is romance. (I remember the discussion Killing Stalking had prompted.)

But there are plenty of BL devoid of romance. Like One Room Angel, Social Reform Season, and The Orc Bride. Similarly, BL is not exactly porn even though there are plenty of ero/porn-BL.

Also, there are plenty of BL where romance takes backseat such as The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Blue Morning, Brother, Lawless Gangster and Thousand Autumns.

BL / queer

Queer – Even if one were to ignore queer as method in academia, it is still so complex. Can I call it a genre the way I call BL a genre?

Let me quote Taiwanese tongzhi (queer) author Chiang-Sheng Kuo:

[W]hat exactly is queer literature? Is it queer literature if queer people like to read it, or is it only queer literature if there are queer characters in the books? Or is it an appendage of the queer movement? If a queer author writes a book without queer characters, does that represent a certain aspect of queer culture?

(You can find the whole interview here.)

I think the problem persist even when I think of queer as a label.

Then there is the issue with conception of “queerness” itself. Like, in a way it is a limiting term. Is it fair to call normative or customary male-male erotic practices such as masti and Launda Naach, “queer” just because that’s how it is perceived elsewhere now?

To quote what Kaustav Bakshi wrote in Writing the LGBTIHQ+ movement in Bangla:

In the last decade, the question of decolonizing queer epistemologies was being raised periodically, whereby queer politics, despite having a shared agenda of toppling heteronormativity, and queer culture, albeit having a shared aesthetics, became more and more regionalist – not in a negative sense – but, with implications of difference, which can be interpreted and understood only when one subjectively experiences the ‘region’ with respect to gender, class, caste, ethnicity, physical and intellectual ability, access to education, metropolitan cultures, and most importantly, the internet.

[T]he attraction towards the launda is not understood as ‘queer’ – non-normative or out of the ordinary – but, as an integral part of sexual life, which is not always compulsively alert to the heterosexual-homosexual binary.

Imo, decolonizing queer epistemologies comes in handy when discussing BL since there are plenty of BL dealing with:

Historical BL set in eras and locations that had customary male-male sexualities and practices.

BL with special settings, like omegaverse and dom-sub-verse, with different (if any) idea of queerness.

BL / other queer content

I wonder if it is apt to consider BL the way western queer shows (such Verbotene Liebe, Queer as Folks, Os Nossos Dias and SKAM) are considered? Won’t it be better to evaluate BL in relation to local non-BL queer content in BL producing countries? But then, there are BL inspired by western queer culture such as Partners by Tamaki Yura.

Just as Japan has gei-comi, and other manga like Shoujo Manga Artist Minamoto-San Comes Out, and Kieta Hatsukoi (shoujo), What Did You Eat Yesterday and My Brother’s Husband (seinen) beside BL manga, different countries offer diversity in queer content with noticeable overlap. But clubbing them together would not be easy. Moreover, this diversity is as much cross-sectional as it is temporal (tanbi, JUNE, shonen ai, yaoi, BL in Japan).

There is lot of overlap between BL and gei-comi. Gengoroh Tagame first published in JUNE (a magazine that contributed to BL we know now). There are magazines and anthologies (Nikutaiha BL) that offer crossover between different streams of queer content.

Similarly, there are danmei (Chinese BL) novel written by queer men such as the autobiographical works: Six Records of a Floating Life and Waiting Until 35 Years Old by NanKang BaiQi and Bei Cheng Tian Jie (北城天街) by FeiTian YeXiang.

The main difference between BL and other queer genres is BL’s focus on moe (affect). Anyway, BL predates LGBTQ+ acronym. It predates de-pathologization of homosexuality in many BL creating regions. Fu-people (BL fans) were creating BL before mainstream media started representing queer people in media. Fu-people battled state and its censors everywhere along with queer people.

Live action BL is commercialized and we get mostly feel-good content with happy ending since they appeal to the widest audience. But that is capitalism (and the State) reaping the dividends of decades of fu-people’s labor of love. But as the scope expands, it is likely that BL is romance perception would change too, like with up-coming adaptation of Smells Like Green Spirit. But it is also likely that audience members may reserve "BL" label for works that they think are BL - that's just moe (affect) in action.

The people on here getting mad about one couple getting too much screen time or another not doing enough in 4Minutes are the same to me as the booktok people who can’t read anything without romance. Sometimes it’s about storytelling that makes you scream into your pillow every week idk what else to fucking tell you

[slayerkitty]

Narrative Frameworks in Only Friends

Something I have been tracking as part of the ongoing discussions about Only Friends is the use of the narrative framework for each episode.

So, I’m making this list specifically for tracking purposes, to note which framework was used for which episodes, if they repeat, and what they may be paying homage to. The goal is to update it every week. Due to suggestions, I am also tracking the end credit scenes, as well as any specific visual or audio formats used in the episodes.

Frameworks so far:

1. Voiceovers: gives the audience specific insight into a characters thoughts and feelings; also a great way to provide exposition. It’s more of an audio than visual framework, as we don’t always see the character doing the voice-over because it plays over other scenes.

2. “Talking Heads” (is there a better descriptor for this?): The characters talk directly to the camera, interview/documentary style. We get to see exactly how they feel about a given moment because they are reacting to it at that time. Audio and visual. Homage to Love8009 (per P'Jojo).

3. Social Media (ft The Artist Formerly Known as Twitter as well as Instagram): Not as insightful as the other two frameworks but does give context and a way for interaction, commentary, and exposition on a given plot. Visual. Probable homage to Together With Me, one of the first spicy BLs starring our kings, MaxTul.

Episode 1

Framework: Voiceover

Title: What’s Your Role in a Bar?

Narrator: Mew

Visual Moment: Yellow title cards listing everyone's "roles" as well as the month and days of the week in episode one (homage to SKAM Norway? Open to thoughts on this)

End Credit Shot: Mew sitting on the floor in front of his fish tank

Episode 2

Framework: Talking Heads

Title: M.F.M My Favorite Man

Narrator: Everyone

Visual Moment: The talking heads scenes

End Credit Shot: Ray driving

Episode 3

Framework: Social Media (Twitter and Instagram)

Title: What Am I to You?

Narrator: Nick and Boston

Audible Moment: Nick listening to the TopBoston sex audio

End Credit Shot: Nick listening to TopBoston sex audio

Episode 4

Framework: Voiceover

Title: Emergency Contact

Narrator: Ray

Visual Moment: The flashback of RayMew is in 4:3 ratio; meaning it looks like recorded footage versus a memory

End Credit Shot: Ray driving (repeat from episode 2)

Episode 5:

Framework: Voiceover

Title: The Extra Hour

Narrator: Sand

Visual Moment: Intro and Outro are animated; black and white (made me think of the Take on Me MV by A-ha but I’m open to suggestions on what this might be referring to)

End Credit Shot: Sand driving his motorcycle

Episode 6:

Framework: None

Title: Happy Fucking Birthday

Narrator: None

Audible Moment: Ray listens to the TopBoston sex audio; Mew plays the TopBoston sex audio for Top

Visual Moment: Top draws Mew sleeping/gives Mew a book of drawings he did of Mew 

End Credit Shot: Top in his bathtub alone looking angsty

If anyone can think of anything else to add, please let me know! If you would like to be tagged in this post or any other meta, let me know and I’ll add you.

Tagging the Ephemerality Squad: @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles, @wen-kexing-apologist, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming

Apologies to anyone I forgot!

[wernerherzogs]

happy happy birthday, my lovely sweet Kasia! you are Good and Smart and Wonderful and Hilarious in all the best ways and I’m v happy our paths have crossed on this little earth!!! from 1d and skam to various non-crossing fandoms over the years now to 911, i always smile when I think of you or see your posts. I love the way your brain works and always am curious to know your thoughts on stuff, so thank you for sharing those thoughts (be it world stuff or media stuff or silly stuff!) and being vulnerable in that way. I hope this year is filled with bright joy and adventure and good food and good canon writing on all your fave shows and even better meta and jokes and memes with your friends and that you get to pet sooooo many doggys!!!!!! I also hope this year is the kind of year where you find a cool rock on a day to the beach and a fun trinket at a random antique store in the fall and a piece of glitter months after you’ve been anywhere near glitter, all little reminders of the tiny joys that exist, even amidst all the Shit. I love you lots and lots! I hope you feel loved today and everyday forever 💗💗💗🥳🥳🥳🥰🥰🥰

hello kyla what the FUCK. sitting here pretty speechless over this!!! not even sure what to say back except THANK YOU. ❣️❣️❣️ this is sooo kind i'm genuinely like 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 right now. overwhelmed!!!!!! thank you AGAIN, and right BACK at you - i'm always cheering for you and hoping for great things for you!!!!! i love you back!!!! 💐✨

[ignoranxed]

because i am so done w losing my thoughts over the very chaotic only friends eps imma put them down here and contribute my 0.0002 cents to the OF meta

here are my stray thoughts post ep4

1. the power dynamic between boston & top: the past two eps have been sooooo layered w this but i loveee the ending of the lift scene in ep4 for the very specific reason that top is TERRIFIED of boston. the second boston turns his back to top, you can see top’s face literally melting into a scared, breathless, child-like expression, almost as if he was holding so tightly onto every last bit of courage possible to make boston feel like he could see right through him but he was actually praying ton doesn’t see through himself. like ofc there’s the whole being subjected to non-consensual sexual advances for the umpteenth time by ton and recovering from that experience thingy, but i am not able to shake away the thought that top FEARS boston.

since ep1 we see that top and ton consistently try to assert power over the other in the most petty yet desperate ways, to say the least (case in point: top’s forced eye roll in the ep1 bathroom scene & ton’s tone & choice of words in ep2 shower scene. this scene by itself too, actually. if i’ve missed anything else plss lmk!!). initially, i kinda brushed it off as part of the hookup culture depicted and the whole idea of top being “top-tier” (as in for ton he feels this need to stake claim on the most coveted & for top he feels the need to maintain his “wanted yet unattainable” rep) but post ep3&4 i am so convinced that there is something more sinister about their relationship that gives ton power over top. i just know this man’s so fucked over by boston and is still reeling from it.

2. we’re most definitely going to get a mewray: call me delulu but my man went from “it’s your life. not my concern” & “isn’t it already good for you if you quit” to “if you quit using drugs, i’ll sleep with you” in under 10 seconds. this mew bitch is gonna lose his shit and make everyone else lose their own at some point and all of the evidence i have for this could be a whole other post.

3. friend-group dynamic: this has been a nagging question for me and i saw a few other posts on this (hidden agenda has taken over my tumblr the past couple weeks so OF took a sad backseat ://) but my point basically being, why have ray, mew, cheum & ton remained friends? what’s keeping their friendship going? we know it’s a min of 2 years that they’ve all been friends for i think, but i just can’t wrap my head around why do 3 people who very often can barely stand each other, choose to do everything together? saving cheum on this cause she’s just the token lesbian who loves everyone so far. they study together, they work together, they party together, they don’t seem to have any other actual friends they hang out with so what’s keeping them tied? and why?

this ep def gave a lot more clarity on mew and ray’s friendship but my question is still not answered.

4. the SKAM colours are back!! i’m sorry but this just makes me super excited :))))))

that’s it for now and more stray thoughts will be updated as and when convenient upon arrival.

i haven’t read enough of the recent OF meta so if any of my thoughts seem repetitive or overdone, pls be kind :))

as a baby bl fan, reading meta makes my whole bl watching experience exponentially better and this is me contributing to that in my little way. okay that’s it thx xx bye

[gay-dragon]

On the iconic Skam elevator scene

Not that anyone asked but I think Skam and some of its remakes are really well crafted shows, and I have a lot of thoughts about a lot of clips. So I’m going to go ahead and have a little rant about some of them and why I think they work so well. Might make a little series of this, but right now I want to talk about the final clip of episode 8 of Skam season 3 (in which Isak and Even go to a hotel), and why I think it’s one of the strongest clips in the whole show. Specifically, I’d like to unpack the metaphor of the elevator, and what it means for the season overall.

So let’s jump right in: this scene, and Isak and Even’s kiss in the elevator, has often been talked about as a metaphor for Even’s manic episode, which I think is incredibly interesting. However I’d like to propose the theory that it also represents a major turning point in Isak’s attitude towards his relationship with Even.

It’s important to note that this clip is the first time we see Isak and Even properly spend time together as a couple outside of the domestic, intimate space of their bedrooms/apartments. And Isak is very clearly made uncomfortable by this: we see him pull away when Even tries to kiss him in front of the café, for example, and he is awkward during the interaction with the receptionist to whom Even introduces him as his boyfriend.

This is very consistent with Isak’s behaviour throughout the season up to this point: when he is alone with Even he is more relaxed than we have ever seen him, but as soon as his relationship is taken into the public, he panics. We see this when he comes out to Jonas and doesn’t know how to respond to Jonas calling Even good looking, when he kicks out the boys at the end of episode 7 to be alone with Even, and in his visible awkwardness when Even first meets the boys at school, to name a few examples.

However something I noticed is that I can’t think of a single moment after episode 8 where we see this discomfort in Isak. Even when things are going badly and he thinks Even doesn’t love him, he’s very open with the boys about how upset he is, and after the O Helga Natt reunion we see him be much more open about and comfortable with his relationship.

It’s true that when he talks to his father on the phone in episode 9 he does try to lie by saying he was joking when he said he had a boyfriend, and although he admits it was real before hanging up he does maintain that he’s okay even though he’s not. But to me, his lie about being okay has less to do with his relationship with Even and more to do with the difficulty Isak experiences in letting his father in and being vulnerable. What matters is that he is unwilling to lie about having been in a relationship with Even.

This means that the last time we see him be uncomfortable with being public about his relationship is in the interaction with the receptionist. So, what changed? This bit of dialogue with her may seem quite casual and random (and I read somewhere that part of the reason it was there was to give a shout-out to the Danish fans, which is amazing), but I think it’s actually absolutely crucial to the plot of the season. So far, the only people that Isak has been open to about his relationship have been people he was very close to (his friends, his parents, his flatmate…). These have all be positive, but all of the interactions he’s had with strangers (or people he wasn’t close to) on this subject have been awkward at best and incredibly distressing at worst. I’m thinking for example of his disastrous Grindr attempt, of the casual homophobic comments he’s heard throughout the seasons, of Vilde’s awkward (if well intentioned) ‘I love gays’ text, or even of Emma’s ‘it’s 2016 get out of the closet’ speech, among others.

This woman, then, is the very first stranger not only who Isak is open about his relationship to, but also who has a positive reaction. And not just positive: it’s completely casual. Isak needs this so much, at this point. He’s desperate to be with Even, and he’s out to everyone who matters to him, but when it comes to outsiders it’s been the source of a lot of distress. So this very normal, very casual interaction with this woman is a huge deal for him. And despite his slightly awkward attitude throughout this interaction, you can clearly see on his face the joy, giddiness and even the relief that being introduced as Even’s boyfriend (and this being met with “how nice”) brings him.

This interaction is so crucial, therefore, because at this point he’s still afraid of what his relationship with Even will mean for the outside world, and this interaction is what allows Isak to finally let go of that fear. He’s been getting closer, he’s been making efforts to be more open, but this is the confirmation he needed that, yes, he can be with Even and have a normal life (and we all know how much being normal is important to Isak).

So to me, the elevator scene marks a major turning point in Isak’s relationship to his relationship with Even. When you think about it, a hotel is simultaneously a public and a very intimate place. Therefore Isak and Even’s kiss in the glass elevator that is rising up to their hotel room is a beautiful visual metaphor for Isak’s acceptance of his relationship, and the passage/rise of it in his mind from something he feels the need to keep to the private sphere, into something that can be both public and private.

They are having an intimate moment, but unlike their other kisses (underwater, in Isak’s room, etc.) the glass wall of the elevator which permits this beautiful backdrop of the city is also a reminder of the outside world, a reminder that they are a part of that world, that their relationship and their intimacy have a place in it. The motion of the elevator is therefore a visual representation of the moment where in Isak’s mind his relationship with Even transitions from a ‘thing’ (he doesn’t seem to find a better word for it when he talks about it to his friends a few clips ago) and ascends into a proper relationship.

I think this transition is absolutely essential, at this point in the show. It serves to escalate the stakes of their relationship (and by extension of the story), and is what allows the impact of the heartbreaking scene we see at the end of the clip to be so much stronger. It’s one thing to be sad because the ‘thing’ you were starting to have with someone is complicated or even ending. It’s entirely something else to deal with (what you view as) the end of a real relationship. But this also means that after this heartbreak, where previously Isak would probably have given up, he is now more willing than ever to fight for his relationship.

This ties in nicely with something that @evakuality has gone into in her series of posts about the difference between Isak and Matteo, in which she unpicks Isak’s very passive approach to his relationship with Even. You can read this analysis here (and you definitely should if you haven’t already, it’s brilliant!) so I won’t go into it, but I will say that I think this scene marks the moment when Even stops being mythical and enchanting and instead their relationship becomes real, thus allowing Isak to be much more active in it. Again, this is essential to escalating the stakes of the season, because if Even had remained a mythical figure the heartbreak in this scene would have been redundant after the heartbreak pre-episode 7.  

I also think that the image of the elevator being simultaneously representative of this shift for Isak and of Even’s manic episode is incredibly interesting, but I’m not going to go into this now as this post has already gotten very long. (Also just to be clear, the reason I’m not going into more detail about the manic episode metaphor is because I am no expert on mental illness and am not bipolar myself, and also because many people far more qualified than me have gone into detail about this aspect already.)

But there you have it, this is why in my opinion the elevator metaphor is one of the strongest in this show. Like I said, I may or may not make this into a series (do I miss writing essays? Quite possibly!), because there’s loads of scenes in Skam and in some of the remakes that I think have this kind of traction too. Not sure if I will, but I also wanted to talk about the build-up of tension throughout this clip, so if I do make a series of this I will probably talk about that too, in a later post!

[maxbernini]

hmm i think anais’s reaction in this clip makes sense bc she and louise both laughed last season when lola called tiff ugly with her neckbrace lmaooo, and it’s canon that she told the principal about the neckbrace + bullying account because “she didn’t want it to come back and bite her in the ass”. like there’s zero loyalty in this group!! 😭 and i think that’s accurate for a lot of groups whose friendship is only held together by history and obligation, especially when they’re quite shallow to begin with?

bc if they’ve been best friends since 6th grade...that’s right before becoming a teenager where everyone reinvents themselves since they’re Grown Up™️ now, and i can see 11 year old tiff and anais like, coming up with a Girlboss Image and deciding to rule the school etc. and s6 tiff was posting about mean girls on insta soooo a panic attack doesn’t really work with that vibe

[noorengels]

let’s talk about the colours used in the trailer:

every single shot in is amiras house has very strong yellows and browns which represent joy, trust and love, used here bc that’s where she feels safest!! in her house she can truly be herself, no one judges her for her practices and general way of living. these colours are also present when she’s around other muslim people regardless of location, showing how she feels more comfortable around people with similar lifestyles and beliefs.

when she’s with her friends/dani there’s still a warm filter but it’s not as prevalent as in the other shots. so amira still feels a sense of comfort when with these people but it is in no way close to when she’s around muslims.

i love this shot because it says so much!! both cris and her muslim friend are wearing red. red is one of the most powerful colours you can use, so the fact that both of them are wearing red shows that they are both very important to amira. however, muslim friend is wearing the same warm, beige colour as amira, showing that even though both are important to her amira still feels more comfortable around her muslim friend. also the fact that cris is in full red does make her appear a bit threatening, like amira has to be cautious around her whereas with muslim friend she does not.

[glitterdammerung]

Lola is sixteen. She’s sick and depressed and grieving and probably a little resentful that she was sent away to be “fixed” or “dealt with” only to be pulled back into a dysfunctional family life with a dying, now deceased mother. Odds are good that she’s been asked why she can’t be more like Daphné for quite a lot of her life. And she’s holding all of that in, unwilling to let it out in any constructive way because maybe to her, admitting to any sadness or anger means she’s weak. Who’s to say anyone would listen to her anyway? She probably doesn’t feel seen or heard or taken seriously. So yeah. She’s a brat, an angry, lashing out brat, with a lot of good reason, and perhaps we could cut her the same slack we all do to Daphné? Because we all know full well Daphné’s bubbly, polished surface is a facade hiding a fair amount of unpleasant stuff underneath - we’ve seen it.

There is a saying in Norway that I see frequently in graffiti on my visits there - “Ingen er bare det du ser” - nobody is only what you see. Maybe we could internalize that as much as we have “alt er love”?

[norgestan]

i see absolutely NO reason why the clips would’ve been from cris’ pov and i’m 100% convinced it was to keep people hooked on the season... but damn if that last clip wasn’t the first time i genuinely cried because of the emotions during this season. i had forgotten eskam could be like this!!! like, ask me three hours ago and i’d tell you the inés get-together was such a stupid way to create conflict between the two, but it’s so smart from them that this goes all the way back to their couple problems in s3 where cris says the same thing as joana: that she makes a tiny thing into a huge problem... instead that cris is now there to reassure her and remind her of how much she’s grown. i’m glad that being with cris even for an entire year hasn’t magically erased the insecurities joana has been carrying since season 2, and i love that cris not only does love joana but she believes in her in such a selfless way: when she defended joana after nora told the girls about miquel, and now when she tries to make joana see that she is steadily becoming better and that she can get the hang of her bpd and like, joana never feels like a burden for cris. and it made it on such a matter-of-fact, simply, heartfelt way. these clips felt raw and good in the way eskam knows to do best.

[canonicallyanxious]

Not a prompt, just being ambitious and coming off of anon. How would you compare old gen druck to new gen? If it is even possible to compare. ik that David is your comfort character? Personally I think I saw abt 30 percent of old gen, whatever was accessible w/o a vpn. But this new gen has a completely different appeal and vibe that I really like

hey thank you for this question bc i find it a really interesting one to consider! 

[and surprise surprise i wrote a fucking essay in response so all of my nonsense garbage can be found under the cut, very sorry in advance]

first things first i think it gets complicated to compare druck’s old gen to their new gen because both sets of characters are written to serve inherently different purposes. old gen is based on the first four seasons of og skam and while most of the characters are pretty different from their norwegian counterparts they’re still meant to be used to tell similar stories so how they were created/written is, no matter how different, always going to be responding to og skam in some fashion [i mean obv you can get invested in old gen entirely independently of og skam and i’m sure many people have; for myself though it’s kind of impossible to separate druck’s four seasons as its own thing, i know the og canon so well being that it’s one of the few versions of skam i’ve seen every single episode of that every time i watch an adaptation of it i’m going to be very aware of that]. 

on the other hand new gen has much more of a clean slate in terms of, the stories these characters are being used to tell aren’t an adaptation of a previously existing work. not to say this doesn’t present its own unique sets of challenges [e.g telling new and engaging stories without a pre-existing roadmap from a very successful show to fall back on], and definitely not to say it’s not responding to og skam or old gen either [e.g the homages to og skam as well as the way new gen is attempting to carry on the themes, aesthetic, and overall mood that the old gen established] but the way it’s doing so is different in the way most homages are different from most direct adaptations.

so for myself it’s kind of hard to compare them on anything other than a purely personal level just because they’re meant for different purposes and are telling different stories in different ways. if we’re talking strictly in terms of personal opinion though i do vibe much more with new gen than old gen in general. a few reasons for this:

1. when the skam remakes were first announced, what i wanted to see from the remakes was actually very similar to what new gen is accomplishing now. I wanted to see new and diverse characters at the center of new and diverse stories while keeping a similar format and themes to the og. i didn’t actually want to see ten different versions of the same characters [although at this point i pretty much have so who is the clown in the end it’s always going to be me lol], i was much more intrigued by the idea of original characters and original stories. so for new gen to be doing exactly that - and doing it quite well, to boot! - is kind of a longtime dream of mine come true.

2. in terms of the characters themselves - i’m gonna be honest, i never actually vibed with og girl squad that much. i understand why those characters are so important to other people but for me i just don’t find them or their portrayal of friendship that relatable. obviously the teen experience is not universal and i’m not saying every character in skamverse ever needs to be like me FAR from it [especially considering i haven’t been a high schooler myself for quite some time skdjfnskdfs] i’m just saying that for me personally i’m going to vibe more with characters i relate to than those i don’t. druck’s old gen girl squad is kind of similar in that respect for me; of course they are different characters with a different dynamic but i never personally connected to them all that much. actually after seeing the first seasons of a number of remakes druck’s girl squad was probably very low on my list in terms of squads i liked the best [esp being at the top of the ranking for reference], although i ended up getting more invested in them by s4. 

on the other hand the cashqueens remind me a LOT of my high school friendships. in a lot of ways they’re very different from me and my own friends [also worth noting there’s much more of an age gap b/w me and the cashqueens than there was b/w me and og girl squad or even druck old gen] but there’s just something about how they interact with each other and how they first came together because of their values and especially the friendship b/w ava and fatou [it took skamverse YEARS to give me an actually well developed and nuanced friendship b/w two characters of color that is a central focus of the story AND doesn’t erase their ethnicities and you know what it gave me rights!] that makes me very nostalgic for that time of my life in a way og/druck old gen never did.

3. speaking of race [sorry i’m talking about skam so i have to talk about it] - one of my biggest issues with og girl squad and subsequent remakes was always, always the Vilde. it simply does not work for me that the racist member of the girl squad whose conflict with the token person of color in the group is literally one of the central issues of the first season faces little to no repercussions for her actions and never seems to grow all while being portrayed as the ~naive~ one of the group. druck was really no exception with that - in fact across all the first seasons kiki is probably my LEAST favorite vilde being that in a lot of ways she was the most racist vilde. druck’s method of addressing this was basically rewriting her character in s4 without any on screen evidence of growth which didn’t really work for me either frankly. 

meanwhile i actually really, really like the way druck’s new gen has addressed the complications of having white characters and characters of color in the same group, most notably the relationship b/w ava and mailin. while that storyline is by no means perfect [what storyline in skam is, i ask you] it means a lot - a LOT - to me that they really took the time to deconstruct mailin’s racism and show her growth into a more thoughtful ally on screen. that is something i was always missing from kiki’s character and plus i think mailin is overall just a really well-rounded character. so honestly that’s another reason why it’s easier for me to vibe with the cashqueens - the tension that stems from it being a mixed race group was imo handled much more realistically and afforded more nuance/complexity than old gen’s was [for example - as far as i can remember anyway - sam and amira never really got to connect on any meaningful level as the two poc of their friend group compared to ava and fatou; obviously not that they should be reduced to their ethnicities but speaking as a person of color it is in fact something that significantly influences your relationships with your friends of color versus your white friends and honestly to see the way druck new gen has portrayed that is kind of rare just in general].

4. the last reason i’ll cite is that i just find pretty much every character of new gen compelling and interesting [with one exception, 3 guesses as to who, the first 2 don’t count] whereas that’s far from true for me for either og skam or druck old gen. i think it’s evident that a lot of care and thought has been put into the new gen and they all have unique motivations and the potential for unique and interesting stories that haven’t been told before and they’re all so diverse and what’s more they’re more diverse than og skam or druck old gen without it feeling like their diverse experiences are just being used for lip service, like there’s intentionality in the way these characters and their experiences are written. again not that the writers haven’t made some missteps on that front but the important thing for me is that it’s clear that they’re putting in a very earnest effort. which tbf was clear in old gen as well but i do think in a lot of ways they’ve improved or are working to improve what was already established in old gen and personally i see that effort and i appreciate it very much.

[i think also it’s def worth mentioning that i haven’t seen all of old gen either - i saw all of s1, one episode of s2, all of s3, and rage-quit s4 after it was revealed the last two eps weren’t going to be from amira’s pov - whereas i’ve obviously seen both seasons of new gen so far and bar something completely wild like constantin getting a season - i DO NOT speak it into existence, knock on EVERY WOODEN SURFACE IN THE VICINITY druck if you do this i will NEVER FORGIVE YOU - i have no plans of not watching anything else druck is able to put out for these characters so i feel like that has some bearing on my opinion as well]

phew that was a lot huh. i guess the tl;dr is you’re right that on an individual level David is and probably forever will be my favorite character of druck [and quite possibly the entire skamverse]. but as a collective, i also agree with you that i find new gen very appealing and compelling to watch in a way i never quite felt from old gen. and on pretty much every level what they’re trying to accomplish with new gen is just more appealing to me in a personal sense than what they were trying to accomplish with old gen. so i hope they get to continue telling more stories about these characters bc i honestly think they’re doing something really special here!

[nicolinocolino]

Hi, i have a question: it is supposed Luai was the first Ni's passion and it was a first kiss too. How strong you think this feeling would be if we was not discovered? Do you think that Maddie got a hand in this mess? and how protective is Nicco with this feelings that Maddie thought he was forget all about that guy? I guess that it is the reason for that Marti is so insecure about Ni's feelings. He is overprotective about his feelings because he is afraid to hurt the people he loves. Thanks!!

Hi! Honestly, thank you for sending me this ask because I do have Thoughts™ about this, but I’ve just been too tired and kinda braindead to write it all out. So thanks for the motivation 😝 I’m sorry if this gets long lol.

I’ll start by saying that I’ve been thinking A LOT about why Nico said he just didn’t know how to tell Marti. Like, I believe him 100% when he says it, and I know that he has a hard time putting things into words. Nico is very much a “show” instead of “tell” person. We see this in the way he loves Marti — lots of gifts and surprises and cryptic notes and sacrifices. But when he DOES put his feelings into words (”Io ho voglia di stare con te. Tu non hai voglia di stare con me?”) ... whew! We can feel how powerful it is and we can feel the tension in him with how much courage it took to say. It’s not easy for him.

I’ll also add that I’ve been thinking a lot about the decision to call what Nico and Luai had “half a thing.” That’s a VERY vague and hard to define way to describe a relationship. I was thinking about my own life, and all the relationships I’ve had that I’d consider “half a thing” — and none of them were ever “half a thing” for the same reason. “Half things” can be very one-sided, they can be experimental, they can be stunted due to life circumstances...

So, mix these two points together — Nico’s struggles in general to put honest thoughts into words and this phrase of “half a thing,” and you’re kind of giving him his worst communication nightmare. Because how are you supposed to describe “half a thing”? It’s already hard to define.

SO this leads me to your question of Nico x Luai x Maddalena. It’s clear that Nico and Maddalena were together during this — we know that she knows what happened between him and Luai (to a degree). But we can only speculate if her and Nico were a solid couple or on a break at this time. In my personal opinion, I think they were more of a couple than not. So maybe Nico’s “half a thing” with Luai was because he was already in a “full thing” with Maddalena. I mean, there is a whole can of worms to open here about where Nico was in the process of getting help for his MI, where he was in the process about figuring out his sexuality... oof. But never do I doubt that what he and Luai had was real emotional feelings for each other. It was “half a thing” because it had to be.

However... this is just blatant cheating. We don’t know the extent of Nico and Luai’s physical relationship (I’m assuming we can expect a kiss or two or maybe a tiny bit more) but it’s fair to say this is emotional cheating above all else. And Nico also cheated on Maddalena with Marti. So... Nico doesn’t have the best track record here. I think Nico’s fears that explaining this to Marti would make everything worse are pretty valid. Also, Marti’s dad cheated on his mom, so we know how he feels about cheating. Nico knows it too.

But this doesn’t overshadow the closure Nico NEEDS with Luai. We saw those looks. We know they have a lot to catch up on. What Luai went through was absolutely TERRIBLE and I think above all else Nico just wanted to know he was okay? This had a HUGE effect on Nico. He distanced himself from his friends (probably due to guilt and shame), switched schools, and ran away to London for the summer. Now that everything has settled a bit and Luai is back, Nico absolutely deserves that closure. And closure is something that can be hard to ask for... and honestly? It isn’t really anybody else’s business. It’s true that Nico could have been more forthright in the face of his obviously panicking boyfriend, but I also think he deserves the time and space to just... get that closure. In sum: what Nico needs, what he’s given, and the communication tools he has to work with are all very messy.

SO. Add that need for closure to to the cocktail of being a bad communicator and explaining what “half a thing” is and you’re left with something almost impossible to tell Martino. What is Niccolò supposed to say? “Hey Marti, I used to have this thing with this guy while I was with Maddalena and it ended horribly and suddenly and honestly I couldn’t even tell you if it would still have been going on or not if he didn’t get taken away, but I need closure and time and space to work out a conversation with him. Promise I won’t cheat on you though, xoxo” like??? I really don’t know how he could balance the time and space he deserves with the quick honesty Marti deserves. Niccolò was truly left with a mess and I 100% believe he didn’t know how to tell Marti and I 100% understand his side in all of this. (Marti’s too. God, they are both idiots.)

Anyway, this is really long and I hope it makes sense and I hope I answered your question haha. I’m always here to defend my sunshine Niccolò and try to put myself in his shoes ☀️

[flying-elliska]

S5 Review pt 2 : the Bad

So in my last meta I listed a lot of reasons to like this season...but then why did it not (at least to me) all add up together ?  Looking back, I can think of so many clips that I thought were incredible. But looking back at the season in general, I just feel a big ‘meh’ and it’s sort of puzzling - why exactly ?  Here is where I thought the season could have been a lot better :

I loathe love triangles : I hate the trope in itself. Is S5 the worst example of it ever ? No, it served somewhat of a thematic purpose and the resolution was interesting. But I can’t help it, when I feel a love triangle coming on, I generally disconnect emotionally because I have been annoyed to hell and back by it before - one big offender being Skam France s4, in which the love triangle/quadrangle marked the beginning of the season going down in flames, with it overshadowing everything else and making the characters behave in completely obnoxious and puzzling ways. S5 isn’t quite as bad, it feels more respectful of the characters, but I find it weird that the writers chose a love triangle again on the heels of the reception of s4. 

The problem with this trope is not ‘oh we don’t want drama ever’ it’s just so bloody annoying, so trite and overused. It rests on centuries of sexist tropes : either a wishy washy girl in the middle who doesn’t know what’s good for her/her own heart ; or two girls competing for a man’s attentions. It often ends in the fandom villifying the women involved no matter the shape of the triangle, comparing them against each other, which definitely happened this time (Twitter was just so annoying this season), and this whole ‘team x’ thing gives me hives, as the assumption that this is what young women viewers care most about. 

Also it generally involves the characters showing that they have very little self respect, letting themselves be walked over, bad communication, implications about what the ‘better woman/man’ should be like, cheating, etc...it’s very rarely fun or interesting to watch because we’ve seen it a thousand times before in teenage soap operas. Again, the s5 ending avoided the total trainwreck but this is a show you watch in real time, and for weeks I was afraid it was going to be absolutely terrible, and it ruined a big part of my experience of the season. When they introduced Noée I started being scared, and when it became clear Arthur was developing feelings for her, I basically noped out emotionally. I started following it in a much more detached manner, I wasn’t looking forward to the clips anymore, I stopped writing meta so much. And it sucks. I wanted to love the season. But this was just not a ride I really wanted to be on. 

Alexia (and Noee) deserved better : I love Alexia and developing her character is one of the best things Skam France ever did. In OG, the character of Chris, if interesting, is just continually reduced to the ‘funny fat friend’ persona and it really sucks. So giving Alexia a real personality, making her bisexual, giving her more of a role in s3, making her a dancer and a singer was really cool. I’m bi myself and I spent most of my high school struggling with my weight and if I’d had a character like her, who radiates self-acceptance, it would have meant so much to me. I was really stoked for her to have more of a role in s5 - only to spend most of the season feeling really sad for her. It was just...not fun. I so wish she could have had her own season and her own story that didn’t revolve around a dude she was so supportive of and still ended up treating her like shit. 

Also, real talk : when is a curvy girl actually a love interest without it being shown as funny or not good enough ? Especially of the main character ? Almost never. Coline might have lost some weight, but she’s still written as a curvy girl this season and it’s an important part of the character. So for her to have this particular role this season - the girl that isn’t romanticized, that doesn’t get to have the cute and thrilling moments, that is just sort of there and patient and understanding as if she couldn’t get anything better, it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Sure the end of the season did her more justice but god it took so long and in the meantime, it just felt...very ill considered and careless. 

In the same way, I wanted to love Noée, I thought she was amazing, but because of her role in the plot I just felt this instinctive defiance towards her character. It would have been so cool to have her in a friend role, or even a love interest outside of the triangle or I don’t know like...have someone else fall in love with her. Also, I just did not understand why she loved Arthur ? Like she just met the dude a few times, and he’s mostly been a total asshole to her, who makes very little efforts to communicate with her...I get she could get attracted to him but love ??? The moment where she tells him ‘I love you’ felt demeaning to her, like the moment in OG where Noora falls after running after William. It’s like, Arthur has just been an enormous asshole to her, and she pushes herself to do something she’s never been comfortable with in the first place ? Why ? This show romanticizes teenage boys being assholes and girls being desperate way too much. 

The Skam dilemma, love vs politics and “Let’s all just be nice.” : There is a reoccuring problem accross all Skams, starting with the OG : they bring up very political topics, usually in the beginning of the season, and then they...don’t really do anything with them. In the OG, Noora’s feminism is really just window-dressing and we see her bend over backwards to accomodate this super toxic asshole into her life. And we see Sana’s struggles as a Muslim in Norwegian society, but then love drama takes over, and it’s waved away with an insulting ‘everyone should just communicate more’ ending. Skamfr s4 made it even worse, by making the girl squad a lot more overtly racist, never having them make a big gesture for Imane, putting her in a position to apologize, and never showing that the girl squad had an idea of where they messed up or real growth. It was insanely frustrating, especially since the beginning of the season was so good at showing all the little micro-agressions. In the end it felt like all the racism was just there to motivate Imane’s breakdown for plot reasons and not to actually say something. S5 never stoops quite that low, but there was a bit of a similar dynamic at hand here. Instead of the boys actually have a real conversation after their fight, most of the denouement of the show was consecrated to talking about the love drama. It was, again, as if the focus of the show was on the wrong things, and it robs you of the catharsis you’re expecting. As if they used the love drama for a metaphor for the actual issues, have it do all the emotional heavy lifting, and in so doing bypass having to adress the actual problem. There is this weird ideas that the audience of the show - teenagers and young women, mostly, in the end care the most about the love stuff and that everything else has to take a backseat and...this feels neither a good message to send, nor realistic to me. I like it when shows about teenagers decenter love and show the real complexity of their characters’ lives without making them paragons of virtue or wokeness - Derry Girls is a brilliant example of that. Skam, and Skam France in particular, feel a bit immature still compared to those, punching below their weight for shows that pride themselves on their social impact. 

Hit with the idiot stick : Speaking of underwhelming resolutions - yes, the boy squad messing up with Arthur, I found relevant and realistic. But...did they really even adress it ? I was really hoping for the boys to have more of a conversation, for Arthur to open up to them about what he went through, about his father, to tell them that they should have asked him/listened to him more, etc...and I know ‘teenage boys’ or whatever but ...aren’t they trying to change those stereotypes too ? Like when Arthur went to see Basile, they must have had a conversation, why the fuck did we not see it ? That’s the emotional bond I cared most about ! And we just had a hug ...underwhelming tbh. Same Arthur talking with Lucas but then it was just about their love lives ? Or when they came to the hospital, again, it was just about the love drama ? God it really sucked out the oxygen out of the season. The resolutions of those things just being hugs or speeches or handholding at the end felt hollow, and a lot less powerful than they could have been. And again, there has to be a tolerance for messiness, but I found the boys so incredibly dumb at several points in the season. Especially them being like ‘oh cheating isn’t so bad’ after they found out that Arthur’s dad was cheating on his wife ? Like why the fuck did they take Patrick’s side ? What kind of lack of empathy ? It would feel a lot more coherent for teenage boys to be furious at the destruction of a friend’s family, not talk like cynical 50 yr olds who just divorced for the fifth time. It felt so unrealistic and stupid and just meant for Arthur to finally clue in to the idea that cheating and lying is bad maybe, himself first without external clues from characters that really should have known better by now. Especially Yann and Lucas advising Arthur to keep his mouth shut after what happened in s1 like...did whoever write this read the previous seasons of the show ? There were just too many times where the boy squad felt out of character and mandated to be idiots just for plot reasons, and it felt...very crudely drawn. Disappointing, because the beginning of the season was awesome. But again, Skam France failed in delivering real growth for their friend group. At times, it even felt like character regression. Them holding hands at the end of the season made me emo but damn it could have been so much more.

Also some plot twists - the car crash in particular, just felt dumb and unnecessary, seriously. 

A too distant main : In the end, like I said before, my main issue is that I didn’t feel as connected to Arthur as I wanted to. I mean, the cheating bit was just very unrelatable to me, after how they showed how supportive Alexia was and how she supposedly made him happy like...why. But maybe that’s just me. Regardless - in the first few episodes he felt distant in an interesting way, because it made sense for his character to be so walled off. But...I felt like his self discovery was way too blurred with the ‘oh I like Noee’ part to the point where it ended up being obscured. I would have loved more clips on his own, maybe something more about him questioning his path in life, whether he truly wants to do medecine. And like apparently he liked fine arts ? Then, why didn’t we see anything about that ? Did he paint the x-men painting ??? That feels so relevant, why the fuck didn’t we see that ? Also why didn’t we see him take those LSF classes with Camille and actually make an effort this time ? Having almost all of his realization moments tied to Noee was just...the manic pixie dream girl trope. That’s what it’s called, when you use a quirky female character as a device for the emotional development of the male one. It’s...not flattering tbh. And then that farm episode - it was funny but for a week I felt like I completely lost touch with Arthur’s POV ? I’m really not sure that was the right choice. All in all, there were just not enough introspective, small, intimate clips for it to really feel like Skam, and that’s a shame tbh. I recognize a lot of myself in Arthur, and Robin acted his heart out to make him relatable, but because of the writing, there were way too many times where I was reluctant and puzzled instead of in it. I saw several people saying it was too much tell and not enough show and I think that’s very on point. I feel like a lot of Arthur’s actual character development happened behind the scenes in moments where we didn’t see it.  

Yeah...I think as a conclusion most of my issues are tied back to the preponderance of the love triangle. The season wasn’t bad but god it could have been so excellent if they hadn’t gone that route, and this swerve from greatness is just sooooooo frustrating. I don’t think it’s enough to condemn the whole season but...

Next up : some things I’m just very ??? about and a general conclusion. 

Bonus bitching round, fandom edition : oh my god, I don’t get into this often but...the fandom was so bloody annoying this season. Starting with the people sending death threats over a tv show (like...what the fuck) or thinking them being nasty assholes is somehow for the greater good (???), from people that don’t want anyone to use even 1 analysis capacity (especially on Twitter) and go beyond praising everything on the show, or the people either villifying Alexia and Noee and indulging in that ‘team’ crap, to the people that shoot down every single detail of the show without discernment or accuse the creators of being ableist sexist garbage or maltreating their actors ... And then you have the other remake stans coming to pollute the tags talking about how we were all stupid for liking the show in the first place. Like...seriously, what is up with you people. I really loved the block button this season, damn. 

[slayerkitty]

Narrative Frameworks in Only Friends

Something I have been tracking as part of the ongoing discussions about Only Friends is the use of the narrative framework for each episode.

So, I’m making this list specifically for tracking purposes, to note which framework was used for which episodes, if they repeat, and what they may be paying homage to. The goal is to update it every week. Due to suggestions, I am also tracking the end credit scenes, as well as any specific visual or audio formats used in the episodes.

Frameworks so far:

1. Voiceovers: gives the audience specific insight into a characters thoughts and feelings; also a great way to provide exposition. It’s more of an audio than visual framework, as we don’t always see the character doing the voice-over because it plays over other scenes.

2. “Talking Heads” (is there a better descriptor for this?): The characters talk directly to the camera, interview/documentary style. We get to see exactly how they feel about a given moment because they are reacting to it at that time. Audio and visual. Homage to Love8009 (per P'Jojo).

3. Social Media (ft The Artist Formerly Known as Twitter as well as Instagram): Not as insightful as the other two frameworks but does give context and a way for interaction, commentary, and exposition on a given plot. Visual. Probable homage to Together With Me, one of the first spicy BLs starring our kings, MaxTul.

Episode 1

Framework: Voiceover

Title: What’s Your Role in a Bar?

Narrator: Mew

Visual Moment: Yellow title cards listing everyone’s “roles” as well as the month and days of the week in episode one (homage to SKAM Norway? Open to thoughts on this)

End Credit Shot: Mew sitting on the floor in front of his fish tank

Episode 2

Framework: Talking Heads

Title: M.F.M. My Favorite Man

Narrator: Everyone

Visual Moment: The talking heads scenes

End Credit Shot: Ray driving

Episode 3

Framework: Social Media (Twitter and Instagram)

Title: What Am I to You?

Narrator: Nick and Boston

Audible Moment: Nick listening to the TopBoston sex audio

End Credit Shot: Nick listening to TopBoston sex audio

Episode 4

Framework: Voiceover

Title: Emergency Contact

Narrator: Ray

Visual Moment: The flashback of RayMew is in 4:3 ratio; meaning it looks like recorded footage versus a memory

End Credit Shot: Ray driving (repeat from episode 2)

Episode 5:

Framework: Voiceover

Title: The Extra Hour

Narrator: Sand

Visual Moment: Intro and Outro are animated; black and white (made me think of the Take on Me MV by A-ha but I’m open to suggestions on what this might be referring to)

End Credit Shot: Sand driving his motorcycle

Episode 6:

Framework: None

Title: Happy Fucking Birthday

Narrator: None

Audible Moment: Ray listens to the TopBoston sex audio; Mew plays the TopBoston sex audio for Top

Visual Moment: Top draws Mew sleeping/gives Mew a book of drawings he did of Mew 

End Credit Shot: Top in his bathtub alone looking angsty

Episode 7:

Framework: None

Title: After Effect

Narrator: None

Visual Moment: Mew setting the drawing on fire; Boston's sex tape 

End Credit Shot: Mew sitting on the floor in front of his fish tank (repeat from episode 1)

Discussion: Have we moved away from the use of narrative frameworks? The last two episodes haven't had one. Is it because everyone is saying the quiet parts out loud? Is it because we're no longer only seeing what they want us to see or want each other to see? Is it because the characters have stopped lying to themselves and each other?

The use of the narrative frameworks was so fascinating to me as a story telling device and that it was used for about half the show feels important so the lack of them is jarring (on purpose?). DISCUSS!

If anyone can think of anything else to add, please let me know! If you would like to be tagged in this post or any other meta, let me know and I’ll add you.

Tagging the Ephemerality Squad: @lurkingshan, @waitmyturtles, @wen-kexing-apologist, @chickenstrangers, @ranchthoughts, @twig-tea, @clara-maybe-ontheroad, @distant-screaming

Apologies to anyone I forgot!

[sisoyyoalgunproblema]

thoughts on kassim and amira? what do you think will happen next? i love them already 🥰

Oh my god anon so do I like I'm already planning their wedding😍😍😍.

Anyways, as for what I think will happen next, what I'd love to happen (but it won't because this is skam españa and nothing I predict ever happens) is that Dani will come this weekend to Amira's place to talk to her because I think he's picking up on the fact that she's avoiding him. I think they'll talk, maybe flirt a little but she won't think much about it because she has Kassim now.

Then something will happen with Kassim and Lucas that'll push Amira to Dani, but she'll realize she doesn't really want a relationship with him, that she's outgrown her childhood crush and she'll swaer off men and love until Kassim clears up the misunderstanding and they'll try to work it out and give their relationship a chance.

Hope this answers the question. (I would love for them to ride into the sunset together next clip but I don't think that'll happen)💜

[evakuality]

Since it’s David appreciation week, I figured I should drag this out again and try to get these finished.  For the Matteo and Isak versions, start over here, and for the rest of the Even and David ones, start over here.

Obviously, given what each boy’s secret is, things get more divergent at this point.  Even keeps right on pretending that he’s never going to have to explain his illness, and David knows for sure that he has to tell Matteo that he’s trans.  That obviously leads to some rather large differences in what happens to each character in this episode.  But underneath it all, I think they’re both still motivated in similar ways.  So let’s go take a look at these two in this episode which is very difficult in many ways.

Even is already awake and in the kitchen when the episode starts and so we are led to think he’s gone.  This is obviously to parallel the earlier scene when he had left, but it’s an interesting choice for the character anyway.  He’s gregarious, happy to meet new people and unconcerned about being a boy coming out of Isak’s room.  It’s interesting at this point that he effectively lets Noora know about Isak (I can’t remember Isak telling her earlier but please correct me if I’ve got that wrong; it’s been a while since I followed all the earlier episodes closely), or at the very least he lets her know about the two of them together when he kisses Isak as he enters the room.  

I know a lot of people were speculating about him already slipping into mania at this point but I have very little knowledge of how bipolar can look in the earlier stages so I don’t know.  But it is obvious that Even is lively, a bit reckless, excited to hang out with people and making ‘everything’ for Isak.  He’s in a very happy space, whatever the reason for that, and we can tell that already even before Eskild and Noora leave the room.

By contrast, David is very firmly still with Matteo.  He’s asleep and vulnerable when the episode opens.  The difference between the two here could not be greater.  David is still very closed off and distanced, even physically both in the bed and out of it, and in fact we don’t know for sure that he isn’t about to run once he wakes.  Even while he sleeps, he holds himself closed off, with his body stiff and he turns away from Matteo when he tries to get closer.  There’s still a strong ambivalence in him at this point.  

It’s clear that he wants to tell Matteo (he’s already got something written on his phone to use if/when he gets to this point), but it’s also clear that because of his previous experiences he’s not sure how it’s going to go.  I’d just like to take this moment to say how brave he must have been at this point to tell Matteo knowing what had driven him away from his old school.  Much as Even was very brave in episode 3 when he pushed past his previous experiences with kissing boys to move into Isak, here David has to push past his own past trauma.  They’re both such strong characters in their own quiet ways.

At this point, Even is trying to protect himself and avoid losing Isak by not telling him everything.  Whereas David has to do the opposite; it’s at a point now where he has to speak or he risks losing Matteo.  They’re both scared of losing the person they’re falling in love with but their approaches are so different.  David even considers, seriously, not sticking around and not saying anything.  I don’t think he’s not into Matteo, I think the trauma of that previous experience was so great that the idea of being vulnerable and open again is incredibly difficult to face up to.  So what we get is a situation where Even tells only as much as he can safely get away with, avoiding or sliding away from Sonja and why she’s ‘controlling’ etc as much as he can.  

David, when pressed, gives most of the relevant information.  He doesn’t yet talk about what things were like at his old school or why he transferred, but the key piece of information has been given: that he’s trans.  Even carefully avoids anything at all that will lead to having to say he’s bipolar.  Even also resolutely stays with Isak and tries to distract him.  They stay together in this moment.  David, recognising perhaps that Matteo needs time to process what he’s been told, leaves, letting Matteo think through what he’s heard on his own.  These decisions by these two characters lead up to the way the latter parts of the episodes play out.  They come from similar motivations: fear of losing their loved one and of having to be vulnerable, but their outcomes are very different as are the ways in which these weeks play out for each of them.

David ends up distanced from Matteo for the rest of the week.  Sadly, this means we have very little to go on in terms of how he deals with the situation.  There was one text conversation, I believe, in which he told Matteo that it’s okay to take his time processing everything, and the #matteomonday that week (I think; it’s been so long and I’m not 100% on the timeline) was the sandwich maker, a small in-joke between the two of them that would have set some parts of his mind at rest that Matteo is at least thinking of him in a positive way.  What we do know, is that by the time Matteo reaches out and suggests they meet after David’s exam the next day, David seems happy to do that.  He sounds relaxed and happy, a little focused on his exam but basically fine.  

This means that when the fallout happens at the end of the episode, it comes out of the blue.  There is very little build up to what has always been his biggest fear in this new place.  It makes sense that he’d push Matteo away at this point.  While he is obviously the source of the most happiness David has felt since moving, it is his connection to Matteo that has made him less cautious than he might have been before.  He stopped being quite so closed off and aloof and it must feel like that’s all coming back to bite him.  Given how difficult it was to open up and tell Matteo, and how traumatic his previous experiences have clearly been, it’s not surprising that his instinct is to get out and away.  Also, he and Matteo still haven’t really reunited as yet.  

While there’s a lot to hint that things will be fine, it’s not necessarily going to be, and given his earlier experiences it makes a whole lot of sense that he’s not ready to trust in that right now.  So he runs, because running is the safest thing to do in a situation like this, the ‘natural catastrophe’ if you like.  He literally takes himself physically out of the space where this just happened (again!) so he can regroup and work things out somewhere he knows he’ll be welcomed and accepted.  Partly because he hasn’t yet had a proper conversation with Matteo, David can’t trust that there’s anywhere like that for him in Berlin.  This doesn’t mean he doesn’t trust Matteo, but in the moment he’s not the person David needs to go to because they haven’t had a real talk about any of this yet.  David needs the security of someone who knows and who he knows for sure will 100% have his back.

Interestingly, Even doesn’t run away, at least not physically and not from Isak.  While he leaves the hotel in the middle of the night it’s not as an attempt to avoid his issues.  He’s avoidant yes, but that’s not what happens in this episode.  This is probably partly because unlike David and Matteo, he spends quite a bit of time with Isak during this time.  He meets his friends, even, and so there’s a much more solid understanding between the two of them before the big fallout on the Friday.  This is also possibly because even up to the last moment, Even thinks he can hide what’s happening.  

This is at the heart of why he keeps trying to keep Sonja away from Isak, and to be honest, it wasn’t her place to say anything so it makes sense why he would do that even if this is still him metaphorically running away from having to be honest with Isak and potentially losing him.  While David knows everything is out there in the open, and indeed David is right there and sees the way the school reacts and knows exactly what was said/shown about him, Even has no idea that Isak has been told what is going on with him.  

Both of these characters, as we’ve seen before, have issues around wanting to be in control.  What’s interesting is how that manifests here in each.  Even tries to take control by keeping Sonja apart from Isak and by making sure he’s the one who’s in charge of what’s being told to who.  David takes his control by telling Matteo about his situation and being the one to frame that conversation.  He also tries to take control when he requests to be graded as a boy, going to the teacher and making that request himself in person, but it is this which of course backfires on him when someone else takes that control away from him.  And this is the saddest thing for both characters; at the end of the day neither of them is fully in control of his own story and how that story plays out.  Even is betrayed both by his own mind and then when Sonja explains to Isak what Even had never wanted to have him know.  David is betrayed by someone with a phone thinking he has the right to spread this information.

Given this loss of control, and the ways in which it happens, both characters are reacting in ways that make sense both for the buildup from their introductions and from what we know of their personalities.  One runs and hides to wait out the catastrophe that literally repeats (or so he thinks) what has befallen him before when he only had himself and his family to rely on (that whole thing of ‘you’re alone if you’re not with family’ he gave us all those weeks ago).  The other runs towards trouble, recklessly trying to avoid catastrophe by pretending it doesn’t exist and hoping that if he just outpaces it with his boyfriend at his side everything will be fine.  

They both want the same thing (to keep themselves safe from the repercussions of their secrets being told), but only one knows that the secret is already out.  The other, as yet, has no idea and so his reaction is different.  Even may have run if he’d known by the end of this episode that it’s all known, but as it is he didn’t know and so he didn’t run.  These two are so similar in how they think and yet the way their stories play out is different enough that their reactions in this moment are very different.  And of course again, that leads to very different experiences as the next two weeks play out.