#the bear is an adult coming of age story for Carmy

[thoughtfulchaos773]

I'm writing a meta about anhedonia and Carmy. But when I realized something else I had to post.

The reasons, in my opinion, for Sydney mirroring Mikey is for Carmy to have a better experience and find joy in all things that he once had a bad history with; Sydney represents transformation in everything Carmy's experienced.

We see fire light when Sydney and Carmy are around each other along with the color red - only Sydney wears red. I think about the dream Tiffany had in 2x06, about how all their clothes turned to green except for the baby. What she touched turned red. It's because Eva, in a way, represents transformation and being the good outside of the trauma in the family, just like Sydney. It's telling us there can be good that comes out Of the past wounds.

Sydney is new to the Berzatto family, but she's also written as being able to relate and sometimes fall into her own self-sabotage. She's written to mirror the Berzattos so we can click with Sydney. Being too out of place would make her into a romantic lead like Claire, which falls flat.

How does Sydney transform Carmy's experience? One example is the gift parallels between Sydney and Carmy and Mikey and Carmy. The gift Carmy gives to Mikey was sentimental, but it turned into a bad experience when Mikey walked away - Mikey, because of the damage of his addiction and other mental health issues, could not experience joy and like Carmy he's used to attaching himself to dread.

But the gift given to Sydney, there's joy in it. Carmy walks away like with Mikey, and instead of seeing sadness, we see Sydney's joy in Carmy's declaration of love.

So Sydney is transforming what once was for Carmy. She's the fire ablaze and burning down what caused carmy pain.

This is why shit hits the fan when he doesn't focus on Sydney. He has to move forward in order to have pleasurable experiences. She represents something alive, joyful, and new.

But this is what makes Sydney one of the best written female leads. She has her own baggage too, even though for Carmy she's this calming influence, she's trying to find her own peace of mind.

The question is- does Carmy represent that same transformation for Sydney?

[yellowharrington]

yellowharrington masterlist!!

hey y'all my name is natalie (she/her) :) i'm 24 and i'm a fanfic writer!! my blog is an 18+ space, minors DNI with my fics or you will be blocked. all of my works are original and written by me. i do not consent to reposting or my work copied elsewhere, including into AI search engines or chat bots. my requests are open.

please enjoy my silly little stories with all of that in mind!

❀ - fluff

♡ - smut

༺ - hurt/comfort

✧ - angst

⭑ - 1k+ notes

→ STRANGER THINGS

steve harrington 

favour for a favour ❀⭑ - steve has a big ol’ crush on the girl that trades him pastries for movies every week.

good vibrations ♡⭑ - you take steve to an “adult’s only” toy store.

illicit affairs ♡ - you and nancy used to be friends, but you challenge yourself to take the one thing she can’t get: steve harrington.

drabbles

praise kink steve ♡ - request: “Can you please do a praise and talking the reader through their orgasm smut with Steve 😩 maybe coming home to drunk sex after a fun night out”

steve helps you decide on a pet name ❀ - request: “Could we get a lil story of Steve trying out new pet names when you first start dating? 🥺 Like trying to decide if he likes baby or sweetheart or honey… Just down bad and need some fluff”

eddie munson

(500) days of eddie ❀✧ - you and eddie are “just friends”, but he wants more. (loosely based on the movie (500) days of summer)

→ THE BEAR

carmen “carmy” berzatto

jaded - fresh off of his breakup with claire, carmy needs a rebound. he just doesn’t expect it to be his pastry chef.

chapter 1 ♡ ❀

chapter 2 ❀༺

chapter 3 ✧

chapter 4 ❀

sugar sweet ❀ - it's carmy's birthday and you want to make it special for him again.

all i really want (is you) ♡ - carmy secretly books a lake-front hotel room in chicago for your anniversary.

→ THE LAST OF US

joel miller

wildflower and barley ♡ ❀ ⭑ - after deciding to change your age range on a dating app in hope of a change of scenery, you stumble across joel miller.

save a horse (ride a cowboy!) ♡⭑- meeting an older man at the bar and spontaneously fucking him in his truck was not on your list of things to do for your first summer back in austin, but what can you do?

divider by @enchanthings

[gingerylangylang1979]

Why So Much Cynicism About The Bear?

I feel like there is a large contingent of fans that seem very cynical about the show. Like we get this great show and people are like eh, we can’t have nice things. Excuse this rowdy ramble.

There are those that feel the show should stop at one season because the story is complete. I guess I don’t understand why they think the story is wrapped. I feel we got more questions than answers. How is Cicero going to react? How are they going to work out exactly what The Bear is (ie. menu, service model, design specifics)? How awful is the renovation process going to be? How are Carmy and Sydney going to elevate the crew to a new standard? How are they going to form a different partner dynamic with each other? What is the new standard? Are they trying to go full fine dining or something in-between? Also, a gun is a character. It will be used, screenwriting 101.

There are those that feel the show should stop at one season because they fear the sophomore slump. Can we not trust the writers to deliver more of what they already did? Granted, some shows never live up to the magic of the first season but many do. Many actually get better or at least maintain consistency. Why expect the worst.

There are those who are terrified of any romantic elements being introduced. I’ll be honest and say I do ship Carmy and Sydney. I think anyone who doesn’t see the clues is in denial or just really isn’t paying attention... or they see it and just don't like it. But Episode 8 should clear up any confusion. No man stares at simply a mentee like that. Makes no sense and that’s just one clue. There is the possibility that she won't like him back but that man is into her, no doubt. That being said even if there was no Carmy and Sydney I don’t understand the bitter opposition to any hint of romance. I keep seeing it will ruin the show, the show doesn’t need it, the show isn’t about it. Myself, and many others see a pretty clear setup for a romance. So if the elements are there there's no inserting anything. And I doubt any relationship would just turn the show into a soap opera. We don’t even know the full story the show wants to tell, who these characters are, how the arc develops. I need some examples of relationships ruining a show. I don’t watch much tv so maybe I’m missing all of these fantastic shows that were ruined by a relationship. This leads me to…

Why are Chefs Kiss truthers so cynical about the ship? Not all, but there is a big contingent that just swears it will never happen. I get that there is a history of Black leading ladies not being picked as the partner but I feel like this is way too obvious for there to be no follow through. It’s as apparent yet subtle as Richonne who I often compare them to. I think it’s way too intentional for the writers to not have a plan. It seems integral to Carmy's character development, not just a side plot. And this show is DIFFERENT. I trust them. The fact that they picked these two as unconventional leads says a lot. Of course they can change course but I just see this as too important for our main character to pass up. This leads me to…

This is essentially a Coming of Age story according to Chris Storer, the creator. Even without a romance this show is about Carmy and his adult coming of age. That could mean romance, it could mean mental health wellness, it could mean developing an identity beyond being a chef. But Carmy can’t/shouldn’t stay the same person. A hero needs a journey. His journey didn’t just end by finding a bizarre blood money inheritance. I want to see Carmy become as fully actualized a man he can be. Just being a chef, obsessively, isolating from everything and everyone else is why he is so fucked. He said himself the deeper he went, the quieter his life became, the more he cut people out. His monologue laid it out. Carmy needs to let people in. That’s his challenge. The bro drama is just one element. This goes back to other family dramas, this goes back to him having a childhood stutter, this goes back to an absentee father, this goes back to having trouble connecting in friendships and romantically and not being funny. Carmy’s story deserves to be fully told and he needs a personal triumph, not just a new restaurant. Isn’t that something to look forward to and be happy about?

Storer mentioned joy in season 2. Bring joy! So why all the cynicism about this outstanding show? Anyways, random thoughts while awaiting my Thai food. Carry on.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

What I take away from the picture is that this is after Carmy gets out of the fridge...he notes Sydney is not happy and something clicks, not the breakup with Claire or the fight with Richie. But carmy knows Sydney is not happy, he 'failed' her and he gets to work, he tries to fix it, as he said about his family "sometimes they'd try too hard". And that's what it's about. His non negligible, making a new menu every day, getting the star, the unconscious grand gestures because he can't communicate with Sydney that she's the good thing he's not waiting to drop.

[thoughtfulchaos773]

“I guess all the time, I feel like I am kind of trapped because I can’t describe how I’m feeling. so to ask somebody else how they’re feeling that just seems, I don’t know, insane?"

Inspired by an interview with Joanna Naugle, the editor of The Bear where she explains that from the first moment Carmy wakes up, the audience is taken on a journey to explore the world from Carmy's perspective.

But the dream..There's a thing here with trapped, the bear being trapped in the opening moment on screen, Carmy being trapped in the walk-in, Jimmy asking okay we get the star then what? Syd: We're dialed- Carmy: we're trapped. We hear this once again in the season 3 trailers (Syd: Why are you doing this? Camy we're going to get a star- I thought it was a trap?)

What's trapped are Carmy's feelings, and the audience experiences Carmy's released emotions as he navigates the world.

It's an adult coming-of-age story- about summoning the self by acknowledging his own feelings.

Carmy seems to live a life of self-denial and has a lot of repressed emotions. We see these feelings explored subconsciously through overlapping dialogues, and not just in overlapping dialogues but also in music choices, cinemtography, and flashbacks. This gives us insight into his mind, where we hear and see subliminal, suggestive images and conversations that relate to his unexplored feelings.

Carmy struggles to understand what he truly wants because he hasn't fully explored his pent-up emotions.

Until he releases it (the bear- the emotions)in the dream in the opening scene of the show.

The bear symbolizes Carmy's subconscious, including his grief and other emotions that he has been holding in for a long time before Mikey's passing. Returning home and working in the restaurant has triggered the release of all these raw emotions, which he needs to process in order to heal. Once he identifies and processes his feelings, he will start on the hero's journey of understanding himself, his desires, and his feelings towards himself and those around him.