#the fandom atmosphere in my head vs in the actual fandom is vastly different

[gnomeantics]

i think it's really important to have one piece of media you're absolutely certifiable for that nobody else you know gives two shits about. stewing in your own madness becoming essentially a one-person fandom full hermit etc. you can reach new heights of insanity

[smileykeijser]

Skam NL Clip 1 Goedmorgen  Analysis

This is crazy long so it’s under the cut, but it’s broken up into symbolism, the aesthetic, feelings, random stuff and things I want to see this season based on this clip.

Obviously this is speculation, I’m not truly trying to figure out their characters or stories with one clip, and some of this stuff probably wasn’t intentional, but it’s fun to imagine that it was.

Symbolism:

We see them both wearing metal necklaces, when I first saw them I thought of chain mail, and then armor. We don’t see Liv putting hers on, but we see Noah putting on his, Liv’s types of additions are more masks than armour. This makes me think that Noah has more recently begun using his playboy status and other parts of his life as protection against himself feeling some sort of trauma, vs Liv who may have this protection as more of a long time solidified sort of protection.

They both wear masks though, Liv puts on makeup, Noah covers up his shirt with 10x the personality of the one that covers it (which strikes me as odd because in so many ways he’s so outspoken with his personality and style)

The second type of symbolism I see is the idea of showing Liv and Noah are cut from the same cloth (this also includes the protection symbolism) but also giving us a way to see their differences. Noah’s rings are chunky and bold, Liv’s is delicate and dainty, Liv’s nails are done in a light colour, and very evenly applied, whereas Noah’s seem much more sloppy in application, he doesn’t paint them all the same colour, let alone paint all his nails in the first place. His nails are also much less manicured than hers. While he slides his sunglasses on as if he doesn’t particularly care, she carefully fluffs her hair and when he just throws on his shirt, we see Liv delicately putting on her bra and socks.

There’s also a section where Noah was rolling a joint and Liv is singing. They’re both at the end of getting ready, so they have their masks on, and then they both do something that everyone expects of them. Noah is known by the fandom as the guy who rolled a joint in the middle of the school, and Liv sang in her first appearance. I think that they’re playing into the whole mask thing by showing things that everyone would expect from them, they’re some of the base level, rudimentary basics about either of them, not like the patterned shirt hidden under Noah’s button down.

Lastly, and this is slightly different than the previous point, the clip is trying to show they are equals. The montage shows this, but there’s a great cross fade between Liv looking into the camera and Noah walking toward her apartment. It’s a long cross fade, and there’s a good five seconds where there’s overlap. As this is happening, it’s panning up on Noah so that by the time it’s entirely his screen, Liv’s head is as high as his, where as when the cross fade started, his head was far above hers.

Then when we get into the actual meat of the clip, the equality is plain and simple, they both give the other the middle finger, and at the point when they each do, they have the upper hand. Liv is behind the shutting doors, Noah is the one on the other side unable to get in. Then Noah is the one who’s surprises Liv by being on the ground level and then by disappearing. 

The Aesthetic:

This clip reminded me of how Skamit uses colours to differentiate their seasons, peach for Eva, blue for Martino. In a similar vein, I think that Skam NL is trying to create an aesthetic palette for each of their seasons. The first half of the clip is basically a mood board, and the mood is one vastly different from Isa’s season. It has a cooler, or less violently colourful palette immediately. Isa’s season was full of warmth , especially in the first half of her season when it was still transitioning into Autumn from Summer. If I was to guess, we’re going to be seeing a lot of white and black, and a lot of colours like deep green, tan, burgundy and blues.

The tone is sensual, delicate, and intimate. Most of the shots are close ups, showing the intimacy of a spray of hairspray, or the couple of freckles near Noah’s nipple, or the sensuality of putting rings on or slipping a sock onto a foot. Beyond the act of getting ready to go, we’re watching two humans get dressed, which means that we get to see the curves of shoulders or a small hint of a lacy bra, or toned chest, and the intimacy is increased by having Liv facing away from us, creating a secret. This contrasts with Isa, because unless Isa was having sex, nothing was like this, because Isa crunched loudly on chips and licked dip off her phone screen. She never had one of these slow motion montages, because Isa wasn’t a slow motion montage type of gal, but Liv is.

We get an abrupt tone shift as soon as Noah arrives, the dreamy atmosphere is gone, and it’s immediate, with the woman hobbling past with her cart and her dog. From then on, the things she handles are treated with absolutely no fantasy, she’s in an elevator, has headphones shoved in her ears and then she fumbles with the key and bikes off on a battered up bike with a canvas bag over her shoulder.

Feelings:

One of my favourite moments is when Liv storms away from Noah and she doesn’t stop walking, but you see her take a steadying breath and close her eyes. Even in season 1 they were doing a great job showing Liv’s feelings via her facial expressions, and this is a step up. We also see at the other end, when Liv strides forward, completely determined to just ignore the absence of Noah, but you see that she can’t find the lock hole on the first try, and then she spends a good chunk of time just looking for him.

The whole middle finger thing is so effing cute, and it’s not the first couple on skamnl to do it, Kes and Isa did it sometimes too, alongside their animal game. And the idiot boy Noah, running down the stairs just to give the middle finger to his crush, what a lovable idiot art hoe.

Random things

- The first words Liv says (or mouths) are song lyrics, I think that shows how important music is going to be.

- There’s a moment when she flips her hair that she breaks the fourth wall and looks right into the camera. I’m not sure the meaning or purpose, but it’s a gorgeous scene.

- “Hello ma’am” is yet another thing to love about Noah

- Both the first clip of last season and this one have people going away on a bike/scooter nice parallel

Things I need from this season based on the clip:

- Noah calling Liv baby or vice versa

- Liv unbuttoning Noah’s shirt.

- Both of them riding off to school on the same, or two separate bikes.

- A parallel to the scene with Liv’s back facing the audience, except she drops her bra and Noah comes up behind her.

- Them painting each other’s nails and swapping rings duh.

- Liv helping Noah put on his necklace.