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alewyren · 3 years

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I dislike redemption arc culture.

I hate seeing arguments over which characters are “irredeemable,” and this notion that every villain story has to be a morally didactic narrative in which the bad guy gets punished, the end.

I’m almost tempted to say we were all spoiled by having Zuko as a formative experience, because he’s really just the picture perfect redemption arc. He started out as a legit villain, but he never did anything too atrocious, had a tragic backstory that explained why he was like that, and went through three whole seasons of gradual character development. Like, Zuko was an amazing character. That’s the problem, though; he set our expectations too high for what “the perfect redemption arc” should be. Everyone expects their “reformed villain” characters to follow those same beats, but not every story is that cut and dry. There are lines between redemption and reformation, reformation and rehabilitation, rehabilitation and just... continuing to exist but no longer hurting anyone, and there’s a lot of nuance lost when people try to cram all that into the box of “redemption arc.”

Gonna be bringing a lot of different examples to the table here, but let’s start with Azula for ease of transition. She went through the same abuse that Zuko did, but she never got a redemption arc in ATLA proper. Some people say this isn’t fair. I disagree. This is not to say I don’t think she should be afforded the opportunity for post-canon character growth, because I absolutely do. I fully think she is capable of Getting Better, and spinoff media has consistently portrayed her as a sympathetic character. But like... she’s done some shit. She was a straight up war criminal, and emotionally abusive towards basically everyone in her social circle. I understand why. She was a 14 year old raised in an environment that rewarded that behavior, and never given a healthy outlet for her aggression.

The difference, in my opinion, is this: Zuko was fundamentally a good person from the start. Far from perfect, but he has a strong sense of values even as a child. Azula is not. Redemption for someone like Azula would look much different than it did for Zuko. Besides, in ATLA proper she was already filling an important villain role. She’d need her own show. (Which would be awesome, actually.)

But I think that’s where you have to ask the question: what even is a redemption arc? Is it any story where a villain stops being a villain? Is there a scale for like, “must do X amount of good deeds equal to Y bad deeds to qualify for redemption”? Must they be sufficiently punished for their bad deeds? What if reformation is possible without punishment--is punishment for its own sake truly justice? The focus people have on penance and atonement feels very baked in Christian moral philosophy. People don’t work like that. There’s not a cosmic scale of right and wrong, or a cosmic sin counter, there’s just... actions and their immediate impact. Bad people being let off the hook too easily can leave a bad taste in your mouth, and there are of course things with unfortunate real world implications which can’t be divorced from real-world context which are... irresponsible to allow in the hands of Certain Groups, but I hate this notion of “villains must be punished appropriately for their crimes, always, even if they have extenuating circumstances, even if they have demonstrated the capacity for personal growth, because that personal growth will never negate their misdeeds.”

In real life, it’s different. In real life, you can never be sure what’s going on in another person’s head. But the prison system of justice is fundamentally broken. People are rarely fundamentally evil, but there are some people who are too twisted and dangerous to society to be allowed to live without, at the very least, constant supervision. True evil is banal, rooted in social systems, not individual “bad people.” People have individual will, but ultimately they’re just the products of the environment and systems that fostered them. Setting aside the questions of whether people can be born evil or at what age you become personally responsible for your actions, you will get bad apples in any sufficiently large group of people. If someone has to be punished and removed from society, that’s not a success of justice. The fact that they reached that point in the first place is a failure of society in and of itself.

In fiction, technically everyone is redeemable. You can get into the heads of the bad guys and do basically whatever you want with them. Fiction should be responsible when dealing with real-world issues that affect real people, but it does not have to be morally didactic. Sometimes there just... isn’t an easy, morally didactic answer for dealing with morally complicated characters or situations. And more importantly, sometimes the morally didactic answer isn’t the narratively interesting answer. 9 out of 10 times, what’s more interesting to read about? A horrible villain being put to death, or a horrible villain being forced to live and grow?

Some hypothetical examples to ponder, purely in the context of fiction.

Horrible war criminal villain with a body count in the millions has all memories of their crimes wiped, or is forcibly brainwashed into being a better person. Setting aside the ethics of brainwashing: are they still required to “repent”? Would a victim still be justified in seeking penance from this guilt-free shell? Would this change at all depending on who was responsible for the mind-wipe?

More realistic: horrible war criminal villain with a body count in the millions straight up retires. Gets older. Bloodlust, national zeal, whatever once motivated them to do such evil loses its edge. They fall in love. Start a family. As they grow as a person, learn the value of life, the weight of their crimes starts to sink in. They atone in little ways, through little random acts of kindness and helping the people around them, but for one reason or another (not wanting to risk harm to their family, knowing they’ll be tortured for information? you decide) don’t turn themselves into the proper justice system and are never punished. Should they be punished, or allowed to continue existing? Would this change at all depending on the surrounding political circumstances, i.e.: whether their public execution would hold any symbolic value, whether affected groups are calling for their death? Does it matter at all in deciding justice whether this hypothetical villain feels personal guilt or regret over their war crimes? Why or why not?

Child villains. IRL there are documented cases of violent crime in children as young as grade school age, not all of whom had violent backgrounds. Should they be held to the same standards as adult villains, even if the scale of their crimes are the same? What’s the cutoff age? Are all villains under 18 capable of rehabilitation, no matter how horrible their crimes? How about 16? 14? 12? What about villains whose ages aren’t really clear, ie Cell from DBZ being like, six?

How much does backstory matter? Should it matter if there’s a good reason someone is Like That, or should their actions be judged as-is? It doesn’t matter to the victims whether or not the villain had a bad childhood, right? Moreover, does it matter at all whether someone is “fundamentally a good person,” at least insofar as genuinely caring about the people around them and caring about a moral code? People do evil things for reasons other than “being evil people.”

Morally bankrupt person who regularly fantasizes violent harm on the people around them, wholly selfish with no love for any other human being, fundamentally incapable of meaningful self-reflection or growth. Just a complete piece of shit all around. But they never have, and never will, commit any crimes, either due to some divine ordinance or just plain self-preservation/fear of getting caught. They might, at worst, just be a toxic asshole, but not one who holds any power over others. Should they be punished solely for their moral character, rather than actions?

There aren’t always easy answers. It’s okay to acknowledge that, and it’s okay to tackle hard moral questions like this in fiction. And I hate seeing this boiled down to “stop trying to redeem villains who are Actually Horrible People” or whatever. Especially in kids’ media which takes an optimistic stance on people being capable of change in the first place. Y’all gotta stop holding it to the same level of moral realism as gritty stuff for adults.

On the whole, I think we should do away with the term “redemption” in the context of morality entirely. Like redemption arc, redemption equals death, what does that mean? It implies one has sufficiently made up for their past deeds, that that’s the gold standard, but is that really ever possible? Like I said, there’s not a cosmic good deeds | bad deeds counter for every person, or at least not one that living people have any way of knowing about. And that’s a flawed way of thinking to begin with. Those bad deeds can never be erased, ever. There plenty of examples of villains who commit crimes they can never realistically atone for. Regardless of whether they want to atone in the first place, it’s like I said: in fiction, it’s often just... more fun to force them to live and deal with the consequences. But on the flipside, there are so, so many people who see themselves as “good” and use that to justify their own bad deeds. Which ties back into what I said about the whole discourse reeking of Christian moral philosophy, because lmfao @ corruption in the catholic church.

The point is. There are shades of grey. Not everything has to be a full-blown bad guy to good guy redemption arc. You don’t need to “properly atone for your sins” to be worthy of life or love.

Here are some better questions to ask than “is this character redeemable”:

Is it believable, from what we know of this villain as a character, that they are capable of becoming a good, law-abiding citizen?

How about capable of love?

Guilt?

Are they capable of any personal growth whatsoever?

Are they capable of being a positive impact on the lives of the people around them?

Is it actively harmful to leave them alive, even with clipped wings?

Is it interesting to leave them alive?

How morally didactic is the narrative as a whole?

How much forgiveness are they offered, versus how much could they possibly ever deserve?

How abstracted is this character from reality, ie: are there any real world parallels that make it uncomfortable to frame this character in a sympathetic light? (be careful not to fall into a black and white abuser/victim dichotomy)

Would further punishment or suffering be productive? (Productive, not justified, that’s a key distinction--punishment for its own sake is just pointless cruelty.)

Even the most vile, irredeemable bastards can still be dragged like... an inch. And that’s still a fun and valuable story in and of itself, even if it’s nothing remotely approaching a redemption arc and they’d very much still deserve to rot in Hell by the end of it. I don’t believe Hell is real, as much as I personally wish it were sometimes, but like. If it were, or in fictional universes where it is.

But also, there really are some characters and botched “redemption arcs” that just come off insanely uncomfortable. And there is a subjective aspect to that as well, but more than once I’ve seen people say “X villain did not deserve redemption/forgiveness” and 9 times out of 10 I’m like “that’s... really not what they got, though?”

It’s complicated.

#idk how coherent it is #i just saw a tweet that annoyed me #''villains deserve happiness and redemption arcs *guy who murdered 20 million people* no not him''#i don't even entirely disagree but it's... complicated #musings

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emperorren · 6 years

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1) After speaking with some friends, I realized that there are some viewers who love TLJ because of its subversiveness/expansion of real-life allegories into SW. The movie takes the earlier themes of SW, declares them outdated, and puts a twist on them. Not everyone can be saved (subverting Vader by making Kylo irredeemable); love doesn't conquer all (Rey should never have helped Kylo, he doesn’t care); The politics in SW are a complete reflection of reality (Finn and Rose's subplot);

2) And I’m caught between wondering if that really was LF/Rian’s intent, since I did think TLJ had some “subverting expectations for their own sake” elements, and wondering if this is just a case of some viewers wanting a version of SW which makes them feel like they’re consuming a “realistic” (thus adult/praiseworthy) piece of media. Some of TLJ’s fanbase seem to love it for being “anti-SW” in a sense, and think a message of optimism or redemption is narratively and politically regressive.

To these people I’d say there’s an entire third act before the sequel trilogy ends, so it’s entirely to be expected that there will be a subversion of the subversion.

Regardless, although I do have my problems too with some twists in TLJ that look a bit too much like subversion for subversion’s sake, I think Rian’s intent is deconstruction (a/soiaf style) rather than 180° subversion. He isn’t judging those traditional sw tropes (like villain redemption or love conquering evil) useless and anachronistic and tossing them away, he’s saying “those themes are fundamentally right, and we’ll get there, but through a different path, one that avoids easy narrative solutions”. I strongly believe that in the end, much like GRRM does with the concept of knighthood and other chivalric ideals, there will be a re-construction of those themes, that will be stronger than before because they will have passed the test of a modern narrative for a genre-savvy audience that demands more realism and less patronizing moral messages. Kylo’s redemption will be more significant because it won’t be simply a woman’s love that saves him. Rey’s compassion will be more praiseworthy because it isn’t always rewarded by the narrative with immediate success. The victory of the Resistance won’t (hopefully) mean a complete reversion to a status quo because we’ve seen that the good guys’ politics can be flawed too, and it’s up to our heroes to rise to the challenge and work for a better world. Etc.

Destruction vs reconstruction: this intent is metatexually present in the narrative itself, when it made it clear that, while, Kylo’s desire for change is essentially right, his “kill the past” stance isn’t.

#deconstruction #subversion #the sequel trilogy #themes #tropes #audience perception #anon #asks

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isakogevenz · 7 years

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in honor of skam coming to an end, here is

50 reasons to love SKAM:

the very first thing i figured i’d mention is how incredibly realistic this show is...

...one example for when i say that SKAM is realistic is the fact that some parts of the show, or even full seasons, are built up of problems or difficult situations. as the show goes on, the characters(along with the audience) slowly realizes how tiny this certain problem or situation is and how easily it could have been fixed, just by communicating. peoples lack of communication is a big problem today, i think. and julie bringing this up makes us realize even more how important it is to talk to each other.

another thing that makes the show very real is the styling of the characters. no ones clothes are perfect or very unique, and no one look like they have been styled for hours. if you look at the styling on other shows, like riverdale for example, their clothes are beautiful and look very exclusive. however, that’s not how most people dress today. the characters in SKAM are different though. their clothes can be found in any H&M store and i see people on a daily basis that are dressed just like them. which also adds to the realism of the show.

now let’s talk about hair and makeup. i don’t know who the make up artist for skam is, but i’m guessing the actors do a lot of the work here, and it’s all very natural. no ones eyebrows look perfect, the mascara is very likely to be smudged, the lipstick is often overlined on the weirdest places, no ones acne is covered. i love that, i think there’s something very honest about it.

the show is very low budget, and there’s not a lot of people working on it, which you can probably tell. but this adds on to charm of it, if you ask me. the lightning is never perfect, and in the background you’ll most likely hear car or bird noises. it sometimes seems like the camera man just happened to catch two people during their personal conversation. this also makes everything feel a lot more real, and i personally find it very professional.

i think we’ve all already caught up on the whole concept with the clips of this show, and i think it’s genius. making the viewers feel like they are a part of this, live, makes everything so exciting and it makes it so that we can literally follow the characters through out their days...

...and then i’m not even mentioning the instagram and facebook accounts, + the texts. it’s such an unique idea and it brings the audience so much closer to the characters, who thanks to this concept actually feels like real people.

one of the first things that i personally noticed about SKAM was the soundtrack. a lot of these songs are songs that you recognize from the radio and can sing along to, but they still manage to fit very well into the situation. there are also a lot of other songs that aren’t as famous, a few of them being norwegian songs like “5 fine frøkner”, “sjeiken 2015″, “fy faen”, “nostalgi 3millioner” and so on. and even though a lot of us can’t understand a word of what they’re saying in those songs, we can still feel the song and feel how well it goes with the certain scene. i personally find this very professional.

the environments are also something that really stuck out to me. they feel so real, which just makes everything so much better. the places we see during the scenery are very pretty and very aesthetic, but they are still taken from real life environments in norway, they’re not just made in the computer to make it prettier. especially the rooms were so well done. they have somehow managed to match the rooms with the personalities and styling of the characters. and not in the very cliche way that can be seen in a lot of other shows. like if someone who is very feminine has a bright pink room, you know what i mean? the rooms in skam feels real, personalized and very different from each other. i love that.

so we’ve now stated that the show is amazing and the concept of it is even better. but let’s be honest, it would be nothing without all of these amazing actors. i mean all of these people were completely unknown just three years ago, still they are all so extremely talented. they understand the show, and they understand us. they have helped to shape the story and is a very big part of why this show got so big. my favorite thing about them though is probably the fact that they are the same age(ish) as their characters. what i mean is that we don’t see a 30-year old with a baby face playing a 15 year old. oh and let’s not forget that lisa(eva) only auditioned so that she would know kind of how auditions work, since she needed some experience for future dance auditions. just imagine what the show would have looked like if they took a bunch of older, experienced, well known actors. it wouldn’t have been the same thing.

the fact that the show is norwegian just makes it even more lovable, if you ask me. i mean basically everything we see and hear today in forms of media is produced in america. everyone is speaking about american problems while speaking american. don’t get me wrong, because i do think that USA is a really cool place and i love it. i do think that we all could use some change though. and also, without this show being norwegian we wouldn’t have learned all the very usable phrases like “drittsekk” and “nei vilde”.

“i am mine, before anyone else’s.” -eva kviig mohn

now, let’s talk about the actual characters. everyone is so different and i really feel like there’s someone for everyone(almost) to relate to. everyone is going through different struggles in life, some being bigger than others, everyone is living totally different lifestyles with different backgrounds.

because of the variation of the characters, there are obviously going to be persons that we like more and persons that we like less. this i think is a very good thing because we, the audience, then get the chance to discuss the characters and what we think they could have done differently. to discuss these kinds of things are very important, if you ask me. what i’m saying is that we often dislike a certain character because of certain actions or things that they’ve said. by discussing this we get to educate ourselves and each other on how people should treat other people, and how people should treat themselves. and i know that some of the characters have done some pretty messed up stuff that could have been done a lot differently. but without them saying or doing those things, we wouldn’t have anything to discuss. we wouldn’t have learned from the characters in the way we have done now because of their certain behavior.

every character also has different kinds of layers, if you know what i mean? let’s take sana for an example. she was introduced in season 1 and was portrayed as very emotionless, strong and hard girl. as the seasons went on we got to know her even better and we noticed that although it might have looked otherwise at first, she was very kind. she was also very wise and supporting. in season 4, when she became the main character, we also saw how fragile she was. we’ve seen her cry many times through out the season, we’ve seen her fall in love, we’ve seen her pray etc. we’ve seen sides of her that we couldn’t have imagine when we first saw her and her attitude.

with that being said i’d also like to talk about how the characters change, once they get to be the main. when a person is the main, we get to see everything from their perspective. meaning, we’re in their head. something that i’ve noticed as the seasons has gone by is that every character seems so tough and cocky on the outside. then, once they become the main and we see things from their point of view, they suddenly appear so much more vulnerable. this, i think, reflects a lot on a lot of people today.

but it’s not only the main that tend to change, it’s the people around them as well. let’s compare jonas in season 1 and jonas in season 3. in season 1 we see things from his girlfriend eva’s perspective while they are going through a very rough patch in their relationship. he is portrayed as a kind of player and a liar, and i personally didn’t like him at first to be honest. then in season 3 we see things from his best friend isak’s perspective. here he is portrayed as a very kind and sweet guy, who is very understanding and would do anything for his friends. this all changes when the main character changes, when the perspective changes. and despite these differences, they still managed to make jonas maintain his personality through out all the seasons. because it’s not him that’s supposed to change, it’s how we view him.

“if you’re looking for hate, then you’ll find hate. and once you find hate, you’ll start hating.” -isak valtersen

since we only get to see things from one persons perspective at a time, there are also a lot of things that we never directly find out about, but that we have to try to figure out ourselves. vilde and her eating disorder, for example. this became noticeable in season 2, when noora was the main. we got a few hints, but we never exactly saw vilde throw up after meals, neither did she tell anyone about it. i feel like it is a lot like this in real life as well, people don’t usually talk about their problems, we have to notice them on our own. this also makes the show more exciting, as the audience get the feeling that we’re the ones finding out about eating disorders and secret boyfriends etc.

see this is a show about teenagers, and i think they have made a really good job of really making it about teenagers. what i mean by this is that we rarely see any adults on this show. the only adult person that we’ve really gotten to know is eva’s and sana’s moms(and dr. skrulle, but i feel like she’s an exception). this is also what i feel like reality looks a lot like today. kids nowadays have a hard time letting grown ups in and end up solving problems all by themselves, which a lot of people prefer even though the consequences aren’t always the best.

...with this concept we also really get another insight of what is going on in the minds of these people, which i think we can take benefit of. i mean this is a show that is made for youths, this is show made for us so that we can relate to it. a lot of problems that appear to the characters in the show also appear to real people in real life. i’d personally much rather have isak(for example), who is pretty close to my age, figure out his problems on his own rather than have his parents to it for him. because then i can see how he’s dealing with things and i can relate to him. this wouldn’t have been the same thing if he suddenly brought his mom in to the situation and have her discuss it and have her solve it for him.

now, let’s talk a bit about alcohol and partying. first of all this is a show that is directed towards young people, and i think we all are aware of the fact that partying and drinking is a very popular thing nowadays amongst young people. and i’m guessing that it’s also therefor that julie has chosen to also include this subject in skam. what i love the most about the party and drinking scenes in skam though is how very both sided they are. what i mean by this is that drinking is not romanticized(which i think can be a dangerous thing), for example when we see people getting drunk here(especially eva) they’re often portrayed as annoying and sloppy. but still, they also show a lot of people who are drinking who are enjoying it and having a great time. basically, they present partying as something fun that a lot of people enjoy, which reflect a lot on reality. but still they make sure to show the worse side of alcohol as well.

“she can’t feel what i feel, or think what i think for that matter.” -even bech næsheim

however, there is one character in particular that is being very clear about the fact that they do not want to drink alcohol whatsoever; noora. at every party it’s very distinct that she does not drink, but she still manages to have a great time. i think it’s very healthy for the audience to know that it’s okay to go to a party and have a great whilst being completely sober. especially considering that it’s very easy to fall for peer pressure and to just drink because everyone else is doing so.

season 2 was noora’s season. in this season we got to follow her and william but also have a look in to what her daily life looks like and what’s going on in her mind. and what i find so interesting and so important about this season is especially one thing, noora was always very politically correct and she stood up for women and she was very against violence. people are often told that this is the way they are supposed to think and express, in order to show respect. still, there were a lot of times when people questioned her opinions. and i mean if you say that you’re against violence today, people will most likely agree with you, not in this show though. and even though i personally think that violence doesn’t solve anything i still feel like things like this is very important to discuss, things that already feels very obvious. we need to do this in order to keep educating each other and to always try to understand each others opinions, even if they are seen as politically correct or not.(when i say opinions, i mean opinions. i do not mean racism, sexism, transphobia etc. because those are not opinions.)

(a similar scenario to when people question noora’s opinions is when sana is telling isak about how hard it’s been for her to grow up in norway as a non-white, muslim woman. most people would agree with her and tell her how bad they feel for her because of what she has to go through. but isak doesn’t hesitate to talk against her and to tell her that she can’t blame all the hate that is being thrown towards her on her religion. and that maybe the reason for people hating on her, is because she acts “like a bitch”. he tells her that if one is looking for hate, then you’ll find hate, and really shares his way of thinking in a way that i find really beautiful. and even though isak isn’t exactly the best person to go around and tell non-white people that racism isn’t as big of a thing as they think, but he does and it ends up being something that can really make you think. and even though some people wouldn’t agree with him it’s still important to listen and to learn, and to question everything.)

speaking of isak, he is actually the perfect candidate to what i’d like to bring up next; character development. this i think is a very important and a very big part of the show. for example, isak in season one and isak in season 4 are two very different personalities. in season one he is using and controlling the people around him in a way that’s really unnecessary. another thing worth mentioning is that he’s very scared of the word “gay” and often get very offended when someone calls him so. through out the seasons we get to see him change, for the better, and learn from his mistakes. we get to see him accept himself and we get to see him see the world through a new pair of eyes, even though we only get to see the show from his perspective in one season. in the fourth season though, we get to see a very educated isak who understands people and sees the best in everyone. he is kind, but also skeptical. he no longer gets offended when someone calls him gay, but he still has the guts to stand up for himself. character development can of course be seen in all the characters, and i think it’s really important to show people/the audience that change is not always a bad thing, and that people can learn from their mistakes.

another thing that makes the show so much more realistic are the relationships. the fact that basically none of them is all dreamy and lifelong makes this whole thing so much better, and i’d much rather have it this way than to have everyone live happily ever after. because in this way we get to see how most high school couples actually turn out, since there are very few people that actually end up being in a lifelong, healthy relationship with their high school partner.

however, there is one couple in particular that is still going very strong; isak og even. the fact that the only couple, who are in a very healthy relationship(which is still going strong) are non-traditional really means a lot to so many people, to me as well. first of all, they are two guys, meaning it’s not a very hetero relationship. they are also both very serious about this, their relationship is not all about sex and drinking etcetc. they’re both all in for this because they truly love each other. i mean just the fact that they have really had some rough patches in their relationship but still managed to get over it and buy an apartment together and all is just the best thing ever and has helped a lot of people, i bet. and them being non-traditional makes everything a whole lot better.

(while talking about evak, i’d also like to bring out the actors behind this ship; tarjei sandvik moe and henrik holm. they are both amazing people, that i know of at least, with so much talent. of course, every actor working with this show beholds a lot of potential and everyone is so incredibly good at their job, but tarjei and henrik really stand out to me. the way they look at each other and the way they talk to each other and the way they touch each other as isak and even is very unique and every second of those scenes feels so honest that i always tend to forget that they are not actually a couple off camera as well.)

“war doesn’t start with violence. it starts with misunderstandings and prejudices.” -sana bakkoush

but of course, there are many other relations in SKAM than just the romantic and sexual ones. through out the seasons we get to see some amazing friendships come and go. and even though love is an incredible thing i also think it’s equally as interesting to follow someone else’s friendship as it is to follow their romantic relationships. the friendship that has stood out to me the most when watching skam is the friendship between everyone the girl squad. everyone seems so loving and everyone cares about each other. i know that there’s been some complications, especially with vilde, and they have said some stuff that maybe wasn’t too wise yadayada but at the end of the day these girls love each other so much and would support each other no matter what. i love that.

(as i just mentioned there have been things said by some of the girls that could have been said a lot differently and the fandom have always been very quick to point out these things. vilde, especially, is someone who have said and done a lot of problematic things. this was very visible especially in season two, where noora was the main. one thing i loved about this season is that whenever vilde would say something that can be considered problematic or sexist etc. noora would always be there to tell her otherwise. and i will always be in love with the thought of friends educating friends.)

in season 3, we got to see isak being the main and we got to follow him and his daily life. a big part of this season was him realizing and accepting his sexuality. later on, he also started to come out to his family and friends, both about his sexuality and his relationship with even. we’ve seen this happen in a lot of other tv-shows, the coming out. and what the person gets back is often a lot of hate and people desertering them. first of all, i am perfectly aware of the fact that this is the reality for a lot of people and that is really messed up, but i also feel like we need to show people that coming out is not a bad thing. which julie made a great job with. when isak came out he received nothing but love and acceptance from both his family and friends, and i can’t even begin to describe how much i love that.

“everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about, be kind. always.” -note on noora’s wall

i’d like to talk about a few things about even in particular as well. the first thing is his sexuality. so, it was cleared up a few weeks back that even in fact identifies as pansexual, when isak posted a picture of him and even together on instagram. and can i just say how much i love that they didn’t just create two gay characters and made them fall in love. i mean i bet their relationship would be equally as perfect as it is now, but i just feel like representation is very rare nowadays and if someone ever wants to have something queer in their tv-show, they are most likely to come up with two gay characters. and yes, homosexuality needs representation too, but let’s be honest, homosexuality is being talked about way more than pansexuality is. i mean i bet my own sisters doesn’t even know what that word means, sadly. so to have someone being pansexual, and open about it, also seems like something that can really help people.

the second thing about even that i’d like to talk about his mental illness. as we all know, he has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and has to deal with a lot of things, including depression, because of this. even got introduced in season 3 and his disorder was made visible at the very end of the season, which means we didn’t know a lot about him + his mental illness when season 4 begun. although as the season went on, we found out a lot of things about his past. amongst other things, we found out that even had been through some really dark moments, and this got so bad that he actually tried to commit suicide. this is something that i know holds a lot of importance to a lot of people, as a scary amount of people nowadays are going through some rough things and are so incredibly depressed that they can’t even get out of bed. and the fact that even went through such a tough time but is now happier than ever and in a very healthy relationship with the man of his life really shows people that things do get better, even if things can get hard. he gives people hope.

i mentioned before that we never got the chance to really get to know any of the adults involved in the characters’ lives. but we did get to know a little bit about their parents, and the majority of these families are not all happy or stereotypical. just to mention a few of them: noora barely has no contact at all with her parents, as she feels like they care more about sex than they care about her, isak’s dad left his mom, william’s dad is a workaholic and he doesn’t talk with his mom, vilde’s mom is very depressed and her dad has never been mentioned or seen, eva’s dad live in a different part of the country and her mom is almost never home because she has to work. considering how common it is to have different kinds of family problems today i think this is something that a lot of people can relate to.

“hate doesn’t come from religion, it comes from fear” -sana bakkoush

one very important subject that is being talked about in the show is rape culture, which i think is a very unique thing to bring up on a show like this. i feel like not many people really dare to talk about this, and i can’t really understand why, as an silenced society leads to silenced victims, in this case. and it is so incredibly important to let people speak up about this. i was very pleased with the outcome of this whole situation, as noora decided not to stay quiet. even though she never actually got raped, this was still sexual harassment and she went and confronted him. she also told him, and the viewers, a few of the different laws he was breaking and what his sentence could look like. this i also think was one of the best thing about season 2, as she also educated the audience about this subject and made them actually understand that this is a real crime and people do really get caught for this kind of stuff.

another important subject that was featured on SKAM, which isn’t a very common thing either to talk about in tv-shows nowadays, is Islamophobia. in season 4 we got to see the world through sana’s eyes, who is a girl living in norway who identifies as a muslim and wears a hijab. because of this, she is a victim of Islamophobia, which a lot of people are. and even though this was not the only main subject, we still got a major insight of what this can look like, from “the inside”. since this is also is a very big issue that affects a lot of people, i personally find this one extra important.

while we’re talking about religion, i’d also like to mention how cool i think it is that they featured her praying. i personally think that religion in general needs more representation and people need to get more educated about this matter. and while there are quite a few religious characters in other tv-show, we rarely get to really see their religion(i’m not saying that your religion needs to be proven or anything, your faith is equally as valid as any other no matter what). what we mostly get to see is when maybe a person quickly says “i’m a buddhist” or sometimes we get the names of a holiday or two. however, we rarely get to see people pray or people actually talking about their gods in the way sana does. ramadan also played a big part in this season, especially in the end of the season.

one thing that really amazed me about this show is how incredibly well thought out it is. every little detail makes sense, in the end. every little connection makes such a difference. and the thing is that many situations can feel very confusing and just seem like poor scripting, but as soon as they are explained to us or we get another piece of the puzzle so that we can figure it out ourselves, everything makes sense! let’s take sana x even as an example. even was introduced to us in season 3 and as far as we knew, he was just some random guy. later on, he appears in a kosegruppa meeting, which he seemed way too cool for. during the same time, sana manages to talk isak into joining a kosegruppa meeting, which she does not take any benefit of whatsoever if you think about it. she also gave even some weird glances and looked weirdly at a video that featured mikael. everyone thought it was kind of suspicious. then, a whole season later, we find out that sana’s brother used to be even’s best friend and we also figure out that sana is the reason that isak and even got together. and let me remind you, this is a whole season later. everything is so well thought out and so planned, but also so well timed. every little detail plays such a big part and everything fits together like a puzzle.

“people need other people.” -noora amalie sætre

another thing that makes the show seem very well written is all the symbolism that appears through out she show. i mean skam would probably have been equally as good if there was no symbolism, but it’s just something that i find very cute and meaningful. there are lots of things that one might not notice just by looking vaguely at skam, like the locker, the carrots, the black and white shirts, the dandelion, sana’s makeup etc, but once you really look, these kind of things start to appear everywhere.

what also amazes me is how very well written this show is, and still there are very few people working on it. i mean there is julie, mari and then a bunch of people filming everything and someone to do the hair and makeup(obviously there are more people working on it but you get my point). what amazes me even more is that they have been including fans in the process of creating skam, without them knowing it. i know for a fact that elli_skam has been the inspiration for a lot of skam scenes. they begun to draw wonderful, digital drawings of skam characters. julie apparently noticed this and managed to match the actual skam with their drawings. already in the very first scene of season 4, we can see traces of their work.

that actually reminds me of one of my absolute favorite things about this show, the fandom. everyone is so kind to each other, we take care of each other and care for each other. we talk about important issues and some of us contributes with beautiful fan art, and fan fiction. we support each other and understand each other. we defend each other, and we defend the characters and their personal lives. this fandom is honestly one of the best things that has ever happened to me and i’m very thankful for every single one of you, it’s going to be really hard to have to let some of you go once the last episode have aired.

okay but i also feel like i need to mention the very first few seconds in skam, where jonas is talking about capitalism and slavery and a bunch of other really important things. because those few seconds were what made me realize that i was not going to regret watching this show. even though it’s just a few, shorts words they are so incredibly important. and to start a tv show off like that is really unique and powerful, i think. i mean we, the audience, are the future. we need to start thinking about our lifestyles and how it’s affecting others a bit more. julie realized that she had the perfect platform to bring some attention to this, and she used her chance very well.

before i wrap this up, there’s one final person i’d like to mention, julie andem. she’s amazingly talented and i’ll never be able to thank her enough for creating the skam universe. all the characters and all the situations that she has created are all so meaningful and all so real. she makes people feel like they’re a part of something, like they matter. with this show she’s had the courage to bring up some very important issues and she’s made people visible. even though the fandom didn’t really agree with all the decisions she made in order to create the story, she is still a genius and i now realize that every single one of those decisions were important, in order to make us discuss, or in order to make us understand. i will forever be thankful for her, and for everything she has created.

“livet er nå.” -isak valtersen

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ekniemisba2a · 6 years

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BA2a Narrative Strategies - Reflective Essay (2nd Draft)

In this essay, I will be reflecting on my short story inspired by the themes of dreams and the uncanny in our set text Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) by Robert Louis Stevenson. I will explore Magic Realism and the depiction of the ‘little people’ in both Stevenson and Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s work. Finally, I will be discussing how I would animate the short story with references to my inspirations in animation, as well as my research into the Victorian Era.

One of the key themes in and surrounding Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is dreams. In the book, this mystery of Mr Hyde is unveiled through the character of Gabriel Utterson, whose ‘imagination was engaged or rather enslaved’ by this man, ‘even in his dreams it had no face, or one that baffled him and melted before his eyes’ (Stevenson, 2002, p.13). Similarly, writer Robert Louis Stevenson was plagued by images of Mr Hyde and changing powders in his dreams, supplying him with his desired plot for this story (Stevenson, 1892). Freud described dreams as ‘the royal road to the unconscious’ often revealing repressed desires (White, 2018), which has a clear connection to Henry Jekyll’s inability to suppress his dark cravings, resulting in the creation of Edward Hyde. I was first introduced to Sigmund Freud in A Level Psychology, and although he has quite questionable ideas and theories, I always found them to be fascinating in their madness. Which leads me to the next theme I took an interest in within this tale, the Uncanny. This is also evoked by the presence of Hyde, who gives ‘an impression of deformity without any nameable malformation’ (Stevenson, 2002, p.16). This Ernst Jentsch would describe as uncanny from his essay On the Psychology of the Uncanny (1906) for its prolonged state of uncertainty (White, 2018).

Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a Magic Realist narrative which is the ‘inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction’ (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014). This concept has always enticed me, I love to think that there are unknown elements in our lives that may one day reveal itself to you. So I thought this would be a good place to start when it came to brainstorming an idea for my short story. Initially, I struggled to think of a narrative based on or inspired by our set text because I found the language difficult to read, taking me out of the story and lacking to stir any ideas. However, in one of our lectures, the mention of Stevenson’s Little People, the ‘substantive inventors and performers’ (Stevenson, 1892,) of his imagination, instantly caught my attention. The author that I had instead been turning to for inspiration was Haruki Murakami, one of my favourite writers, who funnily enough also wrote about creatures by the name of Little People. In Murakami’s books 1Q84 (2009-2010), ‘no one knows for sure who these Little People are’ (Murakami, 2009, p.604), they are neither good nor evil, they are something ‘that surpasses our understanding and our definitions’ (Murakami, 2009, pg. 631). There are a lot of similarities between Stevenson and Murakami in both their writing and their personalities, both famous for their magical realism and with avid imaginations that Murakami described as ‘a kind of animal’ keeping it alive through writing (Bausells, 2014). Dreams are also a focal point in Murakami’s writing, acting as a gateway to an unknown world and allowing the Little People from that world into ours.

I combined Stevenson’s dream fabricators and Murakami’s dimension walkers with my own imagination and came up with this short story about these Little People. My depiction of the Little People are particularly uncanny according to Freud, they are both familiar and unfamiliar in their appearance and made visible to Stevenson when they ought to be a secret (White, 2018). Like Murakami, I didn’t plan my story extensively, I just ran with my exciting idea and started. I enjoyed writing about these strange creatures, I am always drawn to the macabre in my work but trying to show and not tell with words was a welcomed challenge. It did take several re-drafts to finalise my text, with most of my struggles deriving from my introductory paragraph, I just couldn’t find the right words for without describing too much. I was also conscious of being historically accurate with my portrayal of Stevenson and his life, a lot of this came from the project’s lectures and my tutor’s knowledge of the writer. However, Back In My Time: A Writer's Guide to the 19th Century’s article on the Victorian Bedroom (Huls, 2016) was extremely helpful in creating a clear picture in my head of what Stevenson’s chief place of living might be like.

Most fictional stories and day to day texts today, such as News and Media, are written in the past tense, so it is no surprise that we feel a sense of unfamiliarity when consuming writing in a present tense. Despite the fact that I found it difficult to keep to writing in the present tense, I exploited this foreignness to create a sense of disquiet within my story. The winding sentences phrased in this way also work to make the reader slightly uneasy, which I felt appropriately reflected my magical realist narrative. It was also important for me to have the little people coming into our world through Stevenson’s mouth as this is a clear opening for them to escape his mind, but also it is how the Little People do it in Murakami’s 1Q84 too, specifically through the mouth of a dead goat in one instance. I also wanted them to be in a group because of their namesake and Murakami’s own words which states ‘there is never just one’ (Murakami, 2009, p.624).

If I were to adapt my short story into an adult animated film, I would use a combination of stop motion animation and live action. The first sequence in Stevenson’s bedroom during the night would be in stop motion animation to make use of its innate uncanny qualities and create a dream-like atmosphere. This would be contrasted with the, undoubtedly real, live action sequence that follows the next morning. This technique is used in James and the Giant Peach (1996) directed by Henry Selick and The Cat with Hands (2001) directed by Robert Morgan, both to symbolise passage into a new world. However, I would have my sections reversed in comparison to these films, as I would choose to begin with animation and end with live action. To further exploit the uncanny sense provided by stop motion animation, I would animate the movement of the little people puppets with missing in-between frames to make their movement more jittery and unnatural. However, Stevenson’s puppet will be animated with smooth and consequently realistic movements. Because I can’t physically have the little people puppets climb out from Stevenson’s mouth, I would need to maliciously plan my shots in the storyboard phase and explore my puppet’s limitations, so that I am fully prepared to retain believability in the shoot.

All puppets would be made from scratch with wire armatures and animatable with pins. However, the little people at roughly 6” puppets, would be considerably smaller than the Stevenson puppet at 12”. The little people’s ill-fitting skin would be made using silicone or latex to achieve the fleshy quality, taking inspiration from the puppets used in the animated short film La Ballena Escarlata (Figure 2). Whereas the Stevenson puppet would be put together with old second-hand doll parts, and his bedroom set would be dressed with equally used and old-fashioned objects. All these materials would be collected from vintage and antique fairs to be in line with the Victorian aesthetic. This is the process of filmmakers the Brothers Quay (Figure 3), who start both their stop motion projects in this way, working around the details of the chosen objects. However, some props will be difficult to find in the right size to compliment my large puppet, for instance, Stevenson’s nightshirt and four-poster bed, which I would have to instead make myself.

The night scene will have a cold grade to bring out the blues and beiges in the set, contrasted by the morning scene that would have a warm grade to emphasise the now new world full of oranges and yellows. The main light source in both scenes would be from the moon or sun through the window, using minimal dim lights only where it is necessary but otherwise I would want to create as much shadow as I can. Yet, the little people I created will lack shadows, so to get around this issue without it implementing the lighting of the set, I would mask out the shadows in post-production using Adobe After Effects. Finally, the soundtrack would consist of mostly ambience Foley sounds, for example, the ticking of the clock, which is very prominent in my story, to add to the sensation of unease.

Through this process, I have learnt that creative writing isn’t as scary as I thought and can be a really satisfying way of bringing my ideas to life. Although the set text wasn’t a hit with me, I have found it to have very interesting narrative themes that I enjoyed exploring in my writing and research. What I would do differently is start my research and essay earlier, I am someone who comes to writing last in a workload as I really struggle to formulate my thoughts into words, it never gets easier but I am determined to improve my attitude in order to complete these tasks to the best to my ability. On a whole, this project has been insightful, giving me the confidence to start writing more short fiction and encouraging me to pick up reading on a regular basis again, allowing me to grow not just as an animator but a storyteller too.

#BA2a Strategies & Story Adaptation #2nd Draft #Reflective Essay #Week 18

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