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my langblr introduction ! hallå !
name : ryan :]
age : 17 y/o
pronouns : it/he
my target language : swedish
langauges i already know : english [ fluent ] and latvian [ native ]
interests : sharks, dinosaurs, ducktales, saw films !
why am i interested in learning swedish?
in all honesty, it just seemed appealing. i visited sweden once on a layover and fell in love with the architecture, the food, and the language. i´ve been learning swedish now for almost 2 years and haven´t made much progress so i hope this blog will help me learn quicker and easier as well as find other people who i could work with :]
if you are similar to me or are also learning swedish please reach out! i´d love to meet other ppl like me and also get some more help sticking to language learning :]
#language#langblr#language learning#swedish#sverige#svenska#languageblr#multilingual#learning languages#student#culture#fantastic mr fox#queer community#gay pride#tagging queer things so queer langblr blogs find me#transgender#transmasc
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Trappstegsforsen.
July 2024
Trappstegsforsen, Södra Lappland, Sweden
#sweden#swedish#my photos#my life#enjoythelittlethings#gaylife#nature#gayguy#gayboy#gay#nature reserve#nature photography#swedish wildlife#nature wildlife#river#bridge#caravanlife#caravan#camping#clouds#swedish culture#culturalheritage#natural history#landscape#lappland#holiday#adventure#summer 2024#july 2024#vacation
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just turned in my bachelor’s essay for the last time:)))))
#ive already passed but i was given the chance to fix a few things if i wanted to:))))#its SUMMER babey#my essay is 35 pages of analysing swedish gay films and swedish gay culture in the 80s#basically heterosexual narrative vs. homosexual narrative using films made by gay people#while also doing a deep dive in media archives and how they ignored the homosexual narrative
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idk how to explain that there's a swedish coffee comercial that somehow manages to be the gayest thing ever without feeling like pandering and i want this comercial to be a real movie ??!!
I'll become a coffee drinker just please make the cute movie abt a gay meet cute where a biker falls down a cliff and falls into the hammock of a guy living in a cute lil cabin by a lake, and they just look at each other, startled, and Smile.
All set to "You and Me Song" by The Wannadies.
The moose bears witness
#Also yes i watch the fantasy heorine chronicles theyre stellar#Now talk to me abt this gay commetcial that i can never record bc ive no way of knowing which commetcial eill play before a yt video#Muffin rambles#I cant bflieve this is how i learn what a hammock is#Every time i see a hammock in a brittish or american fil theyre so uncomfortable looking#Youce not experienced swedish hammocks they are öarge and friend shaped#Perfect for u and ur improptu biker guest#You and me song is gay culture as we all know
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Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 5
Episode 5 starts sometime after August dropped the bombshell about Erik at the end of last episode, and Wilhelm decides for some reason to visit the party palace, in order to make himself feel extra shit? I don't know what's going on here.
Blink and you miss it: Hey, that's one of the clown masks they used for Wilhelm's initiation back in season 1.
Blink and you miss it: Henry and Valter are doing a class presentation on rhetorical analysis, and for some reason they chose former US president George W. Bush as their subject, which is pretty hilarious given that he was a notoriously bad public speaker.
Blink and you miss it: Instead of asking Wilhelm, who is sitting right next to Simon, how he's feeling, he writes the question in his notebook and slides it over.
Subtext: Gotta keep up that facade and bottle all the negative feelings inside!
Lost in translation: Vincent uses the word "nyanländ", "newly arrived", which is the current politically correct way of saying immigrant.
Subtext: ...but in typical bully fashion he asks the target of the racist "joke" if it was funny, and Marwan obviously lies about it as to not upset Vincent.
Subtext: Felice tries to play it off as no big deal, but she actually wants this opportunity to spend time with Sara without her other friends, in order to rebuild the friendship.
Subtext: Sara is right to be suspicious of her dad, because he is a lot more energetic than usual, and excuses his behaviour by him simply being in a good mood. It's probably his new medication that kicked in, though.
Subtext: Speaking of having a hard time showing weakness, that's exactly what Wilhelm's been struggling with by not telling Simon how upset he is about having learned that Erik took part in the gay porn initiation.
Subtext: So the whole subplot of the past four episodes was that the school locked up all the phones, and Wilhelm joined the little strike to get them back, pissing Simon off in the meantime, and now that they have their phones back he's not picking up when Simon is calling him? Not cool.
Culture: The choir is practising "En vänlig grönskas rika dräkt", a Swedish hymnal with text from 1889, but this version of the melody is from the 1930's and composed by Waldemar Åhlén. It's a very well-known summer song that pretty much every Swedish schoolkid has sung at some end-of-schoolyear summer assembly.
Cinematography: We're in the cursed music room, and this time the lighting is harsh and sharp, Wilhelm is in stark contrast to the rest of the room, there's no soft golden light smoothing things out, so we're gonna have an argument!
Subtext: Yeah, no, Wilhelm, sweetie, that's projection, that's what you are thinking about your brother. Simon isn't doing anything wrong here, he's just concerned about you being a moody asshole.
Cinematography: To illustrate how the relationship is going south, the music room which used to be full of instruments, is just getting emptier and emptier, and Simon is left standing alone at the piano.
Subtext: No, he's not feeling ok, and no, he's not interested in making up with Sara right now, because he's still angry at her.
Subtext: There are different kinds of homophobia, for example, there are people who talk loudly about how accepting they are of The Gays, but who react negatively when someone close to them comes out, because they were only fine with it at a distance. And then there are people who are ignorantly homophobic in general, but who turn out to be supportive of anyone close to them who comes out, because they know that that person isn't like The Other Gays. Shitty, but less shitty than the first group, and I think that's how Erik would have reacted had he known about Wilhelm.
Culture: In Sweden, you do the practical driving test in a car provided by the testing centre to make it fair and equal for everyone. These cars all have a red sticker saying they're for driving tests.
Subtext: Micke is failing exactly how he described it in an earlier episode. He's on new medication, it made him feel good and like he was in control, so he thought he could take just one beer with his friends.
Subtext: No, it fits horribly, and you can clearly see that it was on sale and that the price tag is still on it. But this is what Linda can afford.
Lost in translation: Simon actually says "jag vet", "I know", when Sara tells him that their dad let her down and that she is sad and upset about it.
Subtext: Unlike Simon who got a cheap suit on sale, Wilhelm just has his perfectly tailored suit delivered to him by his bodyguards.
Subtext: Last episode Wilhelm picked a sport charity or something that he doesn't actually care about, because he thought it would best fit the narrative the royal court is going for. So now his internal homophobia is screaming at him to remove the nail polish, because it doesn't fit that image.
I don't know what this is: This has got to be an editing goof? This sequence of events doesn't work. Everyone else is up and about, preparing the third year's dinner with the teachers and they're even cooking the food with a chef, but it's early morning and Wilhelm is still sleeping in? Anyway, the whole thing is yet another example of how the school teaches hierarchy. As a younger student you service the older students, and when it's your turn to graduate, someone younger will service you.
Throwback: Aww, Simon made Wilhelm a sandwich, just like Wilhelm made one for Simon a bunch of times in previous seasons.
Culture: Man, early summer in Sweden is beautiful, isn't it? This was shot at Åkeshofs Slott in Stockholm, and if you do a 180 turn on that path, you'll see the subway station Åkeshov, and if you go through the tunnel under the road and then up to your right, you'll end up at a sports centre where I went twice a week as a kid for fencing training!
This tumblr is now about French school fencing! Doublé! Riposte!
Subtext: Time and time again the show has shown us how much August loves this shit, and that he wasn't lying when he said he knew everyone, because clearly he does!
Subtext: And to show how much Wilhelm dislikes this shit, he is so stiff when talking to the invited kids who are actually benefitting from his charity foundation, while August just immediately jokes around with them and is much more comfortable.
Culture: I've seen how a lot of fans think that the flower Wilhelm is wearing is a green carnation, which is a symbol for being gay, popularized by Oscar Wilde. I don't think so, that's not a thing in Sweden as far as I know. Instead, I think it's an alternate version of a Majblomma, which is an actual Swedish charity thing, where you can buy these plastic lapel flowers from schoolkids to show your support around this time of year.
Subtext: Even though Simon is there, he's being shoved to the back, because his presence doesn't fit the narrative. If Wilhelm instead had chosen to start some kind of LGBT charity, Simon would have had a much more prominent role. Oh, and poison or not, that Princess Cake looks delicious!
Subtext: Farima is expertly letting August down, who of course pretends that he's not the least bit disappointed at being excluded from having dinner at the royal palace.
Blink and you miss it: IT'S LISA! HI LISA!
Culture: Kalle Stropp och Grodan Boll are two characters from a radio show for kids from the 1940's, but they've also been featured in books, comic books, a live action movie, and animated cartoons. It's about the two titular characters, a cricket and a frog, and their adventures. The last movie was made in the 1990's though, so I'm not so sure kids these days knows who these characters are. Personally, I can't hear this song without hearing their silly character voices.
Subtext: The Queen is still keeping up appearances and lying through her teeth about how she's actually feeling.
Culture: In real world Sweden, Victoriadagen is celebrated in mid July when Crown Princess Victoria has her birthday, she hands out a sports award, there's a concert, some charity stuff, and you can sort of meet the royals or sing her happy birthday or something.
Subtext: August is repeating the excuse Farima used on him as to why he didn't attend the birthday dinner.
Blink and you miss it: That's a Rolex Oyster Perpetual GMT-Master II. It's only about $10,000 and change.
Subtext: Simon, sweetie, I don't think the royals have any clue as to what "the usual" means when you're describing how regular people celebrate birthdays.
Culture: Simon actually says Laserdome, which is a company in Sweden that has been running laser tag arenas since the 1990's. I had no idea they still existed!
Culture: They're singing Lambo, a drinking song for students. It's a challenge song, so while the rest of the table sings, the target has to finish their glass, correctly sing the response lines, and turn the glass upside down over their head. If you fail, like August does in this scene, you have to do a penalty round and chug another glass.
Subtext: ...before her parents heaped all of their family's expectations on her. But maybe if Felice can break free she could pursue her actual dreams?
Throwback: Remember the scene in S1E3 when Simon is practising the Hillerska song in the music room?
Subtext: Queenie, sweetie, you're not looking Wilhelm in the eyes, you're not engaging in the discussion, and the only thing you do is to talk about Erik every chance you get. No wonder Wilhelm has had enough and explodes at his parents.
Blink and you miss it: Vincent won the "Daddy pays" award. Pappa betalar.
Subtext: In this context the award just means that he's the image of a bad boy, a player. But throughout the season, August has been struggling with whether or not he's actually a bad person, which is why he's not exactly happy with the award.
Cinematography: Fuck me that's a pretty shot of a typical summer sunset. In late May in the Stockholm area, sunset happens at around 9:30 in the evenings.
Subtext: One more explanation for August's body dysmorphia is that he got bullied for being weak and scrawny when he first started at Hillerska, so he decided to start working out more.
Blink and you miss it: The reason Fredrika is outside and happens to see Sara and August kiss, is because she's trying to sneak away the bottle of wine she stole earlier from the kitchen.
Subtext: And the reason Felice looks upset when Fredrika tells her what she saw is because she truly thought Sara was over August, and that's a condition of them reconciling.
Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm plays the first few notes of the original Hillerska song.
Subtext: And to cap off this terrible no-good horrible cliffhanger episode, Simon breaks up with Wilhelm by repeating the words his mom said to him earlier in the episode.
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Ace week wrap-up
This week we, and many others around the world, have been focussing on asexuality, raising awareness of what is often an unknown and poorly understood sexuality.
We've been posting throughout the week about asexual history - the history of people who feel little or no sexual attraction. Here's a list of some topics we've covered on our podcast - some are explicitly asexual, using the terminology we use today, while others are the stories of people or groups that may have been asexual, or provided a safe space for asexual people.
18th century English novellist Jane Austen - Jane never married, and while we don't know the reason it’s possible that she was aromantic and/or asexual.
17th century Swedish monarch Christina - Christina converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism, citing the Catholic value placed on celibacy as a major factor in their conversion - possibly suggesting that they themselves were not interested in sex.
Asexuals have problems too - a 1971 US news article which set out to parody a contemporary debate about whether gay or straight people had it harder, and instead ended up resonating with an asexual audience.
Golden Orchid Societies in 19th century China - Golden Orchid Societies were communities of women who eschewed heterosexual marriage. Some Golden Orchid sisters had a solo wedding, showing their desire to remain independent - providing us insight into a historical possibility for asexual lives.
The Asexual Manifesto - written by feminist activists in 1972, this manifesto provides some insight into early asexual political movements in the USA.
Albanian sworn virgins - this traditional Albanian custom that allows someone assigned female at birth to assume a male gender role by taking a vow of chastity. While each individual would have their own experiences with the practice, it could form a space in Albanian culture for asexual people.
Happy ace week to all of you!
#aceweek#ace week#asexual awareness week#ace history#asexual history#asexuality#queer history#lgbt#lgbtq#queer
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Always an outsider
I always feel like an outsider no matter where i am, where i go. Outsider to the country i live in, outsider to the languages i speak, outsider to my own country, outsider to my own language, outsider to the culture i participate in, outsider in the language of my work, outsider to other women, always feeling unlike those around me and those who i was raised with. I am a transgender woman who emigrated early in my adulthood I have a thick accent when i speak swedish. It's strange how hard it is to consider myself as part of any group. Disconnected from the polish language and often feeling like i am not recognized as a fellow woman, just some kind of imitation. It's tiring, and i can feel it without any words being spoken directly to me. Not to mention the distinct feeling of NOT being swedish in sweden of being an immigrant, being from somewhere else. Regardless of my reason to come here, there is many who came here without any other real choice. It sucks. Feeling like i'm always at fringes of society it really does suck. My actions always supervised by everyone else. Always feeling the need to prove myself for my ability to stay here and within whatever community i am a part of. Always under extra scrutiny. Always used as political tool, to fearmonger, to gain sympathy, undermining me and those like me as a person and people. After all i'm just an outsider. I do struggle to find my place in this world, and often think about who I REALLY am. It feels like i'm living my life directionless. The only loose thread keeping it all together is making gay art online. Which is awesome and i am very grateful for the following i garnered, i am surprised 9000 people want to see my drawings. They do come from heart. And thank you for supporting me financially and by simply reblogging my art. I am trying to get medicated and go on therapy for many of my mental illnesses lol. There's no real silver lining in this post, I'm just tired. But like my friend said, You are transgender you have to live.
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Scandinavian Things to Watch
Somebody asked me for some recommendations in regards to Swedish and/or Norwegian T.V. shows so I figured I'd scour the internet for every show and movie I've ever seen and compile a list.
Now I will note that half of these I wouldn't really recommend. A thing about Norwegian shows, you'll always end up in one of these genres: Crime-Drama, A show about an awkward person or immigrant family navigating Norwegian culture, or an uneventful slice of life adult/family show and somehow, more often than not, some environmentalism plot line is threaded throughout each genre. I'm very used to fast paced dramas featuring teens so Norwegian series are quite the opposite. This is me admitting that I think most Norwegian shows and movies are so slow and boring. Also I hate Crime-Dramas. With that being said, I do try to get through the first couple of episodes/minutes and can recognize when a show is potentially good but if it requires my full attention to keep up, I'm not finishing it. I can't say if this crosses over into Swedish shows and I'm only just starting to get into Danish shows. Some of these are still on my To Be Seen and I definitely forgot to list others but it's been years since I've seen them so...🤷🏽♀️
Where To Watch: Most of these are on Netflix. Some were and are now gone, others have been added once I moved to Sweden. Some are on NRK which I used mostly when I was in Norway. You could get by with a VPN but NRK knows when you're using one and you'll have to restart it every two episodes. Viaplay is a Nordic streaming service that's only like 5 bucks a month, accessible anywhere but again, the selection varies depending on location.
Norwegian Movies:
Blasted (Netflix) TBS - Comedy, Two dudes fight aliens
Royalteen (Netflix) Drama, An average girl gets a prince to fall in love with her. In Royalteen 2, we follow the prince's sister who's working through personal issues.
Thelma (Netflix, Viaplay) TBS GAY - Horror, Something about romance and magic powers?
The Man Who Loved Yngve (Idk) TBS GAY - Drama, Romance
Norwegian Dream (Idk) TBS GAY - Coming of Age, Drama
The Trip (Netflix) TBS - Comedy, An old couple fights to see who can kill each other first instead of just getting a divorce
Troll (Netflix) - Drama, Action? A government team and Archeologist(?) try to stop an old troll from destroying the town
Troll Hunter (Netflix) - "Found Footage" People chase a troll idk
The Wave (Netflix) - Action Drama, People run from a massive wave
Battle (Netflix) - Drama, Featuring Lisa Teige who played Eva in Skam as a ballet dancer battling for the top spot I think, I never finished it.
Disco (NRK) - Drama, Which features Noora's(Skam) actress Josephine Frida Pettersen as a dancer juggling religion and passion.
Det Norske Hus (Netflix) - Comedy, A man crosses the boarder to attend a school that will teach him how to be Norwegian
The Lion Woman (Used to be on Netflix) - Whimsical Drama, A man protects a young hairy girl from being the town freak
The Affair (Viaplay) - Dark Drama, featuring Tarjei Sandvik Moe or Isak from Skam, A student gets dirty with a teacher and then stalks the teacher
Kitchen Stories (Idk) - Comedy? I had to watch this for school. I found it boring but Norwegian people like it. An Anthropologist(?) watches over a Norwegian man to study how Norwegians use kitchens
Norwegian Shows:
SKAM GAY for a season- Come on, you can't be on Tumblr and NOT know this show. This listing includes EVERY remake. Especially the American one (it's on NRK you nords) Every non-American only hates it because our culture is so different from Europe's, its giving xenophobia. Find the shows yourself, it's a rite of passage.
Ligga (Discovery+) TBS GAY- Comedy, featuring Ulrikke Falch, Vilde from Skam, A girl gets dumped and discovers casual sex. To be seen because I think it's only on Discovery Plus in Norway.
Ragnorok (Netflix) GAY for like 2 minutes - Mythology, featuring sexy babes from Skam Magnus, P. Cris, and my gf Sonja. The story of Thor versus the Giants. Fun Fact I actually don't care about this show, mainly this genre of show, but I challenged myself to watch it entirely in Norwegian without subtitles since season one and it's done so I win.
Post Mortem: No One Dies in Skarnes (Netflix) TBS - Dark Comedy, Funeral directors get up to some morally corrupt shenanigans. I got half way through the first episode and gave up.
Øyevitne TBS (Eyewitness U.S. version on the USA Network) GAY- Crime Thriller, I haven't seen the original yet bc I can't find it anywhere. Also I said I didn't like this genre but the Scandis do know how to make 'em. Two boys witness a murder that could solve a massive crime ring but are too scared to come forward bc they don't wanna be outed as ~lovers~ The acting in the American version is a little rough but don't let that stop you! This is the only English speaking show on this list.
Ida Tar Ansvar (Viaplay) - Ironic Comedy? A girl who is just terrified of the real world befriends an Incel in hopes of changing him/saving women. The main actress is also in Royalteen and the main actor is actually Kasper from Skam!
Lillyhammer (Used to be on Netflix) - Crime Comedy, An old American gangster moves to a small part of Lillehammer, Norway to hide and life ensues. This was actually the first Norwegian series I watched post-Skam. There's speaking parts in both Norwegian and English but it's an American show. I still recommend it.
Norsemen (Netflix) - Mockumentary, It kind of feels like a Viking Version of The Office. I've seen a few episodes but the humor is very Norwegian and it didn't stick for me.
Beforeigners (Amazon Prime Video) - Drama, Time travelers from the Viking/Stone Age era end up in Modern day Norway. We follow a Detective Traveler Woman solve crimes. I never finished it bc I forgot it existed lol.
Exit (Viaplay, NRK) - Drama, We follow as a bunch of rich people be absolutely terrible human beings. Tbh, I only got to like episode 3, they're just too long.
The Architect (Viaplay) TBS - Drama, I couldn't tell you shit about this show. I got through the first episode and had no idea what was going on but it's filmed very stylistically and I can see it being enjoyable for someone out there.
Delete Me (Viaplay) TBS - Dark Drama, A sex tape gets out and causes problems for many students at this school. I haven't seen it yet bc the plot doesn't interest me but someone else highly recommended it.
Lik Meg (NRK) - Teen Drama, Two girls' friendship gets tested when they enter the 7th grade. I tried watching this when I was in Norway to fill the Skam void but it's definitely geared towards younger audiences so I didn't get far.
19 (NRK) - Same as above, Each season follows a character of a different age so the title of the show changes too I think. I don't know, here's the Wiki. This show focuses on third culture kids.
Skitten Snø (NRK) TBS - Dark Drama, again featuring our child Tarjei Sandvik Moe as he struggles with friendship but in a creepy way? It's hard to find a good description of this one.
Peppa Gris (NRK) - I literally just watched Peppa Pig in Norwegian for language learning purposes. That, Shrek(DVD), Frozen(Illegally) and also Vivo(Netflix).
Klassen (NRK) - Teen Drama, again really geared towards younger audiences. It's a very Disney-like show. I never finished it.
Pørni [or Pernille] (NRK, Netflix, Viaplay) GAY for like 2 minutes - Family Drama/Comedy following a social worker and mother navigating life after her sisters death, her father coming out, and her kids getting older. The characters are all genuinely funny in an endearing way to watch, and it shows genuine/sweet love between older people.
Swedish Movies: (I haven't seen these but they look good)
Black Crab (Netflix) TBS - Dark Drama, A solider has to cross a frozen sea with precious cargo to stop an apocalyptic war.
Låt Den Rätte Komma In (It's online free somewhere & on Swedish Netflix) TBS (Let Me In U.S. version) - Thriller, Something about a vampiric killer kid. I really like the American version so I wanna give the OG a shot.
A Man Called Ove (Netflix, Viaplay) TBS - Drama Comedy, A grumpy old man is mean to his neighbors after the death of his wife, he learns how to enjoy life again, I think.
JJ+E (Netflix) TBS - Teen Drama/Romance, A third culture boy and a Swedish girl fall in love. Will they make it?
Kyss Mig (Viaplay, Used to be on Netflix) TBS GAY - Drama, A young woman who is engaged begins an affair with her future stepmother's lesbian daughter (Can we consider that incest?).
Swedish Shows:
Sjukt (NRK) - Drama Comedy, Loosely based on the life of Young Royals Creator, Lisa Ambjörn. A young women finds a new lease on life after beating Ovarian Cancer. I enjoyed half of it but would rather finish it on a site that isn't NRK.
Young Royals (Netflix) - Teen Drama, beautiful amazing talented show stopping never been done before... A young prince gets sent to a boarding school to tighten up his act when jealousy causes things to fall apart all around him. Obviously recommend.
Gåsmamman (Amazon Prime Video) - Crime Drama, Featuring Young Royals star, Edvin Ryding, as one of the sons to a widowed mother caught up in a crime ring left by her husband. Turns out it goes deeper than what she was expecting. Brace yourself for this intense 6 season, 46 episode long show.
Kontoret (Swedish version of The Office) TBS - Exactly what it sounds like. I haven't bothered to look into it further but it could be fun to see the cultural differences and Swedish nuances.
Quicksand (Netflix) - Dark Drama, also a good one, After a school shooting we follow a girl who was somehow involved. As the plot unravels we find out exactly how. Features Felix Sandman if you're a fan of him.
One More Time (Netflix) TBS - Comedy, I literally just added this to my list. It's "17 Again" mixed with Disney's "16 Wishes."
Thunder in my Heart (Viaplay) TBS - Coming of Age/Family Drama. A lot of these Swedish shows on Viaplay don't have English subtitles so, dead end.
Älska mig (Viaplay) TBS - Drama/Romance, Familiar faces: Edvin Ryding of Young Royals/Gåsmamman! Little stories about people finding and navigating romance.
Ej Kjem (NRK) - Scandalous Drama, A show about a girl navigating life and SEXuality. I couldn't get far with it because it's only in Swedish with NYNORSK subtitles??
Clark (Netflix) TBS - Biography/Comedy? Bill Skarsgård! The unbelievable story of Clark Olofsson, the man who inspired the phrase "Stockholm Syndrome."
Danish Movies:
The Bombardment (Netflix) TBS - Wartime Drama, Based on true events, a WWII bomb hits a school in Copenhagen. (Also if you didn't know, there was A LOT happening with Sweden, Norway, and Denmark during WWII and so there are TONS of good Scandinavian movies set during then. I didn't list them because I'm just not that big a fan of the genre but the history's crazy.)
Danish Shows:
Seaside Hotel (Viaplay) GAY for like 2 seconds but idk if more happens I'm still watching - Drama, set some time in the 1920s. Various kooky guests check into this hotel every summer and life happens, drama unfolds. I was just starting to really get into it but for some reason Viaplay in Sweden doesn't have it 😡.
The Rain (Netflix) - Survival Drama, Toxic rain falls from the sky wiping out almost all humanity. One boy is the cure. Does he save and restore all humankind? I don't know I never finished it. This was when the survival genre was at an all time high. It's a good show but I just couldn't take it anymore.
Rita (Netflix) - Drama Comedy, Rita is an independent girl boss mother who has funny relationships with everyone around her. It's been years since I've seen it but it was pretty popular to the Danes.
Elves (Netflix) TBS - Horror Drama, It's evil elves at Christmas time. I haven't seen it yet but it doesn't look like it's gotten good reviews.
The Chestnut Man (Netflix) TBS - Crime Drama, A creepy chestnut toy links together murders and might be the answer to a politician's missing child.
One of the Boys (Viaplay) GAY - Coming of Age, short drama series. A boy gets sent on this "How to be a man" retreat and flips between changing himself to fit in and accepting his oddball self with this other outsider who is "totally not gay" but I literally don't believe that and it's total queer baiting but there's a kiss scene and it's such a short and easy watch that why not give a chance.
And finally: @notachair asked for this so here you go :)
#Blasted#Thelma#The Man Who Loved Yngve#Norwegian Dream#The Trip#Troll#Troll Hunter#The Wave#Battle#Det Norske Hus#The Lion Woman#The Affair#Kitchen Stories#SKAM#Ligga#Ragnorok#Post Mortem#Ida Tar Ansvar#Lillyhammer#Norsemen#Beforeigners#Exit#The Architect#Delete Me#Lik Meg#19#Skitten Sno#Eg Kjem#Klassen#scandi saga
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In April 2018, I was invited by the American ambassador to a meeting at the embassy in Tbilisi, Georgia. The ambassador had assembled a group of nongovernmental organization (NGO) leaders in the field of disinformation to meet with a senior Trump administration official from the State Department. He asked us to describe the main narratives of Kremlin disinformation. As the director of a large international democracy organization, I highlighted Russia’s manipulation of gender and LGBTQ issues to sway Georgians away from the perceived “cultural decadence” of the European Union. The official’s frustration was palpable. His response, tinged with irritation, was telling: “Is that all you people can talk about? The gays?”
A year before, several international organizations partnered with Georgian parliamentarians on a gender equality assessment, supported by several government donors. This collaboration led to an internal conflict. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) wanted to scrub the original report, as it covered abortion, notably legal in Georgia, while the Swedish government and other stakeholders wanted the complete assessment. As a result, at the time of its release, two distinct reports had to be printed, one with references to abortion and one without.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump emerged victorious from last week’s New Hampshire primary and is likely to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee. His closing statement in New Hampshire praised Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, who embraces the oxymoronic term “illiberal democracy” while suppressing independent media, civil society, and courts. He has repeatedly emphasized the glory of strongmen like Orban. His foreign policy has been clear: stopping support for Ukraine, NATO, and our European allies.
But while there has been plenty of analysis of Trump’s America First impact on foreign policy and security, less covered is how it will also completely redefine foreign aid as well as the liberal democracy agenda. My experience with the first Trump administration as a senior leader in democracy organizations receiving funding from USAID provides some insight into the foreign-aid agenda of a second, but likely only scratches the surface of what is to come.
The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, established in 2022, offers a detailed roadmap for revamping USAID under Trump—one that will undermine, eliminate, and censor the critical work of thousands of people and organizations committed to building more just societies. The Heritage Foundation has been staffing and providing a pipeline of ideas to Republican administrations since President Ronald Reagan. Project 2025 is a plan to shape the next Republican administration, and its funders have close ties to Trump. The project’s objective is to replace “deep state” employees with conservative thought leaders to carry out an executive-driven agenda.
In the overview, the project articulates its goal to end what it calls USAID’s “divisive political and cultural agenda that promotes abortion, climate extremism, gender radicalism, and interventions against perceived systemic racism.” A key component of the illiberal playbook is to attack gender and marginalized communities, an early warning sign of democratic backsliding. Illiberal strongmen, such as Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, exploit traditional hierarchies to divide society and create pecking orders of power. Russia refused to sign, and Turkey withdrew from, the Istanbul Convention, a commitment to protect women from domestic violence. The Narendra Modi administration in India filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court against criminalizing marital rape, arguing it would destabilize marriage. Hungary and Poland lobbied to ban the term “gender equality” in international agreements and implemented anti-LGBTQ policies, including local municipalities adopting “LGBT-free” zones as part of a government-supported “Family Charter” in Poland.
As a first step, Trump’s USAID will “dismantle” all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which Project 2025 calls “discriminatory.” This mandate includes firing the chief diversity officer and all advisors and committees. In 2016, the Obama administration issued a DEI presidential memorandum to ensure USAID, among other agencies, had a diverse and representative workforce. Trump scaled back these efforts. On Jan. 20, 2021, Biden’s first day in office, he signed an executive order that demanded that government agencies devise strategies to tackle DEI issues. Pursuant to this, USAID Administrator Samantha Power signed USAID’s DEI strategy on her first day in May 2021. Project 2025 would reverse this strategy, requiring USAID to “cease promotion of the DEI agenda, including the bullying LGBTQ+ agenda,” which entails support for organizations overseas that work on these issues.
According to Project 2025, Trump’s new USAID will also eliminate the word “gender” full stop, arguing that “Democrat Administrations have nearly erased what females are.” This is bizarre, as I have decades of experience receiving USAID funding for numerous programs to advance women in political life and support women’s organizations. Working for democracy organizations across Asia and the former Soviet Union, I saw USAID provide critical support to expand women’s wings of political parties; recruit women election officials, observers, and administrators; train women’s advocacy and rights organizations; and build women’s committees in parliaments.
The Heritage Foundation report also accuses USAID of “outright bias against men,” an equally strange claim; in fact, gender realignment was needed and implemented. A Trump USAID will fire more than 180 gender advisors and points of contact, who work alongside USAID colleagues “to integrate gender and advance gender equality objectives in USAID’s work worldwide,” and scrub the words “gender,” “gender equality,” and “gender equity” from all documents. This would require a massive purge of decades of USAID materials and websites.
USAID has spent years incorporating gender into all aspects of its programming to ensure the agency addresses the needs of women, including unique development obstacles they face. Removing a gender lens would take us back in time to programming that often harmed women, inadvertently, by failing to analyze the varying effects of programming based on gender and power dynamics in different environments. To erase all of USAID’s tools, learning, and research on how to ensure best practice would have dangerous consequences. For example, when I worked for USAID in Cambodia in the 1990s, the agency supported micro-lending for small community projects, in which most of the loans went to women. This resulted in increased domestic violence, as men were angry about the financial imbalance in the home. Today, USAID has gender analysis and research on risk factors to mitigate against such outcomes.
Relatedly, a Trump USAID will make anti-choice “core” to its mission, removing all “references to ‘abortion,’ ‘reproductive health,’ and ‘sexual and reproductive rights.’” Project 2025’s blueprint singles out specific organizations and U.N. agencies to target and defund. Further, the president himself would have the ability to oversee programming directly: “Current law in the Foreign Assistance Act gives the President broad authority to set ‘such terms and conditions as he may determine’ on foreign assistance, which legally empowers the next conservative President to expand this pro-life policy.” Previous administrations have restricted funding to organizations that provide abortions (the “Mexico City Policy”), which resulted in an increase in maternal and child mortality and unsafe abortions—exactly what the policy claimed to want to prevent. In sub-Saharan Africa, data shows the policy increased abortions by defunding clinics that provided family-planning services. The first Trump administration expanded restrictions further, impacting speech and service delivery around the world.
A Trump USAID would not only stop funding local partner organizations that support gender, LGBTQ, and rights agendas but redirect that money to religious organizations. In fact, it would mandate training and indoctrination for all USAID staff on the link between religion and development. USAID would also ensure conservative oversight of all grantmaking to ensure against “progressive policies” and a “radical agenda.” USAID already engages with faith-based partnerships, alongside secular NGOs, but Project 2025 would like to shift the balance, creating a “New Partnership Initiative” that would help prioritize religious groups.
A stated “key outcome of the transformation of USAID” under Trump will be a complete revamp of the Bureau for Democracy, Development, and Innovation, shifting its focus to trade, the private sector, and religious communities, and purging staff. Importantly, all directors of each center—not just the assistant administrator—will have political leadership, not career experts. In addition, Trump’s USAID will rewrite all policy “as soon as possible” to ensure a conservative agenda.
During the first Trump administration, I felt the impact in my work overseas. I worked closely with the LGBTQ community in Georgia, which faced horrific obstacles—ostracization, violence, homelessness—and which was targeted relentlessly by Kremlin information operations. USAID has long been a defender of human rights and funded projects on these issues. There was a shift under Trump, though I applaud individual USAID employees for creatively trying to find workarounds and continue support—like slight renaming of initiatives or cleverly filing them under more favorable, broader categories like “human rights.” They no doubt prevented damaging cuts to our important work.
I am far more worried about the impact of a second administration. Back then, there was no concrete, detailed roadmap like Project 2025 and no massive replacement of foreign aid professionals with conservative political operatives. Under a second administration, under Schedule F, Trump has planned a sweeping political takeover of our civil service, stripping civil servants of protection, forcing them to implement his political policy agenda, and giving the president unilateral power to fire employees at will.
The organization I now work for, the German Marshall Fund, supports hundreds of civil society organizations across the Balkans, Black Sea region, Ukraine, and Central Europe—thanks to more than a decade of USAID support. USAID has encouraged our goals of promoting democracy; bolstering the rights of women, LGBTQ, and other marginalized communities; and deterring illiberalism through independent media, watchdog organizations, and information integrity efforts. We do this through grantmaking, capacity-building and technical assistance, leadership programs, and policy dialogues.
With democracy in global decline and illiberal strongmen on the rise, we need these efforts more than ever. Backsliding elsewhere affects democracy everywhere. America benefits from strong, free, liberal societies—it is in our national interest and key to our global security and order. While few voters go to the polls with foreign aid on their minds, the consequences for millions of people worldwide are on the ballot this November.
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You mentioned that you worked with the Estonian and Scandinavian embassies and found out that there's a lot more closeness between the countries than people would expect. What are some interesting and unexpected things you learned about the relationship between Estonia and the Nordic countries?
(Modern-day connections would be preferred, as I would assume the historical conflicts are well known. In a Nationverse context, I would like to write about the friendship and cooperation between their personifications in the modern day 👀)
Out of the Nordic embassies the most I've worked with is Danish Embassy, but also I have connections in the Swedish embassy and have spoken to the Norwegian embassy asking about facts of culture etc. (There are in fact a lot of culture and history facts the average person will not know.) I'll note to myself to make a post about Norway especially - even if the facts they were able to give were limited at the time. (I will also refer to my uurimustöö and take the facts I used from there too.)
Unfortunately Finland's embassy has ended up unreachable most of the time, with their cultural institute also being slow about responses (but my guess is that being such an important neighbour has left them very busy, same situation with Latvia.) And Iceland does not have a direct embassy here, needing to contact the one in Helsinki for any cooperation (which I tried and never got a response, again, alright.)
A keyword to know about the embassies is HELPFUL. They're very nice and open to anyone who approaches and wants to know things. They can also be generous about giving free stuff (ESPECIALLY Denmark :''D though I've noticed they just seem to have a higher budget compared to Norway's embassy for example.)
The Estonian embassies in the Nordic nations have also made 100 year timelines of diplomatic relationships, many of which really bring together a nice picture. (the Danish one actually made me cry). Unfortunately they exist mostly in Estonia, which only some having a translation into the other country's native language (Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish) if anyone speaks those then I can easily send the timeline for you to read.
I've found that the Nordic embassies (especially Sweden and Denmark which have active social media accounts (primarily Instagram) also like to actively participate in social events or matters such as Arvamusfestival (opinion festival) and other events that discuss Estonia's quality of life and development. They've always been economically close with frequent meetings about "increasing cooperation". This does not just apply to economical matters but also education and in recent times a lot lot more about defense too (especially now with Finland and Sweden having joined the NATO gang, something which was seen as a HUGE deal in Estonia to the point Estonia made a stamp of Finland about it.) I'll note to myself to also make a post about all the specific times I can recall Denmark being very active about the topic of defense to the point that I often use it as a point in arguments about faith in NATO.
The Nordic embassies have also been very vocal about and advocating for LGBT rights for years, possibly decades. They have always participated in LGBT events such as the recent Tartu pride. They even posted about having spectated the Riigikogu meeting in which the voting about legalising Gay marriage happened. You can say the Nordics have been one of the closest friends of the LGBT movement in Estonia, often raising rainbow flags in solidarity. (So YES to content about the Nordics celebrating Estonia's progress because of how much they've been supporting it!)
One thing I must bring attention to is NORDIC-BALTIC 8! It is a group that has existed since the 90's, right after the Baltics regained independence. This is another reason for why the "can Eesti into nordic" is incredibly stupid, because we already are considered together. (UN officially views the Baltics as Northern European too, grouping us together further.) Besides some international events wanting to put us far away from each other it is quite acknowledged on a nation relationship scale that the Baltics are in region friends to the Nordics. Some say that this regional friendship is the reason the Baltics are among the better countries in the Eastern half of Europe, because we have good developed countries to be influenced and supported by while some other countries were left with not the best options.
(I like to HC that the NB8 all sit pretty close by to each other in meetings.)
I intend to work on posting some of the information I've found, especially when I get time to read some sources I've received but not had the time to fully go through them.
Hope this response at least satisfies you a little <3
#hetalia#hws estonia#hws nordics#hws denmark#hws norway#hws sweden#idc if most of this is not super hetalia#hetalians need to see it#so screw it <3#hws nordic baltic 8#hws NB8
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100 Days of Duolingo !
100 days! last year i hit 155 days and then lost my streak while away without wifi or mobile data and i hope to reach that and more !
if anyone knows of any swedish workbooks or other resources available for free online then please message them to me ! tack så mycket !
#student#studyblr#langblr#language#learning languages#language learning#gay pride#fantastic mr fox#duolingo#swedish#svenska#swedish learning#sverige#sweden#culture#tagging queer things so queer langblr blogs find me#queer community#language blog#aaaa
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On our way again to Idre and Dalarna. A quick stop at Linsell and looking at thier old church. Then the road trough the mountains (fjällen).
July 2024
Linsell, Jämtlands län, Jämtland, Sweden
#sweden#swedish#my photos#my life#enjoythelittlethings#gaylife#nature#gayguy#sunlight#trees and sky#nature photography#old church#jämtland#swedish nature#swedish landscape#old building#culturalheritage#swedish culture#july 2024#summer 2024#adventure#gay#my stuff#trees and forests#mountains#nature hikes#caravanlife#caravan#camping#road trip
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willy mitch and auston for the character ask thing? <3
FIRST IMPRESSION
now bcause of Leafs Cultural Osmosis i had heard of them for a long time before i starting becoming a real leafsguy. Uhh generally i heard the most about auston matthews because he’s big and cool and sexy and hit em with the 4 and all of that. I think my most definitive pre-leafsfan leafs memory of them (him in particular) was once newsscrolling in like the early 21-22 season when he came back, struggled a bit, and then shaved his mustache for movember and started immediately scoring a g/pg
IMPRESSION NOW
Willy: a beautiful blonde Barbie doll of a man. going to gloss over how sexy i find him because it is, genuinely, embarrassing, and instead talk about the fact that he’s a) kind of stupid, but in an exceedingly charming way, b) has named his dogs after famous artists (pablo and banksy are their names), c) is one of the de facto leaders of the nhl’s swedish contingent. he also has this amazing power where he’s like… vibe immune. Like in one of Those Leafs Moments where all hope is lost and you know it is not going to end well, he’s going to score. Or, conversely, when the Leafs have cut the other team open and they’re bleeding all over the place, Willy isn’t going to do much. this means he is both “the only one who scores in the playoffs” and also “never there when they’re winning” which means ppl suspect he’s being carried or something. he’s not. also i suspect he might be a little bit gay but that’s not really my business
Mitch: babygirl of the year 8 years running. I am one of thee premier marner defenders like people hate him for NO REASON. only time ive been mad at my father in the past several years is the other day when i yelled at him for being Wrong About Mitchell but let’s not get into mitchydaddyissues because we can be here for hours about that. he is a creature of light he is Kind On Purpose but also he’s definitely got so much to work through in therapy it’s hard to define. also kind of dumb irl, but hockeywise just absolutely gobsmackingly intelligent. Has the ability to create chances out of nothing i am thinking of so many moments rn but most specifically the oilers game this year where they were down 3-1 and then he just stole it and MAGICKED the leafs into like. 3 goals in 5 minutes and they ended up running away with it. gorgeous. also he is one of the most decorated Winners in ohl history his conn smythe era is almost upon us and i believe this thoroughly
Auston: ALSO SEXY and im NOT embarrassed abt it. Gonna be real theres so many marner scholars out there and i consider myself a trendbreaker. Im a matthews scholar. He’s a virgo you don’t understand him like i (also a virgo) do; he’s meticulous and nerdy and completely blank in his understanding of things he does not care about; he’s whiny and petulant and completely ruthless -- to him there is only the place now, and the goal, and the clear line he needs to draw between point a and point b. he likes things to be Pretty he is fastidious and in that gray area between genre aware and completely oblivious; maybe he is choosing not to take notice of it. he also looks really gay. like are u flagging on purpose mr mustache and earrings
FAVOURITE MOMENT
Willy: overtime winner willy… he is unlike the other leafs stylistically in that he is absolutely fantastic at controlled zone entries AND he has straight-line speed that they. don’t. so this makes him naturally very talented at finding that open space you often get in 3v3 ot and sniping it on the breakaway. i think my fav in this recent years was the one against the blues… he just BURNS tarasenko and forehand-backhands binnington completely effortlessly so sexily. Also him straight up telling steve dangle he couldn’t read
Mitch: POINT STREAK NIGHT. Technically he set the record against tampa in tampa but he TIED the record in toronto against the sharks… it was 2-1 leafs and the sharks had the net empty and mitch was out there and he PASSED on the empty net and we were all like MITCH WHY TAKE THIS FOR URSELF and then the guy he passed to missed. And then he got it back and took the empty net himself and the cheering was so loud and long they had 2 pause the game a lil bit… this was in the recent aftermath of borje salming’s passing and they had the patch on their shoulders, and they were in the actually nice RRs, and mitch was CRYING and i was CRYING and i am STILL CRYING… he means so much to the leafs he WILL be one of the Great Leafs by the time his career is over no leaf will ever wear 16 again after him i love him so much!!! Thats a formative hockey memory
Auston: that time he ate the post and got really really bitchy about it to the press w his swollen lip
IDEA FOR STORY
Willy: now willy is just so cheerily and sexily oblivious it’s honestly kind of hard to maincharacter-ize him. Like he’s just kind of :) chilling. i WOULD like to see a meaningless sitcom episode type beat of him trying to wrangle all of the Swedes to some sort of dinner or something, and shenanigans ensue.
Mitch: the urge to tragic-protagonistize him versus him just being a cheery little motor who’s doing his BEST. i dont know what my mitch niche is he’s really just the emotional heart of it all and im not a very emotional person it is hard 4 me. he’s our main sadman’s bestie <3
Auston: now AUSTON i can write about forever. go read scheherazade etc but in the meantime i think he deserves some begrudging romance. he doesn’t WANT to fall in sappy gay love he’s not sappy he’s not gay and he’s not lovey he wants to WIN CUP but sometimes… WIN CUP comes with bonus SAPPY GAY BOYFRIEND. Also he deserves some erotic tension to knock him off that high horse he’s got a bit. get a leetle bit humiliated. Etc
UNPOPULAR OPINION
Willy: this is really only unpopular among leafs uncles on twitter etc but he is not lazy or emotionally uninvolved at all? He’s literally just coolheaded. U value perseverance and grit but when u get that from a blonde guy who doesn’t hit u don’t value it. that’s genuine xenophobia methinks
Mitch: i don’t get gay vibes from him he’s just real friendly and sweet and pretty. like yeah he definitely messed around w his teammates in juniors but it’s giving more like. experimentation and the results of the experiment were heterosexuality. Bi girl’s straight boyfriend vibes
Auston: coming from my place of Auston Scholarship again i disagree with a lot of the way he’s portrayed in fic… not all of it obvi but i think there’s a certain amount of Big Sexy Latino Guy must therefore be dom top/all this like. anger and feistiness and aggression and stuff when he pretty clearly is not any of that. like he’s never started a fight and tries to stay away from that… in fact his 1 nhl fight (matthews v stamkos, this playoffs) was him clearing up sticks from an earlier shoving match and then stammer going for him to try and draw mutual fighting majors. it’s kinda skeevy and just makes me like. Roll my eyes and leave when he starts getting possessive because he’s. Not really that possessive he likes to share he likes 2 have his guys and likes for all of his guys to like each other… he is having threesomes with bunts and freddie come next season i prommy, not pitting them against each other
FAV RELATIONSHIP
Willy: i think his half-mentorship half-romance with rasmus sandin is really inchresting… also just his general social standing among The Swedes as both one of the country’s best active players AND as a legacy boy
Mitch: 1634 :]
Auston: now im going 2 contradict myself… 1634 are of course platonic/hockey soulmates but i do love his dynamic with Others. The 1634 + machuk dramatic love triangle is v compelling… he did have this fun little Mutual Bastardy relationship with bunts… 9734 is very. Something. and i think the mattdrai girlies who love some regional rivalry high draftee mutual loathing would really enjoy some good good auston/ras dahlin now that machuk is too busy being happily married to sasha barkov
FAV HEADCANON
Willy: he is the oldest boy of six children so he has DEFINITELY done some child wrangling in the past… some oldest brother shenanigans… i think he’s probably great with kids and just with calming down and bossing around those that are younger/obviously less experienced and worldly than him
Mitch: thought the percy jackson books were dense academic texts but obviously really likes greek mythology. so . lied about having read percy jackson (he has not but he says he has)
Auston: paints his toenails
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Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 2, Episode 3
When Jan-Olof called August at the end of episode 2, he said August was supposed to be at the castle next Tuesday, which is when this episode ends. So we're probably picking up this episode in the weekend before that maybe?
Culture: August calls his not favourite step-dad to get some legal advice to prepare for being summoned by the Queen. But if you listen to the Swedish dialogue, Rickard keeps repeating a word - grovt - while listing the possible crimes. The subtitles struggle with this, and the word normally means coarse or thick or rough, but in the context of Swedish criminal law, it means grave, egregious, or worse than normal, and it means that if convicted, the punishment should be from the upper end of the scale.
Subtext: Wilhelm is trying some self-help for his anxiety, but it's not going too well. Baby steps!
Subtext: It's no coincidence that the "injured party" is in the image while August's step-dad mentions it, and that's of course the problem for August. If he confesses or gets dragged into court, he's got an uphill battle, fighting the royal court and their lawyers, which his step-dad might not be up for.
Subtext: Wilhelm demanded distance from his bodyguards, the Queen said she couldn't do that, but what do you know, apparently it wasn't impossible for them to back off a bit.
Subtext: This is somewhat of a theme for this episode, but also for the series as a whole. Wilhelm talked Simon into cheating to get into the rowing team, for purely selfish reasons, and because it's second nature to him. But he'll never get punished for cheating, it's always someone else who will. Simon knows what's up.
Lost in translation: My subtitles skipped this word completely, but isterband is a kind of pork sausage. I'm not a fan, so I completely understand Felice here!
Subtext: Despite Jan-Olof being set up as kind of a villain, opposing Wilhelm all the way, at the end of the day he is employed by the royal family, and Wilhelm does outrank him and can order him around.
Culture: I live in Hawaii, so imagine my surprise when I went to Sweden in 2019 and suddenly noticed tons of places selling poke bowls of all things, when no-one would have known what that even was a year earlier. Sweden has this funny ability to take a trend from zero to a hundred seemingly overnight, leading to over-establishment and people burning out on trends as quickly as they appeared.
Subtext: Simon knows that cheating doesn't work, so he has enlisted Rosh to help him out with his workout in preparation for the competition, while Wilhelm is having a lazy "room-service" dinner with Felice.
Subtext: To be fair to Simon, Wilhelm has been manipulating things in order to stay close to him, and not the other way around.
Subtext: I'm gonna headcanon things a bit about Marcus here, but this is my take on it: Since they went to the same school, I think Marcus knew who Simon was, knew that he had come out as gay, and has been secretly crushing on him since. Marcus is probably really in love with Simon, and so caught up in finally going out with his crush that he isn't exactly picking up on the fact that Simon isn't on the same level.
Subtext: Simon is wearing a purple hoodie which means he's thinking about Wilhelm according to our popular colour theory. And he's wondering why he can't fall in love with Marcus? It's a complete mystery!
Subtext: The only times Simon has reached out to Marcus has been when he's feeling hurt by Wilhelm. But right here he realizes that he actually likes Wilhelm more, which is why he ignores Marcus.
Subtext: Everyone has been encouraging Wilhelm to talk about his feelings, so this is a start, he's finally found a friend he can talk to. Ironically, he's trying to let go, just as Simon realizes he shouldn't move on.
Subtext: Ah, Nils, never change! Boris isn't like the other teachers and staff at school, he doesn't fit in with the upper classes, which is why he's got this nickname. For all his derision though, it doesn't stop Nils from seeing him.
Culture: Nils shows contempt for the concept with his air quotes, but hbtqi-certifiering is a real thing offered by RFSL, Sweden's oldest and largest gay rights organization. For a psychologist to have that certification, it just means they're equipped to deal with the unique mental health problems queer people face.
Subtext: In his own way, Boris actually does answer the question without answering it, hinting that Erik also had problems with the role of being the crown prince and the weight of that responsibility.
Subtext: He's not wrong, though. The more money and power and fame you have, the more people will want to get close to you and use you and potentially blackmail you and leech off of you. There is a legit reason for the secrecy and privacy among the upper class.
Blink and you miss it: He's talking about Erik while touching the watch he wears as a memory of him.
Subtext: This old question again, "Is it better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all?" I'd say he's lying to himself here, it hurts right now, but he is better off for it.
Culture: The authors are four very well-known Swedish authors from the turn of the century, these books are classics, and every high school student in Sweden will have read some works by these authors, if not these specific books.
First up is Den Allvarsamma Leken by Hjalmar Söderberg, which is about a couple who met while young, couldn't get together, but stay in love over many years and relationships. Obvious parallels to Wilhelm and Simon's situation. This novel has been made into a movie several times, and the 2016 version was directed by none other than Pernilla August.
The second book is Kris by Karin Boye, and as the characters explain, it is an autobiographic novel about a lesbian love story hampered by tradition, because being gay in the 1930's wasn't exactly kosher.
The third book is Herr Arnes Penningar by literature Nobel prize laureate Selma Lagerlöf, which is about a murder-arson-robbery gone wrong. I certainly hope it's not meant to parallel our story! Selma used to be on the Swedish 20-krona bills introduced in the 90's, but design was replaced in 2015 to feature another author, Astrid Lindgren.
Edit: Thank you @emberc and @richtearex for finding out the title of the fourth book!
I can't make out the title of the fourth book, but the author is The fourth book is Getting Married by the internationally most well-known Swedish author and playwright August Strindberg. Many of his works are about challenging tradition and social rules, and he was seen as very controversial during his lifetime. The book is a collection of short stories about different kinds of marriage, including same-sex ones, which was extremely controversial when it was published in the 1880's. Again, obvious parallels to the show itself.
Subtext: If you haven't picked up the super duper obvious parallels between the novel and this story by now, I have completely failed in teaching you how to pick up subtext, and you are as completely clueless as Henry, who completely misses the point of the novel!
Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm really doesn't like speaking in public.
Subtext: Given how clueless Henry is, he's probably also completely missing the tension between Simon and Wilhelm, and he's that guy in a group project, always escaping responsibility. But him bailing to get coffee actually allows our boys to have a talk.
Subtext: Earlier, Simon chided Wilhelm for not being able to talk about his feelings, and now Wilhelm flips it and criticizes Simon for his lack of honesty.
Subtext: Simon starts reactively texting Marcus about meeting up to break up. But this time it's a reaction because he's slowly realizing he doesn't want to move on from Wilhelm. In the end though he changes his mind and doesn't send the text.
Subtext: Obviously, Sara is trying to sabotage the horse sale. Unfortunately for her, everyone else realizes what she's doing and is pretty much ignoring her.
Subtext: Simon did not fool the music teacher, she immediately realized that the song was actually about Wilhelm, but gives him suggestions on how to salvage it into a proper school song.
Subtext: Wilhelm's plan of replacing August backfires some more, Vincent is his usual douchy self, and Wilhelm realizes he can't control him like he could with August.
Subtext: First Brutus, now Judas. August really sees Vincent as the ultimate traitor.
Subtext: I think Marcus is getting an undeserved amount of shit in the fandom, because up until this point he's been nothing but good. He's actually getting his heart broken here by Simon, because he thought he really had a chance with him.
Subtext: Marcus says he is willing to wait for Simon to be ready for a relationship, which is the exact same thing Simon broke up with Wilhelm about, because he was not willing to wait for Wilhelm to be ready.
Subtext: He lied, like a liar. Wilhelm is 100% the reason Simon wants to call it off with Marcus at this point.
Subtext: But from this point on, I agree with the rest of you, this is manipulative behaviour from Marcus' side and not ok! He is clearly getting ahead of himself and wanting to salvage this relationship by any means, because in his head it's this beautiful thing that was meant to be.
Subtext: August is definitely sending some mixed signals here, he says he just wants to talk, so why is he lounging around half-naked waiting for her? However, it's also the case that Sara is the only person he can talk to about the sex tape at this point.
Subtext: Everyone has been telling Sara that August is the worst person in the world, using those exact words, and here he is saying it himself. But because he does that, Sara thinks he's self-aware enough to change and to redeem himself for what he did, which is why she's encouraging him to turn himself in.
Subtext: Except Sara felt like everyone hated her at Marieberg because she was bullied, which was absolutely not her fault, whereas August's situation is totally his own damn fault.
Subtext: I'm not sure exactly how to interpret this sequence, but I have some ideas. In season 1, we saw August being an extremely selfish lover with Felice, but here he's offering to go down on Sara for her sake, so that's a nice change. There's also a parallel to Wilhelm going down on Simon, making this a mirror to that scene. Or Sara is just nervous about having sex for the first time and not ready for oral sex?
Subtext: She lied, like a liar, clearly super happy about having had sex for the first time.
Subtext: Of course the horoscope matches her situation perfectly...
Subtext: ...it's just that the jealousy drama is not her own, it's Simon and Wilhelm's drama.
Subtext: Felice thinks she's talking about Rosseau, Sara is obviously talking about August. Or both.
Culture: I described the house system back in season 1, so it's nice to see it fleshed out a bit more in this season. The inter-house rivalry is strongly encouraged by the school, and here we see Sprucewood hyping themselves up before their Quidditch match against Slytherin indoor rowing match against Forest Ridge.
Subtext: Yeah, no, that kiss clearly crossed the line, it's not what Simon wanted. But Wilhelm saw it, thinking Simon lied about him and Marcus not being together, oh shit, oh no.
Subtext: Remember the talk about cheating and who gets the blame? Of course Vincent blames Simon for it, instead of Wilhelm, even though it's actually Wilhelm's fault Skogsbacken lost.
Subtext: So Simon quits the team, which means he's gonna get lower grades, getting unfairly punished yet again. And Wilhelm's plan for staying close to Simon backfired even more.
Blink and you miss it: Aww, Wilhelm keeps a small photo album labelled "Simon" on his phone, with a bunch of private photos of them.
Cinematography: If you listen carefully, the quality of the music changes noticeably in the cut, because the show does a diegetic switch between us hearing the music come out of Emo Wilhelm's earbuds, and it being a general soundtrack. It's also a very pretty montage of Angsty Teenager Being Angsty.
Culture: In season 1 there were only some distant shots of the royal castle, but this time we're getting a beautiful close-up of it. In real life, we're looking at Stora Sundby, which is Sweden's largest non-royal castle.
Subtext: You should all have read my previous piece laying out my thoughts on this entire plot, but note that the Queen only mentions Wilhelm quitting because he can't handle the pressure, she says nothing of the issues of being in a same-sex relationship or not having an heir, so she should at least get credit for that. Also note that this is specifically what Wilhelm's outburst in episode 1 was about.
Subtext: The show continues to paint the Queen in a good light, further separating her wishes from that of the nefarious System that forces her to do this.
Lost in translation: In Swedish, she doesn't say August is next in the line of succession, she says he's closest in the line of succession, which isn't the same thing, so the original is explaining this plot point slightly better than the subtitles.
Cinematography: This entire cursed scene is a mirror of the one in s1e4, which starts by Wilhelm asking Simon to hold him.
Cinematography: It's also physically mirrored, because Wilhelm and Felice are on the opposite bed on the opposite side in his bedroom.
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wlw in the sad swedish teens show: some thoughts
I’m going to share some stedrika thoughts, not as a meta, just as a kind of… sharing of my unsolicited personal opinions. There was a thread going around with some idea-provoking discussion, but I also feel like I’d be hijacking said thread if I weighed in. So I figured it was better to make my own post and chat there.
So I’m aro ace, but I also kind of identify with the label sapphic. I’m more gray ace than full ace, and that grayness of ace identity is 90% of the time directed toward women. I was in a romantic-sexual partnership with a woman for 2.5 years before figuring more things out. (Also, my ex was pretty toxic, so there was that.) I attended a single-sex college, continue to hang in groups of women today, and just generally exist in a social culture that leans more sapphic/wlw, homosocial, and ace. Probably the most masculinity-dominated experiences I have are logging onto my dash and watching fandom interaction that is a lot more mlm-focused than the rest of my life.
In the gap between seasons 1 and 2, I wasn’t hoping for stedrika as my wlw representation. I was hoping we would get gay or bi or ace or otherwise queer Felice. It isn’t too hard to make up a queer narrative for Felice. She connects with Wilhelm, who’s also figuring himself out, and we know how it is with the queer kids all finding one another even before they fully understand themselves what’s going on. Felice’s pursuit of Wilhelm and then pivoting to August also feels like she’s hitting the two ends of the spectrum of compulsory heterosexuality. Wilhelm is that nice, approachable boy where it’s easy to convince yourself you have a crush on him, because who wouldn’t? Also he’s a prince! August is that guy where you’re like “well if the idea of dating men is generally unpleasant all around, then dating the most unpleasant one is doing heterosexuality right, isn’t it?” Felice’s mom also puts a lot of pressure on her about boys (and that line about whose babies are royal feels like it’s something Felice would have been told growing up) in a way where you can parallel it to Kristina putting pressure on Wilhelm. There’s a lot of good queer and wlw material to work with for Felice! And I’m glad fandom hasn’t entirely given up on that, even if it doesn’t seem like canon is going that direction. (Send me your gay Felice fics where she’s the center of the story, btw. Send themmmm.)
Stedrika as wlw representation brushes up against the archetype of two femme best friends who are also roommates, one of whom is secretly pining for the other, one of whom may or may not be pining back. That archetype in its requited form is… not my favorite wlw archetype. I don’t mean I hate it, but I do mean I’m pretty “meh” about it. I read a lot of YA fiction, for both personal enjoyment and career reasons. Best-friends-to-lovers wlw comes up a lot, especially in stories where a wlw couple isn’t the center of the story. It can be enjoyable for me, if the characterization is complex enough overcome the trope itself. But I can’t help noticing how many mlm YA stories let a boy crush on the hot new boy, or someone outside his usual social circle, whereas the message for girls is “the one for you has been near you all along! Girls achieve an adventure by clicking their heels and saying There’s No Place Like Home!”
I understand that the sapphic girl with a crush on her bestie is a trope that has some basis in reality, and for some folks it can be really empowering to see those kinds of pairs get a Happily Ever After together. I also think it can be empowering for the female character with the sapphic crush to come to the realization (either through rejection or other circumstances) that her bestie isn’t going to like her back that way, but she does understand herself better now. And she’s going to use that knowledge to build herself up and explore new values and seek out new wlw relationships and join the queer revolution. Hahaha you can tell what sort of storyline I prefer. Truth be told I would be more interested in a story where Fredrika doesn’t requite Stella’s feelings and Stella has to reinvent herself than I would a story where suddenly they love each other. I’m sure the YR writing team would make the latter interesting too, but if they gave me a choice between the latter and the former and promised they would be equally well written, I’d pick the latter.
Here’s the other thing about stedrika. I don’t entirely find them boring. I do like them! This is going to sound like me being a problematic queer, maybe, but… I like the fact that they’re mean. Not in a “you go girl!” sort of way where I’m cheering on their meanness and tendency to gossip. I don’t want them to stay mean. But I do find it interesting that Stella at least is hiding some part of her authentic self, and she and Fredrika haven’t gotten to discuss something honestly, and the price they pay is lashing out at others for their authenticity, especially their authenticity around romantic feelings. I think there’s some interesting narrative questions to explore then, in terms of how do you learn to embrace others and yourself? What toll does it take, being closeted? How do you empower yourself within structures that are harming you—is hurting other people going to do it? Like gosh, that’s a whole character arc! I also think it’s really interesting how Lisa and the writing team have addressed the role that misogyny and assumptions around sex and physicality play in oppressing wlw queer folks. Like that whole discussion around what counts as “real sex” and losing one’s virginity that we see at Sara’s birthday sleepover. That was interesting to see play out onscreen and I’m glad they went there! (Send me your fics about messy stedrika, send themmmm. Send these girls on some kind of journey.)
Anyway, I’m also glad that stedrika is not the only wlw representation we have in Young Royals. Because we also have Rosh, who I absolutely adore with every fiber of my being. Rosh isn’t white or upper class, and she’s more tomboyish and comparatively less femme. She talks about her rebound after dating Yasmin/Yasmina, and there’s this wonderful sapphic chaos quality to it. She’s an openly queer girl in a best friendship with an openly queer boy, and you can tell that she and Simon lean on one another and probably came out to one another in middle school. (I think I have read this fic a few times, but I will always read more of it!) I love Rosh’s sense of justice and how committed she is to athletics and making sure Simon succeeds on the rowing team even if, as we all know, rowing isn’t a sport. Overall Rosh feels very specific and that makes her very real. Also I can’t resist a confident soccer lesbian, obviously I imprinted on Keira Knightly and Parminder Nagra in Bend It Like Beckham like every other queer girl born in the late 1980s.
Anyway. I actually think YR has a ton to offer us in terms of potential wlw representation, and interesting stories and characters that can be explored. (It has a lot to offer us in terms of female characters, period. I wish I had the time and fandom knowhow to create a female character centered ficathon. Is there any interest out there?)
The weird thing is I don’t know if I would feel confident writing this post at all if I hadn’t put in over 100k words of effort in fanfic for this fandom, most of it from female characters’ POVs. Some of that is het, sure, but I’m really, really proud of the sapphic self-discovery arc we gave Felice in Heart and Homeland. We let her struggle with her feelings at a time when she didn’t have the vocabulary for her feelings. We let Felice have a 19th century romantic friendship with Sara while also having sex and romances with other women, because lesbians can do both dammit. We let her kiss other women on the page, and do additional things beyond kissing also on the page. She was the first character we upped our rating to M for! We let her have friends-with-benefits hookups (because wlw characters shouldn’t always have to meet their forevergirl in their first girl) and we’re developing a new relationship in the upcoming chapters. (Okay, we did accidentally erase stedrika, because we wrote the first 19 chapters of our fic before season 2, and made occasional blink-and-you-miss-it references to a Stella/Henry sideplot. But let’s just say additional things are happening in the coming chapters.) I’m really happy with Felice’s storyline. I’m also happy that for a long time, I was the kid in fandom sighing and wishing there was more femslash, while feeling bad bad because I hadn’t written any myself. But now I have, and it feels a bit like achieving a Life Goal. I’m proud of myself!
And if you want to write femslash of your own, but you’ve always been a little scared or unsure of how to start? Hi. I’ll be your sounding board and your biggest cheerleader, if you want that. Tell me and we’ll have a lot of fun planning and writing! I BELIEVE IN YOU AND YOU ARE AMAZING.
#young royals#stedrika#felice ehrencrona#rosh young royals#stella young royals#fredrika young royals#feels weird to not be tagging maddie i mean does anyone think maddie is actually straight#femslash#femslash and fandom
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I've recently stumbled upon an old interview with Levan Gelbakhiani and Levan Akin about And Then We Danced (2019) and though I feel like I already must have read every single review and interview of ATWD it still was interesting to look at few things in a slightly different way
Like:
You know WHAT exactly made Levan Akin choose Levan G. for the main role?
Levan Akin: When I saw the Instagram feed, it wasn’t like, I want him. But he could dance and this feels dopey to say but he felt earnest and sweet. And I wanted to find like a sweet character that could be like a regular Georgian boy, who is not threatening in any way, just like a sweet kid, basically. And he looked like a sweet kid on his Instagram.
...and WHY is there a cut in the middle of Honey scene? (I recall some more stupid biased reviewers even claim this fact to be bad movie-making😑)
Levan Akin: Because the whole film is actually edited from the notion that we cut into everything late and we cut out of everything little too early, because we want to keep people wanting more and wanting to see it again and again and again. I don’t think it would be as impactful actually, if it was longer (...)
Umm... Let me rephrase that: he chose to give us the sweetest "product" and then cut the pleasure in the middle just to deliberatily make us want it again and again?! Sir, ain't that a STRAIGHTFORWARD DRUG-DEALER STRATEGY!?! No wonder I got so addicted!!! (not that I'm complaining really)
It warmed my heart that he creates his stories the same way I do🫠
Levan Akin: (...) I had a script, but I only had a beginning, a middle and an end.
Oh and I love to talk about "not spoken dialogs" in the movie - and yes, he mentions about it too!!!😍
Levan Akin: (...) An intimacy scene to me is like any other scene, it’s a scene with dialogue and conflict and things happening, except it’s not spoken. It’s spoken through the actions, the intimate actions. I had other things more like narratively that I wanted to get through with those scenes. The first one I wanted to keep it in one shot, because I wanted to convey this feeling of being them, there. (...)
I was surprised when he said that shot when they're "curled up in a ball together" was not planned😳 (but it still doesn't mean the resemblence to To Mennesker sculpture to be purely accidental, right?)
Levan Akin: That’s my favorite, too. I love that shot. (...) It wasn’t scripted. I wrote in the script that they’re hugging. And that it’s actually not a rock. It’s a something called a kvevri, which is a Georgian winemaking vessel. So it’s a very symbolic thing.
What he says about some people keep on comparing ATWD with Call Me By Your Name?
Levan Akin: It feels like a huge compliment, because it’s a great movie. So we’re just happy. (...) But I think he’s under the lazy to compare all the gay movies with each other. More common with this movie thematically would be Dirty Dancing.
Hell yeah Dirty Dancing, I knew it!💪
And final question, what do you want people to take away from it?
Levan Akin: Everything? I want them to take away the nobody can tell you what it means to be alive. Nobody can dictate to you what you should be, to fit a certain mold of a cultural tradition. This dialogue that’s so rampant right now, about what is a real Swedish person, what are the boxes you need to click and who are these people telling us this and why we need to take that narrative back and own it ourselves and stand up for ourselves and be like, Listen, I can be trans and Swedish and Muslim at the same time, because that’s for you to decide. And I’m not going to let you hijack that. That’s what I want people to take away from this. I’m tired of all of these crazy bigots dictating us.
Oh yeah, I believe this movie could be empowering and relatable to everybody!🫠
#and then we danced making of#and then we danced#atwd#atwd amateur guidebook#hey guys why can't I see anyone else digging through interviews and reviews#in search for more interpretations deeper meanings symbolism cultural and political background etc. of this masterpiece of a movie?#do I really need to make everything myself? for it can't be that nobody else freaks abt it as much as me can it be?#levan akin#levan gelbakhiani
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