#lol is he being homophobic or complimentary

[k-wame]

R. M. Renfield & Count Dracula 2023 • RENFIELD • dir. Chris McKay

[aces-to-apples]

Tell us your thoughts on Oghren 👀

He’s my best friend, he’s my pal, he’s my homeboy, he's my rotten soldier, he's my sweet cheese, he's my good time boy. He's my comrade-in-arms who thanks me for reminding him what honor is and vows to be the warrior I taught him to be (I am a rogue). He's my sad-sack uncle who drinks to cope with being socially pressured into becoming a Berserker, reliant upon blinding rage in battle, and then being ostracized and practically stripped of his caste for accidentally killing an opponent in a Proving when he has literally no way to put the brakes on the killing rage he was made to cultivate. He makes misogynistic comments because that's how he was taught to treat women but he still speaks fondly of Branka—who despised him, cheated on him, and then left him in Orzammar while stealing the rest of their House and killing them in the Deep Roads—and respects her lover Hespith, his own lover Felsi, Wynne, Morrigan, Sigrun, Velanna, and a female Warden. He makes homophobic comments but holds nothing against queer people and is open to non-traditional sex acts if his partner is interested in them. He's bisexual and has no fucking idea. He thanks the Warden for being his friend and treating him with respect even though he feels he doesn't deserve it and is used to being casually degraded and disrespected by his own people. He dropped his baby twice (I dropped both my nieces more than that lol) and fled his family to become a Grey Warden because he was terrified of genuinely hurting his child with his inexperience and ineptitude and is deeply insecure about it. He drunkenly asks the Warden for a pony because Branka used to collect figurines and he still loves her in some way. He considers insulting banter a form of bonding, both with friends and lovers, and also blushes and stutters and is pleased when the Warden is openly friendly and complimentary. He's doing his best with the shitty tools he's been given, and knows that he needs to improve, but he doesn't know how to do that himself. He genuinely loves drinking and booze of all kinds as a hobby and is so fucking pleased when Wynne takes his offer of taste-testing his brew seriously and professionally breaks down its composition and flavors. He respects Tranquil mages when even other mages don't because he may not understand what Tranquility means but he damn well knows that they're people. When boisterous and over-the-top when you first give him specialized gifts and then when you're actual friends he switches to being genuinely touched and grateful. He wants to drive a war-chariot pulled by mabari and tries multiple times to convince Dog that it's a good idea. He hates the Fade, and dreaming, and the first time he's in the Fade he politely asks you if it's okay if he throws up, and the second time he panickedly asks you why you keep bringing him there and is best calmed down when you promise that he's allowed to kill stuff as a grounding technique. He's ride-or-die, genuinely and without hesitation. He loves you. And I'm like the only person who genuinely loves him back.

[qwertyfingers]

the thing is like. some people absolutely are weird about homophobia and delight in saying slurs too much but not one time have i seen anyone call attention to it in a normal way. jender isn't homophobia it's genderweird young people talking about gender envy of a specific person. malewife isn't (generally) homophobia it's a JOKE about gender roles in relationship (a joke which is specifically about how those gender roles are stupid but fun to talk about) and is never used as a serious marker. fruity isn't usually homophobic it's queer people talking about other people engaging in queer behaviour and aesthetics; it is very much honourific and complimentary even when jokingly said as an insult. is it okay to feel uncomfortable with that vibe? yes! is there something to be said about how people engage with this type of casual homophobia? yes! is the way to go about this making posts describing 'she/they bisexuals' as a coherent identity group or claiming there are no queer men in fandom? no it isn't! you will never have a productive conversation by being passive aggressive

the main flaw most posts about this discussion have is absolutely vicious transphobia - mainly directed at transmasculine people - involving a bunch of really harmful assumptions. these people are deciding who they think is what gender based on what pronouns they list in their bio, something that will always be harmful no matter what. they say shit like 'she/they bisexuals' to mean 'afab nonbinary people' because they know they aren't allowed to be derogatory abt all nb ppl and 'he/she genderweird people' (both of these are actual examples from real posts lol). they constantly imply a hierarchy of cis gay men as the 'real' victims of homophobia and trans men as some unfortunate tangential group who don't really experience the effects of it. they talk about gay men as if none of us are in the room and then get angry when you disagree with them. they also tend to assume when they do know you're trans that you're not transitioned; that you don't really live as a man and don't know what it's like to experience the same homophobia as cis gay men.

every. single. post. i've seen about fandom homophobia is based in OLD old assumptions about the demographics of fanspaces - first and foremost there is an assumption that only women engage in it which is demonstrably not true. gay/bi cis men are FAR less likely to write fanfiction and generally much less likely to be on tumblr than other websites, yes - but this isn't because of the very recent tendency to use a certain kind of language, it's a holdover from the fact that tumblrs biggest userbase on the fandom side was always teen-college age women. there's an increasingly large trans demographic as people grow up and start exploring trans identity but a significant amnt of users in most circles have been here a long long time. cis gay/bi men are more typically found engaging in fandom on twitter, reddit, other blogging sites, and irl meetup groups. google 'scifi meetup (your closest city)' and you'll almost certainly find one. people tend to naturally drift where their peers are and the fact that our version of fandom - centred around art, fic, graphics, gifs, etc - was originated by women and perpetrated almost entirely by women means the demographic has always skewed heavily towards them. that's just how people work!

the idea that demographic unbalancing is caused by a trend that's less than six months old and laregly isolated to a handful of fandom circles is completely fucking insane. do i think the current use fo language might be stopping more gay men from newly joining right now? yeah! i think it could be alienating to some people. but the gay men who are already here and say they personally feel okay with most of it aren't being homophobic to you when they disagree with you lol. we're just experiencing and coping with life differently than you

that being said cas the gay angel tiel is a fag and i'll say that with my whole pussy in front of god robert singer and everybody

[lightsandlostbells]

Skam France season 3, episode 7 reaction

hope they called that mural “Jackson Bollocks” as an ode to the method of creation

Episode 7

Clip 1 - Intervention

Lucas is lying on the couch when Mika comes up holding the drawing from Eliott, asking if Lucas is the hedgehog. He says he found it in the trash. Nooooo, so Lucas threw away the drawing? Yikes. Whereas Isak had the courage to reach out to Even after receiving it, the drawing was a symbol of hope (bolstered by Jonas’ comments about Even needing to break up with his girlfriend), to Lucas it means nothing, just another knife to the heart. Because you know, they decided to make Yann walk away from Lucas, so Lucas did not get the reassurance. Not just about Eliott needing to break up with his girlfriend, but about much at all. Like why bother reaching out to anyone and opening your heart when they’re just going to reject you?

Not the main point, but Manon is like, “What have we said about going through the trash?” to Mika which I think is funny, that Mika has such a strong habit of going through the garbage that Manon needed to have a talk with him about it. Who’s really the raccoon in this show, hmmmm?

Lucas jumps up and confronts Mika about it, trying to grab it, but Mika gives it to Manon instead. Mmm, not sure how I feel about Mika making this moment not private and doing it in front of Manon and Lisa. Because yes, obviously Manon suspects/knows Lucas is gay, and Lucas is in need of help. But Mika also knows that Lucas was so defensive about being called gay and being seen as gay, he’s been defensive about what happened with Eliott the other weekend, so IDK why he’s just like, Manon, look at this drawing someone gave to Lucas (which is a love note). Lucas came out to Mika, not Manon, Lucas might not be ready to talk to Manon about it. 

Mika gives the cue to Manon and she mentions an intervention so you know they were talking about this. I don’t mind them doing that since Lucas is so clearly struggling, but again, kinda ehhh on doing this prompted by the drawing. 

Lisa is just sitting there reading a magazine the whole time. Mika says Lucas is just wasting away on the couch and is like a stain that won’t go away, and they already have one stain, with a glance at Lisa (who asks where’s the stain). It’s a funny moment except that I was like YOU MADE HIM STAY ON THE COUCH and then Lucas also says it, the couch is his bed now. THANK YOU. Not that it’s good Lucas is about to cry when he says this, but good that he did call them out for that moment, because it was really thoughtless and did have an emotional effect on him. They better feel the guilt from that and make up for that moment later by having Manon on the couch, or they all take turns, or something that doesn’t give Lucas nowhere to retreat in his own home.

Lucas doesn’t want to talk to them at first, but with some firm prodding by Mika, he says that Yann rejected him when he told him he was gay and that he feels like he’s being made fun of when he goes to school, everyone is whispering about him because of a guy who forced him to deal with it (Eliott, forcing Lucas to confront his sexuality) who went back to his girlfriend and doesn’t give a shit about him. He’s crying as he says this, for obvious reasons; it’d be horrible for anyone, let alone someone who has been hiding and bottling up his emotions from everyone.

I haven’t been the most complimentary toward Axel’s acting in the past; I wasn’t impressed with him in S1 and S2, and there are also some moments in this season where he felt off. But I think he does a really good job here. He sounds like a kid who’s barely holding it together and finally letting it all out.

Mika takes what I think is a good tactic and says to put aside Eliott right now. That’s important, because there are bigger issues underneath, more than one relationship. He says Yann isn’t homophobic. Yann has never had a problem with Mika, so there must be something else. (I agree with him that Yann isn’t homophobic, but I also think it’s possible for someone to have a different reaction to their best friend being gay vs their best friend’s older roommate who probably isn’t more than an acquaintance being gay. For example, the acquaintance probably isn’t encountered in many intimate or close contact situations, whereas a homophobe might start to freak out about sleeping in the same bed as his best friend or changing clothes around him. Again, not that I think this applies to Yann or that Mika should say anything like this to Lucas right now, just an observation.) Mika says it is frustrating when people react like assholes. He also says something really good, which is that Lucas will spend his whole life telling people he’s gay. This part is very good and true to life. Lucas will have to come out over and over, especially in a world that views heterosexuality as a default. And it might get easier but it’s not necessarily ever going to be easy. People will have varying reactions of acceptance. But Yann won’t leave Lucas. Mika is doing most of the talking, which is good because he’s the one with firsthand experience of coming out to many people, while Manon rubs Lucas’ shoulder.

Lucas is really crying and breaking down. He says no, they didn’t see how Yann walked away from Lucas and left him like an idiot. So Lucas feels that both Eliott and Yann have left him. He thinks he never should have told him. Which tbh is one reason I feel it was bad to have Yann react like that, because now we get statements like this, although Mika thinks it’s important to talk rather than keeping everything inside and suffering.

Lucas says Eliott doesn’t care about him. Manon says something really good, too, that Lucas isn’t gay because of Eliott. She mentions seeing the gay websites on his phone last year which … might be embarrassing and not the best thing to bring up in the moment when Lucas is already miserable, like the point is made clearly without that example, Manon. He says he didn’t know back then. Know that she saw the websites or know that he was gay (meaning he was questioning)? I think he meant the latter, so he was just kinda fumbling and figuring everything out in S1 and maybe didn’t consciously understand why he tried to sabotage Yann and Emma’s relationship. Although Lucas seemed like he knew what he was doing more than other Isaks, IMO, because his performance came across as more consciously manipulative to me than Isak, who seemed more haphazardly opportunistic. Which was why S1 Lucas reminded me of a serial killer and I didn’t care for him, lmao.

Anyway, Manon says that is was bound to happens someday, which is true. I don’t know if it totally doesn’t matter that Lucas fell in love with a guy now, because who knows, maybe Lucas would’ve had an easier time with coming out part if he were in university, or if he wasn’t struggling with rent and his family on top of everything else. But he would’ve had to deal with it sooner or later, or else repress himself and be miserable.

Mika says a closet is dark, narrow, and smelly. There’s no benefit to going back in there, so be proud and live your life. Fuck anyone who judges. Good speech, Mika, you’ve leveled up from your earlier appearances.

Lucas seems to be feeling a little better as Mika and Manon cuddle up to him. Lisa is like wait …. you’re gay? God forbid there’s ever a fire in the apartment because Lisa would be toast.

I think on its own, this was a really good scene with several important messages. It’s just that in context we have two white characters supporting a gay guy when the black character failed - and supporting him because the black character failed. And I don’t think Yann or any other black character needs to be put on a pedestal and depicted with no flaws, but with common stereotypes of black people being more homophobic than white people, and with this being a change in the remake rather than an adaptation of an original scene (like if Jonas rejected Isak and Eskild and Noora comforted Isak about it) it’s just a weird choice that they should have thought about from a broader perspective. I get that Yann comes around in a few clips but I don’t know why they needed to take away one of the character’s best moments for the angst. Lucas easily could have been crying over being outed at school by Chloé, for example, and have Manon and Mika comfort him over that.

Clip 2 - The happiest place on Earth?

Lucas goes to school and sees Basile and Arthur. They notice him and jump into action, seeming very chipper and supportive. Including Arthur, who was last seen hitting Lucas in the head. Uh oh. They know, don’t they.

Arthur’s glasses are taped up from the fight, lol. 

Arthur “casually” drops in that oh, he was in a gay bar this weekend! So you know the boys, and probably the whole school, heard the news about Lucas being gay. Arthur is like, we should go sometime! Basile is like, we should go to Gay Pride! All of this is awkward but also, the best thing Basile has ever done, at least. 

There’s no apology between Lucas and Arthur for the fight at Chloé’s party, which I don’t really mind because I can buy that Arthur maybe realized Lucas was struggling due to his sexuality and lashing out, and that he’s over it, and Lucas is just happy that his friends accept him. But I do think the fact that it’s totally glossed over is something that falls way more into Disneyland than not, lol.

Arthur mentions his mom’s friend Catherine, who is a lesbian. Errr, his mom’s friend, or his mom’s friend? Basile and Arthur are like, lesbians, so cool, and one version of the subs includes that they’re like “especially in porn”? I think it’s Arthur who says so. Heavy sigh if that’s the case, like ... of course. I guess that’s teenage boy Magnus-level ignorance on the level of “who’s the girl and who’s the guy” that I will put to the side for now, although I don’t think anyone’s going to roast Arthur for it like Isak roasted Magnus (which is what makes me cool with Magnus’ line, that it’s called out and even the other boys are shaking their heads at him). Anyway, Lucas looks amused or at least not upset by all of this.

Daphne interrupts by literally bursting through them to ask Lucas if he is gay. Basile leans forward to smell Daphne’s hair and she hits him in the face. GOD WHEN WILL THIS END. I mean, I would endorse an episode that’s just Daphne hitting Basile in the face, but even more I would endorse a season where we didn’t have this retrograde, creepy, sexist bullshit excuse for a budding romance. (And I’ve said the same thing about Noorhelm, lmao, but Skam France at least had the excuse of adapting the series closely from existing sexist bullshit. This is whole new sexist bullshit, and in some ways I find it even worse because Noorhelm/Marles are at least from the girl’s POV. Daphne doesn’t even get that dignity here.)

Lucas says it’s true and Daphne screams and launches herself at him. The boys look happy. Arthur says they were afraid of making fools for themselves. Lucas says they did, but that it was funny.

Daphne is happy for him but thinks it’s a waste for the girls. There’s a moment where Lucas is clearly thinking “... straight people ...” but he ends up saying he’ll take it as a compliment. Basile takes the moment to remind Daphne that he is extremely heterosexual, as if she or any of the rest of us could ever forget. We know you’re aggressively heterosexual. That is your one character trait. Daphne thinks he is also extremely annoying. She gives Lucas a vigorous kiss on the cheek before she leaves, and it seems like a presumptive gesture about how Lucas is her Gay Best Friend now but at least it made Basile mad. Basile pouts and Lucas is like, well, it seemed like she was thinking of you. So Lucas has been outed but is chill with it, and the real good news for everyone is that Daphne wanted to kiss Basile for reals? Yay! And by yay I mean WTF.

This is obviously a big moment for Lucas, and a nice scene for him in terms of his friends accepting him considering the talk Mika just gave him about people’s reactions, and of course how bad the first two times he came out went. So from that perspective, sure, I get why it’s enjoyable. But watching it in the larger context, ???????????????????

Skam France: Our version of the coming out scene was realistic. This isn’t Disneyland. Also Skam France: This scene.

Now I don’t think it’s unrealistic for Lucas’ other friends to support him once they learn he’s gay, not at all, but this clip? Total Disney. They might as well be wearing mouse ears. Hell, the boys were giving off such goofy chipmunk vibes that I legit thought of Chip ‘n’ Dale (no, really, look at Arthur’s face in this scene). It’s not just that they’re supportive and chill, it’s that they’re almost about to throw Lucas a coming out party in their enthusiasm, like if they had confetti and noise makers it would not be surprising. And yes, it is sweet of them to try to make Lucas knows they’re fine with him being gay, and the overcompensation from the straight friends is a thing that does happen in real life. But in the context of “this isn’t Disneyland”? Get out of here. You took away what would have been an iconic moment for Yann, but Lucas’ other (white) friends were OTT enthusiastic. All the white kids had a great initial reaction to Lucas coming out, it’s the black best friend who doesn’t. Curiously, in the original show, Mahdi had a great reaction to Isak coming out and was the one to chime in about pansexuality. In fact, in the same scene as Isak coming out to him, it’s shown that people were also stereotyping Mahdi with the gossip, saying he was an angry homophobic Muslim when Mahdi is not homophobic and isn’t even Muslim. Skam certainly wasn’t perfect on racial issues but that moment was actually toying with the expectations of the homophobic black guy and shutting them down. I really don’t think Skam France was trying to present that stereotype on purpose - I think the goal was just dramaaaaaa - but again, they should’ve considered the larger implications. 

And lmao, this isn’t Disneyland but Lucas getting outed at school went swimmingly and he didn’t seem concerned at all? He didn’t come out to Basile, Arthur, or Daphne of his own volition, it was clearly via gossip that they learned. And instead he’s just like ... haha these goofballs? I get that perhaps he values his friends’ reactions and their acceptance more than what random other students might think, but this is perhaps the most jarring part of the scene for me, particularly in terms of supposed realism. Because if that’s your defense ...this material is definitely not more realistic than how it was handled in the original. Isak being outed at school wasn’t the end of the world for him, but it was something that made him uncomfortably visible to other students, with suddenly receiving attention from randos (even if they meant to be nice). When he came out to Mahdi and Magnus, he was nervous about it, and it went well but there were still the insecurities in his delivery and dialogue, Magnus had dumb comments, etc. It was nuanced, realistic and optimistic. This scene was going for happy but it also felt like it smoothed over more complex content. 

However, I might not be as critical over that part of the scene had a) the damn Disneyland comment hadn’t been made just a few days prior b) a certain comment in the later clip with Chloé didn’t make it seem like they’re being dismissive of the effects of being outed. 

Clip 3 - Lucas and Yann hug it out

Later that day, there’s activity in the common room, the boy squad making use of the new table football. Yann approaches the boys, you can see that Lucas gets a little happy when he sees him approach. Arthur gets Basile’s dumb ass to leave so it’s just Yann and Lucas.

Yann apologizes for leaving and says he needed to think about everything. And I have to say, some of what’s frustrating is that the straight character “needed to think about everything.” I get that not everyone reacts perfectly, that’s what Mika said earlier, but frankly, I don’t like that we have to make a gay character’s coming out about a straight character’s soul searching. That’s neither the time nor the place. It was important that Jonas didn’t make Isak’s coming out moment, a time of great vulnerability for Isak, about himself. And Lucas was in even greater distress than Isak, he was telling Yann all about how miserable he was prior to mentioning Eliott.

One way that I feel like they could’ve made Yann’s walk-off more justified for the ~angst - still very disappointing to ruin that iconic moment, but more understandable - would be to have Lucas come out, Yann is cool with that, but then as they’re talking and laughing Lucas lets slip how he ratted out Emma last year and Yann gets upset and walks away. Again, not the best time or place, but at least that would’ve clearly been about something wrong that Lucas did to Yann that Yann is right to get mad at, not cheap fake-out homophobia for the dramaaa.

Yann says he doesn’t have a problem with gay people, especially not Lucas, and it was a little weird to think about Lucas having a thing for him; it’s flattering but he doesn’t want thing to change between them. I mean, Lucas already told you that he fell in love with Eliott so lol, Yann, chill, he’s moved on. 

Yann says Lucas is his best friend and that’s why he reacted badly, because Yann always told Lucas everything and was there for him, tried to give him opportunities to talk, but Lucas couldn’t do it and ended up talking to Mika and the girls, half the school knew because Yann did. Arrrrrrgh. THAT’S NOT WHAT HAPPENED. The only person Lucas actually told was Mika, another gay person (and seriously, if you can’t figure out why Lucas would come out to another gay guy first, get over yourself). But everyone else just guessed or found out by accident! In fact it kind of bothers me that this part is never corrected, like it almost feels like the narrative itself is conflating coming out with being outed. And Lucas told Yann on Friday that people “suspected” or gave him weird looks or whatever, which should’ve already given Yann a clue that Lucas isn’t telling them directly.

Anyway, Lucas says sorry, and thankfully Yann says he doesn’t have to apologize, because if that had slid by as justified I would’ve been pissed. Yann says he’s the one who needs to apologize, that if Lucas was afraid to tell Yann, it was because he was afraid of Yann’s reaction. I think it’s more complex than that, Lucas needed to accept himself as gay before telling anyone else, but Yann makes a thoughtful, empathetic point here. Yann realized he made a lot of gay jokes and homophobic comments, and he’s sorry for that. Lucas is sorry for not talking to Yann earlier. (For real, you have nothing to be sorry for! You don’t owe it to anyone to come out to them at a certain time!)

Yann suggests they hug it out, so they do, and Lucas cries from happiness. Yann says not to keep something like that from him again. At least Lucas should know to come to Yann later in the season when shit gets real.

Yann asks about Eliott, and Lucas says he and Eliott were supposed to pain the mural, and Yann suggests they do it together with Basile and Arthur. Why do I feel like letting Basile near a paintbrush is a bad idea? I just feel like he’s the kind of guy who would paint everything, consciously or subconsciously, to look like boobs.

There are some nice messages in this scene and I like that Yann took responsibility for his prior homophobic jokes, but what frustrates me again is that Yann didn’t actually need to walk away from Lucas in order to get that content? We could’ve had a supportive coming out scene on Friday, and today Yann tells Lucas he was thinking about it over the weekend and he realized all the crap he said in the past, and he wanted to apologize for everything. Therefore getting in the same good message while not resorting to cheap drama. Because yeah, I’m glad this plot thread didn’t go on longer, but the fact that it was so short and easily resolved kinda makes it more apparent how they just wanted a shocking Friday cliffhanger.

Clip 4 - Religion and science

Lucas sits down in class next to Imane. When he takes out his book, there’s a note inside. A drawing from Eliott. It’s his raccoon fursona, looking at his phone in one panel, with a sad face as there is no activity, and the next (the alternate universe) is the raccoon happily looking at the phone because there’s a message from Lucas asking about the drawing, and a response from Eliott (one that’s the same as the exchange from Isak and Even in the equivalent of this drawing). Lucas didn’t send Eliott a text yet, so I dunno how I feel bout this drawing in that light. Like Isak did reach out to Even after the first drawing, and the second was Even’s way of apologizing for not responding to Isak’s text, hinting at his internal conflict. Even was seriously giving mixed signals: let’s break up, actually here’s us in a parallel universe, now I’m not going to respond to you talking to me again, now here’s me responding finally and saying I miss you. But Eliott is sending him another note being like “talk to me” when it’s really not his call. Eliott broke up with Lucas and got back with Lucille, so Lucas has the right to ignore his drawings entirely. Lucas clearly doesn’t want to talk to Eliott and has not given any hints that he’s ready to talk. (But also ... then it gets ridiculous that Lucas is still like HE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT ME when Eliott is begging Lucas to talk to him, like Isak was getting the sense that Even was indecisive by his hot-cold dynamic, couldn’t make up his mind, would send a note and then ignore Isak for days. Eliott is now on fire for Lucas again, clearly. I guess it works if you think Lucas is trying to believe Eliott doesn’t care to avoid getting hurt again, but I don’t know if that’s in line with him crying and being upset about it.)

Anyway, Imane looks at the drawing, too. Lucas puts it away and asks Imane if she did her homework, and she says she thinks she messed up - like she did with Lucas before, about evolution theory and homosexuality. She says that homosexuality did play a role in evolution, and Lucas says she wasn’t wrong about everything, like the way science was used to hurt gay people. Imane says we’re past that now. Errr … “we’re past that” as in Lucas and Imane and their disagreement? Or past that in that science is no longer used to hurt gay people because … that is strongly debatable … even if it’s not as extreme as in prior decades…

Imane and Lucas agree that science and religion evolve, they just take time. Imane says that no religion condones homosexuality, but that none of them say to hurt homosexuals, and like, L M A O. You cannot say with a straight face that no religion is against hurting gay people. Even if the beliefs and practices aren’t like “stone gay people to death” there are plenty of churches that advocate for conversation therapy or other harmful practices. That statement is so bizarre? It assumes an inherent benevolence in religion by default, as if destructive and doomsday cults don’t exist, for an extreme example. And I think it’s also a sweeping statement to say no religion condones homosexuality, either, although it might depend on your definition of “condone.” There are some major faiths where homosexuality isn’t mentioned in the religious texts at all, so not exactly approval, but not explicit condemnation, either. This is just a weird line, and I seriously wish this conversation had been more focused on Islam (as Isak and Sana’s was) as not only are Imane’s lines so broad as to not make sense, but I feel like it’s more powerful talking about her own religion and her own experience and POV on it, rather than encompassing every single religion. Especially when Islam in particular is seen as hostile to gay people, like part of the reason Isak and Sana’s friendship was so important because there’s a belief that Isak’s sexuality and Sana’s religion means they cannot mix and they are incompatible as friends and could never get along. It’s a little odd to me that Islam itself feels downplayed in this conversation.

Lucas is all, so this means you’re asking for forgiveness? Imane tells him not to get cocky. Heh. 

This is a sweet scene but I’m wondering how it’ll fit into the narrative. It happens in episode 8 in the original, and it directly prompts Isak to come out to his mom later that episode. Unless Lucas were to come out to her shortly after this clip, I feel like that purpose of this scene would get lost, unless they connected it to Imane again.

Clip 5 - Lucas and Chloé

Chloé is outside, Lucas sees her and goes up to her, she tries to leave but he tells her to wait. She’s like, here we fucking go again.

Lucas says he’s sorry for everything. He says he thought it could work with a girl like her, who was so beautiful and cool, but it’s not her, it just doesn’t work with girls at all for him. Chloé says that he sucks and that she really believed it. But that she doesn’t get what it’s like to be in his shoes and how she would have reacted, so maybe one day she could forgive him. You know what? It’s not perfect, but I do think this is a nice inclusion. She’s still mad at him but she does show empathy for his position, and acknowledges that she doesn’t understand what it’s like to be gay. At least it’s a sign of character growth. The resolution with Emma is the only thing that I would’ve liked more from with the original S3, and if Emma had said a line like this, I would have been more satisfied.

Lucas is about to go but then Chloé says she’s sorry too, because she might have gotten a little revenge by talking. Again, something that I do appreciate, her apologizing to Lucas for outing him, and if Emma had done this to Isak, I would’ve been pretty fine with the resolution of her character in S3. Lucas says not to worry, if she hadn’t he wouldn’t have had the courage to open up. WHAT. Are you fucking kidding me? You were doing so well with this scene and then you drop that unholy horseshit in there?

If Lucas had been like, “Don’t worry, we’re cool,” in the sense that he had forgiven her, or he was trying to move on and put it past him, then sure, I understand that. He doesn’t want to have a grudge or a standing feud or anything, and he knows he used Chloé and he’s thinking they both hurt each other, time to wipe the slate clean. Fine. But framing Chloé running her mouth in revenge as a good thing? Making the gay character grateful to the straight character for outing him? Fuck off.

If a real human being said this to someone ... I would disagree with the principle that the outing was actually OK but I’m not going to argue with someone’s personal experience and feelings. But Lucas isn’t a real person. He’s a character and the people behind the show put words in his mouth. In this case, he’s basically saying it was a good thing a straight person outed him in vengeance because he wouldn’t have had to courage to do it himself so soon. It is absolutely baffling why anyone thought this line was a good idea. It is again a case of prioritizing or soothing a straight character’s feelings. God forbid Chloé have to live with the guilt of outing someone? Because actually it was a good thing! 

And Lucas did have the courage in him! He came out to Mika first, before Chloé started yelling about he was gay at a party, before he knew he’d been outed. But another thing about this line that bothers me isn’t just that it states the outing was a good thing in the end, it’s the idea that the gay character wasn’t brave enough to come out and he needed a straight person to force him out of the closet. Suggesting that Lucas just didn’t have the guts in him. Fuck off.

The beginning of this scene felt like an improvement over the handling of Emma’s character in S3 - and it’s pretty rare for me to think Skam France actually improves on Skam, tbh. But that one line? Makes the handling of this subplot even worse. It makes me grateful that we didn’t get Isak telling Emma how her outing him was actually for the best. It makes me wish Skam France had just copy-pasted the original scene. I would rather have Chloé not apologize than to have her apologize and get Lucas’ followup line.

The way the outing is treated in this episode bothers me so, so much, and this is perhaps the worst of it. It bothered me that Lucas seemed so unruffled by learning everyone he knows now knows he’s gay; it bothers me even more that Lucas is now alleviating the guilt of the straight girl who outed him because her selfish, vengeful action ended up giving him courage. What the fuck were they thinking.

Chloé says she’s happy for him and Eliott. Lucas says they’re not a couple, and that he believed in it more than Eliott did.  Chloé says she knows what that’s like. They say goodbye. So they wrapped up that storyline wayyyy faster than in Skam. I wonder what’s gonna happen with that? Is this the last we see of Chloé? I feel like there will probably be one more clip with her toward the end, maybe as a send-off, maybe her and Yann hooking up. But her walking off did have a finality about it, so maybe not.

I feel like they’re flying through all these subplots and trying to make Lucas cool with everyone so they can get to the Lucas/Eliott content and drama. The Imane-Lucas conversation was in episode 8 for Sana and Isak, this conversation with Chloé was in episode 10 for Emma ... what are they going to put in place of those clips?

Yann and Emma come out and Emma is talking about her FWB thing with Alex. Yann says now that Lucas is done with Chloé, is it OK if he tries? LMAO. Well, that’s blunt. Lucas says it’s fine, but to do it right because Chloe’s a nice girl. Uhhhh, ok. Because of That Line this Chloé praise is putting a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t want to demonize her or anything but it’s just another sense of Poor Sweet Nice Chloé who didn’t do anything that bad, as opposed to Chloé being a mostly decent person who made a big, thoughtless mistake (like many of the characters on this show) but who apologized and matured. But at least Yann is checking with Lucas about pursuing Chloé, instead of dating her secretly like Jonas did with Emma. 

Some POV-breakage as Emma sees Raptor Alex with a girl and it took me a moment to realize it was Manon due to the distance, despite her distinctive wardrobe. I thought she was just upset about Alex talking to some other girl all of a sudden, lmao. Anyway, Emma realizes that Manon and Alex are probably having a heated Charles-related discussion and that Manon isn’t opening up to her.

Clip 6 - Mural painting time

Boy gang is painting the mural. They bring up Eliott, Lucas explains Eliott’s drawings and the complicated situation. Dude, Lucas, in this case you’re the one not wanting to talk to Eliott. You’re the one making it more complicated. Eliott wants to talk to you. He’s dropping all these hints and yet you don’t buy them. I think it’s fine if you don’t want to talk to him, even if you don’t trust him, but at this point you’re the one holding out. 

Arthur casually drops in that he was dating a 34-year-old with kids at some point … errr ... when did this happen ... how old was Arthur ... I wish I could be assured this was Arthur spinning some fabrication about his love life rather than showing us he has mad game with MILFs. (This is one of those moments where I’m like A Man Probably Wrote This because I cannot see anyone in OG boy squad commenting they were dating a 34-year-old mom as if the viewers were supposed to find this funny or impressive, unless it was Magnus telling an obvious lie to pretend he wasn’t a virgin.)

The boys give Lucas advice, but again, this is so weird because Eliott seems like the one chasing Lucas, and Lucas is the one retreating. They’re all “send him a message, push the matter” when Eliott is the one who has been trying to push the matter for almost two weeks? Skam France has been a lot better about not just copy+pasting the original show this season, but here’s an example where it creeps in, the execution is too borrowed from the original scene, not geared toward the different dynamic in Skam France.

Lucas texts Eliott, Eliott texts back that he wants to see Lucas, Lucas takes advice from the guys on what to send back. They’re like, say I’m busy, but do NOT send a gif. Lol, I like that bit. Emojis were out, now gifs are forbidden, too.

Lucas texts back that he’s busy with the mural and then gets worried when Eliott doesn’t respond. The boys encourage him, and Basile has his most redeeming line ever, that there are billions of Eliotts on the planet, but Lucas is unique. I will pay Basile a genuine compliment, that was a sweet thing to say.

Lucas gets a text that Eliott is arriving, so the boys leave. Basile is upset that they didn’t start the mural. Tbh, totally in character that he was more disappointed by not getting to paint his jizzing flower idea than by not getting to meet Eliott (opposed to Magnus who wanted to meet the famous Even).

Eliott walks into the room. Next to him is a poster that says, “It’s about time.” LMAO, that’s a fun production detail.

Lucas seems like he’s shaking. Eliott offers him a hand with the mural. Or, you know. With something else.

Clip 7 - Lucas uses his ass as a paintbrush

When Yann said earlier this week that the boys would help Lucas paint the mural, I knew Eliott and Lucas were going to get steamy while painting. I just ... did not expect bare asses in broad daylight.

Lucas and Eliott survey the mural and Eliott asks what he was planning on doing, Lucas says he doesn’t know. This conversation is obviously not really about the mural but their relationship status.

Eliott suggests going all Jackson Pollock on the mural. Can I just say ... one of the many things about this scene that bugs me, plausibility-wise, is that no one had any plans for the mural until they showed up? I’m not much of a painter, but ... wouldn’t the first step be to apply a coat of primer? I looked up ways to get rid of a mural and that was the first step on every guide. And wouldn’t the best course of action be to plan what you’re going to paint and draw a sketch of it or something? I realize that these are sloppy teenage boys who DGAF but changes are high the mural will be even uglier than it is now if you just let Basile and company paint whatever the hell they want with no particular vision.

Jackson Pollock was speculated to have bipolar disorder, by the way, so it is a nice detail that he’s Eliott’s go-to inspiration here.

Eliott demonstrates how to go all Jackson Pollock by throwing some paint at the wall. Lucas tries and Eliott teases him, and when Lucas laughs, Eliott says it’s good to see him smile, he missed it. Lucas is all “...” and says Eliott looked happy with Lucille last time. Eliott says he can’t say that. Ever since Eliott met him, Lucas is the only thing that’s mattered.

Tinkly piano music starts so you know shit is about to get real. ELiott throws more paint, Lucas stares at him, then throws paint. Thematically, you could say this is about covering up the old (Lucille and Eliott) to make something new (Lucas and Eliott). Eliott dabs paint on Lucas’ nose, Lucas throws paint back at him, they get into a paint fight. This part is legit cute, although lol, part of me is thinking they will have zero paint left for the mural since it’s all over each other. They’re covered in paint, and then they passionately kiss. Then they take off each other’s shirts. Then they take off their pants as they continue to kiss, pressed against the mural. The camera swoops and swoons. Ass happens. Paint smears on butt cheeks. They are definitely totally naked. Lots of dramatic staring into each other’s eyes. Sex is sure taking place. 

An observation: Paint on human bodies looks striking and pretty at first, but then as it smears together, starts to look like they rolled around in mud and pig shit.

Look … this is not my type of scene. The dramatic cuts and edits, the music, the camera spinning around them. I get for a lot of people this clip was artistic and beautiful, and in another film, maybe it would be for me, too. I mean, I have seen the paint sex clip of J'ai tué ma mère, and it’s really good! Disclaimer, I have not seen that full film, but the editing and music in that scene works well. 

By the way, I totally think this clip was prompted by fans asking for an homage to the film scene. I definitely saw fans asking for it back in S1 and S2. I don’t know if the Skam France crew has confirmed that, though.

@rabidkoalathug sent me a cool bit of trivia about the film scene, by the way: the original paint scene from j'ai tue ma mere, which this paint scene was inspired by, has a song in the background, right? it's called noir desir by vive la fete. the chorus goes like "C'est la manie" which translates to this is mania, or it's mania. i know there's no significance, but just thought it was a cool coincidence. I do, too! I think it actually does add some extra relevance to the scene as an homage, it’s a subtle hint about Eliott’s bipolar disorder if you’re familiar with the original scene and it ties the two scenes together. A fun little Easter egg. 

Overall … this does not feel like Skam. And maybe this lends itself to a larger discussion about what Skam is supposed to feel like, and whether it can diverge from that. But I do expect shows with the Skam label to go for a certain level of realism - that doesn’t mean everything is cynical and gritty, but I do think it should feel fitting toward teenagers’ actual lives. I don’t expect Eliott’s big secret to be that he’s a werewolf, for example. I also don’t expect the characters to be 16-year-olds played by 30-year-olds dressed like they’re posing for the cover of a fashion magazine, or that everyone at the school dance will just happen to know the elaborate choreography for a song that isn’t the Macarena. Skam’s appeal was being grounded in the reality of being a teenager in modern Norwegian society.

This scene is not realistic and grounded. This doesn’t happen with teenagers. Even if two teenage boys started having sex while painting a mural at school after hours, the way this scene is filmed all dramatic and glamorous is not what the reality would be like. I mean … where’s the vulnerability? If they filmed this scene with more awkward fumbling, it would retain a sense of realism. Because this should be awkward! Even apart from the paint, it’s Lucas’ first time with a guy, probably his first time ever. That would be a lot to deal with on its own, and then you add buckets of paint into the scenario, and that would add its own brand of awkwardness even if this was the 1000th time they’d had sex.

Also, L O L forever at Yann having to walk away from Lucas because Realism and yet …. this scene happened.

Fandom went WILD reacting to this scene. While there was a big reaction to the coming out scene, feelings congregated toward anger and disappointment; this scene seemed divided between feelings of genuine enjoyment, bafflement, and hilarity. And in a way, I’m kinda glad this scene came after an episode where the presentation of Lucas being outed pissed me off, because I’m not pissed off at this scene at all. It’s just Too Much. They’re having sex in broad daylight, in front of giant windows, in a seemingly unlocked room. 

If they had just ended on them passionately kissing, covered in paint, it would’ve been fine. I would’ve bought it. I know they want to show their first time having sex, but if they just woke up naked the next day at Eliott’s place, it would’ve made sense. If we saw them stumbling through the door at Eliott’s and stripping off each other’s paint-spattered clothes, it would’ve been fine. I mean, probably take a shower first or hose each other down, but sure. 

I’m not even sure what to say that hasn’t already been said, lol. Just the paint, man, the paint. Like they definitely got paint all over their dicks. Paint drying in the cracks of their asses. Paint is not an acceptable substitute for lube, my dudes. I fucking lost it that the writer had to clarify it was non-toxic paint because everyone was concerned they would get lead poisoning and spend the aftermath of their sexy mural adventure in the hospital. 

It’s still daylight, the sun is shining on them, and they’re right in front of the windows! What! And I know some people pointed out the windows are mirrored on the outside so people outdoors won’t see inside the room. But it’s still ridiculous! The doors aren’t locked! People could walk in!  (And maybe this is just me, but I feel like even if you knew people couldn’t see you through the windows ...it’s just really hard to turn off that instinct that people could see you. Wouldn’t be the same for everyone, of course, but I’d still find it very weird.)

People mentioned that at a French school, typically everyone would be gone by that time and no one would be around to get a glimpse of the Lucas/Eliott technicolor bangfest. While that may be true on average, I would like to respectfully disagree and argue no, the chances that someone could have seen some paint-covered ass and balls are definitely more than slim:

The boys were there painting the mural. They were at the school doing stuff at that time! With that in mind, wouldn’t it be possible that there were other students doing things at the school, too? They have their own “murals” and projects to work on? If no one’s supposed to be there that late, then why are the boys there, anyway? 

Eliott was at the school. He hauled ass to the mural really fast, like less than a minute after he texted Lucas. So “no one at the school” is false because Eliott had to be hanging around the school for whatever reason at that time. It had to be a normal, conceivable thing for him to do. 

This school has an established night security guard who comes in on Fridays. Now, it might be too early for his shift to start. But isn’t it also possible that there are people like this guard, or groundskeepers, or janitors, people who might be checking up on the school after hours?

But errr, the smoking gun, the point that matters most: YOU CAN LITERALLY HEAR PEOPLE TALKING AND MAKING NOISE IN THE HALLWAY. When the boy squad leaves and when Eliott comes in, you can hear some chatter from people outside the room. It sounds like the gym is nearby, actually? That’s what it reminds me of, like maybe there’s sports practice or a game or something going on. And you can hear people talking even when Lucas and Eliott start painting the mural. It’s not even hard to notice? Listen when Eliott is telling Lucas it’s good to see him smile, for instance. You can clearly tell there are people nearby.

I don’t think it was necessary for me to lay that out, however, it makes you wonder ... why did they include the sound of the people talking in the hallway right before Lucas and Eliott start fucking at school? Like was that sound just there naturally because the school was being used for something else besides filming at the time? Because that’s certainly a thing to remove with editing. But lol, I’m just imagining if the Skam France editors put that in on purpose, like hey, wouldn’t it be even hotter if we implied they’re having sex where they could totally get caught by the basketball team or whatever?

There are ass prints on that wall. Just to commemorate Lucas’ deflowering. 

Just a note: My comments and criticisms about this scene are basically coming from an artistic perspective. What I don’t want to do is diminish the effect scenes like this may have for LGBT youth in France, or LGBT people in general, because even if the execution of this clip is too OTT for my taste, I’m sure it also means the world for other people to see Lucas and Eliott happily and passionately have sex on television. In the grand scheme of media, scenes like this are still revolutionary. That’s something I feel about Skam France overall, too; I have a lot of issues with this season, but I’m aware how important it is to people, not just on a level of “I like this show a lot” but “Media like this genuinely improves my life for the better, Lucas’ story gave me the courage to come out, etc.” I don’t think being important means it can’t be criticized on a basic writing/directing/acting level, but I also don’t want to ignore how media like this can touch people’s lives. Anyway. 

I do want to give Skam France credit for this: they sure didn’t shy away from showing gay intimacy. This was way more explicit than anything shown with Yann/Emma or Charles/Manon. And whether you think there’s an element of fan pandering to it, as some do (because the people behind the remakes have to know those Evak fans are a vital resource) it is still important to see gay intimacy normalized on TV and not hidden behind closed doors. In this case ... almost literally, lmao.

Social Media/General Comments:

Mika posts pics with Lucas calling him his protege, and there are more flat pictures after the intervention, so at least Lucas has more warmth coming from that front. He probably feels closer than a distant cousin by now.

For someone who’s apparently not into Raptor Alex other than FWB, Emma makes sure to document their grocery-buying trips in great detail. That’s pretty domestic.

Lucas texts Mika after people at school know that he’s gay, and Mika refers to himself as Lucas’ mentor, which frankly took him long enough? And calls Lucas kitten as Eskild called Isak godkitten. Again, at least Lucas feels more like his home is a home.

But not to harp on this again... Lucas being like, it’s done, everyone at school knows, it wasn’t so bad! Uhhh, it’s not like Lucas walked into school wearing a shirt that said “I’M GAY”or made a public post on his IG or anything that was his choice. He was outed. And I can certainly accept that he realizes it’s not so bad to be out of the closet, but still ... he was outed and him being like “it wasn’t so bad” just seems like such a ridiculous dismissal. Like yay, the matter was taken out of Lucas’ hands, but it’s fine! I’m just confused why the Skam France crew want to make statements about homophobia in France on their SM but then minimize Lucas’ outing to nothing, really. I’m not saying he has to suffer a ton because of it - Isak didn’t - but there was at least some sympathy in how Isak’s outing was depicted, I felt like Julie actually did understand that being outed wasn’t so great (even if we didn’t get an apology from Emma like with Chloé).

And I feel weird making criticisms like that because the Skam France screenwriter is gay? I don’t know how much he’s adapting the story to his personal experience. Maybe this is how it went for him or someone he knows. But I do think you can’t defend choices as “realistic” or have scenes where Mika talks about how people react badly to coming out sometimes, and then present this outing as NBD.

Eliott’s secret account started to follow Lucas on IG during the week. I feel like he just wanted Lucas to pay attention and notice him, lmao, after sending him multiple drawings didn’t do the job. He also “subtly” listens to a song called Toi Et Moi (you and me).

Okay, I’m laughing at the pictures and IG stories with like the boy squad posing in front of the mural with brushes and paint cans when they did not do a SINGLE fucking thing as far as actually painting the goddamn mural. They literally spent more time taking selfies than painting.

But Lucas did make sure to take a picture of the messy paint-covered canvas on the floor after he and Eliott fucked, and Manon says she can’t wait to see the result. Manon … you will see the result of what happens when Lucas and Eliott decide to take their “painting”escapades back to the apartment. You will see it all over the place.

Eliott posted a pic of Jackson Pollock at work on IG and Lucas liked it. So the mystery is no longer a mystery to Lucas, he knows about Eliott’s IG.

I hope in S4 Eliott just continues to post cryptic things on his IG, but because we’re no longer in Lucas’ POV or following their story, they’re just completely random and drive the fans up a wall with trying to figure out what the fuck he means. A mango? Why the fuck did Eliott post a mango?? Alas, we shall never know.

I am not French so please feel free to clarify or correct me on cultural or translation notes.

If you got this far - especially when this wasn’t a very positive recap - thank you for reading!