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whenmemorydies · 14 hours

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The Claw, The Scrunchie and The Prayer Card

What - or who - do the hair claw, the scrunchie and the prayer card that appear in season 3 represent? I think I know, and no its not Claire or Mikey. Join me for an unhinged trawl through all 3 seasons of The Bear (with screenshots cos you know I love me some evidence).

A few weeks ago, @vacationship posed a fascinating question about the hair claw seen in Carmy's apartment in 3x01 Tomorrow:

This question branched off into many lovely and thought-provoking discussions including this post from @thoughtfulchaos773 about the significance of hair accessories and this post from @moodyeucalyptus on Catholicism and miracles. Both posts refer to another memento that we are shown in Carmy's apartment, a scrunchie, which we see at the end of 3x09 Apologies:

A particular theory that intrigued me was that the hair claw from 3x01 morphed into the scrunchie we see at the end of 3x09, as one of the many sleights of hand/instances of legerdemain in season 3, potentially indicative of a softening of Carmy's self-loathing and/or guilt (contrasting the hardness and teeth of the hair claw with the gentle grip of the scrunchie). I think the assumption behind this theory was that the hair claw was associated with Claire (in fact we see the hair claw in 3x01 sandwiched between scenes of Claire at home looking forlorn in bed and then later at work in the hospital) and the scrunchie being associated with Sydney as she's often seen wearing scrunchies throughout the series.

I was so intrigued by the sleight of hand theory that I went on a very ill-advised search throughout all three seasons to find these hair accessories (ill advised because it took ages and it meant sitting through every Claire scene in this show lol) I did not find either the exact hair claw or scrunchie (womp) but I did find the characters who'd be most likely to wear these items. Notably, Claire never wears a hair claw or a scrunchie throughout the show.

So who does?

Hair claw: Natalie

(Note: Tiffany is seen wearing a hair claw once in 3x09 Apologies but I think this is just a coincidence. There's no reason for Tiffany's hair claw to be in Carmy's apartment so I'm going to disregard this possibility here. If anyone has a reason why I shouldn't though, let me know!)

Scrunchie: Sydney

Now Carmy's personal interior design style is probably best described as...utilitarian? If that? The man has nails in his walls that have nothing hanging on them. He's got storage boxes strewn around his living space. There's the occasional bottle of painkillers and Pepto and a bundle of hanging herbs drying in his kitchen. And of course, his chef's whites and a large pile of culinary texts and cookbooks. Oh yes and denim in his oven. Other than this, we are not shown much of anything in Carmy's apartment that could be said to be overtly personal to him. Which is why the hair claw and scrunchie stand out. We've never seen Carmy wear a hair claw or scrunchie so their presence in his apartment is significant.

Similarly, there's one more memento we are shown in Carmy's apartment that is distinct from the rest of his belongings. This is the prayer card that Carmy pulls out of his suit jacket pocket and places with the scrunchie at the end of 3x09:

In the discourse of the show, this particular prayer card is often associated with Michael, as its presumed that this is the card that was available for mourners to take at his funeral. We also see it during the show edited next to images of Michael or of his last note to Carmy, reinforcing the association.

Note: I've previously misidentified the figure on this prayer card as St John the Apostle (apologies, I saw the lamb and the staff and assumed it was St John! I'm also not a practising Christian - my knowledge of the religion has been obtained entirely passively because...well I live in the West and my history is enmeshed with the history of European Christian colonisation of the majority of the world including the part where my family's historically from. Soz.). The image on this prayer card is actually "Fresco of Jesus as Good Shepherd" by Josef Kastner.

Prayer card: Richie

BUT...after going through the last three seasons again (much easier to do this time around lol), I've come to the conclusion that the prayer card is actually Carmy's memento of Richie, not Michael. This is primarily because prior to 3x09, whenever we are shown this card in the show, it appears either with, near or when someone is talking about Richie. Lets take a look...

So we first see the card in The Beef in 1x01 before shots of Mikey's body in the morgue and of the back of his head as he's cooking: these are memories Carmy is having while Richie is telling a story to The Beef staff and as Carmy finds his prized chef's knife on the floor of the kitchen.

We see the prayer card next in 1x02 Hands during a nightmare that Carmy is having that features a voiceover from Joel McHale's psychotic Chef Fields. Notably, the sequence of images where we see the card is as follows:

The next time we see the prayer card is in 2x01 Beef to the left of Carmy's head on the wall, when Sydney is telling Carmy that Richie does not have an appropriate certification because...he's Richie.

Later in the same episode we see the card again, after Richie tapes up Michael's Fenway poster (that Sydney had previously fallen through):

The prayer card is immediately followed by a shot of Mikey's last note to Carmy:

The next time we see the prayer card is throughout 2x07 Forks, the most Richie-centric episode of the series. This is because we find out that Richie keeps a copy of the card on his bathroom mirror, so he sees it everyday:

Given the above (i.e. the strong physical and visual association between the prayer card and Richie throughout the show), I believe the card represents Richie for Carmy.

So why would Carmy have a prayer card as a memento representing Richie and not an actual personal item of his brother from another mother/"cousin", like it appears he does for Nat and Syd?

I think this is because Carmy’s connection to both Natalie and Sydney is direct. The former is his sister, the latter his soulmate (I'm not arguing re: Sydney, check my metas if you want to fight). It makes sense that the trinkets he has of them would belong directly to them.

But Carmy's connection to Richie is not direct. Richie is cousin to Carmy because he was best friend to Mikey first. Carmy’s relationship to Richie has always been mediated through his relationship with Mikey. In life, Richie would only be in Carmy's orbit because of his proximity to Carmy's brother. In death, Richie and Carmy have been thrown together because of the restaurant that Mikey left to Carmy but where Richie works. As a result of that forced employer/employee relationship, they're also forced to navigate their grief and mourning for Mikey in close proximity. In this context, it makes sense that the memento Carmy has for Richie is emblematic of Mikey, and is also representative of that shared sorrow between the two of them due to Mikey's passing.

So why does Carmy have these mementos in his apartment?

I'm not entirely sure what the answer to this question is, but my hunch is that these mementos represent the three surviving relationships in this show that are the most important to Carmy but that have all been severed to some extent by the end of season 3.

Carmy's nosedive into Michelin Mode, his psychological spiral triggered by grief, his past traumatic work experiences, his family history, his entitlement borne out of his racialisation and socialisation (among other things) all of this has coalesced into Carmy pushing away those closest to him. He's slipping into that pattern of behaviour he described at Al-Anon in 1x08 Braciole where he cut people out of his life. Carmy doesn't recognise this though because physically, these people are around him all the time. He doesn't realise that you can be physically present but emotionally and mentally AWOL. I mean, the man isn't even physically present for his sister after Natalie gives birth to her daughter, Carmy's niece. He has some explaining and making amends to do! And hopefully we see this next season.

Its likely that the framing of the hair claw and the scrunchie on the show (via suggestive editing) has been a sleight of hand/legerdemain: to get us thinking their presence only has to do with Sydcarmy/Claire. And as I've discussed, the prayer card is widely associated with Mikey. I reckon this is also a sleight of hand too, for the reasons I noted above. Storer and co got us focusing on the romance and dead brother tropes while they continue to push the theme of chosen family home. By the end of season 3, the hair claw, scrunchie and prayer card appear as reminders to Carmy (and us) that he needs to fix his relationships with Nat, Syd and Richie, and that the loss of them is haunting him as well.

And so next season, Carmy needs to move through and past this:

And fight like hell for this:

After all, this show is about love in all its forms, but above all, its about the love we fight for, the love we choose.

Alright chef,

Tagging: @vacationship @moodyeucalyptus @currymanganese @thoughtfulchaos773 @brokenwinebox @espumado @tvfantic87 in case you're interested but keen to hear from whomever wants to discuss!

#the bear #the bear fx #the bear hulu #sydcarmy #sydney adamu #carmen berzatto #the bear meta #carmy x sydney #the bear season 3 #richie jerimovich #natalie berzatto #the magic trick #mikey berzatto #michael berzatto

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thoughtfulchaos773 · 3 days

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The Bear Season 3 & Meta Filmmaking II

with the opinions & work of William Friedkin

This is who Richie is this season.

Here is Part I on meta filmmaking, where we discuss the first branch of the film legacy: Hitchcock, who inspires the meta filmmaking choice this season and self-reflexivity- the director surrogate, Richie.

Richie, as director surrogate, guides us through dialogue inspired by William Friedkin.

The part of the legacy Storer took from Chicago native Friedkin was his passion for filmmaking and his opinion on the movies and the industry itself. Friedkin considered the Academy Awards as a fool's errand to pit art against art, and Richie's dialogue on The Star System for Restaurant highlights this.

Interestingly enough- did Storer tell his own prophecy? Before falling off Hollywood's grace, Friedkin came from a high of two highly acclaimed films (like The Bear's two highly acclaimed season), Friedkin was riding off a high from The French Connection and The Exorcist, but his third film received mixed reviews. I'm wondering if this season was Storer's big fuck you to the Hollywood System and Awards System.

Another note: Hitchcock's Vertigo received mixed reviews from critics but now is referenced in filmmaking legacies.

We haven't seen Storer give any awards speech, have we? Calo has shown up, but no Storer.

Legacy not only comes from the work but also comes from the opinions of those before you.

For Friedkin's work- it can be taken as part of the legacy and why most of us here are seeing all sorts of horror inspiration this season.

The Hitchcock-Friedkin legacy.

Fun fact: William Friedkin's Exorcist- well, exorcist steps- where the priest falls to the death were informally called "Hitchcock steps"for famed suspense and horror film director Alfred Hitchcock. But is now referred to as The Exorcist Steps. Legacy!

If we go based on other legacies—based on William Friedkin's opinions of Hitchcock, he inspired the editing of Friedkin and his understanding of suspense, which influenced his movie-making skills for The Exorcist. @moodyeucalyptus explained they see parts of Mike Flanagan's Haunting of Hill House as we discuss the hauntings of this season. How is Mike Flanagan part of the Friedkin Legacy? He was inspired by the workings of the exorcist and is now part of the new remake.

Another horror inspiration: Now how is Friedkin related to another horror legacy that @espumado wrote a meta on this week?

The exorcist legacy comes from the Night of the Hunter legacy.

Carmy: Like, um, something would start somewhere, and then, uh, people would take that thing and then they would take it somewhere else. So, all these parts of an original restaurant would end up at a new restaurant, and that kind of thing. That would happen over and over again. And then all these parts of all these restaurants, they would sort of…You know, they would find each other. And then new people would take those parts and put ’em into their restaurant. And the whole thing, it would, um… It would start to happen all over again.

This is all about legacies and meta on where Chris gets his parts.

But how does this relate to Sydney and Carmy?

As we talked about before, Richie is observing. Friedkin, whose legacy comes from Hitchcock, believed Hitchcock was Observational in his directing. Richie the character included himself in the narrative but the one narrative he stayed out of and only observed this season was Sydney and Carmy.

Richie is the director's surrogate, who highlights and explains the basics of why Carmy is the way he is—not who Carmy himself thinks he is but what the audience can take from Carmy's self-sabotage.

The story we are observing is correct. This dynamic between Syd and Carmy is worth examining because it is a central part of the story and a big aspect of the filmmaking process.

I'd say it's proof! Richie is telling us our eyes are not deceiving us; the dynamic is interesting.

As an audience, we subconsciously absorb the cinematography, music, direction, and dialogue, taking cues on the story being told and its inspirations. Another ledge that can show us that their synergy is legit its filmmaking technique in editing.

Friedkin-Scorsese-Hitchcock favorite part of filmmaking is the editing. Scorsese is the best example of this, and I'll explain his legacy in editing in the next part and why that relates to sydcarmy.

Read:

Hitchcock and His Use of Surrogates

Ancestors and The Bear by @whenmemorydies

Richie and The Viewer by @whenmemorydies

Natalie & Night of the Hunter by @espumado

The Bear Season 3 & The Mirror @currymanganese

Richie's Journey is not Over @currymanganese

The Paradigm Shift @brokenwinebox

Taglist: @yannaryartside @whenmemorydies @ago0112 @chaoswillcalmusdown @ambeauty @anxietycroissant @turbulenthandholding @tvfantic87

#sydcarmy #richie jerimovich #the bear fx #the bear season 3 #the bear season 3 meta

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