Young Royals
Dec. 28th, 2022 11:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
raincitygirlSo, about a month ago I finished "Heartstopper" on Netflix. Was sort of noodling around the platform and stumbled across a Netflix Nordic series called "Young Royals". Season 1 came out July 2021 but I didn't watch it. Season 2 came out November 2022 but I didn't hear about it. Until I idly started watching Season 1, Episode 1 and ended up mainlining both seasons in the space of a single weekend. Luckily for me there are only 6 episodes per season. But still, 12 hours of TV in a single weekend is impressive. Not in the good way.
I have since fallen down an obsessive fannish rabbit hole on Tumblr. I'mraincitygirl76 on there, by the way. But if you're not into Swedish TV shows with fictional neurotic queer princes and their scholarship kid choirboy boyfriends, there's nothing in my Tumblr dash that will interest you.
It's been several years since I've fallen head over heels into a new fandom. Nearly 9 years since I've fallen this hard for a new fandom. I'd been a Steve/Bucky fangirl since Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011 (over a decade ago). But it wasn't until April 2014 with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier that it really kicked into high gear. Me and most of the fandom.
It's weird, though. I'm 46 years old, I should not be this obsessed with a soap opera aimed at Swedish teenagers. It feels embarrassing. I am also bewildered, as someone born in 1976, by the level of open queer representation. It's not slash, it's not subtext, it's canon! Wilhelm and Simon's relationship is the central relationship of the entire show.
I think back to my days as a young lesbian, shipping Willow and Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and being firmly convinced it would never be canon. Because that kind of thing didn't happen on TV. I was so thrilled (and boggled) when their relationship became canon. And then heartbroken when Joss Whedon fell into the "kill your gays" trope and made them into a tragedy. Because God forbid a lesbian couple could be allowed be canonical and happy. They had be either dead or homicidal with rage at the death of their girlfriend.
Young Royals is definitely not perfect. And Season 2, while it ends strongly, has some definite rough patches along the way. Sophomore season syndrome, I hope that's all it was. But it cast as 16 year olds actors who actually LOOK 16, and even have acne. Our main characters are both queer young men (one of whom is a person of colour and working class). There's a character, Sara, Simon's sister, who's on the autism spectrum but whose entire personality isn't defined by her autism.
There's a popular girl who's not thin, bitchy, or even white. And Felice is nonetheless presented as someone the boys at her school want to be with, and the girls at her school want to be like. But also incredibly insecure on the inside. I cheered in 2.01 when Felice decided to finally stop conforming to white beauty standards and rock her natural hair. Seriously, I was watching Netflix on my laptop and letting out audible cheers.
There are other characters of colour who get to be complex characters. Simon and Sara speak Spanish with their Venezuelan mother. The class divide and the way elite boarding schools perpetuate that divide is frequently addressed. The show examines the way the moneyed characters treat Simon and Sara. Townies who don't live on campus or pay tuition, and are treated with contempt by many of their classmates because they're neither nouveau riche nor old money. A secondary character has an eating disorder and body dysmorphia, and again, that's not treated as the only important thing about him. It's something that keeps cropping up, but it doesn't stop August from being the snobbish, manipulative character you love to hate.
And then there's Wilhelm, the socially awkward, acne-plagued younger son of the Queen of Sweden. Who, it's crystal clear from 1.01 onwards has an as-yet undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Speaking as someone who also has an anxiety disorder, I never thought I'd see a co-lead in a TV show with an anxiety disorder. And it isn't something that gets picked up as a big plot point in one episode and then later dropped. In every episode you see Wilhelm having to navigate daily life with an anxiety disorder. And having to hide it, because even junior members of the royal family are expected to be able to keep up appearances, and Wilhelm is a bundle of nervous tics, often failing to keep up appearances.
The show is definitely not perfect, but it hits a lot of my buttons. So that's why I've spent most of the past month on Tumblr, obsessively reblogging. I haven't forgotten my older fandoms, but the shiny new one is occupying a lot of bandwidth in my brain right now.
Also, merry belated Christmas and happy new year!
I have since fallen down an obsessive fannish rabbit hole on Tumblr. I'm
raincitygirl76 on there, by the way. But if you're not into Swedish TV shows with fictional neurotic queer princes and their scholarship kid choirboy boyfriends, there's nothing in my Tumblr dash that will interest you. It's been several years since I've fallen head over heels into a new fandom. Nearly 9 years since I've fallen this hard for a new fandom. I'd been a Steve/Bucky fangirl since Captain America: The First Avenger in 2011 (over a decade ago). But it wasn't until April 2014 with the release of Captain America: The Winter Soldier that it really kicked into high gear. Me and most of the fandom.
It's weird, though. I'm 46 years old, I should not be this obsessed with a soap opera aimed at Swedish teenagers. It feels embarrassing. I am also bewildered, as someone born in 1976, by the level of open queer representation. It's not slash, it's not subtext, it's canon! Wilhelm and Simon's relationship is the central relationship of the entire show.
I think back to my days as a young lesbian, shipping Willow and Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and being firmly convinced it would never be canon. Because that kind of thing didn't happen on TV. I was so thrilled (and boggled) when their relationship became canon. And then heartbroken when Joss Whedon fell into the "kill your gays" trope and made them into a tragedy. Because God forbid a lesbian couple could be allowed be canonical and happy. They had be either dead or homicidal with rage at the death of their girlfriend.
Young Royals is definitely not perfect. And Season 2, while it ends strongly, has some definite rough patches along the way. Sophomore season syndrome, I hope that's all it was. But it cast as 16 year olds actors who actually LOOK 16, and even have acne. Our main characters are both queer young men (one of whom is a person of colour and working class). There's a character, Sara, Simon's sister, who's on the autism spectrum but whose entire personality isn't defined by her autism.
There's a popular girl who's not thin, bitchy, or even white. And Felice is nonetheless presented as someone the boys at her school want to be with, and the girls at her school want to be like. But also incredibly insecure on the inside. I cheered in 2.01 when Felice decided to finally stop conforming to white beauty standards and rock her natural hair. Seriously, I was watching Netflix on my laptop and letting out audible cheers.
There are other characters of colour who get to be complex characters. Simon and Sara speak Spanish with their Venezuelan mother. The class divide and the way elite boarding schools perpetuate that divide is frequently addressed. The show examines the way the moneyed characters treat Simon and Sara. Townies who don't live on campus or pay tuition, and are treated with contempt by many of their classmates because they're neither nouveau riche nor old money. A secondary character has an eating disorder and body dysmorphia, and again, that's not treated as the only important thing about him. It's something that keeps cropping up, but it doesn't stop August from being the snobbish, manipulative character you love to hate.
And then there's Wilhelm, the socially awkward, acne-plagued younger son of the Queen of Sweden. Who, it's crystal clear from 1.01 onwards has an as-yet undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Speaking as someone who also has an anxiety disorder, I never thought I'd see a co-lead in a TV show with an anxiety disorder. And it isn't something that gets picked up as a big plot point in one episode and then later dropped. In every episode you see Wilhelm having to navigate daily life with an anxiety disorder. And having to hide it, because even junior members of the royal family are expected to be able to keep up appearances, and Wilhelm is a bundle of nervous tics, often failing to keep up appearances.
The show is definitely not perfect, but it hits a lot of my buttons. So that's why I've spent most of the past month on Tumblr, obsessively reblogging. I haven't forgotten my older fandoms, but the shiny new one is occupying a lot of bandwidth in my brain right now.
Also, merry belated Christmas and happy new year!
