#blank meta

[girl-intrigued]

I can't believe that we had Khun Neung as a painter and did not get a "Jack drawing Rose scene" cause we all know that her and Aneung are freaky like that

[blankskada]

Had to add a couple of my own comments...

[lav-skam-blog]

Money issues in Blank

serious question: Ella has been working a year, not doing much else as it seems.

BUT she had to call her mom to send money for the flight tickets.

like whats going on on her account? People in Sweden go to Norway to work and save up and then live in like south america for half a year of travelling (like my hubby did). How can she not have anything saved up? What couls she have spent money on? I get partying and rent is expensive, but a whole year of work and no money saved up?! And how is she planning to pay for her time in India?

Whats your thoughts?!

[champagneleftie]

Hmmm but if Ella is trying to convince herself that she likes Simon, I would've expected to see some sort of sign of that I guess. I should probably stop comparing everything to Skam because this is a different show, but I go back to Isak in season 3 and how we could see him acting and putting on a front. I'm not convinced yet that she's romantically interested in Simon, but I don't have enough to draw the conclusion that she's trying to fool herself either. Your theory is compelling though.

No, we definitely need more evidence! As I said, this is like 60% wishful thinking. 

I went back and rewatched the clips where Simon appears to make sure I had a basis for my analysis, and this is how I interpret it now, more or less second by second: 

In the Monday clip, Ella spots Simon while he’s waiting for Aref, and Simon spots her. He looks at her like he maybe knows her? And she looks a little taken aback. She doesn’t look interested, to me, but maybe curious? It’s honestly hard to tell. But if we’re comparing to Skam (because I agree it’s hard not to!) it’s nothing like Isak noticing Even, or even Noora noticing William. I don’t get any romantic tension from this scene. 

Then we have the Saturday clip. And here, when Ella spots Simon, she looks apprehensive. She doesn’t look like she really wants to talk to him. But then she squares her shoulders, takes a deep breath, and very purposefully crosses the street to the 7eleven. 

Once she enters, she stops, and looks for Simon, and when she locates him, she just stands there, looking at him for a while. And here, out of nowhere, we start getting romantic cues: Ella tucks her hair behind her ear. The music swells. She looks down. She licks her lips. Then when Simon turns around and might see her, she goes to the register - so she doesn’t approach him. But she glances at him, tucks her hair behind her ears again, there’s romantic music, she flips her hair over her shoulder. And Simon looks at her, kind of like how you look at someone you should know but can’t really place? Like, he glances at her, a few times, at first in a way that could be accidental, like he doesn’t want her to notice, and then more purposefully. And then Ella and Simon actually start mirroring each others movements, like how they turn their heads, where they’re looking, and so on. Ella pays, and Simon is definitely looking at her, and then she leaves and she looks relieved? Proud of herself? Kind of like she’s accomplished something? 

So anon - I don’t know. Maybe he’s an ex? Maybe he’s the one that got away? There’s definitely tension there - but I’m sure it’s positive tension. I don’t think it is, but I guess we’ll see. 

[blankskada]

«Helsebror»: – Popkulturen lærer unge at menn alltid vil ha sex

Debatten raser i kommentarfeltene etter at NRK-serien «Blank» tok opp temaet «sexplikt». «Helsebror» Per Arthur Andersen forteller at gutter han snakker med opplever en forventning om at de alltid skal prestere – selv som 19-åringer.

Blank is featured in an article today about “duty sex” and sexual expectations among young people in Norway. Evidently Ella’s reactions and her talk with Susanne caused a lot of debate, which is great! The article also addresses the other side of that coin; expectations to boys about always being up for it.

Quick and dirty translation under the cut:

Pop culture teaches young people that men always want sex

The debate rages in the comments after the NRK series «Blank» took up the topic of "duty sex". "Health brother"* Per Arthur Andersen says that boys he talks with experience an expectation that they will always perform - even as 19-year-olds.

"Teaching youngsters sex through porn is like teaching youngsters to drive a car by watching The Fast and the Furious.”

So says Per Arthur Andersen, who runs Oslo's first health centre for boys. He finds that young men experience a lot of sex pressure, whether it's about having sex, how often one should have sex or what happens under the act itself.

"It is generally expected that the boys should be very dominant. It's not natural for everyone. Or that boys should keep an erection through a 45-minute session. That’s not normal, either.Perhaps that's why more and more boys use Viagra, says Andersen, who calls himself "health brother".

Little research on the subject

A new clip from the NRK series "Blank" addresses the problem of "duty sex", i.e. an expectation that you should have sex with another person. It could be between two who are dating, because the relationship has lasted for long enough for it to be expected, or in other situations where signals have been given and one party expects sex. This, of course, applies to both boys and girls.

NRK has been in contact with several experts on youth and sexuality, but there is little research on the "sex obligation" that some young people feel.

"I can’t say I have seen any research on this, at all," says Ingrid Smette, who researches youngsters and their lives at NOVA, the Norwegian Social Research Institute.

NRK has also talked to several boys aged 19-24 about the problem. Several say that there are certainly times when sex is expected and should be given. They say that these are waters that are difficult to navigate and that they don’t talk about it with anybody.

In the commentary on the Blank episode, viewers are discussing everything from whether to expect regular sex from their boyfriend to whether it is okay to dump someone if he or she can't accept that no means no.

"After all, he’s the boyfriend and if she doesn’t want to, she must be allowed to do that - the stupid way he reacts to it means that she “learns” "that next time she should just accept it" to avoid drama. And that's not okay. It's her body," writes one of the viewers.

"Try things out? End up in a sexless relationship? You must be able to communicate, simply give and receive messages and signals from each other when you’re in a relationship. If someone ends up in a sexless relationship, they shouldn’t be together at all because then it's probably a complete mismatch. And I think Ella clearly let him know. Can’t understand that someone still wants to have sex with someone who’s completely uninterested and pulls away like Ella does," writes another.

The “health brother” has a very clear answer to the question, which is universal for all sexes and ages:

"If you do not want sex, you can always say no.

“It has been suppressed”

Andersen believes that series such as "Blank" and "SKAM" are absolutely necessary in order to get more openness about the subject.

“Because there are many boys who feel they can’t talk about this at all,” he says.

"What we see most is young boys who haven’t been able to express feelings and thoughts. It has been suppressed. And at some point this comes to the surface.”

Although NRK does part of the job through television series for young people, the main responsibility lies with the parents, he believes.

"It's up to us to handle talking to young people about this," Andersen says.

The Blank production team gives no statements to the press before the season is complete, but writes this in an email:

"NRK creates a lot of content for young people, and the goal is always to engage with topics that people think about. It is part of NRK's ​​community assignment.”

“A quick look in the comments box shows that this topic engages the audience and we hope someone will find help through us telling such stories.”

“Get better at talking about porn”

Per Arthur Andersen thinks we must get better at talking about porn as it can create delusions.

Norwegians are eager porn consumers. An overview of the world's largest porn site, Pornhub, shows that Norwegians are in the 26th place when it comes to how often we visit their website.

Statistics for 2016 show that Norwegian men and women visit the website on average 19 times and leave 158 pageviews each.

"When I grew up, it was strictly controlled what we had access to on the internet. Now the young people get smartphones when they are six years old. If you are naive enough to think they aren’t searching for nude pictures,  you have to think again,” Andersen says.

"If you’re not good at talking to young people about what porn shows them, that it’s supposed to be visually pleasing, then it will create a delusion. For example, many boys are unsure of their own size, since penises in porn are often massive,” Andersen says.

*“Helsebror” translates into “health brother” and is a twist on “helsesøster”, which translates into “health sister”. Helsesøster is what you call a (usually female) school nurse in Norway. “Health brother” Per Arthur Andersen is doing a great job at bringing attention to the health and sexuality problems of boys and young men.

[blankskada]

P3 is still getting character names from crew...

Bonus SKAM editor name, now a lovable/annoying character in Blank:

Characters:

Ragnar Henrikhaugen (Plantasjen co-worker)

Mira ? (Plantasjen co-worker)

Louise Bettvik (Plantasjen co-worker)

Guro Nordlie

Susanne Gressum

[champagneleftie]

I want to believe your meta about Ella and Simon. I also wondered if Simon was like Emma was to Isak in Skam, but the difference was that it seemed quite obvious to me from the start that Isak had no interest in her and was overcompensating. Here, I didn't get the vibe that she was necessarily acting? I don't know what he'll be to her, but I think it's too soon to write him off as anything.

Hi anon!

I agree, I don’t think Ella is pretending to be interested in Simon in the same way Isak pretended to be into Emma. If anything, I think Ella is trying to convince herself that she’s into Simon - maybe because she wants to convince herself that she’s straight, maybe because she wants some excitement in her life, maybe because she wants a reason to break up with Mats, who knows. I definitely think we’ll see more of Simon, and I’m sure Ella will interact more with him. But I don’t think they’re endgame - I just think the show (and Ella) is trying to trick us into thinking they will be.

[blankskada]

Why do you say you're worried for Susanne? I don't really get the starting the weekend with instagram inbox open 24hr, could you explain? Thank you!!!!

I just think Susanne seems like she really wants someone to see her, be attracted to her, validate her - she seems vulnerable, and that could lead to nasty incidents if it’s the wrong person sending you a DM… I want her to be safe, but she seemed so let down because Ella hadn’t mentioned the India trip, and people who feel hurt can make bad decisions.

She's encouraging people to DM her on Insta with that post btw.