Skam France season 10 - friendship and sorority - part 1
The 10th season of skam france has started. The main theme of this season is sexual assault. However, there is already another major theme that has been very important so far and it got my attention so let's write my personal thoughts on it : friendship and sorority.
The first thing I noticed is how the perception of friendship shifted.
Anaïs does not have a tight group of friends she considers Family (like Bilal and Maya) and she has never been shown as wanting to have one (like Tiff in ep 1 of s7).
So far she has 2 main friendships: Sasha and Tiff.
Louise is no longer seen on the show; her disappearance has never been addressed but she is in some pictures that we can see in her room. (Goodbye, Sunshine).
In her social circle we have La mif and Hugo's friends.
She seems to spend time mostly with Sasha and Hugo.
La mif is shown as a tight group of friends ; the first time we see them they are all together (minus Bilaya who were on a mission to save earth I have decided) having a debate over inclusive writing. Anaïs rolls her eyes at them and does not seem to really want to have lunch with them, but she has no other option. She texts Hugo to know if they can meet; she seems to feel out of place and does not want to engage into their conversation. Hugo feels weirdly - in context - safer at this moment.
But there are three important things to notice in this introduction of la mif through her eyes.
The distance between Tiff and her, both physically and mentally.
The fact that Sasha is in the middle; she is the bridge between Anaïs and La Mif physically but also metaphorically as she manages to talk with them and be with Anaïs.
Each member of La mif acknowledges Anaïs' presence somehow even if she doesn’t acknowledge them in return. They see her, they care about her.
La mif is mentioned again by Anaïs two times so far:
She makes a comment about their lunch discussion to Sasha, telling her annoyingly that Sasha and Clément could go on a double date with Bilal and Jo to talk about the subject further.
She mentions La mif with Tiff when Tiff looks at her phone and laughs and then later when Tiff is texting her mother after Anaïs revealed what Hugo did to her. As a defense mechanism she asks Tiff if she is texting them to tell them what happened to her. Even if it is not the case, Anaïs' mind thinks Tiff is doing what she did when she was told something personal in s7. She shared two secrets, Jo's and Tiff's.
In terms of friendship, it is an interesting addition that shows well how Anaïs' mind works and how, a year later, she is still mourning the relationship they had, and thinks La Mif is the center of Tiff's world and that Tiff would talk to them about her assault.
Having Anaïs as a main offer an outsider view of the Family which is a big gap after s9 that was centered on la mif entirely. Anaïs has never been part of the group and does not even want to be part of the group. She tolerates them because of Tiff; because she grew up and matured but she is still not a fan of the group as a whole and does not seek any relationship with them which is quite interesting and is what caught my attention.
Tiff and Anaïs are childhood best friends who drifted apart last year. They are still friends but Tiff's life and priorities do not allow her to stay close to Anaïs as much as they both would like, which is interesting to see from Anaïs perspective.
After her traumatic assault, she acknowledges with Sasha that she would like to be able to have a girls night because that's how Tiff and Anaïs used to deal with problems. Anaïs is nostalgic about that time, but Tiff also still feels like her safe place; but life changed and Anaïs doesn't reach out to Tiff on her own. Sasha plays the bridge between Tiff and Anaïs once again and points out that Tiff will be there for her if she needs her to be and organise a girls night.
Tiff, as Sasha predicted, makes time in her schedule for Anaïs.
Sasha is the new addition to the season.
She has taken Tiff's place next to Anaïs. However, we are told in several ways that she has not replaced her; their friendship is recent and there is no jealousy on her part.
She adds a little fun touch next to Anaïs.
She is seen as someone who is on Anaïs' side but is also friendly with everyone else; she picks up on Anaïs' comment about the lunch with La mif and asks her right away if she has done something that hurt Anaïs, which is very interesting to see because it shows that she values her friendship with Anaïs.
So far, I find Sasha's role in the season very interesting as she acts like a bridge between the other girls because she is a social butterfly and is dating Clément, who was adopted by La mif, more precisely by Bilal and Lola, due to his past.
We could have thought that the bridge would be Tiff or Maya. However, Tiff fulfills another role which has more to do with Sorority than friendship.
When Anaïs explains what happened with Hugo we realize fully that Anaïs is in denial about what Hugo did to her. However, what is most important is that the first time she talks about it she is heard and believed. In fact, both Tiff and Sasha realize that this is not just an incident but sexual assault. Anaïs is not ready to face the truth but both friends know what happened and how traumatic it is for Anaïs.
Their reactions are different; Sasha decides to play along with Anaïs and just stay by her side. She doesn’t confront Anaïs on her denial.
Tiff, very concerned about her childhood friend, cannot act like nothing happened and confronts Anaïs right away and then at school. She has been through trauma last year, and she knows that trying to put everything under the rug does not help.
It is worth noting that Tiff and Sasha are not necessarily friends. However, for Anaïs' sake and wellbeing, they become a team, which is exactly what I wanna see when we talk about female friendships and sorority.
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