Krista’s Collectives!

Why the fuck is no one talking about the symbolism of jewelry in Katya's relationships?!?!?

Like, Katya is a woman who takes pride in her appearance which obviously becomes a reflection of her mental state, and by extension the state of her relationships with Goncharov and Sofia, throughout the film. In the beginning of the film, Katya is wearing diamonds and pearls (both of which form from adverse circumstances), which reflects her elegance and sophistication as Donna Goncharova but it's also a subtle way to show the cracks in her marriage. Goncharov uses expensive jewelry as a way of avoiding hard conversations about their issues, always finding a way to bring up how much each piece costs as a way of trying to cut off Katya's frustrations, and the snide way he jokes about it during the cocktail scene is telling of how fragile their relationship has become, especially when the film juxtaposes the elaborate diamond and pearl necklace he gives her right before the infamous carnival scene with the simple pearl earrings that she tells us were a gift from their first anniversary.

In contrast, you have the sea glass bracelet that Sofia buys for her in the marketplace. It is, in Valery's words, a "cheap trinket" but Sofia picked it out for her because it matches her eyes!!! To Sofia, the bracelet is a token of affection but to Katya it is so much more because for the first time in years, someone gave her a gift because they wanted to make her happy, not show off how much money they spend on her! And we as the audience can clearly see how much she cherishes that bracelet, the way she leaves her expensive jewelry all over her vanity, not caring even when she loses the new diamond earrings that Goncharov just bought while carefully tucking the bracelet into its own jewelry case whenever she isn't wearing it.

And the way that the film contrasts how Goncharov and Sofia give her the jewelry; Goncharov is careless when giving her the new jewelry cases, tossing them around, barely even looking at Katya when he gives her a "present" because the gifts are obligations now, much like their relationship has become for the both of them, a part they play with each other, a hollow echo of past love. While Sofia doesn't just look at her when giving her the bracelet, she fastens it on Katya's wrist herself and tells her how beautiful it looks on her. She sees Katya, the good, the bad, and the damaged, and reminds her that like sea glass, her broken parts don't have to keep hurting her, that it's okay to let time soften the sharp edges of her grief.

You are not alone, we can promise you that. Let yourself become the person you see in your wildest dreams, the smallest ways matter just as much as the big visible steps. Even if it's just by saying to yourself today: 'you know what? I am [whichever words resonate with you]!' today.

THE ANSWER:

When it comes to conversations on environmentalism and taking care of our planet, we are doing a disservice to progress by asserting black and white statements that humans are “inherently evil” and “all we do is take and destroy, we are so selfish,” when the reason the Paris Agreement exists is because we saw what was happening to the planet and we wanted to try and fix it. We saw what was happening with acid rain and the ozone layer, so we came together and mended our mistakes.

Immediately making conclusions that humans are a plague on the earth itself is taking accountability away from greedy corporations that are actually doing the most harm to the earth. Yes a lot of humans are very evil, and some of those humans are unfortunately running the government, but to say they represent the larger species of the human race is reinforcing the idea that 1: You people just want to place blame on a collective group of people like you always do, and 2: You sound complicit as hell in the face of evil, assuming that’s just how humans are and there’s nothing we can truly do.

You’re allowed to care even though lots of things are going bad. Some things can’t be fixed or saved. But it’s okay to hold onto hope for something good to happen tomorrow. Good things are always going to pop up like flowers in war zones.

“The world is not on fire, there are just lots of fires.” Don’t lose hope that some fires can be put out. So much is still easy. Build a safe zone within the flames, and persist putting them out. Accepting we are in a bad place does not equal rolling over to let it get worse. No matter how bad things will get, you can still put out flames in different spaces.

You can give yourself the freedom of acknowledging life right now is in a state of unrest and we don’t know when the chapter will close, while also being happy we are here with other people and things that make it worth it. Because it is worth it. All hard things are worth it.

I care about you understanding that your survival is inextricably tied to others.

And if you want to live in a world with clean water and breathable air and knowledgeable doctors and mechanics and farmers etc.

Then you absolutely have to care about the conditions others are subjected to, because it will all become your problem in time.