lacunulose

and you're right, just like when Ivan was posting fourth wall breaks on instagram the Fandom is put into two pairs of shoes- Lovro's, and the world around him's! we were following the exact sentiments of the voices in his head that he is Different. the world will Never see him equally to others. he Cannot experience the world in the same way as his peers do. that realization- be it as a queer person, as a person of colour, as a woman- that the way you interact with society was determined for you by merit of preconceived notions of the group to which you belong, shakes the ground out from beneath you. you realize to some people you are not an individual. that is the core of all the isak characters' homophobia but Particularly with lovro.

a tiny appendix- it's 100% okay to joke around and make headcanons about characters and write indulgent fun fanfiction about them because that's what fandom is for- trying to eliminate that dichotomy is like you willingly signing up to help Sisyphus roll that boulder up a hill. but when we're talking about the shame show about shame about how the character experiences being gay, how the world views that character... and when the fandom almost BECOMES the world... hmmmm

and you're right, just like when Ivan was posting fourth wall breaks on instagram the Fandom is put into two pairs of shoes- Lovro's, and the world around him's! we were following the exact sentiments of the voices in his head that he is Different. the world will Never see him equally to others. he Cannot experience the world in the same way as his peers do. that realization- be it as a queer person, as a person of colour, as a woman- that the way you interact with society was determined for you by merit of preconceived notions of the group to which you belong, shakes the ground out from beneath you. you realize to some people you are not an individual. that is the core of all the isak characters' homophobia but Particularly with lovro.

a tiny appendix- it's 100% okay to joke around and make headcanons about characters and write indulgent fun fanfiction about them because that's what fandom is for- trying to eliminate that dichotomy is like you willingly signing up to help Sisyphus roll that boulder up a hill. but when we're talking about the shame show about shame about how the character experiences being gay, how the world views that character... and when the fandom almost BECOMES the world... hmmmm

don't mind if i slot in my two hundred cents, then

seeing it in simple terms of filip is a "bad person" is just not giving the writing credit. first off i think we can all agree that depicting such a negative reaction from a friend is important. yes it fucking sucks to go through that, but to lovro it can't be as simple as just never interacting with him again. they're still in school together, they were in a friend group until like last week and still have a mutual friend in mario, and more importantly in this clip lovro has a bigger priority than whatever he and filip have between them. by having filips mom be the one who's bipolar thus creating the need for this conversation i seriously need people to stop seeing that as somehow being a writing choice that sets up a "redemption arc". this in itself is simply a choice to demonstrate how important ivan is to lovro in that he doesn't really care that he has to talk to filip, he just wants to help ivan. the small hints we have about filips character and his personal life are all there to give you a sense as to why he holds these homophobic beliefs. what they're doing is not shying away from depicting the real people that are just like filip i'm sure you've encountered many similar people. sram doesn't exist as a romance show even though people sometimes watch it for that purpose, the entire premise and purpose of this show is to show teens as individuals with complex lives and realities and not shy away from the more unpleasant conversations. the remakes then take that and explore that within their cultural context. THIS is that unpleasant conversation that sram wants to have. the og isak season confronted religous beliefs on homophobia and mental health stigma, this season is focused on internal homophobia and the societal attitude in croatia towards being gay. we've had all the mentions of violence, vito going into more depth than some other remakes about his parents reaction, lovro staying with ema for so long, him not even wanting to tell the boys and have jakov do it for him, and filip's reaction to lovro. it's about lovro learning to live in a society that doesn't embrace him and chosing to accept himself anyways. we haven't even seen anyone forgive filip on screen and the show certainly doesn't paint him in any way that excuses what he did so i think people are wayyy too quick to be upset about the clip. they're not trying to convince you to forgive him. wether he's served his purpose in the season and doesn't appear again or he changes his mindset and we get to see that, there's no use judging his arc as a whole when it's not even clear where they will end it. sram has characters that are imperfect because people in real life are imperfect and they're not gonna put those characters in morally good and morally bad boxes so its more easily digestible.

i actually think sram is handling this really thoughtfully and carefully when it comes to the characters’ actions. because it fits perfectly for them. lovro is not isak! and ivan is not even. yes, they are inspired by them. but they are still their own characters, shaped by their own context and experiences.

if you go back and watch the first episodes, it shows totally clear how much they actually like each other. it’s just more subtle than in other remakes or in OG skam. the way they look at each other, especially when lovro sees ivan for the first time or at all those parties they attended. lovro literally has daydreams about ivan. or during the basketball game, ivan constantly wanted to be near lovro. it’s all there. it’s just quieter and softer.

lovro completely loses himself in his thoughts when he thinks about moments with ivan. BUT this is his first queer relationship. he has to accept that part of himself and society doesn’t exactly make it easy. he literally experiences h*mophobia. ofc he is scared!! he is reserved. public displays of affection overwhelm him. that is normal!

when i was in my first queer relationship, i was the same. i needed time to feel comfortable. to let go, to be touched and show affection. even to hold hands was hard for me. that doesn’t just come naturally when you’re scared and especially when you’re slavic.

right now, both of them are struggling with their own personal issues. and looking at this week’s events, a super happy and romantic hotel clip wouldn’t even have felt right. it wouldn’t have matched where they are emotionally.

BUT i truly believe that they will get there. it will be so beautiful when they work through this together and when they open up to each other. what they already have is the foundation of a relationship. they totally like each other and they want each other. lovro was so clearly worried when everyone was laughing about ivan in that school scene this week. he cares! they both care. you can see it in so many small moments.

Lovro being so uncomfortable with being touched and perceived as gay in a public environment right now also comes from the fact that Ivan is being extremely bold. (Yeah, no shit sherlock. I know, I know just wait!)

It feels like it will never get better right now and that they're on 2 completely different planets when it comes to this, but as Lovro said in the sauna, Ivan does care still. He cared when he told him after their first kiss about an homophobia attack that happened in the city. He told Lovro about his worries. And yes, he definitely is more comfortable and probably more ready to assume this whole thing than Lovro. But he still cares.

I genuinely don't think they're as far as we think they are. And I'm not just talking about Ivan still being worried about homophobia. I'm also, and mainly, talking about Lovro's readiness to accept all this. I don't think it's as bad as we think it is and I do think he's more ready than is being shown there.

People always talk about Lovro as if he'll never be able to overcome any of his fears, or that he's too far down to get out now. I don't think so and that might be controversial (I don't know maybe not?) but I think he IS much more ready than we think. The simple fact (and yeah I think he was just terrified, but you know) that he didn't correct Ivan with the receptionist or even like litteraly run away during or after the whole interaction with the guy in the sauna is a great hint at that. He just needs Ivan to give him more time.

Ivan is being extremely bold with all this, and even if he's always quite like that, it is also currently heightened by his mania. So he comes of WAY too strong for Lovro who's still so early on this discovery and acceptance of himself. It created extremely awkward and generally just really hard situations like the sauna or even the reception where Ivan is absolutely not listening to anything Lovro will say and is unable to empathise with what Lovro's trying to say. It's not an environment in which Lovro can really grow because he's constantly being pushed too far too strong too fast.

Next week and onward, when everything will have come down and everything will just go much, much slower again, I feel like the situation is going to be completely different.

Ivan will go at a completely different speed and they'll be able to match each other's pace much more. Because on one side, Ivan will be able to understand Lovro's needs much easier, and this will lead Lovro to be much more comfortable. I think he IS ready for more and he IS ready to be probably a bit more bold, but only if he is given the space to do it at his own pace.

We'll have on one side Ivan who will go slower and Lovro who will be able to go faster and they'll meet in the middle in a more complementary way than before.