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dawnsgrave · 3 days

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Found this old video of when I was making an Olezha desktop pet

🥰🥰

#art #дмо #дух моей общаги #олежа душнов #my student spirit

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dawnsgrave · 3 days

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I love learning new and little details

My favorite dead loser mwah mwah ☺️☺️

Why I still love Olegsey Dushnov even after episode 5

This post contains mentions of homophobia, sexism, and misogyny.

This is gonna be a longggg post lol but TLDR: I am very aware of his flaws and I sincerely believe that his struggles are valid but I don’t condone his beliefs. I’m looking forward to how his character will develop in season 2.

This post will be formatted as follows: 1. Olezha’s actions from episodes 1 to 5

2. My theories and analyses + information from Leena's VK

3. Elaborating on my theory about Olezha and Anton's argument

4. Overall thoughts

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1. Olezha’s actions from episodes 1 to 5

It was already hinted multiple times throughout season 1 that he was not straight.

In episode one in the original Russian dub, he made a gay joke about possessing Dima’s body (which I will discuss in more detail below). He looked a little too happy when he saw Anton, which is weird considering someone just died. He recommended to ghost Dima the shower rooms of both the girls' and the guys'. He had a habit of pressing his index fingers together, making him appear effeminate (which I will also discuss later). He explained how he was “drawn” to Dima physically (played off as a joke) when the notebook was brought outside.

In episode two, he tried to hide his interest in theatre and dancing. (The video he was watching is actually a reference to the prologue of West Side Story! https://youtu.be/bxoC5Oyf_ss?t=215). He stared a little too long at Dima while putting on his shirt. He hugged the guy who insulted him multiple times even after accidentally leaving him on the train.

In episode three, Karina, one of the psychics, said “He had a relationship. Strong. Nobody knew. Complicated connection. Blind leading the deaf. Domineering, stately person…” Olezha didn’t want anybody to know about his relationship and asked Dima to stop the psychic. Later in the bathroom stalls, Dima told Olezha, “Come out when you’re ready”, which is a pretty cool usage of the ‘coming out’ metaphor.

In episode four, Olezha told Dima how he learned knitting from his grandmother. Later, he presses his index fingers again out of habit. He crosses his arms to restrain himself from doing so. Upon arriving at the grave, Olezha talked about how he wanted to be an actor but his father rejected the idea. In a short flashback sequence, it was revealed that his father disapproved of his son’s habit of pressing his fingers together. Later, Olezha discovered flowers on his grave, which were actually placed by Anton. Olezha asked Dima to give him and Anton privacy. The way they said “Hello” to each other hinted that they had history together.

In episode 5 while watching Psychic Battle, Olezha had a strange reaction when Dima mentioned Anton. Later, Olezha had an extreme reaction to how Olya dresses. Dima defends her but Olezha insults him, calling him a feminist. When Olya visits the dorm, Olezha insists on asking Dima about her clothes. Olya, offended, talks about how Dima reminded her of a certain ‘moralizer’ (Olezha).

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2. My theories and analyses + information from Leena's VK

“Окей, это немного по гейский но…” This is a line from the first episode that translates as: “Okay, it’s a little gay but…” At first glance, it’s just a gay joke. But after watching episode five, I realized that it’s a deliberate joke that is in line with his character.

Olegsey Dushnov is a hypocrite. Specifically, he's a misogynistic closeted biromantic asexual who believes in "traditional family values".

He’s insecure about the fact that he isn’t straight, so he overcompensates through a self-deprecating gay joke. This has to do with how his father, Mikhail, raised him.

Although the show only talked about Olezha’s finger-pressing habit and interest in acting, it goes beyond that. Olezha knew how to knit and possibly even did makeup.

Mikhail has very conservative beliefs and did not approve of his son straying from masculine norms. Olezha was conditioned by his father to live by his conservative beliefs. Over time, he learned to hate himself and anyone else who did not fit the norm, including his own sister.

Olezha and Olya represent the duality of not fitting society’s norms. One is self-hatred and the other is self-acceptance. Olezha, even after death, could never be truly himself. Although his love for Olya is genuine, the way he expressed it only caused pain for both of them. He hates how Olya dresses because other people might judge her. But mainly, he is jealous of her freedom. He is jealous of the fact that Olya is free to do and wear whatever she wants, especially now that her moralizing brother is dead.

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3. Elaborating on my theory about Olezha and Anton's argument

Going back to Olezha’s self-hatred, what if he was the reason why he and Anton fought? Considering everything I mentioned above, what if Olezha was the ‘domineering, stately person’ that Karina described? There’s the possibility that Olezha’s beliefs instilled by his father, were the reason why his relationship with Anton became toxic.

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4. Overall thoughts

I love love LOVE how My Student Spirit teaches the audience not to become like Olezha, despite being one of the main characters. He is a literal ghost of his own past, afraid of the future. He is someone who had no control over his life (and his ‘life’ in death).

Personally, this is the first time I encountered a character with deeply rooted internalized homophobia (albeit indirectly). I am blown away by how angsty and complicated and difficult Olezha is as a character. He’s hauntingly, tragically beautiful.

Olezha was designed as an introverted theatre kid who knew knitting and makeup and I was so afraid that he was just gonna be a gay stereotype. But episode five broke me in ways I could not describe. Leena definitely knew all the common character tropes and how the fandom headcanoned Olezha but the route she went with his character is insane. I can’t help but admire her.

Overall, I love you Olezha but you’re a loser and YOU SUCK.

(All images are taken from Leena's VK account. Sadly, I don't have the direct links to these images 😥)

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dawnsgrave · 4 days

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My favorite dead loser

Мой любимый мертвый неудачник

#art #дмо #дух моей общаги #олежа душнов

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dawnsgrave · 5 days

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More badly drawn camp camp fanart. David this time.

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dawnsgrave · 11 days

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HHH WOAH! I’m kissing him

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dawnsgrave · 17 days

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this is them right?

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dawnsgrave · 17 days

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Some colored Danvid doodles (I wanna draw more random stuff like this that makes me happy)

#art #camp camp #cc david #david camp camp #danvid #daniel camp camp #my art

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dawnsgrave · 19 days

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The Diagnosis Of David

Disclaimer: I am by no means a mental health professional. This is just a meta-analysis.

What do we think of when we think of David?

His values of kindness. Optimism. Hope. Conviction. Passion. His drive to do his best every single day. The way he always makes an effort to reach out to others.

But also:

Attachment issues. People pleaser. Rose-colored glasses wearer. And at times, though the fandom doesn’t want to acknowledge it — Selfish. Unstable. Rude. Hypocritical. Kind of a dick.

See this video I made;

He’s complex, so let’s try to unpack him, and figure out what he’s got going on under that floof.

On David’s Childhood

David has been through a number of traumatic events in his childhood, most notably:

Witnessing Jasper fall to his near-death.

Finding Jasper, and being almost mauled by bears during the escape.

Clown school was apparently very bad, given the flashback-like reaction he had when it was mentioned. I’m unsure of his age when this occurred, however.

The fight with Jasper at the cave before they parted ways.

Losing Jasper. He says Cameron told him he was picked up by his parents, but I’m not convinced it’s not just his mind trying to erase painful memories.

As far as what we don’t necessarily see in the show, but can infer, David’s father was either not present or not great. He dreamt Cameron was his real father, as seen below.

And we all know Cameron is an awful father figure to begin with.

Yet, that’s better to David, apparently, than whatever he had at home. Which implies it was likely a pretty bad situation.

This can also be backed up by his attachment to the camp — growing up (and even now) it seems to be more of a home to him than his actual home.

That’s a home that hasn’t ever been mentioned, by the way. Contrary to Gwen, we know absolutely nothing about his family. He hasn’t talked about them once, if I recall correctly.

David is often open with emotions, if not wearing his heart on his sleeve. So why would he never mention his family and home?

We know why.

Even as an adult, he has retained this attachment to Cameron (who has in turn, continued to use this attachment to his benefit). He gets very excited about helping Cameron change in “keep the change” — because he needs to believe people who hurt him can get better. Otherwise, it’s too painful to bear.

The Loss Of Jasper

Part of his childhood, but significant enough to warrant its own section.

Jasper and David had a very interesting relationship. We’ve seen in the past that David was pessimistic, foulmouthed, and hot-tempered, directly compared to an optimistic, peppy, popular Jasper.

But then Jasper saw Cameron’s real self, and David received a modicum of praise for what was likely the first time based on his reaction. And so, they basically did somewhat of a switcheroo.

(David takes on many traits of Jasper after this experience, showing that he does admire him at the end of the day. I believe these traits are the foundation of David’s many masks.)

Despite the whole shebang, further episodes show us that they form a strong bond (or maintain one, we don’t know what happened before the first Jasper and David episode.)

What makes this friendship especially crucial in David’s development is that I believe Jasper was the first person to truly stand up for David.

David is, as we have seen, easily manipulated. Jasper picks up on this, and knowing Cameron’s just trying to use his best friend, tries to take Cameron down.

Jasper essentially died trying to protect David.

If Jasper hadn’t died, I don’t think David would have ended up as gullible and dependent as he is. If he had the more rational and realistic Jasper by his side during the rest of his developmental years, I believe things would have ended up much, much differently.

With Jasper’s death, there seems to be nobody else at camp who knows of Cameron’s crimes, or possibly, doesn’t want to speak out about them. Nobody to stand up for him. Nobody to redirect him.

So there’s nobody to stop the unhealthy-attachment-train from picking up speed.

Cameron And David’s Relationship

Cameron is manipulative and abusive towards David. This even becomes physical:

Despite this, David continues to idolize him as is seen in many cases of abuse. He works his ass off maintaining Cameron’s camp. Cameron’s approval makes or breaks him, because this is the man he sees as a father, unfortunately.

In addition, David is unable to let go of the hope that Cameron can change, because he’s convinced himself that deep down Cameron is still “good”, based on his skewed perception of him. And we all know how that ended.

But as Diane from Bojack Horseman once said —

And that is David’s problem — he wants so much for there to be a “deep down”, that there will be a day where Cameron showers him with praise and throws signed adoption forms at him, etcetera.

He judges Cameron not on who he actually is, but who he wants him to be. And so, the unhealthy attachment remains.

(Which is, of course, incredibly destructive to his mental health.)