The Locker metaphor

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Simon has a secret. A secret he is keeping from everyone – even from us, the audience.

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Film shot analysis

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Why is there a painting by Félix Nicolas Frillié in this shot of Wilhelm studying? How to do a context-driven shot analysis and a little more about the 'ear' metaphor on 'Young Royals'.

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Location, location...filming location

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When you're getting dumped right next to a dumpster – the symbolism of place in TV shows and movies.

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The Dream of the missing Voice

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Wilhelm's dream at the beginning of 2x01 analyzed shot by shot – including the 'nose' metaphor and the 'neck' metaphor.

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The Football metaphor

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Every single film shot in that 'football scene' is important. Each and every one of them means something...

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What's wrong about Pizza

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Why I'm sceptical of a pizza date in season three...

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Spot the Painting

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How 'Young Royals' recreated a famous painting in one of its shots (and why)!

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How to lose your marbles (and when not to)

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We've looked at Michelangelo's 'David', but the show uses two more sculptures in its shots to great effect. What do they represent?

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The Fish metaphor

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What's wrong for Wilhelm (and Felice) and why should Wilhelm never eat fish – metaphorically speaking...

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Negative Space

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Negative Space: The Simon-as-a-boarder theory examined through the lens of art history.

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Shot Composition 101

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Shot Composition 101: What does this painting have in common with the lake date on 'Young Royals'?

An introduction to the basic rules of shot composition, using many different example shots from 'Young Royals'.

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Blocking – Wilhelm's many 'switches'

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Blocking – Wilhelm's many 'switches': Wilhelm switches places with other characters three times in 1x01 (not just with Erik). What does it all mean?

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PSA

I'm taking a tumblr break for a few weeks. I just can't keep up with all the messages I'm getting; my inbox is overflowing and the activity page is stuffed to the gunnels, so that I can't find anything on it after a day. I can only do one thing: write the substack blog or keep up with tumblr. And I'd hate to stop writing. So, I'm taking a tumblr break for a few weeks (probably from other social media, as well).

I will keep writing on my substack blog. Nothing will change there. I post a new article about once a week (usually on the weekend). You're all welcome to drop by and read something. Virtually all the content there is FREE for anyone to enjoy who likes film analysis and cinematography. You DON'T need a subscription or anything; it's all free. (There is also a free subscription option that is basically just a notification option, i.e. it sends you an email whenever I update.) So, drop by whenever you like or drop me a line over there in the comments if you want.

The next post is due sometime around: the weekend of 15/16 July and will be about 'Blocking a scene' (what symbolic meaning can be conveyed through blocking, using examples from 'Young Royals').

I will try to update this last (purple) line regularly and might put an update in the tags whenever I post something new, but will otherwise (mostly) stay away. Thank you for understanding, everyone. See you all soon.

Hi! Thank you ever so much for sharing your metaphor analytics. I feel like I'm seeing YR in a completely few light after having read them.

I want to ask you (but feel no pressure to reply), if you have any thoughts on verbal foretelling based on sarcasm, fears or simply being hideous wrong. I don't even know what's it technically called. But what I mean is a lot of the stuff that August spew in at least the early episodes of S1 are foreshadowing stuff that will happen to him ("Don't use the school WiFi..., You could kill someone and...) and my personal favourite "Do we want the future king..). So my question is there are some pretty evident lines that foreshadowing events - have you seen some more subtle and systematic usage of this technique throughout S1 and S2?

Actually there is one particular line by Rosh in S1 that I think foreshadows something about Simon, that is "Where are you going?". I really love that line and the ensuing dialogue.

Hey, I really, really have to apologize for replying to your kind ask so very late. I have a huge backlog when it comes to messages and comments right now. Everyone is so lovely and kind, but I can barely keep up with it all. I have a feeling that I will have to take a bit of a tumblr break (and break from other social media platforms, as well) because I can’t do both: write my analysis posts on my blog AND keep interacting on other platforms. I'll have to choose one, and that's going to the writing itself.

Anyway, I know this is no excuse for being so embarrassingly late, but I hope you’ll forgive me for the delay because I do actually find it so very encouraging and motivating when people like you say nice things about my little blog project. It really helps me and keeps me focused, so thank you for letting me know you enjoy the close-reading analysis I’m doing on the show. I’m surprised and a bit exhilarated to find out how many people tell me they’re seeing the whole show in a new light. It’s all very, very much appreciated.

As for your question…

Yes, I totally agree with and I think you are absolutely right: Looking at throw-away lines is very important when analyzing a ‘text’ (be it a novel, play, TV show, film, etc.). When a writer sits down to write a screenplay, they obviously don’t just come up with funny lines (or sarcastic or angry lines, for that matter) to fill the page. Usually, they will try to make sure the line in question is connected to the deeper theme of their ‘text’. Everything in their ‘text’ has to fulfil a purpose, i.e. either drive the plot forward or be plugged in into the broader network of metaphorical subtext.

One of the things we have to keep in mind, though, is the fact that not every line in a ‘text’ is necessarily a metaphorical line. There are lines that are just plain text, so to speak.

In essence, you end up with two types of throw-away lines:

1) Lines on the literal level (the textual layer=plot) that have ONE meaning (even if, at that point in the story, that meaning is still obscure to us, i.e. if the line serves the purpose of foreshadowing future events).

2) Lines that operate on both the literal level (textual layer) AND a subtextual level (metaphorical layer underneath) and thus have TWO different (sometimes divergent) meanings; they can even have three different meanings, when the meta-level is involved.

Let me give you an example: August’s line in s1 during the initiation party that you mentioned in your ask about being able to ‘murder somebody here without it ever coming out’ (I’m paraphrasing). That line is most likely a case of type 1. from our list above, i.e. it operates on the literal level of the script even if we assume it foreshadows some future revelation that we don't yet know anything about. It’s not a line that’s plugged into a metaphor. It’s not metaphorical subtext; it’s text.

If August were to proceed to murder (or try to murder) someone later on. Or alternatively get killed himself. Or if we were find out that somebody else was murdered and it was covered it up, then that would give us a resolution, explain to us why the line was said in the first place and what surprising revelation exactly it was foreshadowing.

This line is however (most likely) not a metaphor. In a metaphor something else represents the concept you’re trying to allude to. Just to give you an example: When Wilhelm in episode two of season one tells Simon in the boat to ‘keep the strokes close to the surface of the water, so as not to expend too much energy’, this is clearly a metaphorical line (type 2. from our list above) because it clearly has two meanings: the literal one (rowing advice) and the metaphorical one (rather dumb and conservative relationship advice). And we instantly see that it’s a metaphor because one thing (rowing) represents another thing (feelings/relationships), one concept stands in for another one.

This is most likely not the case with the ‘murder someone’ line: Here one thing (murdering someone) literally means that same thing (murdering someone). It’s (most likely) not a metaphor; it’s not metaphorical subtext; it’s just text – even if the meaning of the text is currently obscure to us because the show isn’t yet finished.

Why am I telling you all of this (you’re probably bored just reading it because you know all of this already :D)…

Because what I’m mainly concentrating on in my metaphor posts on my substack blog is the metaphorical subtext, i.e. the metaphorical lines, the type 2. lines, so to speak. I sometimes use plain textual lines (type 1 lines) as evidence when I think they are somehow connected to a broader point I’m trying to make or reinforce an argument I’m making, but I don’t really discuss them in and of themselves.

Mainly because, with a line that still hasn’t revealed its meaning to us because it’s obscure at this point in the story, I just don’t really know what to do with it. We can speculate what it means (which is always interesting, of course), but ultimately we don’t know. It’s fun. But if it’s not connected to the metaphorical subtext, I will probably not write about it in and of itself.

Now, as for the Rosh’s line that you mentioned (and thank you again for reminding me, my brain is like a sieve sometimes), that one arguably straddles the boundary between text and subtext, between type 1 line and type 2 line: Rosh, Ayub and Simon are pretty much talking figuratively already at that point, i.e. when Rosh says, “Where are you going?” she isn't asking whether Simon is literally leaving the room, this is meant figuratively (‘where are you going in life?’). It clearly foreshadows Simon’s path that’ll lead him away from Bjärstad not just as a place, but away from the narrow confines of his working class upbringing. So far the line is not a metaphor yet (there isn’t one concept that stands in for another one like, say, ‘water’ for feelings, or a ‘suitcase’ for a burdensome role, or ‘music’ for love, or the ‘ear’ for the heart, etc.). But it’s definitely meant to be understood figuratively. So far it has had only a tragic meaning (Simon only ‘went viral’ in the context of a crime that was committed against his privacy), but when it comes to leaving Bjärstad and the confines of his working class upbringing behind, I could very well see this at some point mean something along the lines of: going to university or study music at a conservatory - something often frowned upon in a milieu with a working-class background (the age-old, “What do you need that highfalutin' stuff for? Learn a trade like everyone else in the family!”). I still have a tiny hope that, “Where are you going?” might mean the famous Verbier Music Festival. If Simon gets at least an invitation in the mail and that’s the third time Verbier is mentioned (in a much more positive light than before), I would be over the moon.

Ultimately, it’s again a line that can foreshadow a lot of things, but it’s (probably) not meant to be understood entirely metaphorically, which is also why I most likely won’t discuss it on the blog itself where I’ll try to stick strictly to the metaphors.Does that make any sense?

I feel I’ve written too much, but I hope that makes up at least a little bit for the long delay.

Thank you again for your kind words, and you’re always welcome to read more on the blog. Even if I take a tumblr break, I will keep posting a new article every week (usually on the weekend).

All the best!

Thank you for reading and letting me know you enjoyed it, @a-la-minute .That's a great morale boost to keep me writing.:)

And your take is an absolutely valid reading of 'The Palace' situation. One of many probably. My honest answer to this is: I don't know.

I'm pretty open-minded about how this all should play out. I'm generally pretty open-minded about the ending and most other stuff, too. (I think one of the few things I'm not open to is the idea of Wilhelm and Simon not being together at the end of s3, but I think we can all agree that that's very unlikely. Lisa Ambjörn probably didn't set out to write a gay tragedy, so I kinda trust her on that and on many other things, as well.) I'm genuinely curious what she will do, seeing as she has introduced this giant arsenal of different metaphors. There's just SO much she can do with them, and she's clearly a stellar writer, I'm sure she can come up with ways to play with them none of us can foretell.:D Maybe she wrote a scene in which all of them are somehow intertwined? Who knows...I'm just basically enjoying the ride.

Actually, I feel a bit bad about going into the whole 'Palace' thing so much in the post itself, seeing as it's only tangentially related to what the whole post was actually all about. But I just wanted to make the point that 'The Palace' is a metaphor that's a bit more complex than the 'baggage' metaphor. It's not as clear-cut. With the baggage, on the other hand, we get a pretty precise barometer: Whatever happens to it, will probably tell us what the writers want us to know.

Anyway, sorry for spamming you with this long reply. I'm just genuinely happy to hear you liked it.:)

P.S. Almost forgot, I think the flag is the Skogsbacken flag. We should probably all sit back and think about what that means for a bit.:D I know I should, but I'm just too tired right now and tomorrow is Monday, ugh.:)

When your suitcase is your 'baggage'

Remember the scene in which Wilhelm and August are fighting over Wilhelm's suitcase? It's a metaphor. Every piece of luggage on this show is.

Read more about the heaviest metaphor on 'Young Royals':

@darktwistedgenderplural:

"Just wanted to say the cheating you referenced is wrong: the Swedish word doesn't refer to infidelity at all. Only to cheating at tests. I ought to write a proper comment about it but I'm betaing a fic instead 💜"

(I hope it's okay if I pull this out from the replies over here into a reblog.)

Ooh, that's interesting. Thank you very much for pointing this out. See, that's the kind of stuff one just cannot know when watching a show in a language that's not one's native language. I bow down in humility.:)

I would however (politely) insist that the gist of the argument remains the same: Simon is taking a shortcut/detour through the woods that takes him to Marcus. He's angry about taking that deviation from the road - the 'road' in question (that's not even a proper forest track) being a metaphor for the hard, exhausting and painful path Wilhelm and Simon have to take to get back together.

It's interesting that the word used doesn't literally mean the same thing in Swedish, but metaphorically they are still used to convey the same meaning: Simon is metaphorically 'deviating' from the relationship 'road' as we've discussed in the 'competition' metaphor.

(I feel like there was also something else you sent me a while ago and I still haven't replied to. I feel awful about this. I'm using my free Sunday to catch up on all the comments and asks I'm getting, but it's just too much. I apologize profusely for being so late when it comes to replying to everyone.:))

When your suitcase is your 'baggage'

Remember the scene in which Wilhelm and August are fighting over Wilhelm's suitcase? It's a metaphor. Every piece of luggage on this show is.

Read more about the heaviest metaphor on 'Young Royals':

Yeah, the 'losing his suitcase at an airport' was just me goofing off.:) But if you're running with the idea: Simon could have lost the suitcase ages ago. Like, when he was still a child (this would reinforce the metaphorical message of him having no privileged role in the society he arrived at after that journey). Just saying. I didn't mean in the gap between s2 and s3. But it was mainly just me playing around, showing what you can do with a metaphor like that.

Carrying Simon's keyboard together would be such a great idea! A+! Why didn't I think of this?!:D Give the two boys some sort of suitcase/instrument case and shove the keyboard in there. This way we could connect the 'baggage' metaphor to the 'music' metaphor: Wilhelm's difficult role is hollow as long as there's no love in it. I love this, @emberc. Let's see what the show actually does. But I already think your idea is the best possible solution that could ever exist for this metaphorical scenario. Thank you.

And thank you for your kind words, as always.

When your suitcase is your 'baggage'

Remember the scene in which Wilhelm and August are fighting over Wilhelm's suitcase? It's a metaphor. Every piece of luggage on this show is.

Read more about the heaviest metaphor on 'Young Royals':