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Writer's pictureSéarlait Coffey

SKAM & Young Royals: Norwegian Angsty Teens - A Gateway Drug to Posh Swedes

On another dark and endless January afternoon during my final year of high

school, I came across a series of Tumblr posts all with the same ubiquitous

hashtag: SKAM (shame in Norwegian). The posts showed gifs and stills of Nordic

adolescents. All of them adorned in layers of clothing that were a fashion

statement, but also a necessary precaution of living in Norway. Cool looking hats,

beautiful but plainly teenage people with all the charm that’s lacking in American

high school television – but that’s another topic for another day. Needless to say,

my freshly edge of seventeen self, was instantly enamored as I flew through the

show’s first three seasons. Shoutout google drive with English subtitles.

Fast forward to the burdens and unwanted freedoms of being 23, where

I’ve found myself on the continuous search for a similar tv show that had the

patience, subtlety, and picture perfect angst of life as a high schooler. SKAM

created a web of relatable, three-dimensional characters – all of whom crave the

quintessential experiences of high school. Finding and falling for that first love,

and then having your heartbroken, slowly or to the tune of being blindsided by an

oncoming tractor trailer. Navigating the ins and outs of friend groups – some of

which you outgrow even when you don’t want to. Breaking away from the

constraints of your family, only to find yourself remiss once you’ve left behind

what you thought you didn’t need. Learning to stick up for yourself, learning how

to fail, and try, try, again.

SKAM understood how to use a camera with intimacy. Every scene sucks

you in – whether it’s navigating the sounds and sights of a high school party or a

flurry of text messages sent with the wrong connotation. SKAM wielded the

power of being understated – something that the majority of teen tv has

forgotten (Friday Night Lights, you may be Paramore’s only exception).

Sacha Kleber Nyiligira, Marlon Valdés Langeland, Tarjei Sandvik Moe, and David Stakston in SKAM. Image courtesy of IMDb.

But in the year of our lord, 2021, a new show emerged. Also with

Scandinavian roots, but this time out of Sweden, Young Royals. What’s better

than a high school show? A high school show set at a boarding school, in

Sweden’s countryside, of course. When the Royal Family’s youngest prince,

Wilhelm, gets in trouble for picking fights on a night out, his family decides he

needs some time at Charm school. The British version of Eton, Hillerska, which is

full of posh students whose parents make up the upper echelon of Nordic society.

Willy is full of angst and resentment – he didn’t ask to be born into his

Royal family. Despite his attempts to ignore this, he sticks out as either the guy

every girl wants to get with, or the friend that every guy wants to please. Oh, and, because why not, Willy is gay. So there you have it, fish out of water (sort of), gay

yearning (Willy’s crushing on a “middle-class” day student), and all the romance

that comes with youthful Swedish accents in blazers that either row crew or ride

horses for their extra curriculars.

Edvin Ryding and Omar Rudberg in Young Royals. Image courtesy of IMDb.

There’s a whole ensemble of (mostly) complex characters at Hillerska. But

the main source of drama stems from what is acceptable for Willy to do as the

freshest face of his Royal family. Young Royals measures up as best it can to the

glorious Skam. Both shows tackle figuring out your sexuality, learning why you

shouldn’t lie to your friends, depression, anxiety, managing just how much you

can disappoint your parents, and of course, figuring out who the hell you are.

Honorable mentions include: are drugs fun/worth it? And Eating disorders are

debilitating for girls and boys.

One way Young Royals adds dimension is by exploring family dynamics –

from dead-beat Dads to the fragility of siblinghood. Skam conspicuously lacks

these relationships. With the exception of its final season, there are little to no

actual parental figures or siblings that we care about, or that physically exist in

the universe (texting messages do not fully count). Willy and his older brother

care deeply for one another. Then there’s Simon and his sister Sara – who both

want very different things out of their high school experience. And Simon’s

mother gets the MVP award for most involved parent in either of these Nordic

worlds. Meanwhile, Willy’s parents are more of a dark shadow than a helpful

presence.

Pernilla August and Edvin Ryding in Young Royals. Image courtesy of IMDb.

To SKAM’s credit, the lack of blood family only emphasizes just how

important the friendships the characters have found in one another are. It also

paints a picture of isolation that is fitting to one’s teenage years, but also to the

culture of Norway as a whole. And therein lies the heart of what sets these two

shows apart from the American likes of Gossip Girl, The O.C. One Tree Hill etc.

They aren’t made by Americans! We all have subtitles on anyway, learn to deal

with listening to a foreign language while you read in English.

SKAM had scripts for their episodes, but the majority of the scenes were

roughly outlined and the actors were left to their devices to make it work. The

results are wonderful – teenagers are awkward, but when you have a crush you

can stumble into being charming. Young Royals applied a similar approach, but

there is that je ne sais quos Netflix filter that is unfortunately undeniable.

However, at its best, Young Royals falls back to just letting the actors lead the

way.

Tarjei Sandvik Moe in SKAM. Image courtesy of IMDb.

This go with the flow TV making approach has been used before – most

successfully by Mr. Peter Berg – thank you Friday Night Lights. But with the

quantity over quality approach that pretty much every streamer has attempted to

champion – this style seems to be a dying breed.

SKAM galloped so Young Royals could jump the fence. It’s my hope that the

likes of Julie Andem (SKAM Showrunner) and Lisa Ambjörn (Young Royals

creator/head writer) filter their way through more media. Or that they just make

more shows! But in the meantime, what they created will exist for as long as the

internet does. And you, or I, are just one click away from entering Nordic angsty

paradise for the first, or hundredth time.

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