Me Watching People Ship Sydluca

The Bear (2022)

DELICIOUS OR IMPRESSIVE? DELICIOUS IS IMPRESSIVE.

the bear / james baldwin / barry jenkins / sam sifton / joan tierney / ella risbridger / joyce carol oates / cesar chavez / ruby tandoh / aimee nezhukumatathil / jenny slate / sue zhao / ron padgett / christopher citro / crystal wilkinson / joy harjo

Somehow not paralleling Sydney’s panic attack with either of Carmy’s makes me even more sick than directly paralleling the scenes would’ve. Because what do you mean you’re going to show Syd desperately searching for a grounding, something to bring her back to earth and then cut away to Carmy a thousand miles away both mentally and physically, still running from everything whereas Carmy sees/ hears Syd and almost immediately calms down. Are you trying to tell me that Syd is always, always there when he needs her to be and that Carmy can’t even be there when she needs him the most is that what you’re trying to tell me Storer??

Actually The Bear is a really good case study on trauma being deemed as abhorrent when it’s not presented in a pretty or digestible way within media including how characters who struggle with it are seen as unlovable. Particularly within Carmen’s character and the audience’s response to his behavior in season 3. Let me start this off by saying I’m not trying excuse any of Carmy’s actions throughout s3, I’m just acknowledging that trauma and it’s effects on the traumatized individual as well the effects on people in their life are complex and unpredictable, furthermore, people who haven’t experienced trauma tend to be more judgmental than compassionate towards them. Carmy is no different; him exhibiting this behavior and a certain part of The Bear fanbase choosing to ignore his past or just plain forgetting it and acting he’s like the worst person to have ever existed for having trauma and experiencing many of it’s ugly side effects. I firmly believe that a big part of this reaction is because many people lack nuance in media and an understanding that nothing is ever truly black and white. There are many shades of grey within humanity and The Bear is one of the few pieces of media that does a wonderful job of showing that. It’s glaringly obvious that Carmy has a multitude of issues that need to be addressed before he can run a successful restaurant and maintain healthy relationships. But None of that makes him an irredeemable or horrible person. It makes him a flawed human being that needs help who is also deserving of love and support. Trauma is far from beautiful and I’m tired of people acting like it needs to be portrayed in media in a sanitized way that erases all the hardships that come with it because they feel uncomfortable when they’re shown the gritty, raw, vulnerable truth of what trauma really is; of what it really does to a person. Carmy is no exception, he is struggling with his mental health in a way that is not pretty and wrapped up in a bow and people can’t handle it because we’re being shown the reality of it. He is angry, lashing out, spiraling, handling his emotions the only way he knows how by throwing himself into his work. I won’t deny that he has treated the people in his life poorly and he will need to earn their forgiveness in his own time. Yet none of that makes him any less worthy of love and patience. He needs professional help but he will only reach out when he’s ready too and even then it won’t go away over night. It can take months, and possibly years to truly heal from every thing he’s been through and after all of that he will still have bad days and he will still be just as worthy of love on those days as he is on the good ones. Struggling with trauma will never make anybody underserving of being treated with kindness or compassion and it will never make anyone any less worthy of being loved.

Just remembered that you can see inside the kitchen at The Bear from the dining room and I just know people were watching everything go down every night. Like I can criticize the toxicity of that kitchen all I want but I know my ass would be sitting in that dining room leaning over my table watching and going “ooh dinner and a show”

They need to start paying rent for living in my head 24/7

Can’t wait to see more of this sad little man in season 3

Haven’t I given enough, given enough?

Gilded Lily, The Cults

Chris Storer after writing an incredibly beautiful and complex love story

Was it casual when I made the margins of your list of rules I didn’t agree with wider because I knew you write in the margins? Was it casual when I bought you a multiple-hundred dollar customized chef coat because you mentioned that you thought mine looked cool? Was it casual when our coworker started wearing the assigned uniform and I said she was ‘dressed like you’ even though everyone else also wore the uniform? Was it casual when I waited all night after the soft open of our restaurant to bring you coffee after you ignored me for weeks and got yourself locked in the fridge?

Love how Percy doesn’t give a single fuck about anything so far. While Grover and Annabeth are being as careful and cautious as they can, he’s just out here fucking around and finding out