Meta (AWZ): Does This Go Beyond Pronouns?
For flisties who have no clue what this is about but want to be able to follow, quick summary at the end.
So, Florian Wild is straight, and Franziska Steinkamp is a girl. Just in case we forgot that. Well, okay then. Thank you for that notice. Let's unpack what's makes them so, shall we?
Flo, the darling, is kissed by another guy. There's no buts about it; he has no clue Frank isn't. Even when Frank kisses him, his first response is that Frank must be gay. He responds with a somewhat shocking amount of homophobia (boy, do I admire his brother all the more for surviving that upbringing!) and questions his own sexuality. He googles bisexuality. He doesn't argue that Frank's very feminine or anything. He doesn't try to find excuses. It's interesting to me that his response is, "It was okay," when asked about the kiss. He seems more shocked that the world doesn't end when he kisses a guy, that it's not disgusting or much different from kissing a woman. And it's interesting, to me, to wonder here if his response is to the fact that it wasn't disgusting, or that the kiss was sexually and/or romantically interesting to him. Of course, he goes on to kiss Frank a second time, on his own initiative, so at that point, we must assume some sexual and/or romantic interest.
In short, I would say that Flo is sexually and/or romantically interested in a man. Does that make him bisexual, as he seems to think? The show seems to posit that it doesn't, as soon as Frank is revealed to really be Franziska. Although Flo doesn't fall for her head over heels right after the revelation, the people around him and Franzi seem to assume that he subconsciously "saw through the disguise". It raises other questions for me: how much does gender define how we see a person? How much does being perceived as one gender vs the other affect how people relate to us? Flo fancies Frank, goes so far as to kiss him even though it greatly conflicts him. Flo fancies Franzi, too. Is it simply a fact of gender meaning less to him? If so, does that make him bi?
He seems relieved to let the matter drop, and everyone around him does the same. For me, this was a bit of a cop-out (not that I wasn't expecting it, but still), because I was fascinated by the possibility. After all, Flo is of a generation where bisexuality is more accepted, and it would have been so intriguing to play with that. (And there's the whole, 'is Deniz bi or gay?' issue that would be the topic of a whole different meta.)
Franzi is a girl. I have no doubt about this, and the show never really gives us cues to doubt that Franzi identifies as a woman. She turns herself into a boy to further her professional ambitions as an ice hockey player. As a girl, she's perceived to be weak and is picked on, to the extent that it would be impossible for her to get a fair chance. So she changes herself into a boy, intent on proving herself. She is perceived as a boy. On more than one occasion, because she shows sexual interest in another boy, she is perceived to be gay, but she never has her gender identity questioned.
Franzi is a girl, but pretends to be a boy. In doing so, she exhibits traditionally masculine behaviour. She's aggressive, pushy, cocky... She fights, physically, with Flo. And funnily enough, her otherwise not so much of an idiot cousin Ben argues that the solution to getting into a fist fight would be to tell Flo she's a girl, "because he would have never hit you if he'd known you were a girl." Well, no, Ben, he wouldn't. But is that relevant? He leaves it at that, and I don't want to argue with his words, because it's in character for him to respond like that, but it did make me boggle (in a good way, in many aspects, because it just stands there for the audience to unpack.)
After she's been revealed to be a girl, the attitude of team towards her changes, albeit briefly. But most telling, Franzi's attitude towards them changes. Seriously, she giggled at a compliment over shooting a good pass. I cringed. This suggests to me that the writers have failed to unpack their characterisation ideas there. Because which is it? Is Franzi a masculine girl, who likes hockey and is not afraid to get into a (physical) fight if the situation calls for it? She's tough enough to play ice hockey in the district league; good enough to have a shot at being pro. Ice hockey is a sport where you can't worry about getting hit. And yes, while she is masquerading as a boy, she still enjoys being feminine as a girl; like I said above, I don't question her gender identity. What I do question is why she, when she can suddenly function as a possible romantic interest to most of the team, starts behaving like it's her own perception that's changed, when it is not her identity or outlook that's changed. Clearly, the writers could do some unpacking here with regard to the role gender plays in Franzi's identity and how she's perceived. And, absolutely, I would expect the team's attitude towards her to change, knowing that she's a girl. I do expect Flo's attitude to change. But in the end, what we mostly see is her attitude changing.
I also want to note that on the sliding scale of things, Franzi, when initially introduced to the team as a woman in the tryouts, receives the most harassment. And when perceived as a (sexually successful) man, enjoys the most praise. And as a possibly gay man, we're back to harassment, but not of the level she received while perceived as a woman. Yes, she is, by this point, well known and respected by the team, and this colours their behaviour towards her, but the sliding scale does seem to be woman, gay man, straight man in terms of social status. And so we come to Deniz.
Deniz is a highly visible out gay man, enjoying considerable status on the team (replacement trainer, even, at times). He is well respected (his authority is heeded) and seems to be well liked. Though I could insert something here about age difference, I won't. Because the show does my work for me by eliminating Deniz from the dialogue when the topic of Frank's possible homosexuality comes up. Deniz is simply not mentioned. For all intents and purposes, Deniz is made invisible, both by never being physically present (even in situations where most of the team is) and by never being mentioned (even by Flo, who lives with him.) I have no doubt, actually, that Deniz is made invisible here because of convenience (on the part of the writing team, that is). Deniz walks straight through most of the gay stereotypes and leaves little room for an attack in terms of not being "strong" enough or masculine enough. (Flo agrees; he mentions Roman as a classic example in comparison to Frank and why Frank is therefore not gay, but not Deniz.)
When I first started watching AWZ, coming from a steady diet of American and British tv, one of the pleasantly surprising things about the show were both the women and the way the female audience was treated. I felt far more included by a show that didn't ultimately advocate only a male gaze. In hindsight, I don't know how much of that is caused by the show actually having a combined straight male gaze/gay male gaze thing going on. Having said that, this is one of the few pieces of television that doesn't tell me continuously that because I am a woman I must (be desiring to) lose weight (and yes, if you think Katja here, you may ask me why I don't think that storyline advocates weight loss.) It has gender issues, but it objectifies the men as hard as it does the women. Possibly, harder than it does the women. I mention all of this because Franzi's storyline is one of those moments of fail that made me wonder if the writers thought this one through. (No, they haven't. I know. But a girl can dream, right?)
And I like this storyline. It's not my favourite out of all of AWZ's, but it ain't bad, either. I enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed watching Deniz play guidance counselor to Flo, I enjoyed Roman's clear setting of boundaries when Flo outs Franzi as a girl. And yes, I enjoyed Franziska, who resembles me as a teen in quite a lot of ways. I guess I've thought this much about it precisely because I enjoyed it so much.
[Notes for those new to this show:
Flo is the little brother of Roman, who's gay and seeing a guy called Deniz, who's on the ice hockey team with Flo & Franzi. Roman & Deniz share a flat, where Flo also lives, and Roman acts as legal guardian to Flo, because of a conflict with their (homophobic) father. Franzi (aka Franziska) is on the ice hockey team, initially pretending she is "Frank" and a boy, in order to not be mocked. This eventually comes to a head (it's a soap, okay?) but before then, Franzi falls in love with Flo and kisses him. This leads to sexual confusion on Flo's part. He flips out initially, but ends up kissing Frank (he doesn't know Frank = Franzi at this point.) The situation ends up being resolved by Flo finding out Frank is actually Franzi, and in an act of vengeance, outing her to the entire team (much to the displeasure of his brother.) Before Frank is outed as a she, the team suspects Frank's interested in Flo and thinks he might be gay. So far a quick sketch of circumstance. Currently, Flo & Franzi are an item.]
So, Florian Wild is straight, and Franziska Steinkamp is a girl. Just in case we forgot that. Well, okay then. Thank you for that notice. Let's unpack what's makes them so, shall we?
Flo, the darling, is kissed by another guy. There's no buts about it; he has no clue Frank isn't. Even when Frank kisses him, his first response is that Frank must be gay. He responds with a somewhat shocking amount of homophobia (boy, do I admire his brother all the more for surviving that upbringing!) and questions his own sexuality. He googles bisexuality. He doesn't argue that Frank's very feminine or anything. He doesn't try to find excuses. It's interesting to me that his response is, "It was okay," when asked about the kiss. He seems more shocked that the world doesn't end when he kisses a guy, that it's not disgusting or much different from kissing a woman. And it's interesting, to me, to wonder here if his response is to the fact that it wasn't disgusting, or that the kiss was sexually and/or romantically interesting to him. Of course, he goes on to kiss Frank a second time, on his own initiative, so at that point, we must assume some sexual and/or romantic interest.
In short, I would say that Flo is sexually and/or romantically interested in a man. Does that make him bisexual, as he seems to think? The show seems to posit that it doesn't, as soon as Frank is revealed to really be Franziska. Although Flo doesn't fall for her head over heels right after the revelation, the people around him and Franzi seem to assume that he subconsciously "saw through the disguise". It raises other questions for me: how much does gender define how we see a person? How much does being perceived as one gender vs the other affect how people relate to us? Flo fancies Frank, goes so far as to kiss him even though it greatly conflicts him. Flo fancies Franzi, too. Is it simply a fact of gender meaning less to him? If so, does that make him bi?
He seems relieved to let the matter drop, and everyone around him does the same. For me, this was a bit of a cop-out (not that I wasn't expecting it, but still), because I was fascinated by the possibility. After all, Flo is of a generation where bisexuality is more accepted, and it would have been so intriguing to play with that. (And there's the whole, 'is Deniz bi or gay?' issue that would be the topic of a whole different meta.)
Franzi is a girl. I have no doubt about this, and the show never really gives us cues to doubt that Franzi identifies as a woman. She turns herself into a boy to further her professional ambitions as an ice hockey player. As a girl, she's perceived to be weak and is picked on, to the extent that it would be impossible for her to get a fair chance. So she changes herself into a boy, intent on proving herself. She is perceived as a boy. On more than one occasion, because she shows sexual interest in another boy, she is perceived to be gay, but she never has her gender identity questioned.
Franzi is a girl, but pretends to be a boy. In doing so, she exhibits traditionally masculine behaviour. She's aggressive, pushy, cocky... She fights, physically, with Flo. And funnily enough, her otherwise not so much of an idiot cousin Ben argues that the solution to getting into a fist fight would be to tell Flo she's a girl, "because he would have never hit you if he'd known you were a girl." Well, no, Ben, he wouldn't. But is that relevant? He leaves it at that, and I don't want to argue with his words, because it's in character for him to respond like that, but it did make me boggle (in a good way, in many aspects, because it just stands there for the audience to unpack.)
After she's been revealed to be a girl, the attitude of team towards her changes, albeit briefly. But most telling, Franzi's attitude towards them changes. Seriously, she giggled at a compliment over shooting a good pass. I cringed. This suggests to me that the writers have failed to unpack their characterisation ideas there. Because which is it? Is Franzi a masculine girl, who likes hockey and is not afraid to get into a (physical) fight if the situation calls for it? She's tough enough to play ice hockey in the district league; good enough to have a shot at being pro. Ice hockey is a sport where you can't worry about getting hit. And yes, while she is masquerading as a boy, she still enjoys being feminine as a girl; like I said above, I don't question her gender identity. What I do question is why she, when she can suddenly function as a possible romantic interest to most of the team, starts behaving like it's her own perception that's changed, when it is not her identity or outlook that's changed. Clearly, the writers could do some unpacking here with regard to the role gender plays in Franzi's identity and how she's perceived. And, absolutely, I would expect the team's attitude towards her to change, knowing that she's a girl. I do expect Flo's attitude to change. But in the end, what we mostly see is her attitude changing.
I also want to note that on the sliding scale of things, Franzi, when initially introduced to the team as a woman in the tryouts, receives the most harassment. And when perceived as a (sexually successful) man, enjoys the most praise. And as a possibly gay man, we're back to harassment, but not of the level she received while perceived as a woman. Yes, she is, by this point, well known and respected by the team, and this colours their behaviour towards her, but the sliding scale does seem to be woman, gay man, straight man in terms of social status. And so we come to Deniz.
Deniz is a highly visible out gay man, enjoying considerable status on the team (replacement trainer, even, at times). He is well respected (his authority is heeded) and seems to be well liked. Though I could insert something here about age difference, I won't. Because the show does my work for me by eliminating Deniz from the dialogue when the topic of Frank's possible homosexuality comes up. Deniz is simply not mentioned. For all intents and purposes, Deniz is made invisible, both by never being physically present (even in situations where most of the team is) and by never being mentioned (even by Flo, who lives with him.) I have no doubt, actually, that Deniz is made invisible here because of convenience (on the part of the writing team, that is). Deniz walks straight through most of the gay stereotypes and leaves little room for an attack in terms of not being "strong" enough or masculine enough. (Flo agrees; he mentions Roman as a classic example in comparison to Frank and why Frank is therefore not gay, but not Deniz.)
When I first started watching AWZ, coming from a steady diet of American and British tv, one of the pleasantly surprising things about the show were both the women and the way the female audience was treated. I felt far more included by a show that didn't ultimately advocate only a male gaze. In hindsight, I don't know how much of that is caused by the show actually having a combined straight male gaze/gay male gaze thing going on. Having said that, this is one of the few pieces of television that doesn't tell me continuously that because I am a woman I must (be desiring to) lose weight (and yes, if you think Katja here, you may ask me why I don't think that storyline advocates weight loss.) It has gender issues, but it objectifies the men as hard as it does the women. Possibly, harder than it does the women. I mention all of this because Franzi's storyline is one of those moments of fail that made me wonder if the writers thought this one through. (No, they haven't. I know. But a girl can dream, right?)
And I like this storyline. It's not my favourite out of all of AWZ's, but it ain't bad, either. I enjoyed watching it. I enjoyed watching Deniz play guidance counselor to Flo, I enjoyed Roman's clear setting of boundaries when Flo outs Franzi as a girl. And yes, I enjoyed Franziska, who resembles me as a teen in quite a lot of ways. I guess I've thought this much about it precisely because I enjoyed it so much.
[Notes for those new to this show:
Flo is the little brother of Roman, who's gay and seeing a guy called Deniz, who's on the ice hockey team with Flo & Franzi. Roman & Deniz share a flat, where Flo also lives, and Roman acts as legal guardian to Flo, because of a conflict with their (homophobic) father. Franzi (aka Franziska) is on the ice hockey team, initially pretending she is "Frank" and a boy, in order to not be mocked. This eventually comes to a head (it's a soap, okay?) but before then, Franzi falls in love with Flo and kisses him. This leads to sexual confusion on Flo's part. He flips out initially, but ends up kissing Frank (he doesn't know Frank = Franzi at this point.) The situation ends up being resolved by Flo finding out Frank is actually Franzi, and in an act of vengeance, outing her to the entire team (much to the displeasure of his brother.) Before Frank is outed as a she, the team suspects Frank's interested in Flo and thinks he might be gay. So far a quick sketch of circumstance. Currently, Flo & Franzi are an item.]