'Normal People' - When Two Art Forms Bring Us Together

Book-to-Film/Television adaptations provide an incredible collaborative space for art to mediate in-between different forms - all while portraying the same themes and evoking the same feelings to an audience so personally connected. When a Film/TV adaptation does not live up to the expectations of the book's devoted readers, a division is formed. We hear the same ubiquitous sentence incessantly echo throughout the air: "it's not as good as the book". Ultimately, the film or TV show is no longer taken seriously and faith in adaptations is knocked back down and somewhat considered to be the inferior art-form once again. However, when it is done right, the readers and the watchers join together in their shared admiration for the story and its characters. A camaraderie is formed. Watchers become readers and readers become watchers. The environment around the story is filled with love and appreciation for both art-forms and what they have both been able to portray. This sense of community (especially in these physically separated times) is very much omnipresent in the atmosphere surrounding Normal People. 

As Sally Rooney's book of the same name has been so widely acclaimed throughout the world, to produce a TV series that could so accurately portray the palpable emotions experienced by reading the book would seem quite a challenge. Not to mention how much pressure that would put on its creators. But from what I am seeing in the abundance of 5-star reviews and ever-growing supporters and fans, it looks like they've done pretty well! I was so infatuated by the story of Marianne and Connell that I wanted to either rewatch the series straight away or read the book - I am currently on page 45. So although I cannot say much about how the series compares to the book, I do have some thoughts and gushing words I wish to spill about Normal People.

This series feels so real. They've shown that young people do have real feelings and real experiences. Often teenage romance is belittled and labelled to be just that: teenage romance. It's as if having feelings at a young age has less value to a person than having those same feelings a few years later in life. Not only that but there is an expiry date on it. It's just young love. Nothing more. Normal People argues against this. What makes the initial teenage setting for these two characters so interesting is how the school environment can manipulate a person's true feelings. In this case the quiet but popular, Connell (played by Paul Mescal), fears judgement from his group of friends if they knew of his passion for English or even his deep feelings for the unusual outcast, Marianne (Daisy Edgar-Jones). The pressure of living up to his friends' expectations of him is a common adolescent experience, one that he acknowledges later in his life. Ultimately, young people do have strong feelings but the social pressure that is heightened in a school environment along with the patronising attitudes that older generations force upon us can create a cluster of confusion and insecurity.

This story is about a relationship of two young people as they mature from school kids to university graduates, constantly being pulled apart by life only to find a way back to each other. However, looking past the romance, it is not solely about this relationship and whether it will survive. It is about the two people involved - separately, not together. Both Marianne and Connell are such intricately detailed characters. They are intelligent and curious but flawed and imperfect which makes them normal. As humans they have their struggles, whether that be with insecurity, abuse, anxiety or depression and I think it is so important to address the show's portrayal of mental health. It is incredible to see so many writers and production companies making an effort to include mental health and the real hardships that come along with it in their stories. The conversation has started and the world is now openly reading and watching and talking about it. In Normal People, Connell, once a reserved and laconic young man, talks so vulnerably and openly to a therapist, then immediately experiences a small sense of catharsis in his first step outside the therapy room. There is strength in those moving moments which is so important for people (especially young men) to witness. There is even a beautiful scene within Connell's blank four walls where he connects with Marianne over Skype - a situation so emotionally relatable in our distancing society today. They talk but don't say anything, while being together but so far apart. This shows how simple checking in on and being there for someone (physically or not) can be so beneficial to both parties.

The directors (Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald) and writers (Sally Rooney and Alice Birch) have been able to show so many different aspects to an authentic, modern day relationship: the communication, the fear of judgement and the sex is portrayed in such a brilliantly realistic but also beautiful and artistic way. They have presented through dialogue, location, delicate action, quiet pauses and lingering shots that there is poetry in the everyday. In fact, 'poignant' tends to be a word I use a lot to describe a film or TV series that emotionally connects to its audience, but it is a word that is so incredibly relevant when expressing or trying to interpret my feelings for this show.

Also bonus points for including the incredible Billie Marten on its soundtrack.