WE ARE WHO WE ARE: Today's Coming of Age Story

We Are Who We are is a limited series written and directed by Luca Guadagnino for HBO. It stars Jack Dylan Grazer and Jordan Kristine Seamón as Frazier and Caitlin, two teenagers who find each other on a U.S. military base in Chioggia, Italy.

The show seeks to explore moments in time and specific behaviours of characters. It ditches the narrative frequently and allows us take a peak as a character simply exists within a moment in time. Somehow these glimpses add to the already existing character development and provide layers that inform how we later relate to these characters. Personally it’s what got me invested and wanting more. We explore an interconnected web of individuals whose lives are bound by the walls of the military compound they reside in. Each of them unique and complex, these characters paint striking imagery, as Luca Guadagnino seeks to show, an audience, life as today’s teenager sees it.

I fell in love with the show because of the novel approach to telling a coming of age story: today’s coming of age story. I have seen them all and have practically exhausted my supply of good ones, so I was left with revising favorites until WAWWA came along. Amazing as it was, however, I left the show wanting more. As much as Guadagnino explored, he alas left some stones he introduced unturned. Tensions between military base personnel and the italian natives never saw a resolution. MAGA hats that make a short appearance yet disappear, never to be mentioned again. These storylines felt like Guadagnino contextualizing the events portrayed, though I feel as if their possible potential as arcs was too big of an opportunity to mention these issues. But then again, was that really the point?

There's a revolution going on inside of you. #wearewhoweare premieres September 14.We Are Who We Are is a new coming-of-age story from Luca Guadagnino (Call ...

In contrast, not feeling fully informed about the characters themselves turned out to produce a peculiar feeling. We don’t know how these people came to be who they are, but we’re observing who they’re slowly becoming. At times, we don’t understand what we’re seeing because we’re left out of the loop. Whether that is done purposefully or not is left to the audience to figure out. But it does highlight the messy nature of people and relationships. Sometimes we’re not going to understand everything going on with a person; we’re sometimes left to speculate what happened to make them act in a certain way. Attempting to understand these characters felt akin to exploring someone you’re just getting to know in real life. Nothing was romanticized or overdramatized during fights or arguments. Some of the complicated relationships portrayed felt authentic and relatable enough for me, at least to project some of my own experiences onto them; I felt “seen” at times because I could find parts of the characters I could relate to. My reality resembled an amalgamation of some of the moments we get to see. I am sure that this is why the show was as well received as it was. A large fandom came from individuals experiencing that same feeling. Whether they have felt it before or not doesn’t really affect how jarring those moments did feel. The brilliance of the show, to me, was to tell the story from the perspective of a younger generation whose insight and experiences have just seen exploration. Yet I feel like others, younger or older, can still find moments that hit a little too close to home. To me, it seemed to say that as things evolve and change, as people, we will always wrestle with the never ending exploration of one’s self. As different as our experiences may be, we will all share one version or another of the same angst that defines the human condition to this day.

Some of the show hits close to home as I mentioned, and certainly did not help that the soundtrack and score of the film were left in the very talented hands of Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange). The score is a key element that made the show as immersive as it felt. Beautifully crafted pieces of music managed to inexplicably capture the highly nuanced emotions that the audience was seeing. Original compositions accentuated by a very careful and calculated selection of tracks from the likes of Prince, Bowie, The Smiths, Etta James, Frank Ocean and Action Bronson, felt like someone took a peek at my playlist. A version of The Blood Orange Concert that our two main characters desperately wanted to attend actually happened in Bologna, and I was supposed to go along with my ex. Blood Orange is highly regarded by Frasier, an idol. Throughout the story we see Frasier slowly share his love for the artist with Caitlin and use it as a doorway to open up to her. As someone who often communicates through music (does that sound toxic?), I had never been able to see music, old and new together, being used on screen in the same way me or many of friends would. Once again, a feeling that a lot of the people watching would relate to.

Although it has its flaws, We Are Who We Are is a brilliant piece of art, writing, cinematography and styling. The care and attention to detail on every frame are palpable. Guadagnino experiments on the small screen and takes his time to peel off the layers of his characters, slowly exposing the audience to questions about identity, gender, sexuality, and mental health while trusting that they can find their own way to an answer.