HBO's We Are Who We Are: Coming of Age in Lasting Color
If we take a moment to think about what it means to be young, multitudes of overly-emotive buzz-words might come to mind. Angst. Ignorance. Chaos. Feeling everything, everything, everything.
It’s the new HBO series, Luca Guadagnino’s We Are Who We Are (stylized as WRWWR) that reminded me of these very moments. The show follows the lives of a bundle of teens on an American military base stationed in Italy; the camera weaves throughout their lives oh-so slowly, languid and balmy in a way reminiscent of Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name (2017). As I draft this from my back porch, fingers, nose, and toes chilled from the crisp Chicago air, I can only wish to be in this warmth.
It’s in an Italian airport that we meet Fraser (Jack Dylan Grazer), eclectic and blasé, from his painted nails and bleach dye-job to his short-temper and smart mouth. His mother (Chloë Sevigny) and her occupation drive him in and out of towns until they land, this time, on an American military base in Italy. He expresses his disinterest in the town to no end, and as we follow him roaming the base, we learn that wandering seems to be the best way to try and figure out who you are. It’s what much of the kids in this show do, since there really isn’t much else. There’s no room to get lost.
He takes a peculiar interest in Caitlin (Jordan Kristine Seamón), shadowing her as she ventures throughout the town. She seems to be quite the simple girl; she’s decently popular, goes to class, and is in a relationship with a boy named Sam (Benjamin L. Taylor II). But we soon discover much more than meets the eye. Fraser’s interest magnifies when he trails her down to a local shop to find her dressed in her father’s clothes, cap sitting low, getting a woman’s number. Harper is what she calls herself, not Caitlin. From then on, the two stick together.
Jordan Kristine Seamón as Caitlin
Jack Dylan Grazer as Fraser
She’s the power of the body. She’s the disruption of the enigma of the body, which is typical of adulthood.
Francesca Manieri, writer for WRWWR, on Caitlin
Much like Fraser’s outlook on life, I’d like to think there’s no need to identify with a version of ourselves that feels false. There are no roles destined for us, no matter how alienated we might feel from the world. It’s falling prey to the alienation from ourselves that is truly harmful in the long run. Of course, these are simply words on a page. It’s not that easy, and I don’t think it ever will be. For the kids on the army base, things are straight to the point, no wiggle room. It’s Fraser who stirs things up, and for Caitlin, he’s opened up a completely new door and shows her that she can be somebody else.
They test the boundaries of their small world through the act of self-discovery. In the first two episodes, gender presentation and identity aren’t explicitly talked about. It’s in the motions, subtle but strong. Blurred lines. Gift-giving. Vague words with strong implications.
That is, until episode three. It comes to fruition as the two lay side-by-side on Fraser’s bed, looking at pictures of people pre and post-transition. Caitlin’s fingers run across the computer screen in wonder and curiosity, and Fraser tells her that “you can cut that bullshit.” The binary, the gender roles, all of it. As the camera floats around them, Blood Orange croons, “Come into my bedroom, come into my bedroom…”
Devonté Hynes, widely known under his alias Blood Orange, is the musical genius behind WRWWR’s score. From Palo Alto (2014) to Queen & Slim (2019), Hynes already has a bit of work under his belt; Guadagnino claimed Hynes was the only artist he wanted to make music for the show. It's what made me want to watch it in the first place. I’ve often caught myself wishing Hynes’ music could be the score of my own life; it’s nostalgic and familiar, stirring up a cosmic force inside of me that breathes, “burn bright and live.”
A few of his songs under Blood Orange appear throughout the show. Time Will Tell, though, off his 2013 album Cupid Deluxe, is the anthem. Diegetic, too, not just background music. Fraser plays it in his headphones often, winding it forward and back to hear the good parts, and when he shares an earbud with Caitlin…
Time will tell if you can figure this and work it out
No one's waiting for you anyway, so don't be stressed now
Fraser runs it back, and when Caitlin questions, “Again?” Fraser simply responds, “I like the way he says that.”
The lyrics are comforting in a way that’s adverse to the first three episodes’ set of titles, “right here right now.” Perhaps it’s a play on urgency. The way every moment of your teenage years feels so monumental. The way we have the innate desire to figure it all out. Fraser, though, seems to be in no rush.
