Conan and Normal People

I just finished watching Normal People. I loved each sooo muchhh. Their emotions and how it comes through is amazing. The pacing is so fast but I enjoyed it, it feels like a million things happen in every episode. The characters are so deep and layered I don’t know how to explain it.

Anyways! I watched it just because the song Connell by conan is about it. I wanted to analyse the connection between the two.

In this live stream after the release of his album found heaven, https://youtu.be/_GuulxUTSoI?t=839 conan mentioned that his favourite book from his early adulthood is Normal People, and he relates to Marianne a lot. In the story, Marianne comes from an abusive family and has to hide her relationship with Connell, both are themes which appear many times in Conan’s latest album Wishbone and in other times where he shares his personal life.

I found two instances in Wishbone, outside of Connell that are similar to Normal people. The first is the sound in the promo for the This Song music video which, to me sounds like a part of the soundtrack of the show. The second is much more obvious, and it is the shot of Will walking through the grocery store and seeing bran for the first time since they broke up. This is framed exactly like when Marianne and Connell are back in their town after they broke up. THE PARALLELS ARE CRAZY! I loved that he did that and added another layer to the music videos.

Connell:

And I almost hurled when I saw your hand
Down the small of her back

In the show it is emphasised that Connell is struggling to show affection to marianne in public even when their relationship is not a secret anymore. Seeing him show affection to a different person can cause thinking you’re not worth it like Conan says later.

And you remind me of how good it feels to hurt

Though Marianne is a strong person that always expresses her opinions and criticism, many time she welcomes and invites harm that she thinks she deserves. Her slowly accepting to asking for violent sex is a good example of that.

Validate the worst thoughts inside my head
That I'm not worth shit, and I'm better dead

Marianne’s brother once told her he wished she was dead which deeply hurt her.

These are all the parallels I’ve found for now and I am so grateful for Conan Gray for introducing me to Normal People and also just for existing.