TV Dictionary - Fleabag #2

December 8, 2023

TV Dictionary - Fleabag #2 from Sharon Abramovich on Vimeo.

TV Dictionary - Fleabag from Evelyn Kreutzer on Vimeo.

Friday, December 8, 2023

Creator's Statement

In my mind, the feeling of “revelation” is like floating away on the ocean. You enjoy the sun, the waves, the beauty that surrounds you… when suddenly, the beach is nowhere to be seen. But then, just as you wonder how you got here, an island reveals itself: great, full of mystery and possibilities, pleasurable and painful alike. It sheds a different light on all the seemingly meaningless experiences that led you there, turning each wave into a step towards this newly-discovered goal.

This feeling, of being led to an emotional-intellectual climax through light-hearted yet profound observation, is what I felt when watching the TV Dictionary entries and what also immediately brought Fleabag to mind. Fleabag’s emotional journey over both seasons is comprised of many tiny self-discoveries and revelations experienced by herself (as a character) and by the audience.

Beyond this, working on the video held many other revelations in store for me to come across. I found that the TV Dictionary format allowed me to take a playful yet highly thematically-attuned approach to the material, each dictionary definition of “revelation”/”to reveal” uncovering additional thematic layers. Suddenly, I had a clear way of stating the previously unspoken or undefined. I hope this feeling comes across to the viewers as well, and that it creates an experience where, just like in Fleabag, the profound emotional sum is greater than its fun and light-hearted parts.

Biography:

Sharon Abramovich is a Ukrainian living in southern Israel, and an undergraduate at the Steve Tisch School of Film and Television, Tel Aviv University. Her video essay, ‘Art and Ambiance’ was shortlisted for the Festival Adelio Ferrero Video Essays Award (2023).

Review By

Evelyn Kreutzer
Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF

Sharon Abramovich’s and my own entries on Fleabag share an interest in and meta-performance of the show’s outstanding rhythm—in both comedic and stylistic terms. This is a rhythm that of course strongly correlates with the protagonist’s inner drive and the complex, “polyphonic” family relationships with which she is faced, particularly in the second season. In my own reflection on the CST Online Blog’s series on the TV Dictionary, I stated that Fleabag is essentially a show about restlessness—a restlessness that is based on grief, guilt, and longing and that provokes her to both run away from and run towards the issues and people who have caused her pain.[1] The latter point, our heroine’s ability and fearlessness to confront and break through the polite silence of her family and the society around her (most brilliantly explored in the family dinner scene, from which Abramovich takes multiple clips), is at the core of this video’s take on the show.

Through the term “revelation” and through a seeming outward focus on the religious themes in the show’s second season, above all the central relationship with the priest, Abramovich dives deeply into Fleabag’s confrontational journey—a journey which begins with her non-religiously-motivated oath of celibacy in the beginning of season two and which ends with her peaceful departure from the show and from her semi-diegetic audience (us), with which she communicated throughout the show. The video maker cleverly plays with the placement of text on screen to allude to and explore the religious and iconographic intricacies and jokes in Fleabag’s church scenes, as well as the family dinner scene, which arguably serves as a “last supper” within the aesthetic of the show. In this, it speaks to the particular creative, epigraphic impetus behind the TV Dictionary prompt.

[1] Evelyn Kreutzer, "TV Dictionary - Binging/Watching/Making: Escapism in Fleabag, Friends, Stranger Things, and Yellowjackets." Critical Studies in Television Online Blog. https://cstonline.net/tv-dictionary-binging-watching-making-escapism-in-fleabag-friends-stranger-things-and-yellowjackets-by-evelyn-kreutzer/?fbclid=IwAR0I38Iw1tzSwmLK5CrHkN-etDkatdGUVDdRMpy4nB7j_u3xNOtQJRbIRoc. Accessed 9 October, 2023.

[in]Transition