Irish Youth, Materialism and Postfeminism: The Critique behind the Romance in "Normal People"

Abstract

Normal People, the TV series, aired in Ireland during the pandemic lockdown in spring 2020 and became an instant hit. This romantic drama, based on Sally Rooney’s acclaimed novel, offers an updated representation of the tensions inherent in the process of growing up for Irish youth, a context extensive to other Western countries. The aim of this article is to explore the critique behind the romance through an in-depth interpretation of the protagonists’ problematic process of coming-of-age. For this purpose, the dramatic aspects of this cinematic narrative are explored in terms of composition, narration and focalization. Under the critical lens of postfeminism, this article analyses how psychological violence and explicit and rough sex are used in the series as forms of (mis)communication, with a particular interest in the combination of camera work, dialogues and silences. Finally, this article assesses to what extent Normal People naturalizes mundane life and succeeds in adhering to the romantic plot within the frame of neoliberal and postfeminist values.