Blood and Water

I love cinema. It has been called ‘world making’ for a reason. It envisions different perspectives on what the world is and what it could be. All the stories that can be told in films and TV series refer to possible worlds, possible interpretations of reality. They invite us to consider whether we want to live in that version of the world. And if not, how to change it.

High school TV series are no exception. Their visions of the world are coupled with coming-of-age themes, deepening the question how we see the future world. Just like all cinema, they are deeply contextual. An interesting recent example is the South African Netflix series Blood and Water, a spin-off from the Spanish series Elite. Both are set in private schools catering to the whims and desires of the rich kids and their families. Elite shows more cultural and religious diversity, whereas Blood and Water is more diverse when it comes to ethnicity.

In both cases, the schools also provide scholarships, allowing a few students in from less affluent families. In Elite these are, for example, the children of immigrant shopkeepers. In Blood and Water, the ‘poorer’ kids are still at least from middle class families. In fact, poverty does not play a significant role in Blood and Water, even if it is a major issue in South Africa. In both series, crime is central to the plot. In Elite it is mostly violence among peers. In Blood and Water on top of that there are multiple cases of kidnapping, child trafficking and organized crime resulting in murder.

Much more interesting, however, is the role of parents and institutions in Blood and Water. Almost without exception, the parents are either criminal and end up in jail, absent, dead, or are so preoccupied with their own issues that they are not available for their children. Police officers are corrupt or incapable. Teachers and headmasters customarily abuse their power and privilege. And thus, young people are left to themselves to build their world.

That makes Blood and Water a grim portrayal of a society in which parents and ‘parental structures’ like institutions cannot be trusted. Psychologists would speak of insecure attachment, leading to anxiety, avoidance and aggression. For scholars of development, this reading of society asks which futures are conceivable and what can be hoped for, in a world without trust.