Thursday 18 November 2010

Sexuality in Skins

The clip opens with a close up of Tony's face. He is staring straight into the camera as it starts to very slowly zoom out, you can hear church bells which implies it is a Sunday morning - this is a cultural code and could also be interpreted as an enigma code - the audience will ask questions such as why is he awake so early on Sunday morning? As teenagers are portrayed to go out late on Saturday night, a lie-in would be an expected behavior from anyone in their late teens - which the audience can gather Tony is from his face and the appearance of his room, specifically his duvet.
Tony's sexuality could be questioned as you look into this clip. The fact he is lying between the man and woman on his duvet could reflect his sexual preferences; possibly that he could be bi-sexual, or that he could be 'curious' and not have decided on being homosexual or heterosexual. The way the light falls on his face is a symbolic code, the light creates a shadow on his pillow of his face, which could illustrate he is hiding his sexuality, or he is changing into a different person due to his sexuality. The church bells could also show how the church disapprove of homosexual/bi-sexual sexualities, and that it is a constant reminder that he knows in society it is more difficult not to be heterosexual.
Another enigma code is the fact Tony wakes up before the alarm clock could infer he has been worrying about something, possibly his sexuality. His bed also obviously hasn't been slept in which implies he has been out partying the night before. As the alarm goes off this is an action code as he then immediately opens his eyes, inferring he isn't a deep sleeper, and gets out of bed, again contrasting with the idea that most teenagers turn the alarm off and go back to sleep. Also, the reason he has an alarm set early Sunday morning is another enigma code, making the audience wonder why he needs to get up; this drives the narration on.
As the camera zooms out and Tony's room becomes more visible, it is clear he is almost too organised compared to what most stereotypical teenager's bedrooms would look like. His room is decorated in neutral colours, contrasting the naked bodies on his duvet. Linking back to the idea he is unsure on his sexuality, due to him lying between the man and woman could be challenged as the man is lying on his front, revealing less than the woman who is lying on her back; this shows he could be more interested in women as the image reveals more than the man.
The naked bodies on the duvet could imply he is quite confident as normally male teenage bedspreads are chosen by their mother, and are quite plain. It immediately shows his taste and how he is possibly seen as a typical 'lad' by his friends. Another item in his room that indicates his confidence is how he has a supermarket storage item as a bedside table. Thinking about it logically the fact he would have to get the trolley into his house, up the stairs and into his room without his parents noticing would require a lot of confidence, or maybe suggest his parent's aren't bothered about what he does in his spare time.
If you were to look at this clip from a passive point of view it wouldn't be
obvious there are hints questioning his sexuality, yet the editor has clearly added these clues to give the impression that he could have different sexual preferences than first meets the eye.

1 comment:

  1. Izzy. This is another good post but look again at your use of terminlogy when discussing sound. Remember the terminology we learnt in class.

    Well done again.

    Oh and get cracking on something for Fusion.

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