Dale Luck AS Media Studies

How are regional identity and sexuality representended in

the first 15 minutes of Shameless?
Stereotypes

Various stereotypes are portrayed within this section of the episode – mainly, stereotypical working
class family roles. For example, Frank represents the classic drunken father role, being catatonic
within the kitchen as he narrates about the family. Karen is a stereotypical slutty teenager, and
Sheila is a timid mother who keeps to herself (though it may be a bit over the top, what with the
agoraphobia).

However, a few of the characters seem to deviate dramatically (rather than just subtly, or through
hyperbole, as in the case of Karen and Sheila). For example, Ian is found to be a secret homosexual
by Lip (and is ashamed of it, to an extent, as seen by his reaction to Lip’s accusation), which isn’t a
very stereotypical working class teenager stereotype – however, he does seem to deviate from the
stereotype associated with homosexuals too, in that he generally fits in with all the others and was
only seen as different by Lip after the accidental discovery of his sexuality.

The adults are generally portrayed to be stereotypical working class characters, with rough,
immature sides (Steve being a clear example of this, not taking into consideration any consequences
for what he does, such as punching a bouncer just for the sake of it) – even the women (excluding
Sheila) are seen as outgoing and irresponsible, insulting the bouncer with words that could be seen
as very un-lady-like.

Mise en Scene

The opening shot focuses on the area rather than the characters, showing a focus on the community
within the show rather than just a singular character (which could also be shown by the fact that
Frank is the narrator of the show, yet he focuses on talking about all of the other characters rather
than himself).

The shots then focus on the main characters, summarising them rather nicely: Frank is staggering,
and at one point passed out, showing his drunken and lazy nature; Lip is seen being held up against
the wall in a dominating manner by Frank, despite the apparent ease of being knocked out by
someone moments later; the characters circle around Frank, but the camera focuses on them from
his perspective, showing the narrative of the show coming from Frank’s character but focusing on
the others; Fiona is shown laughing with a child, which matches the description by Frank of “a big
help – a massive help”; Lip stares intently at someone explaining how to put on a condom, showing
the focus on sexuality within this episode (with him and Karen, and his discovery of Ian’s
homosexuality); Carl acting like an animal, showing a wild side to his character; Debbie, acting sweet,
yet contrasting with a clip of her holding a rolling pin and a large knife whilst grinning, show her two
sides of being able to stand up for herself, yet also being sweet; a bonfire where it looks like the
entire community have gathered, where everyone’s joining in with throwing stuff at the car to keep
the fire going – this, again, shows the focus on community. Kev and Veronica are also shown holding
each other, showing their close relationship throughout the series.
Dale Luck AS Media Studies

The way that Sheila opens the door to Lip (who goes over to her house to help Karen with her
homework) is a clear portrayal of her characters agoraphobia, as she seems frightened by the other
side of the doorway – even in the way she speaks she can be seen as scared, with it being very
shakey and quiet. She even attempts to keep anything from outside from coming on the inside, as
seen by her asking Lip to place his shoes in a carrier bag, and Karen’s explanation that “she has this
thing about people bringing soil into the house”, and then just saying outright she has agoraphobia.
This whole scene emphasizes the shut-in nature of Sheila, with her remaining in the kitchen for the
majority of it, working on preparing food.

Karen’s clothing is very revealing, which, when accompanied with her actions in the scene of trying
to pay for the study lesson from Lip with sexual favours, portrays her very “forward” nature
effectively. Lip can also be seen to have a rather intelligent side in this scene, as he speaks
intelligently on the subject of physics whilst attempting to explain it to Karen.

The following scene, showing Lip changing his underwear whilst Fiona comes in, portrays a very
stereotypical family scene – Lip being a teenager who keeps his “activities” to himself, desperately
attempting to hide his used underwear from sight, and Fiona being secure with her appearance in
her home environment despite having clearly just stepped out of the shower (dressing gown and
towl wrapped around her head).

This child-like view of sexuality that Lip expresses is emphasized by the room itself – it has child like
decorations like aliens and graffiti on the wall, and the curtains have space themed images on them
like a child who wants to be an astronaut.

The following scene is laid out in a lot more adult way, but equally immature, with Fiona and Steve
meeting in a club. The scene is fast paced, even having a chase scene (that results in Steve
impressing Fiona and her friend, despite not being able to get her purse back). Steve’s child-like
nature is also shown very well in this scene, with him attempting to impress the women through
over-the-top violent actions, not seeming to take into consideration the consequences (such as
when he punches the doorman when he refuses to let him in).

The dialogue between Lip and Ian in the following scene again emphasizes their child like nature –
they begin to gossip about Karen’s sexual nature, and Lip’s disgust at Ian’s homosexuality.

The sex scene between Fiona and Steve is almost made to be humorous, done via contrasting the
romantic beginning and skipping straight forward to banging Steve’s head against the wall and
having sex on the kitchen floor.

Music

The music used within the opening scene – the theme tune, I think – is multiple people singing at the
same time, which again shows a focus on community within the show, and the “flute” like take on it
whilst Frank was narrating could possibly be an indication of “innocence” within the character’s he’s
speaking of (as he’s talking of them positively), as flutes often have child-like connotations. It could
also be representative of them all being precious to France.
Dale Luck AS Media Studies

The narrative of Frank Gallagher focuses on characters other than himself for the majority of the
time as well, which in my opinion is representative of how the character’s themselves feel – that
they focus more on the community and their families, rather than themselves, which matches his
general description of them being selfless.

Camera Work

The opening long-distance shots of Stretford set the scene for the show, as well as probably being
representative of how the character’s can be seen as stereotypical in some ways of the entirety of
the area (such as how This Is England used a montage to set the scene, along with focusing on the
development of stereotypes rather than characters).

The camera work also syncs in with the narrating voice of Frank Gallagher, as it focuses on a small
playground whilst he says “Now, noone’s saying that the Chatsworth Estate is the Garden of Eden -
at least I don’t think they are” – this could be trying to show how loyal the characters of the show
are to their culture/beliefs, such as Christians’s are to theirs.

There are a lot of close ups used in order to emphasize the feelings of the individual characters at set
points. For example, when Lip tells Ian that he knows about Ian being a homosexual, the expressions
of the two characters emphasize exactly what each one is thinking – Lip has a very serious
expression, whilst Ian is confused as to what to do (he doesn’t speak after Lip announces it, and
instead goes to bed and cries).