Representations on Families in Shameless:

Representations of “Families” in Shameless
Series 1 Episode 5
37:23 – 40:00

During this lesson, we as a class de-constructed shameless series 1 episode 5 37:23-40:00 in order to find out how the representations of families are portrayed through the camera techniques and also through the editing. In this episode we see that Frank is in a relationship with Sheila and that Karen is in a relationship with Philip; Karen is also Sheila's daughter. However, a problem starts as Philip finds out that Karen has been Sleeping With Frank and therefore attempts to beat up Frank as he is walking home alone, drunk from the pub. Once Philip has been dragged away from Frank, Frank returns home in order to be helped cleaned up by Sheila, as she could not leave the house due to her illness of being Agoraphobic. Frank however lies to Sheila and says Philip beat him up due to him owing money, at this point Karen is in the room and has to walk away as she knows it is a lie.

In Shameless, series 1 episode 5, families are portrayed to be untrustworthy, unstable and troubled. This has been created through the use of camera techniques as well as the editing.
While Frank has been the character in the wrong, he is portrayed in a positive way where as Philip is portrayed negatively even though most people would react in the same way if they found out their partner was having an affair. Also the issue of trust is portrayed strongly because we as an audience know that Frank has had an affair with Karen but witness him lying to her, Karen also witness' this and still keeps quite while her mother believes Frank's cover up story which heightens the dramatic impact for the audience.

This sequence begins with a P.O.V shot on Frank as it is tracking him walk down a street, as it is a P.O.V shot we can see the dashboard from a car, this portrays the slight idea that Frank could be in trouble as he is being watched from a distance. As frank moves further along the road alone, the pacing of the tracking is very slow, we can then hear the amplified sound of a car screeching, the music pace quickens as well as the pacing, which portrays the idea of danger. Then we see a close up of Franks face which is confused but portrays the idea of panic. We then cut to a medium shot of frank dodging out of the way to then see the car crash. The editing continues to get faster as Philip gets out of the car and starts to beat up Frank. The sounds of punching have been amplified in order to heighten the dramatic impact and portray the idea of trouble and aggression. Throughout the sequence of the fight the camera shots are very unsteady which portray the idea of the fight to be uncontrollable as well as unpredictable.

We then cut to a Medium shot of Sheila at the door, she opens the door to attempt to help Frank, but instead we see a bright light which signifies her Agoraphobic illness. As Sheila slams the door we cut back to the fight, the sound of the door slamming has been amplified in order to represent the sound of a punch. Mean while we see Karen from a fly on the wall shot in her room, the camera is very unsteady as she is going “crazy” in her room which emphasises the idea that she is not in control of herself any more and as a character is very unsteady. However as an audience we sympathise with Sheila as she is clearly confused and doesn't know what to do and has sent Karen to phone the police, but instead is having a break down in her room as she doesn't know what to do either, this creates the impression the family as a whole are very unstable.

Further on in the sequence, we then cut to a XCU of Franks bloody nose and mouth as Sheila is cleaning him up, this emphasises the damage done from the fight, however we seem to sympathise with Frank as we see him from a slightly high angled shot. The camera then zooms out to a CU shot of Sheila and Frank together as Frank is Explaining the story, in between his moaning and groaning from the pain which has been amplified in order to emphasise the un-stableness of the family. As he says its about “money” the camera cuts to a CU of Karen who is clearly upset/angry and cant take the thought of lying, she begins to move when the camera cuts back to Frank and Sheila. Karen's footsteps are amplified in order for us as an audience to know that she is leaving the scene, this is then reinforced by the ambiance of Karen slamming a door.

To conclude, the representation of "families" in shameless series 1 episode 5 has been portrayed to be unstable, troubled and untrustworthy through the different camera techniques as well as the editing. Frank has clearly acted negatively but has been portrayed in a positive way so that the audience sympathise with him. There is also a slight bit of humour created as we know Frank is lying about the situation, but covers it up by over reacting with his injuries. The editing of this sequence such as the faster pace enforces the idea of trouble and danger where as the types of camera shots portray the family to be unstable. This therefore does not portray the family to be nuclear as there is so much trouble and loss of trust within them, Frank has also lost the respect from part of his family, and the rest he has lied to which will coincidentaly cause them to later find out and lose respect for him as well.