Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Shameless

23:51 / 05.04.04

Emboldened by the EastEnders discussion...

I watched most of the first series, and have been watching the Tuesday repeats. I've really quite enjoyed it as a sort of magical realist drama (and been mildly disconcerted to find myself fancying the teenage 'Lip) but, as the series has gone on, certain aspects have made me go 'hmmm'.

Steve's character was always rather suspect: middle-class professional-to-be turned unconvincing car-thief and bizarrely competent committment-phile, he happily immerses himself immediately in the pram-faced (sorry, I know it's horrible, but she is - in a nice way) heroine's extensive family, and is equally immediately accepted as a substitute father-figure. The scene where she wakens slowly, the morning after their First Big Shag, to find he's cooked breakfast for her entire brood (the Feast of Saint Steven), and is packing them off to school with merry smiles... well, bleugh.

Steve's motives aside, isn't the whole premise slightly... well, patronising? Working class family sundered by runaway mother and feckless, alcoholic father, held together by tired martyr daughter/sister just waiting for a can-do middle-class hero (who *gasp* smokes! he's got the Common Touch!) to sweep in and show them all how it's done.

Thoughts?

Goodness Gracious Meme

10:44 / 06.04.04

oh absolutely. And there's definite strain of 'ooh, shocking, do working-class people really behave like that'-ness that I find a)pretty unconvincing as drama, and b)very icky, class-wise.

11:20 / 06.04.04

Yeah, Steve's character is very suspect.

At least Shameless isn't all "gritty northern drama" though.

Being from Scotland, I get a little tired of hearing about how fucking gritty life is north of the Shires. Apparently we're all honest, poor, victims. Fuck that.

11:50 / 06.04.04

Yeah, Steve's character is very suspect.

I thought it was interesting that, while they had an episode centred around the 'hAng the pEedo' hysteria which might ensue from being caught unattended with someone else's child, no-one's ever questioned the speed and enthusiasm with which Steve has insinuated himself into a child-heavy family structure...

14:54 / 06.04.04

...that's so cynical Ganesh!

20:43 / 06.04.04

Cynical? Nah, not really. My point is, that entire episode was gently pointing out the absurd hyperbole of 'pEedO' hysteria - the fact that, if a child is found in the company of an adult stranger, the spectre of the PaedoBogeyman automatically looms. Within this context, the fact that the sudden (literally overnight) appearance of Steve within a family composed largely of children goes entirely without any sort of suspicion from anyone strikes me as something of a disparity.

12:22 / 07.04.04

"...appearance of Steve within a family composed largely of children goes entirely without any sort of suspicion from anyone strikes me as something of a disparity"

Wasn't there a moment in the final (or penultimate) episode during the crucial "why exactly are you so interested in us?" argument between Steve and whatserface where she suggested something along those lines?

Regarding the "dragging them out of the gutter" bit, I'm not sure about that. On the one hand you could question whether or not they really were 'dragged out of the gutter' at all - their circumstances at the end of the series weren't that much different to their circumstances at the beginning. They hadn't been transported to a nice, cosy, middle-class idyll. However, it is true that Steve played a major part in getting them out of a lot of dodgy situations and he was the only middle class character, so it's not too ridiculous to suggest that there was an intended connection between the two - why else would you make Steve middle class? Why couldn't Steve's character have been from the estate like the others?

I reckon the answer to that might be in the aforementioned "why are you interested in my family?" scene near the end - it added doubt, and therefore interest/drama, to the love story. 'Love overcoming social barriers' and all that. I suppose the revelation that Steve got his money from stealing cars - a precarious way to earn a living, not the secure, reliable income we assumed he had - gave whatserface the chance to prove that she too wanted Steve because she loved him, not because he was a long-term meal ticket, or a route to respectability.

I did have my chin-strokey misgivings about the portrayal of the characters in general but, in a period when it's perfectly acceptible amongst educated liberals to express disgust and contempt for the poor (because they are neither educated nor liberal, right?), I thought it good that they were presented as likable human beings, who you wanted to root for, rather than the sub-human, dribbling, screaming fickos that yer average Guide contributor likes to fantasize about.

20:36 / 01.02.05

Revived this thread largely because me and Xoc missed last week's episode, and consequently have no idea why Steve's not around. What happened?

10:51 / 02.02.05

He went on the run because the Police are after him.

At the beginning of the episode he and Fiona went to the church to book their wedding and whilst in there his car got nicked. He asked the thin policeman to find it and tell him.

Little did he know that he nicked it as a laugh (and because he fancies Fiona himself)! In the car - sort of a Jeep thing - he found stacks of cash and loads of cocaine. Eventually he confronts Steve about it who says he's doing it to pay off an old debt and he needs it back without Police involvement. Thin policeman says it will all end in tears and what about Fiona (who I fancy) eh?! Apparently they ship the stuff in in the car and then Steve couriers it to the new location.

Steve promises him Fiona won't be affected by it at all, then goes and loads his Jeep up with the coke and the money for the drop.

He meets his drug acquaintances and it's all going well until thin policeman and fat policeman come steaming in trying to arrest everyone and make it look like they are nicking everyone. It goes wrong when the two drug dealers turn on the coppers (who had just followed Steve in were trying to blag the arrest - they aren't exactly an armed response unit!) who then let slip they know Steve. One of the drug guys pulls a gun on Steve and in the ensuing fight Steve fights the drug dude and the other one drives off.

Steve is fearful for his life but it turns out the other drug guy gets nicked driving away so now he is worried that he'll spend the rest of his life behind bars since his fingerprints are on the drugs, money etc.

Gulp.

He goes back to the house and tells everyone to pack and they all do so and are about to drive off into the sunset when Ian says he's not going. Then Lipp follows suit. Then the rest of them. Fiona cries cos she knows she's not going to go away with Steve aand leave the rest of them there.

Steve bolts for the door as the Sirens get louder. The end.

(also... as a subplot - which I think they are bringing in again next week - Frank suspects Ian's gay. To prove he's not, Lipp rushes to his rescue and tells him he's got a girlfriend. Ian and "girlfriend" then make a song and dance about going upstairs to be alone, where Lipp shags her nosily).

Tryphena Absent

08:50 / 02.03.05

"Din't he watch Grange Hill?"

Brilliant line, brilliant timing.

there's definite strain of 'ooh, shocking, do working-class people really behave like that'-ness

I think that element exists but it's made for intelligent viewers- if you can't see that the character's real inadequacies are human and not working class then you shouldn't be watching the show. That's not to say people won't and that they should be stopped but they're definitely missing something fundamental. The only person who's really shocking is Frank and he's... Frank and even he has some good moments. Mostly I love Shameless because I think it's struck a balance between emphasising class and representing characters as human beings. That makes it one of the best shows on TV right now.

09:02 / 02.03.05

Must admit, I like this a lot more now Steve's buggered off and other characters (the neighbours) have been brought to the fore.

11:42 / 02.03.05

He's back next week apparently though.

I don't think much of Fiona's new bloke - there's something definitely sharky about him. He did well on the roof with Debbie though. Bless Debbie.

I like Marty and Sue too. That was a good story line.

11:55 / 02.03.05

I think it's a classic. I've been loving it for a while now, and my brother has just got the first series on DVD, I've been laughing my head off and catching up on the episodes I missed last time.

Frank is my fave character, he just makes me laugh so much.

"Stick THAT in Tony Blair's pipe and smoke it!"

Tryphena Absent

07:37 / 10.03.05

"And did those feet, in ancient times, walk upon England's mountains green?"

Perfect. Sheila singing Jerusalem. Just really perfect.

paranoidwriter waves hello

23:10 / 04.07.05

This is Brilliant TV. MIssed it the first time round and been catching most of the current run of repeats.

Frank: "Look who's found her marbles!"

The Sound of Music! Beautiful!

Tryphena Absent

23:13 / 04.07.05

The Sound of Music! Beautiful!

I love that scene! It really is the perfect insight.

paranoidwriter waves hello

23:47 / 04.07.05

The characters are really well thought out. Their relationships and loyalty to one another is, quite frankly, refreshing. Story-lines, dialogue, acting? All perfect. It's like a modern Boys From the Black Stuff with a bit of Victoria Wood and Bukowski thrown in for good measure. There's a few programmes on TV of late that I've really been impressed with and it's programs like 'Shameless' that help me to remind those of my friends who are anti-TV how great the Idiot Box could be.

15:12 / 08.07.05

Favourite lines ever:

Frank, on helping Karen (his Mrs' daughter and son's Mrs) get over his (under duress, mind) dumping of her:

(hands over fiver) "oh, go and get yerself an e or summat"

Neville, Frank's father, on Young Frank's relentless manipulation of his innocent mater:

"I didn't know you WEREN'T autistic until you called me a cunt in suspiciously fitting circumstances!"

All Acting Regiment

19:49 / 08.07.05

I've been watching all the repeats. Lip's an interesting character. See, he does all the "working class teenage lad" stuff that you'd expect from any drama. But then he goes and does his bloody homework. In a totally beleivable way, including shouting at younger brothers who are annoying him, and all that. It's just so refreshing to see something real for a change, where he isn't a monster or a total do-gooder.

Compare Shameless with Coronation Street. Which do you reckon is more interesting?

paranoidwriter waves hello

22:19 / 11.07.05

The plasterer (I forgot his name already) begging Fiona to tell his soon to be cow of a wife that they hadn't slept together, and thus save the theme-wedding:

"Fiona!....[door closes]......My dad's got a fifty pound deposit down on a Gandalf costume!"

I nearly swallowed my cigarette. Brilliant timing!

14:04 / 11.01.07

I'm watching! Who's watching?!

I love how, in the space of an hour, we have a whole new section of the family (the trucker and Frank's first wife) who seem like they've been around from the beginning (bare in mind: I've only saw the mid-end of series 3 and the start of this one).

Speaking of wives, I can't get my head round how they've managed to make both of Frank's wives completely different yet completely punchable.

Setting fire to the suitcases yet trying to do right by her brothers. Debbie rocks!