Skins - Mise en Scene

During the course of this clip we watched we were asked to analyse the character of Tony. There are aspects of the clip to suggest he is just the stereotypical teenage boy, however looking closely into his actions, appearance and interests it becomes more apparent that this is not actually the case.

The first view of Tony we get is a bird’s eye view of him in his bed. Here we see his bed covers of a naked man and woman and he is lying in between the two of them, which could possibly be showing his sexual orientation of being bisexual. The lighting on his face causes a shadow on one side which represents two sides to him, one of which is fairly dark. One way Tony goes against the stereotypical teenager is his liveliness in the morning. Teenage boys are often thought to be lazy but Tony is shown differently; he is lying in his bed with his eyes open before his alarm goes off. What is seen as even stranger is the fact that his bed sheets and neat and flat, as if he hadn’t moved an inch since he went to bed the night before. All of these give off the idea the he does not have normal behaviour, especially for a teenager.

After this we are introduced to Tony’s bedroom. It has a very dull colour scheme and very little on the walls. This is very boring and so represents him as a boring person as people’s rooms are often a resemblance of their personality. The room is also very neat and tidy, and so Tony is again going against the stereotype of a teenage boy. There are no clothes on the floor, and his shirts are neatly folded, as if they were still in the shop, in his draws. This could show that Tony has OCD as he also has a routine in the morning of working out, timing when to look out the window, and helping out his sister. It is obvious that it is a routine as his Dad comes in shouting “Every bloody morning Tony”.

Tony’s relationship with his Dad also allows us to create a representation of him. He manages to annoy his Dad on a daily basis, showing that he is almost in charge of his Dad instead of it being the other way around. It also shows that he is a manipulative person as he can easily manipulate his Dad whenever he pleases. The fact that he helps his sister out without his parents ever knowing shows that he’s also very sneaky.

In the bathroom scene we see him reading a book, ‘Nausea’ by Sartre. This is odd for a teenage boy to read and shows that he is quite intellectual and pretentious. We also see him in his clothes for the first time: a t-shirt, jumper, khaki chinos and white trainers. This outfit is not really fashionable but shows that he has his own style that is well thought out. Overall, the Mise En Scene of Tony allows us to identify a lot of his personality and show he is not your typical teenage boy, yet little things show that in some ways he is. There are also little things in the clip that still leave questions in our mind of what kind of person he really is.