Denotation/Connotation Reading of Skins Posters

In this second image to end with I can see what seems to be a beautiful young woman sitting on a bed with a blank expression upon her face. This young woman seems to be wearing minimal; she is what I could only explain as half nude. To compliment her clothing, everybody else around her is half nude too. The main character seems to be wearing a transparent cardigan as well as simple underwear and nothing else; people’s body in the foreground covers her feet although we can see that she is wearing knee high tights that cover the scars on her calf. If we choose to look at the upper part of her body we can see that her hair is quite messy, and she has mascara on her face which has run down, which helps us comprehend that she has been crying. Now this image and costumes alone lets us begin to develop an idea of the occupation of the character. This character may be a prostitute or a stripper of some sort due to her exterior, and the clothing she chose to wear, or she could just simply be a misguided individual. We can see that this character is an adolescent due to her facial features, and the stereotypes that young people are misguided and are not sure of what they are doing, and how they dress is usually quit loose whilst on the verge on attaining adulthood. Also by the look on her face, this image may be indicating to us that this character may encounter depression frequently and may therefore be some sort of a drug user. We see her poorly dressed, and it may be a relation to the title of the programme.

The props within this image compliment it and add more detail to the character, hence refining the image. The thing about this image that’s iconic is the poster. It differentiates itself from other posters that use objects as props, and chooses to use people as props instead. The people that surround the main character within this image all seem to be poorly dressed, or not dressed at all. We cannot fully conclude their dress state, as some of the image has been cropped. Every person surrounding her seems to be paired up with somebody of the opposite sex, except herself and the boy behind her who seems to have his hat on. This may either mean that she only has one person to connect with in the whole world or that she may be or may have had sexual intercourse with the young man. Also the many surrounding her may be a metaphor for showing that she is struggling with peer pressure. There are tattoo’s, scars etc, to show the trials and tribulations of someone journeying through teenage life. The bare skin of the props (other characters) also makes a relation to the title of the poster/programme. The other characters also seem to highlight the importance of the main character in the image. The boy sitting on the bed, may still have his hat on due to insecurity.

The setting of this image is also pretty much obvious, it shows us that this character and the others are in a bedroom in which we are unaware if it’s her own or not. This location also helps us empathize with why the character and the others may be partly naked. The location of the setting helps us prophesise what may occur during the programme, probably that there will be a few passionate and sexual scenes. The wallpaper on the wall also looks ripped off, and may indicate that her anger has erupted and she decided to rip everything surrounding her, but kept a picture clean and sound. Maybe indicating something that it means something to her, or could be a metaphor for someone important to her.

The interior design flawlessly defines the location of this image as a bedroom, because it has the iconic bedroom object, which is the bed. Also the image shows us that this girl is making the transition from a teenager to an adult and is confused. Her being surrounded by many others sort of shows us that she is in the middle of a battle between the two stages in life and she is the trophy.

The colours within this image are a mixture. Some of which are quite cool with shades of blue and grey. The colours within this image are used to make a calm feel yet an emotional one. The colours on the main character are quite bright to show us, that the character is a good character inside.

The lighting within this image is very significant in creating the emotions that we feel towards this image. The lighting in this image seems to be natural lighting, and also seems to be high key lighting. The reason why I believe this is high key lighting is that nothing in this image is truly covered by the darkness. The reason why I believe its natural lighting is because I see light coming in from a window behind the main character, which is highlighting her importance, even though the window has been cut out of the image. Also it shows us that the lamp is on whilst light is beaming through the image, showing us that there may have been an all-night party. It’s an easily recognizable stereotype for teenagers.

I believe the way teenagers have been represented in this image is dirty. It’s a realistic portrayal to an extent, but not fully, because a few teenagers are actually respecting of themselves. I consider this image a negative depiction of teenagers because it’s based on stereotypes. I believe this image may not be found offensive by most, because the media persuades them into thinking it’s positive.