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Skins: Pure
Sep. 21st, 2013 09:42 pmJust finished watching the Cassie episodes of the Skins season 7.
She was always my favourite Skins character, Cassie. Her kookiness hid some deep emotional problems, but underneath that she had an intelligence and a brightness that suggested that one day she'd overcome her issues and build a life both wonderful and unique for herself.
Pure is the story of Cassie at age 22, and I have a very mixed feelings about it.
(spoilers follow)
It was lovely to spend more time with this character, and her actress Hannah Murray is a delight to watch on screen. But damn this story broke my heart.
Because 22-year-old Cassie is sad and unsure of herself, friendless, living alone in London and working in a café while she waits for her life to begin.
The beginning comes in the form of a love-lorn photographer who posts pictures of her to the internet: beautiful pictures, but ones taken without her knowledge or consent.
Cassie is horrified when she finds out. She confronts her stalker, steals his camera, and is about to throw it in a lake when she stops.
And in that moment, I wanted Cassie to keep the camera, to teach herself how to use it, and to become a photographer. I wanted the anorexic girl who was defined by how she looked to become the looker, the muse to become the maker. I wanted her heart to burst open, and her to fill the world with her creativity and light.
Instead, she gives the camera back to the photographer, and asks him to keep taking pictures.
I get it. The world is complex. And deep-seated issues are not resolved in moments of symbolic epiphany.
But my heart broke for her.
The internet pictures are a hit. Cassie is approached to do modelling work. And the story ends with her life beginning again.
Which is where I have the mixed feelings.
I'm glad Cassie is happy. I'm glad she's moving on with her life. But modelling doesn't seem the healthiest profession for someone who has had anorexia and self-esteem issues.
And also: models are kind of boring.
Cassie has so much potential. I wanted to see her become a photographer or a painter or a zoologist or counsellor. Anything which draws on all that inner potential, all that intelligence and brightness, rather than her rather superficial talent to stand around looking sad and pretty.
Or perhaps my knee-jerk bias against the fashion industry is showing.
Skins: Pure. Wonderful to spend some more time with a character I love. Sad that she wasn't happier and making more of her life.
She was always my favourite Skins character, Cassie. Her kookiness hid some deep emotional problems, but underneath that she had an intelligence and a brightness that suggested that one day she'd overcome her issues and build a life both wonderful and unique for herself.
Pure is the story of Cassie at age 22, and I have a very mixed feelings about it.
(spoilers follow)
It was lovely to spend more time with this character, and her actress Hannah Murray is a delight to watch on screen. But damn this story broke my heart.
Because 22-year-old Cassie is sad and unsure of herself, friendless, living alone in London and working in a café while she waits for her life to begin.
The beginning comes in the form of a love-lorn photographer who posts pictures of her to the internet: beautiful pictures, but ones taken without her knowledge or consent.
Cassie is horrified when she finds out. She confronts her stalker, steals his camera, and is about to throw it in a lake when she stops.
And in that moment, I wanted Cassie to keep the camera, to teach herself how to use it, and to become a photographer. I wanted the anorexic girl who was defined by how she looked to become the looker, the muse to become the maker. I wanted her heart to burst open, and her to fill the world with her creativity and light.
Instead, she gives the camera back to the photographer, and asks him to keep taking pictures.
I get it. The world is complex. And deep-seated issues are not resolved in moments of symbolic epiphany.
But my heart broke for her.
The internet pictures are a hit. Cassie is approached to do modelling work. And the story ends with her life beginning again.
Which is where I have the mixed feelings.
I'm glad Cassie is happy. I'm glad she's moving on with her life. But modelling doesn't seem the healthiest profession for someone who has had anorexia and self-esteem issues.
And also: models are kind of boring.
Cassie has so much potential. I wanted to see her become a photographer or a painter or a zoologist or counsellor. Anything which draws on all that inner potential, all that intelligence and brightness, rather than her rather superficial talent to stand around looking sad and pretty.
Or perhaps my knee-jerk bias against the fashion industry is showing.
Skins: Pure. Wonderful to spend some more time with a character I love. Sad that she wasn't happier and making more of her life.
