Cassie in "Skins"

Cassie is first presented to us in the first episode as a kind, but ditsy, head-the-clouds girl who is mentioned to be in a clinic, although we are not told why, and many things about her are made a mystery. In the second episode, which is where this short extract takes place, nearly all of the focus is on Cassie, revealing her personal life to the audience.

The scene opens after a clip of the boys of the show running away from a house half naked while the sound of a non-diegetic rock music sets the mood and adds to the frantic feeling of the scene. When the the scene ends, and we cut to Cassie sitting on a bus, the sudden loss of the music is creates a powerful contrast, emphasizing that she is not a part of their hectic, happy-go-lucky group. Not fitting in is one of the major themes in this clip, and is shown at various points. To further emphasize how she is different to them, and as we are now shown, all other people too; soft, instrumental music fades in to replace the rock music. By all other people too I am still focusing on the bus scene, where there are various signs showing us that she doesn't fit in to regular society. Buses are very regular objects in society, and this tells us that the people on the bus are likely to be ordinary too. In this scene, Cassie, in her stunning white dress, blond hair and pale complexion looks almost angelic, which is the first thing which suggests that she is out of place, whilst surrounded by a very dull, simple mise-en-scene and passengers wearing school clothes, suits or just regular clothing. This is another contrast which presents Cassie as an outsider. However, the music and her appearance tell the audience that she is still a character to care about, and that she is sweet and thoughtful, which we already know from our past experiences with her. She is again left out on the issue of eating. Cassie is shown to be anorexic, which is the reason, or one of the reason that she was in the clinic. When she sees the post-it note stating "eat" and places it on the window, the camera shows us several shots of people in the bus eating socially, which is something Cassie does not do, again making her out-of-place. This is again shown when the young girl offers Cassie a biscuit, which is then pulled away from her. The young girl in this case could represent the innocence of youth, and reminds Cassie of how she used to be, carefree and without any of her current problems. When she doesn't take the biscuit, it reminds her of how far she has come.

Her lonely characteristics are also shown when she returns home, and it is clear that she does not relate properly to her parents either, who seem to care a lot more for each other than for Cassie or even their new baby, shown by how she interrupts them at the start of the scene, and how little they pay attention to her afterwards, when she lies about eating, before promptly leaving again. This relationship between her parents is also shown in the mise-en-scene, in the paintings that the husband drew mostly of Cassie's mother naked. The one in particular that shows how they ignore their children is the one in the baby's room, which shows Cassie's mother giving birth, but all the attention is fixated between the artist (her Father) and the subject (her Mother), leaving the baby out of the focus, even just after birth.

Cassie shows that she is very attached to the baby, more so than the parents, showing us that Cassie is responsible, and likes children, which is shown by how willing she is to spend time with the baby, offering to take care of him. This could be because Cassie is happy in the company of a person that can't judge her or insult her, but only love her as much as she does. However, it could also be argued that Cassie herself wants to be a baby again, to be young and innocent, which fits in with the toddler on the bus offering her food and how it made her want to be that young and innocent again. This also fits in with her drinking from the baby's plastic beaker and explains the non-diegetic lullaby that plays over the top of the same scene, when she is putting the baby to bed. In the same scene, Cassie takes a drug, which is shown to be one of her forms of escapism, and then looks up at a mobile hanging above her, which is clearly imitating the same view that a baby would have looking upwards from a crib. This tells us that in her escapism, she is a child again, proving my hypothesis.