The incredibly popular U.K originated television series which was remade into a U.S version in 2011 has freshly made its way to Netflix. This Showtime dramedy has absolutely no filters. The dysfunctional Gallagher family is a bunch like no other. Resilient Fiona, the eldest Gallagher kid is the glue that puts the household together. The twenty-one-year-old acted as a better parent for her five siblings than her emotionally and physically absent parents Frank and Monica ever were. The show focuses on quite controversial and taboo topics, such as poverty, sexuality, mental health, and drug abuse. The rawness and unfiltered content is what makes this show great. With the abundance of characters, it’s easy to find one you relate to.
Instead of a rural southern state or the stereotypical grimy trailer park, the money-deprived family resides in Chicago. It goes to show poverty stricken families can be your next door neighbor. In the Gallagher clan, as soon as a child starts walking is when they’re expected to contribute some cash. Fiona works multiple minimum wage jobs from flipping burgers in a food truck to literally cleaning up feces, which represents the harsh realities everyday people have to go through just to get by. Instead of romanticizing the situation, it acts more of exemplification, and that there’s nothing pretty about it.
Early on in Season 1, it was revealed young fifteen-year-old Ian was gay, but didn’t feel safe enough to come out due to the dangerous neighborhood. When he became open about his sexuality, nobody seemed to mind, and it didn’t change how family and friends viewed him. The series doesn’t paint a lovely picture with all coming out experiences, though. Kash, Ian’s former boss and sexual partner was married, a father of two sons, and strictly Muslim. After his wife had found out, she asked Kash to continue living this lie which he later could not handle, and ran from the city and was never seen again. The neighborhood criminal Mickey Milkovich was also revealed to be gay after hooking up with Ian later in Season 1. He didn’t tell anyone until Season 4, due to his abusive and homophobic father. “Shameless” really demonstrates that everyone’s situation is different when it comes to coming out as LGBT.
Mental health issues and substance abuse runs in the Gallagher family. Frank and Monica are both alcoholics and are addicted to every drug out there. Fiona dealt with heavy drug use, and it seemed that Lip, the second eldest Gallagher couldn’t go a few hours without getting high. It was always known that Monica had Bipolar Disorder, and the Gallagher kids always assumed one of them was going to be diagnosed with it as well. At the end of Season 4, it was discovered that Ian contained the illness. He spent some time keeping it hidden and refusing to accept this fact. Once he was denied a job as an EMT in Season 6 Episode 12, he destroyed the stigma with a heartfelt speech. “Would you have hired me if I had checked that box that said I had a mental illness? What kind of choice is that? You think because I’m Bipolar, an illness that I am managing by the way, that I can’t do this job or half the people we deal with are mentally ill are living on streets because they can’t get help or are too sick even to know they need help? You wouldn’t refuse to hire me if I were in a wheelchair if I had a physical handicap or HIV. No? Because it is illegal to discriminate against someone who is handicapped, and I am handicapped.”
“Shameless” gives a voice to the people dealing with real life problems, topics that society is uncomfortable discussing. Even though the series could use more POC (people of color) characters, they do extremely well with representation in other departments. I recommend you give this show a shot, but it’s probably a good idea to not watch this with your parents!
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