Streaming on HBO, Euphoria is the biggest buzz among the youth right now. The show discusses all the hardships and struggles the youth of this era is facing. It includes drug abuse and alcohol, over-sexualization of women, psychological trauma, toxic relationships, absent parents, along with problems with sexualities especially the kind of hardships transgenders have to face.
The show holds the painful story of Rue Benett, played by Zendaya. The whole show is a narration of Rue herself and every character is explained from her point of view.
The show is #1 worldwide. It contains such sensitive topics hence, labeled as TV-MA, with an advisory for the audience to watch it with awareness of limits.
DIRECTION OF EUPHORIA
Director Sam Levison broke the traditional way of narrative by breaking the fourth wall and adding the voice-over to the Euphoria show. As mentioned above, the whole is a narration of Rue’s point of view and her explanation of the situation. The biggest challenge the show could have faced because of using voice-over throughout the show. But under Sam’s direction, he challenged that preconceived notion by keeping the show entertaining from the start. The director has expressively shown the characters and their inner lives giving the subjective experience. The show gives an impactful exposure to addiction, friendships that fleeting at a young age but leave an impact for whole life.
Cinematography
Euphoria feels too real even when it is not realistic. If not for the acting or the story of the show, one would definitely fall for the lights in the show. The cinematography of the show is its biggest success. The camera shows the real depth and feeling of the character, which is according to the demand of the show is the real deal-breaker.
Every light is depicting the emotional content of each scene. Each color is created with a mixture of RGB lights along with tungsten lights in contrast to daylight.
The camera movement has given a visual path to the realism of a dramatic situation. The stitching of separate shots together gave a smooth “single” take approach.
Characters and their Relation
Every episode is the point of view of Rue with her voice-over however each episode focuses on one specific character. This allows viewers to see the background of each character following their childhood, relationship with their families, and friends that have formed them to be like this.
According to the first episode, we generally form a perspective about each character however further episodes show what has really happened which has shaped them.
Rue Benett
With Rue, it is all about how over the years she has been a drug addict. The Euphoria series starts with her coming back from rehab. She has no wish to get better so she continues to take drugs, lie to her mother and sister. She tries to change the feeling of nothingness she is feeling by putting herself in life-risking situations. It is until she finally meets her fast friend, Jules. Rue soon develops feelings for Jules which also gives her reason to withdraw from her drug addiction.
The situation of Rue is appreciated more than criticized for showing drugs and alcohol. It represents the situation young teenagers are putting themselves in nowadays. It shows that how it is affecting their emotions by numbing them which is leading them to self-destruction.
Jules Vaughn
On the other hand, is Jules, played by Hunter Schafer. Jules is strong, bold, emotionally grounded with a clear objective of what and who she wants to be. She is a transgender woman with an eccentric style of living. The story shows her struggles before becoming transgender of how she used to harm herself in her growing years. The series has given ground to the LGBTQ community to live their stories in a fashionable and respectful way without regretting any part of it.
Nate Jacobs
Contrary to thee two is Nate Jacobs, played by Jacob Elordi. Jacob is a narcissistic male who deals with anger issues, immaturity and is disrespectful to women. It can be said that he is the antagonist of the show. He stems from rage and hatred towards people from the sexual acts of his father. The show has shown hints of Nate struggling with his sexuality. His character has set an example of how denying sexuality can rise anger and sadness among the person.
The show also portrays other societal problems teens go through these days such as peer pressure, body shaming, abusive relationship with their partners, struggling between their ambitions and dreams of their parents, and many other through different characters of the show.
Other Elements from Euphoria
Along with direction, cinematic view, and characteristics, the show Euphoria has influenced Gen Z through the make-up and the perplexed color palette. The make-up on each character not only shows their sense of style and personality but also their mood and emotions in each scene. The use of glitters, eye make-up, and rhinestones are used to showcase each mood. For instance, at the start of the show, many of the characters have used light colors and neon which depicts their fun and positivity but as the story starts revealing itself, the makeup becomes darker and less colorful, adding depth to it.
Conclusion
Euphoria is someone’s truth. Maybe somewhere someone is dealing with these problems in their life. It is a story of acceptance of who you are, who you wish to be and how people perceives you in their life. It showcases the importance of therapy that no matter what the situation is around you if something is bothering you inside your head, therapy is the way. The show displays today’s ugly reality of the generation which demands to be acknowledged.
