Four Things We Learned from SHOWTIME's 'Shameless'

1. Wealth Affects the Queer Experience

We are so often bombarded with representations of the middle-class queer experience, it is easy to forget the big role class plays in queers’ lives. When Ian becomes a go-go dancer and engages in sex-for-pay, we are forced to acknowledge the risky situations low-income gays are often forced into.

2. The Importance of Self-Care

Receiving a portrayal of a character dealing with diagnosed mental illness is a rare occurrence. Even rarer, a portrayal of a LGBT character dealing with mental illness. That’s why Ian struggling with bipolar disease was a groundbreaking moment, an explanation behind his waves of risky sex, obsession with partying in gay clubs, and occasional spurts of violence.
    
3. The Opening Sequence Makes Cameron Monaghan (Ian) Cringe

It seems Monaghan would re-film Shameless’ opening sequence if he could have his way. He became super uncomfortable when the sequence was brought up during an interview. “Are you asking me if it's weird that millions watch me masturbate on the toilet each week in our opening credits? Yes,” he told TV Insider. “Listen, all teens do it. I'm not ashamed to say that—but, yeah, I cringe! I also love that our opening is set in the bathroom, which is where we're all at our most vulnerable. It speaks to the raunchy, uncomfortably personal tone of our show.”

4. Noel Fisher (Mickey) and Cameron Monaghan (Ian) Met on Set

The two actors were predestined to play star-crossed lovers. Noel was casted as Mickey without ever reading scenes with Cameron and luckily the chemistry worked out perfectly. Cameron spoke to Buzzfeed about how he and Noel Fisher’s heart-melting chemistry: “What’s funny is Noel was cast [and] we never read with each other, so we’re lucky we had good chemistry, because I think a lot of this comes from compatible ways of approaching the material,” the actor said. “We gained a little bit of a rapport, a shorthand, by this point, which helps. At the same time, what’s really great about working with Noel is I don’t always know where he’s going to go with a scene. He might throw something new in or approach it from a different angle or find those little idiosyncrasies that [Frankel] mentioned. That gives me an opportunity to throw something back at him, so I think a lot of the discussion is now nonverbal. A lot of it is in the moment, in the feeling.”

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