Character Analysis: Skins

Emily Fitch "Be Brave and Want Me Back"

This is a character analysis of Emily Fitch. In this post I will explore many things including: personality, motivations, family relationships, and of course Naomi. All following the cut.

To begin understanding Emily I feel we must start with the beginning. Her foundation aka family. As we all know Emily has a twin sister Katie. They did everything together and were constantly compared to one another-as twins sisters often are. Katie though always got the most praise the most attention. Being the extrovert that Katie is and how confident Katie seems to be. Emily feels like she is living in Katie's shadow never having her own identity and feeling as if the person she is would always be ranked second best to her sister. This takes a huge toll on Emily's self-esteem and she develops a minor inferiority complex.

This is even more striking as Emily realizes how different she is from her sister. Including her sexuality. Katie has been seen quite vocal about lesbians especially her reaction to the kiss Naomi and Emily shared quite a bit ago that was mentioned in Series 3. Emily also knows that her sexuality might widen the divide between herself and the rest of her family even wider. Emily has all these secrets and all these feelings with no one to be honest with. Constantly feeling second best and silenced amongst the strong personalities in her family.

This leads me to Naomi. Emily is drawn to Naomi and develops feelings for her-well some may argue obsession. Her happiness and world seemed to depend on Naomi noticing her and taking the chance to love her back. Emily was patient and persistent with Naomi. Willing to wait out Naomi's intimacy issues but at the same time never giving up, because Naomi was what she wanted. Emily put her full faith in her feelings and the potential that was their relationship. If it was if she thought that being with Naomi would make everything better. She would have confidence, love, and she would be able to be who she is freely outside of her family.

Emily is a kind person and when we first meet her she is a bit of an idealist. Especially in terms of love. Many people who feel insecure or as if something is missing from themselves often think that love will be the solution to their problems. Sometimes the best idealist becomes the greatest cynics when their ideals are proven wrong. Naomi cheated on Emily shattering her perfect picture image of what it means to be in love. This in turn made Emily bitter and untrusting of love for a while. Punishing Naomi through passive aggressive actions and to be honest it is not just Naomi who she was trying to punish. She also tries to punish her mother who was not the most supportive in terms of dealing with Emily's affection toward Naomi. By leaving home, talking back, and of course the famous forced make out session in front of her mother.

I am not saying Emily is a horrible character. She is an imperfect character and pat of Emily's imperfection is her combination being kind hearted but at the same time quite selfish especially when she feels disappointed in people. She has a hard time letting go or speaking her truth so it comes out in passive aggressive actions.

That being said...I think Emily is a character that many can relate to. Whether it is someone trying to overcome the feeling of being invisible or someone embracing their sexual orientation. She is a wonderful character and certainly a character with quite a bit of depth.