buzzing

• The wallpaper: it's full of poppies, Jackie's favorite flowers. Jackie was the wallpaper of Shauna's entire life, surrounding her. Despite being a very obnoxious wallpaper, which might be to the taste of a child but not of most teenagers, Shauna hadn't redecorated. Shauna seemed to be allowed to do whatever she wanted with her space, so it's interesting that she kept this wallpaper. But also, poppies might have become Jackie's favorite flowers just because they were in Shauna's room. So who started the poppies thing? Where do Jackie and Shauna end and begin...

• Diverse posters taking up a lot of space: Shauna's trying to cover this wallpaper, aka to build her own identity, to express herself. And if Jackie didn't start the whole poppies thing, then it's just Shauna baring her soul to the world. It contrasts with the mostly neutral decorations in Shauna's future house: though many items have hidden meaning, it's all very symbolic and rather discrete.

• The pictures of Jackie / herself with Jackie: it's neat that the large majority of these pictures are on her mirror. These are what Shauna saw each morning: she saw not only herself, but also Jackie, and herself next to Jackie. (And I mean, the shots of Shauna's mirror only showed Jackie's reflection... The identity issues...)

Overall, Shauna seemed to enjoy/need visual reminders of who and what she loves. She put up several pictures of herself, too. A lot changed later on.

• The conjoined marmots (?) facing away from each other: codependency, toxicity, jackieshauna

• Dancers at the Barre by Degas: there's a similar poster in Jackie's bedroom, which I didn't manage to identify!

At first, it's a bit disturbing that Shauna's poster featured two dancers (despite how lonely she felt), while Jackie's only portrayed one (despite perceiving "herself and Shauna" as an inseperable item). It feels as though it should be the other way around. But these aren't something you'd put up as teenagers! They were bought as children, with/by their parents. So, to me, these don't inform us about Jackie and Shauna's relationship, but about the environment they grew up in, and the people they were encouraged to be.

Child Shauna could clearly express herself, her interests, her friendships. Her family couldn't buy an expensive frame, or/and considered that nothing about her had to be set in stone. Meanwhile, child Jackie was meant to be a lonely, pretty performer enclosed in glass. Everything in her room was in order, expensive and perfect. So false and lonely.

• Which leads to Shauna's blurry, blink-and-you'll-miss-it "performance between two dancers" poster: no words, especially if you consider the posters above?? Both dancers are clearly wearing the same blue tutus, they're most probably female dancers, but it's unclear whether they're embracing, kissing, or just dancing together. I haven't managed to find the original art, please please please hit me up if you did!!

However, displaying such obviously gay items (including the poster just above) isn't something a closeted teen would do. It reinforces my belief that Shauna truly thought she was straight. Still, these were meant to make us wonder about Shauna's sexuality: the scarf is hard to miss, even for a casual viewer. Maybe it was a misdirect, maybe it wasn't.

UPDATZ : it's "Ballerina on pointe" by Edgar Degas, identified by @yellowjacketsfashion! So NEVERMIND they are *not* embracing, I'm devastated

• Which now brings me to the large amount of rainbow stuff: homosexuality.

• Le Frou-Frou by Lucien-Henri Weil: only quickly seen behind jackie (!!), it's the cover of french naughty humor magazine, considered to be one of the most seductive posters ever. Why put up a poster of a mysterious seductress? Because it's edgy? Because you want to be her? Because it attracted the eye For Some Mysterious Reason? A mix of it all?

• The last jackieshauna straw: this bedroom looks almost exactly like the cabin's attic, which will become Shauna's new wilderness bedroom. By itself, it's interesting, the attic felt like home.

But also... Do you know who'll lose her virginity in the cabin's attic, on Shauna's bedroll? And do you see this shot? Insane.

Then, Shauna sure was an angsty teen with a rather rich inner life she liked to display:

• Shauna draws (part 1), The Eyes: this drawing (which is most probably hers, our creative queen) really adds a lot to her pre-crash self!

It focuses on perception. Eyes turning into teeth is crazy, Shauna already linked looking/being looked with consumption, which can have many interpretations (her codependency with Jackie, her destructive relationship with Jeff, how she perceived relationships in general...). Of coure it foreshadows cannibalism, and perhaps how she'll be observed and analyzed by the world after the rescue, "a celebrity" who never asked for it. And the whole painting might also be foreshadowing future psychosis, misshapen people watching Shauna, even in her own bedroom.

• Shauna draws (part 2), The Anatomical (?) drawing: It very much reminds me a vague drawing you'd find in anatomy books, representing a digestive system? There's the lower vena cava, the stomach on its right, maybe the gastro-omental artery underneath the stomach, and the spleen on its right (which shape ressembles more of a heart, though). It's very inaccurate, especially if she drew a heart, but that's not the point. Hunger and consumption and maybe love! The butcher and human anatomy!

(Or maybe it's not meant to represent much, but I'm having such a hard time believing that, considering how consistent/purposeful Shauna's entire bedroom seems.)

• Religious items/imagery: a prayer for the Virgin Mary (if I speak...), a priest, an angel helping out the desperate, a temple, and the representation of some form of meditation. Finding comfort, peace or/and meaning through religion/spirituality already appealed to our future cult member. These make Shauna's back-and-forth relationship with spirituality even more interesting.

• The pic of the Santa Monica pier + the "Azia, Live in London" poster : the poster isn't from anything, it's a prop poster. It's all about her ambition to leave, to travel abroad (and about Shauna being so fucking cool with her cool posters of cool, obscure bands).

Also, the poster includes religious imagery, a cross!

• Reality Bites (1993) movie poster: a documentary following, among other storylines, the life of a disenchanted woman stuck in a shitty job despite graduating at the top of her class. She's also trapped... in a love triangle... do I need to elaborate....

• "Between Us... The Bleds" poster: prop poster. Between them, there's blood. Skull, woman laughing. Okay Shauna :D Aside from the angsty vibe this prop gives Shauna, it's clearly the show kinda fucking with us. Between Shauna and the world, there's the taste and feeling of blood, which lingers for the rest of her life.

• Many books, CDs, and band posters: overall, it's a mix of popular (like the huge Nirvana poster) and obscure references (prop posters serve as "obscure references"). It gives her this deep, angsty and mysterious vibe while still being "like any teenage girl".

• FUCK YOU : FUCK YOU.

Finally, a few other interesting details:

• The bunny: Either Shauna liked rabbits, either it's just there, some decoration you get as a child and then simply stays there until you move out. Of course it foreshadows all the symbolism regarding rabbits. The possibility that Shauna might have liked rabbits before the crash wrecks my brain though.

• Dazed and Confused (1993) movie poster: it's about the unforgottable last days at school, which the characters struggle to remember... Yeah, you could say that!

• She's a soccer champion: for someone who claimed not to enjoy soccer, she sure displayed a lot of items related to it! Or maybe she wasn't lying, and I'm not sure which option is worse.