The ‘Leg/Foot/Shoe’ Metaphor (example: “Young Royals”)
Wanna know what my favourite shot on ‘Young Royals’ is?
It’s this one:
It’s from episode three of season two: We’re inside Marcus’s car and see its windscreen and the rear-view mirror (notably with the reflection of Marcus’s eyes in it). And what’s even more fascinating are the little items dangling from said rear-view mirror: one of those tree-shaped air fresheners that drive any sane person crazy and…a little decorative red shoe.
That’s my favourite shot (which is saying a lot because, on a show that’s just filled with brilliant, multilayered and symbolically meaningful shots, there’s some stiff competition, as I’m sure you all understand).
And the whole tableau has more than just a textual meaning, of course; all of the props in the frame have a subtextual meaning. And what’s even better: All of them interact with one another. (Remember what we said when we were discussing Simon’s locker and his middle-finger keychain? Props cannot be interpreted in isolation. When doing a shot analysis, you have to examine the whole frame and interpret all of the items in it together. Usually, one prop’s meaning interacts with each and every other prop’s meaning and creates one coherent subtextual message.)
Narrative-wise, the shot above is embedded in an extremely important context, too:
Marcus is driving Simon home after Simon tried to break up with him. Marcus did not accept Simon’s timid request, though. Instead he manipulated Simon into staying with him.
If you’ve been following this blog for a while, then you know that the writers of ‘Young Royals’ keep subtextually telling us that Marcus…isn’t Marcus, that Marcus does, in fact, represent somebody else in the fictional universe they have created for their show.
And that’s why that scene with Simon’s aborted attempt at breaking up with Marcus is, of course, far, far more meaningful than you’d think at first glance: It mirrors another story – a story that happened a long time ago in Simon’s past, prior to the first episode of the show.
The brilliant and deeply meaningful shot of Marcus’s rear-view mirror with the air freshener tree and the little shoe dangling from it has to be read in this context, i.e. not just literally in the context of a Marcus-and-Simon scene, but subtextually in the context of Simon’s past. Which is exactly what we will do in the text below.
We will take a close look at that whole shot and specifically address the little red shoe in it (...and the air freshener tree and even what tree exactly this is).
And we will do all of this in the context of examining a metaphor we have so far neglected to discuss: the ‘leg/foot/shoe’ metaphor.
Shoes, sandals, boots and socks are everywhere on ‘Young Royals’, and when you think about it, it’s more than just that: Feet, legs and even toes dominate the screen because they dominate the subtext of this show.
And all of them form one coherent subtextual picture.
From the ‘shoefiti’ created by all those old running shoes tossed up onto a tree in front of the school, to Sara checking out Felice’s stiletto just as she smells her perfume bottle and touches August’s photograph…to Wilhelm pulling on his trainers in the locker room with the kind of ferocity that’s born out of jealousy and longing.
From Wilhelm grabbing Simon’s thigh in episode two of season two to Boris massaging his besocked foot during a therapy session…to Wilhelm’s bare foot raised up on the wall of his room as he checks out Simon’s social media.
Feet, legs, shoes, socks…they’re everywhere.
And you know what’s so cool about this metaphor?
It’s incredibly common. You will be able to apply everything we’re going to discuss today to a number of other shows and movies: You’ll see the very same metaphor pop up in such different shows as ‘House M.D.’, the ‘Sopranos’ and ‘Monk’. (It’s probably not quite as ubiquitous as the holy trifecta of screenwriting, i.e. the ‘water’ metaphor, the ‘music’ metaphor and the ‘food’ metaphor, but it’s still reasonably common.) In other words, it has become one of those near-universal screenwriting conventions.
And the creators of ‘Young Royals’ obviously know all about that: The ‘leg/foot/shoe’ metaphor is written all over their subtext.
Wanna know more about Rousseau’s hind legs? About the real reason why Madison is waxing Felice’s legs? About why Boris takes off his Birkenstocks in front of Wilhelm?
...and what about that post-coital scene between Simon and Wilhelm in season three?
Let’s find out what this has got to do with Vienna, let’s take a stroll through the past (backwards!), let’s look at the footprint linguistics leaves in our brain, let’s do so step by step, but still get a kick out of it…and let’s tread lightly, yet with a spring in our step, in order to see how Wilhelm literally didn’t toe the line when he fell head over heels and met his sole-mate…