Sometimes, the way a story is presented can be just as important as the story itself. The colors, music, lighting, and visual details of a work of art can communicate emotions and ideas that words alone cannot fully express. HBO’s drama series Euphoria follows a group of teenagers as they navigate addiction, identity, relationships, and emotional struggles. Although these topics are important to the story, the series is also known for its expressive makeup, colorful lighting, dramatic camera movements, and carefully chosen music. These artistic choices shape how viewers experience the characters and their emotions. In her essay “Against Interpretation,” Susan Sontag argues that audiences often focus too much on explaining what art means instead of experiencing its sensory qualities. She believes that excessive interpretation can distract people from the artwork itself. Although Euphoria supports Sontag’s argument by showing how artistic form creates an emotional experience, it also complicates her idea becuase the show’s visual and musical choices work closely with its narrative. Through the carnival sequence in Season 1, the characters’ visual presentation, and Rue’s relapse in the season finale, Euphoria demonstrates that the audience should pay attention not only to what a work of art portrays but also to how its artistic choices shape the experience of watching it.
One of the clearest examples of Euphoria’s use of artistic form appears in Season 1, Episode 4, “Shook Ones Pt. II,” during the school carnival. The episode follows several characters as their different personal problems unfold in the same crowded environment. Instead of immediately cutting between separate scenes, the camera moves through the carnival, following different characters and connecting their experiences. The movement takes viewers past the carnival booths and rides, introducing the characters through their actions and interactions. Bright lights, colorful attractions, crowds, and music create an energetic atmosphere, but the events taking place beneath this excitement are often disturbing. As the camera moves from one character to another, the audience experiences the carnival as a continuous environment filled with different emotions and conflict. The camera’s movement creates a feeling of restlessness becuase viewers are constantly being pulled toward another part of the scene.
This sequence supports Sontag’s argument that audiences should pay more attention to the form of an artwork. She writes, “What is needed, first, is more attention to form in art” (Sontag 8). Her statement encourages viewers to notice how artistic choices affect their experience instead of concentrating exclusively on a work’s message. In the carnival sequence, the camera movement is important because it determines how the audience experiences the setting. The continuous movement makes the carnival feel crowded and unpredictable, while the colorful lights and surrounding activity create an overwhelming sensory environment. The viewer does not simply receive information about what each character is doing, the camera creates the feeling of moving through the same chaotic space. Even without analysing what every color or movement symbolizes, viewers can recognize how the sequence creates excitement and tension. The artistic form becomes part of the experience itself. The scene shows that the way an event is filmed can be just as important as the event being portrayed.
The carnival sequence also reveals how the series uses visual details to create emotional contrasts. The bright, entertaining environment does not make the characters’ problems disappear. Instead, the cheerful setting makes some of the darker events feel even more disturbing. While the carnival continues around them, Nate confronts Maddy, and the situation becomes violent. Jules later meets Nate, who has been pretending ot be someone else online, and discovers that he intends to threaten and manipulate her. The colorful attractions and lively atmosphere contrast with the fear and tension of these encounters. This contrast makes the carnival feel more complicated than a simple place for entertainment. The setting can look exciting while the people within it experience anxiety, humiliation, or danger. The audience can appreciate the visual contrast itself without reducing it to one fixed interpretation. At the same time, knowing what happens to the characters gives the scene additional emotional weight. The carnival shows both the value of Sontag’s emphasis on sensory experience and the way artistic form can strengthen the meaning of a narrative.
The characters’ appearances provide another example of how artistic form shapes the audience’s experience of Euphoria. Makeup, clothing, and styling help distinguish the characters and contribute to the atmosphere of individual scenes. Maddy Perez frequently wears dramatic makeup, carefully styled hair, and glamorous outfits. During the carnival episode, her bold appearance makes her stand out against the colorful surroundings. Her carefully constructed look contributes to the confident image she presents to others. However, when Nate confronts her and becomes physically aggressive, her appearance contrasts with the vulnerability of the situation. The scene places the audience’s attention on the difference between how Maddy presents herself and what she experiences within her relationship. Her makeup and clothing do not protect her from the situation she faces, and her outward confidence does not mean she has control over everything happening around her.
Jules Vaughn offers a different example of visual self-expression. Her colorful makeup and changing outfits help establish her individual style throughout the series. In the carnival episode, the contrast between the bright public environment and the threatening encounter she experiences with Nate makes her vulnerability very noticeable. The setting initially surrounds her activity and color, but her meeting with Nate becomes more tense as she realizes that he tricked her. The scene shows how the atmosphere chnaegs even when the location remain part of the chase carnival environment. Her visual presentation is one part of the scene, while the lighting, setting, and unfolding interaction shape the audience’s response to her situation.
Sontag warns against allowing interpretation to replace an experience of art. She describes interpretation as “a dissatisfaction (consious or unconscious) with the work, a wish to replace it by something else” (Sontag 6). Her criticism suggests that audiences can overlook the actual qualities of an artwork when they become too focused on explaining what its details supposedly represent. This idea applies to the visual presentation of Euphoria. It would be easy to treat Maddy’s makeup as nothing more than a symbol of confidence or to interpret Jules’s clothing only as a statement about identity. Although these interpretations can offer useful perspectives, they do not fully capture the experience of seeing these characters on screen. The colors, textures, and combinations of makeup and clothing contribute to the visual style of the series in their own right. Paying attention to these details allows viewers to appreciate the characters’ presentation without assuming that every artistic choice has one specific hidden meaning.
The relationship between artistic fomr and narrative becomes even more complicated in the Season 1 finale, “And Salt the Earth Behind You,” when Rue relapses. Near the end of the episode, the series shifts from the events of the story into a highly stylized musical sequence. After Rue uses drugs again, the camera follows her as she moves through her enviornment. Her movements become part of an elaborate sequence featuring a choir, dancers, and large scale choreography. The scene looks and sounds very different from the quieter, more relaiatic moments htat appear elsewhere in the series. Instead of presenting the relapse only through dialouge or a straightforward depiction of Rue’s actions, the show uses music, movement, and changes in visual style to create an intense expeirnece for the audience.
The contrast between the darkness of Rue’s situation and the scale of the musical sequence is especially important. The music and choreographymake the scene visually striking, even though the events that inspire it are deeply troubling. The camera’s movement and the number of performers surrounding Rue create a sense of overwhelming momentum. Instead of simply watching Rue make a decision, viewers are drawn into a stylized representation of her experience. The sequence can feel thrilling and unsettling at the same time because its beauty contrasts with the consequences of her relapse. The artistic choices do not make the situation less serious. Instead, they make the emotional conflict more immediate by allowing the audience to expeirence it through sound, movement, and imagery.
Sontag’s argument helps explain why this sequence is effective. She writes, “Transparence is the highest, most liberating value in art-and in criticism-today” (Sontag 9). By transparency, she means experiencing the qualities of an artwork rather than allowing an explanation of tis meaning to take the place of that experience. Applied to Rue’s relapse, this idea encourages viewers to notice the music, choreography, camera movement, and contrast between darkness and spectacle before reducing the scene to a simple statement about addiction. However, the scene also shows a limitation in treating form and content as entirely seperate. The musical sequence is powerful partly because viewers understand Rue’s history and recognize what her relapse means for her recovery. Without that narrative context, the contrast between the spectacle and the consequences of her actions would havea different effect. The story gives the artistic choices context, while the artistic choices shape hwo the story feels. This suggests that approaching the sensory qualities of a work does not require ignoring its subject matter.
Ultimately, Euphoria shows whya rtistic form deserves as much attention as narrative content. The moving camera in the carnival sequence creates a feeling of chaos, the characters’ makeup and clothing shape their visual identities, and the musical sequence during rue’s relapse transforms a painful event into a powerful sensory experience. These moments show that viewers experience a work of art through more than its plot or message. Sontag’s “Against Interpretation” offers a valuable perspective becuase it challenges audiences to notice the qualities of art before attempting to explain everything they see. However, Euphoria also shows that artistic form and content can work together rather than compete with one another. Viewers can appreciate the colors music, and camera movements while also understanding the characters’ struggles. Instead of abandoning interpretation, audiences should avoid allowing it to replace the experiences of the artwork. By paying attention to hwo a scene looks, sounds, and feels, viewers can develop a deeper appreciation for the ways art communicates emotions and creates meaning.
Works Cited
Sontag, Susan. “Against Interpretation.” Against Interpretation and Other Essays, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1966, pp. 3-14.
Euphoria. Created by Sam Levinson, Season 1, HBO, 2019.