Skins Sucks
And who is it really for?
(GBR) Skins seems to be pushing the social boundaries. I find the new series unwatchable. It’s like a continuous Clockwork Orange: hooligans who find beauty in destruction—though I don’t think the developers of Skins are quite so philosophical.
With every other syllable being an f-word, Skins is nurturing ASBO-worth behaviour and forcing it onto impressionable teenagers. The two new episodes that I have watched contained filthy language, unnecessary drug use and certainly pointless sex-related scenes. Two hours worth of unrealistic, worthless, witless ‘drama’. These are supposed to be 16 year old teenagers, not 25 year old rockstars.
Skins is trying too hard to tick off all the taboos and supposed events in ones life. In the first episode, a character literally had to complete a checklist of school rules he had to break in order to have sex with the main character. Regardless of whatever crazy antics school kids are getting up to (being 19, I don’t think I’m that out of touch but I believe I had a relatively sheltered education) if this culture IS realistic, surely it is so disgraceful that writers could be seen to be encouraging or cultivating it.
Skins has a massive online presence and the excessive marketing on television means teenagers cannot escape from it. The hubbub around the programme means it reaches everyone and even if you choose not to watch it, you will definitely hear about it the next day. By portraying the characters of an extremely popular television show as cool, edgy or fun, the writers of Skins risk exposing the situations they get into as the norm and so its wide audience will emulate what they see on screen to fit in. This kind of peer pressure is of course damaging and if I had kids I certainly wouldn’t let them watch it.
I’ve asked two friends about their thoughts on the new series of Skins.
When asked about marketing and content:
I didn’t watch much of the last series… I never intended to watch any of it either, but everyone was talking about it at school so I needed to see what it was all about. From what I could tell from the few episodes that I had seen from the last series, it was pretty much about getting high and getting laid or whatever. Everyone was talking about the new series before the first episode had even aired! There was so much hype over a pretty average series since almost the same thing happens in every episode.
Annabelle, 19
When asked about the drug use, sex scenes and language:
It is completely inappropriate. I don’t know if the producers realise, but their audience isn’t just 16-18 year olds. The adverts for Skins are constantly being played and now my brother (14) has now started watching. This isn’t the kind of programme that he should be watching, but I find myself watching this rather adult programme with my little brother! All this sex and drugs that 13/14 year olds really don’t need to be exposed to yet. These programmes are teaching him all the wrong things and he’s certainly growing up quicker than I would like… He’s started to swear around the house. You know the next thing that’ll happen is he will start thinking that casual sex is OK or something? I wouldn’t like to think what the next generation will turn out like if they keep watching this stuff and playing it on TV as if it’s normal.
Annabelle, 19
When asked about the overall entertainment value:
I think the new series is good, but I would only go as far to say that it’s good from a ‘junkie TV’ point of view. The plot is unrealistic, frequently aggravating to watch and is simply cringe-worthy at points.
The sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle portrayed is entertaining for television viewing, however it displays it as an idealistic way to live. It is not in fact representative of youth culture, merely an extremity of society.
Lauren, 20
Although the two people questioned here are slightly above the age of Skins’ target audience—The Times debates about the viewership:
Who exactly is Skins for? It’s on at 10pm on so presumably adults, but it feels like a teen soap; which means you either watch it as dodgy porn, or with the yearnings of a crumbly coveting one’s youth again.
I do not feel as though their views are invalid as the programme has been advertised in such a way to attract other ages. The point about younger people also watching raises the question of censorship. Even though Skins is aired after the watershed, children are staying up late to watch what all their friends will be talking about the next day in the playground.
Contributed by Jess
February 24th, 2009
As a 26year old, I am oder than the target audience for skins, but would be the target audience of another program on at that time of night. I watch because as a program, it is adictive. Watching people hiding their issues and “acting” confident untill something happens and we then get to see the real character. The real character storylines are genuine, things that are happening in real life. But I don’t understand why they have to package it in a sex/drug fuel environment. Normal, “straight” people have he same issues and deal with them in much more productive ways than getting off it and shagging aound! I feel that the people behind the show might have had good intentions when first making the program, but might have got carried away when filming/writting it. I genuinely believe that whoever is behind the crazed sex scenes, or the wild house parties, missed out on something growing up. I think that they are reliving some miscapture youth, and are using the budget from the program to enusre that they never grow
February 24th, 2009
i completely agree with jess this season is totally overblown and unrealistic, even the worst behaved teenagers arent that bad, yes we do have casual sex and drugs in todays society but rarely in such high doses, Skins really need to rethink their script.
March 1st, 2009
I’ve been saying the new series is rubbish since it aired
There was something about the first one which was a bit better. The cast was pretty good. Although i personally hate it
My teen years were pretty wild but definitely not that ‘glamourous’
I think its highly irresponsible and supremely uncreative of the programmers to allow that filth to infect the nations tv.
Its unrealistic. Even if teens do act that way – its a highly compressed pseudo-rendition of an aspect of teen life that shouldnt be put on a pedestal by marketeers who at the end of it all, are trying to harvest a cheap buck.
Bring back “why don’t you!”. Or get something creative and uplifiting on the box. Now!
March 2nd, 2009
Thanks for all the support; I don’t want to stifle others’ opinions if they see Skins as a good show.
The response I have had from many of my peers is that although they think negatively about Skins, they still watch it, as it gives an insight (realistic or not) into lives that we do not lead. As long as this is still the case, people will continue to watch Skins, regardless of how far the content is stretched.
Duane, I agree that it is incredibly irresponsible, however it has still somehow been re-commissioned. Whenever any programme has changed its cast, the audience will always cast a doubtful eye over them. Saying this, the acting is terrible and even though I say this, there is still a little part in my mind thinking, ‘is this actually what teens get up to?’ and ‘am i too sheltered to realise this?’ so I will end up watching the probable numerous repeats on Sunday afternoons.
Carys, the sexualised environment is, I agree, merely trying to get people to watch it. It’s clearly a ‘taboo’ that Skins’ writers are using again and again, but I feel like the last two series’ had covered it, and a lot better than they are trying to do now…!
Alex, I can’t believe you just owned up to having casual sex, you’re in a long term relationship! I hope that ‘we’ was a general ‘we’!
March 5th, 2009
I found the first series different and refreshing, rowdy yet maintained a certain feel good, funny and down-to-eath texture to it. It felt like Skins was the kind of programme that could define or at least sum up our generation.
Series two felt like more of the same, only the characters were less cleverly played, falling more into stereotypes, the jokes less subtle and the plots more predictable and bland.
This latest series I don’t really want to discuss, as discussing would just acknowledge it’s value as a programme. This is something I really feel this abomination doesn’t deserve.
Skins has been a disappointment I will always remember; as far as one can be disappointed by TV anyway.
March 9th, 2009
This is an interesting post about ‘traditional media suckage’ – because TV is moving into ‘on demand’ services – it’ll be easier than ever to ignore programmes such as these. However I do fear that PR for such programmes will just shift to pimping a YouTube channel or iPlayer search. Until then Jess, stick to QVC or price-drop.tv for your entertainment hey?
November 16th, 2009
The sex and drugs don’t bother me as much it’s just that I find the storylines terribly hard to believe, the acting is pretty awful, and who ever wrote this show clearly knows nothing about teenagers. Yeah they like sex and drugs- sure- but that is not all they think about and every girl is not a slut.
August 19th, 2010
Skins isn’t for teenagers, it’s for mature audiences. The thing that went wrong here is what Skins has become, a teen-mania.
The first 2 seasons were great stuff, realistic characters and the ironic world that they’re living. The last 2 were pure CRAP! characters as false as an american school movie.