‘Skins’ on MTV paints depraved, amusing picture of U.S. teen life

By April Wood
The Guardsman

Honestly,  was anyone terribly surprised when they heard MTV had debuted an  ultra-controversial new series starring unrealistically attractive  teenagers who get drunk, have sex, pop pills and crash SUVs into rivers?

MTV  shows “Teen Mom” and “Jersey Shore” — hardly pillars of moral  example-setting — were running ad nauseam on the network. “Jersey Shore”  garnered record-breaking ratings for the channel and skyrocketed its  decidedly non-star-worthy stars to mega-fame for no apparent reason  other than their ability to get drunk, have sex and curse like a pack of  sailors on steroids.

This  jaded consumer of trash culture wasn’t hedging her bets that new  barriers of shock entertainment were going to be crossed by “Skins”, an  American version of the British drama of the same name that made its  U.S. premiere on Jan. 24.

When  I reluctantly tuned in via MTV.com several weeks into the show’s run,  however, I was pleasantly surprised to find my mouth frozen into the  lock-jaw position for a good duration of my viewership as I witnessed  innovative displays of depravity by the show’s cast of nine major  characters.

Take  Tea for instance, a 16-year-old lesbian whose extracurricular  activities include casually swigging from airplane bottles of vodka  during passing period, masturbating to her Audrey Hepburn poster and  drunkenly vomiting off the side of a playground merry-go-round in broad  daylight. She then nonchalantly cleanses her pallet by gargling from her  fifth
of vodka and goes back for another spin.

And  she’s hip too. Instead of getting down to Katy Perry and Lil’ Wayne at  the school dance, Tea’s idea of a good time is sneaking into 21-plus  Northern Soul dance parties to cruise for casual sex. Not the most  believable character quirk for a 16-year-old perhaps, but kudos to the  writers for portraying a high schooler with alternative cultural  interests, anyway.

Another  member of the show’s rotating set of protagonists is Chris, a young man  with such an extreme case of party fever he becomes forced to conceal a  15-hour-long erection with duct tape after an overzealous night of  Viagra and ecstasy consumption. Chris even dabbles in an experimental  diet for his goldfish, attempting to sustain them on marijuana and upper  pills (the fish do not “sustain” for very long).

He  is also in love with his suspiciously young-looking teacher Tina. When  Chris is abandoned by his single mother and rejected by his extended  family (one of the show’s attempts at addressing serious issues), Tina  opens up her home to him for a night and presents him with a gift of a  new goldfish, swimming around in a glass of water.

Chris  promptly snoops through Tina’s bedside table and pops one of her oral  contraceptive pills, washing it down with the goldfish’s swimming water.

Any  of this sound like an accurate reflection of your teenage years? Not  exactly? Well, as clearly sensationalized a version of the teen  experience “Skins” is, the Parents Television Council is up in arms over  its portrayal of underage heathenism, labeling it the “most dangerous  show for teens.” The PTC has even accused “Skins” of violating child  pornography laws and is urging the government to take legal action to  ban the show.

Feeling  threatened by the media controversy sparked by the PTC’s smear  campaign, nine of “Skins” sponsors had pulled their ad campaigns by the  third week of the show’s airing. To add insult to MTV’s presumed injury,  the show’s ratings plummeted from its debut viewership of 3.3 million  to 1.6 million by the second week.

This  drop in ratings probably has less to do with parents hoarding  television from their children in fear of media corruption than it does  with the fact that “Skins” just isn’t a very engaging show.

Although  it delights with occasional flashes of brilliantly sleazy moments, the  dialogue and acting is amateurish to the point of palpable discomfort.  (Think Showgirls. Think Gigli.) And due to the show’s format of  shallowly focusing on the reckless behavior of one troubled clique  member per week, we never become deeply involved or attached to any one  character.

Rumors  have been circulating in online media that “Skins” will be cancelled  before it even completes its first season run, but MTV remains firm that  the program will fulfill its scheduled course.

The  show’s creator, Bryan Elsley, stands by the show with the statement,  “‘Skins’ is actually a very serious attempt to get to the roots of young  people’s lives.”

Er,  right. I suspect there are more than a few of us experiencing  difficulties swallowing that particular line, unless I’m the only one  here whose youth didn’t play out like a scene from the movie “Kids” on  repeat.

But  whether or not “Skins” is an accurate portrayal of The Youth of Today,  or even a quality show for that matter, the show certainly has plenty to  offer in the shock value department. I, for one, look forward to  witnessing what squalid little tricks the writers have stored up their  sleeves as the series plays out in this media firestorm it’s created for  itself.