Skins: An Unrealistic And Sensitialised Depiction Of British Teenage Life

The television show Skins has become a sensation amongst teenagers in Britain since its premiere in January of 2007, but its emphasis on extreme content has left many wondering how well it really depicts the life of the normal British teenager. Skins co-creator, Brian Elsley, has said that it's all about the writing, and claims that he has remained true to the way British teens are but is that really how teens are acting?

Though there is little doubt that many British teens try drugs, go to parties, have sex, etc., the frequency and portrayal in Skins has the show being regarded by many as being unrealistic. Skins tends to rely heavily on shock effect, with extreme storylines and graphic sexual content between young teens. It depicts teenage life as a daily routine of sexual promiscuity, drug abuse, parental disobedience, and hardly ever attending school, despite the fact that most parents find such behaviors to be the exception, not the rule.

It is not surprising that teenagers feel connected to the characters of Skins, who mimic their own feelings of unhappiness and loneliness, but teenage life as depicted by Skins tends to exacerbate their individual problems. Everyone has problems in life, but how many teens have boyfriends who die of brain hemorrhages, and must decide to abort their baby; or teens who finally open up to their parents about their personal problems, only to have them die immediately afterwards? Nothing ever turns out well for these kids, and that isn't realistic at all.

It is clear that although the show depicts many elements that represent a portion of how some teenagers may act at some points in time, it has completely blown things out of proportion to the point that it no longer displays even a reasonable minority of British teen lives, let alone the average. The only truthfully realistic part of the show is the emotional connection the viewer feels in regards to the actor, because we must all admit it is hard growing up. The show portrays life as one big depressing, hopeless act, which is a horrible message to be sending to our British teens. Summed up Skins takes the worst aspects of life mixes it with drugs and explicit sex and then sends this out trying to depict this as a realistic portrayal of how the modern day teenager's life truly is; Which for most teens, I believe this is very far from even being close to the truth.