Words to Lyrics Ben Ho's observations from the cloud

9 November 2009

Skins Skined: Setting and Environment

Filed under: Series — Tags: , — Ben @ 8:49 pm

This is the start of a long series of posts about the application of situations in the TV show Skins to normal life. Today, I discuss the impetus of everything I will write about, the environment of Skins.

Skins focuses on a group of coming-of-age teenagers (16-18). Each generation lasts two series, with the characters of that series written out after the end of the second series. We are now half-way through the second generation.

16 to 18 year olds generally begin to taste the freedom of life. So it seems natural for them to experiment with the wonders that have been unavailable to them, such as drugs, alcohol, sex, clubbing, etc… Add to that the frivolity and the diversity of Bristol, and there is half the recipe of what drives Skins.

The other half, is the mix of characters. Let’s take a look at Effy, who we’ve seen across the two generations. When we first see her in Series 1 (Ep. 8) she is already into the drinking, smoking and dangerous behaviour. By the time we get to Series 3, this earns her “queen bee” status (more on this later). She is seen as the one who wants to break the rules (supported by the rather interesting introduction by the teachers in Ep. 1) and rather ‘smart’.

Effy’s ‘best friend’ is Pandora. In Series 3, she wants to experiment with drugs and alcohol, and does so with interesting effects. By placing a ‘smart’ person next to a not so ‘smart’ person, well you understand.

Next time, I’ll discuss the ‘gang’ and the subculture of the ‘queen bee’.

22 January 2009

Skins: First Generation v Second Generation

Filed under: Forward Thinking — Tags: , , — Ben @ 8:21 pm

After yesterday’s start to my ‘memory dump’, there has been some criticism to what I have written. That’s fine, but I thought I would clarify what I wrote.

When I said ‘voucher’ as a gift idea, it was only meant to be an idea, and not a solid decision.

Anyway, next topic.

Well, the third season of Skins is about to start airing on E4 this week. I’m sort of a fanatic, so I guess the reason I am writing this is because I want to share my analysis with someone, out there. So here goes.

(Most of the base information is from Wikipedia, which is distilled from the Skins website.)

Creator Jamie Brittain said that there were some similarities between the characters from each generation. Some of them are very clear.

Tony’s sister Effy is now the leader of her group of friends in season 3. Tony’s best friend is Sid. Effy’s best friend is Pandora. Sid and Pandora share a few traits, such as the need to lose their virginity as soon as possible. I think Pandora is a little bit less ‘in the know’, but we’ll just have to watch the series.

Freddie, JJ and Cook are three best friends. Their personalities make for a brilliant contrast. One is shy, but great with magic tricks, one is a weed-smoking skater and the other is charismatic and sociable. This friendship is similar to Maxxie, Anwar and Chris. Their personalities are reflected in other characters though. It will be interesting to see how these three will turn out throughout the series.

Thomas is polite and kind person. He has just emigrated from the DR Congo. He can be seen as similar to Anwar, as he is the character with the stand out characteristic. (Anwar’s characteristic is the fact he is Muslim)

New in season 3 are twins Katie and Emily. There is also a brother-sister relationship present; Karen is Freddie’s sister.

Those are the main similarities in season 3. I’m sure that it will be a great season, no matter what anyone said, yeah?

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