What I learned from Skins 2nd Gen (BBC show)

Post Reply New Topic

Skins gen 2 changed my life. Binged on it lately, and sure enough loved the true-to-life stuff even though a lot was exaggerated.

First off, it was so refreshing to see a show made in an environment where you could show people with real-life pimples and weird fashion sense having the full range of high school experience without making regulators and American propriety squirm (I'm a yank in case you can't tell lol). The parties could be over-the-top and a bit more college-like (or as you Brits say, uni-like) than what I heard from my acquaintances, but the general gist of how people behaved and learned about themselves rang true.

Second, chav culture be crazy! There's all kinds of people everywhere, not all like Cook and Effy, but the general high-octane atmosphere was something to behold on that show, especially when people unaccustomed to it got dragged in (Pandora and JJ, I'm looking at you...), and while here there's the usual trifecta of alcohol, tobacco, and weed, it was a bit interesting to think about the impacts of a sitch where half the people around seemed to be on as many pills as JJ and the impacts of an age of consent at 16 on youth sexuality.

Third, universal health care makes for less MH stigma perhaps but more "one size fits all" care. It's great to see people just heading in for care regardless of stratum, but it gave me some pause about the advantages of the struggling new halfway system in the USA where you get subsidized but don't have to be squeezed into the same box, especially with the relentless pill-pushing that we admittedly have here but not as much as I saw with the NHS psychs shown on Skins.

Fourth and lastly, the breath of fresh air of seeing an Aspie, especially a male one (Cassie was thought to be too I hear in Gen 1), portrayed with sensitivity and grace in a mainstream teen drama without the kind of over-the-top pervert nonsense Degrassi did with Connor. I'm almost jealous of Aspie guys growing up in Britain among a generation that came to know and love JJ's saga, and I wish that this sort of thing was on American TV when I was in college at least (I was already out of high school in 2007). Generation Z is gonna be lucky, but I still saw a lot of myself in him and he reminded me of some of my old pipe dreams of staying in Chicagoland and getting back into mainstream school (New Trier wouldn't let me in because I'd been committed to therapeutic day school) and keeping my childhood friends as they became streetwise and dragged me around to become a man. Mates that make you take risks and slightly less overprotective parents are part of the difference between being the endearingly weird guy who finds his way and the liberal arts college grad who missed out on the good life in both HS and university and might as well have gone to Harvard at 11 (the second is me lol), so there was something bittersweet about it, but I remember being that blunt and love that they gave examples, however fanciful, of how to react better for NTs that take so many cues from TV. It's part of what makes me want to take risks and go back to full-time work (I just talked about my life on a TV forum, whadda ya know?).

Anyway, can't wait to hear back from Brits and my fellow Americans, and anyone else with their two cents on Gen 2 or their best memories, or corrections to any misconceptions I might have (and I know I might have many so don't be shy).