Pop Vultures

Having taught A-levels in the UK for several years, I have come to one conclusion: either teenagers have changed a lot since I was in high school, or British teenagers are a wilder bunch than any of the Americans I used to know.

You scoff, I know. The American stereotype of the British is that of the tea-swilling, stiff-upper-lip-having, unfailingly polite sort. In my experience, however, that stereotype doesn’t actually apply to anyone under 25.

Perhaps a lot of it is due to the lower drinking age. When you can legally hit the pubs at 18, drinking at 17 doesn’t seem like such a big deal — to the kids or, it seems, many of the parents. If I, on the other hand, dared to stumble home drunk while still in high school, I was fairly certain to be grounded long enough to forget that Saturday night even existed. And, as we were all taught, the devil drink leads to the sex, so plenty of teenagers are sexually active, and very open about it. Seriously, I taught a 17-year-old boy whose parents had been bringing him and his girlfriend breakfast in bed for the previous two years. I think that if I or any of my friends had tried that, our fathers would have formed an angry mob, complete with burning torches, and chased the offending teenage boys out of town.

I bring this up because I recently got around to watching the first few episodes of the British teen drama Skins and lawdy, is it different from the American teen soap. The show focuses on the daily lives of a bunch of Sixth Form students and their various escapades. It’s not just that these 17-year-olds drink and have sex; it’s that they do it to ridiculous excess. They don’t just have a party when the parents are out; they trash the entire place, graffiti the walls and pass out in what seems to be post-drunken orgy bliss. They don’t just do drugs; they buy directly from the hardcore local dealer. And they don’t just have sex; they have lots of sex, and stare at the naked exhibitionist neighbor, and wander into the school’s staff showers while the naked teacher is changing (and linger to chat casually). Now, things may have changed a bit since I was 17, and there may be some basic cultural differences between American and British teenagers, but I would like to say, for the record, that this show is insane.

It’s too bad, too, because the drama is firmly grounded in reality, far more so than something like, say, One Tree Hill. The characters are insecure and lost, trying to cope in that weird no-man’s-land between childhood and adulthood. The actors are strong and believable, and the basic premise is sound — but the show always takes it one step too far. I would absolutely believe that a student could develop a crush on a young teacher, and there’ve certainly been enough instances of teachers crossing the line with a student to make that plot line believable. However, and I speak from a place of experience, I can not imagine a single circumstance ever arising at school wherein a teenage boy would actually see me naked. I rather prefer it that way, really.

The show tries to walk a fine line between honest teen drama and escapist nonsense, and it doesn’t quite keep its balance. The believability of its characters is sabotaged by the ludicrous excess, and the pure joy of a sex-and-drugs soap opera is weakened by story arcs that ask for emotional involvement. Whereas shows like Gossip Girl do not even attempt to represent the real world, this one pretends to do just that — but then repeatedly rips the viewer out of that sense of realism.

Maybe I’m just too old. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. Whatever it is, I doubt I’ll be finishing the first season.

Your turn. Have you given Skins a chance?