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SPREAD8 By E’Monique Williams THE HARBINGER Tony, the heartthrob, Michelle, his clever girlfriend, Sid, the sidekick, Cassie, the mental one, Jal, the mom, Chris, the rebel, and Anwar and Maxxie, the best friends are some of the characters that many young adults in the UK fell in love with in 2007. SKINS is a provocative drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol through junior and senior year of high school – or in their case, college. The series, now in its fifth season, finally came to America – with a remake. Is this a new addiction for American teens or is this a change that shouldn’t have come? Even though the North American adaptation is filmed in Canada, it’s nowhere far from other racy American TV shows, like Jersey Shore, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Teen Mom, 90210, etc. The US version features a cast of amateur actors and fresh writers – just like the British version - along with different plots and themes. Brian Esley, one of the creators of the original show, said that it’s very important to [them] that the kids aren’t seasoned professionals. SKINS is overdramatic anyway, so why not fill it with new actors and call it a soap opera. Aside from the fresh faces and name changes, a major issue to fans of the UK series is the end of Maxxie and the beginning of Tea. Tea is the “toocool-for-school lesbian” who replaced the original SKINS character, Maxxie. Part of the cast of Skins UK. Google Images. March 2011/Volume 11/Issue 4 Even after Maxxie got a sex change and dyed his hair black, the persona is equally energetic to me. Another characteristic of the show that many viewers don’t enjoy is the censorship of the show in the US. In Canada, were a lot of the filming takes place, their networks don’t censor anything. Yet, only in America, we censor things to protect our children’s ear from the negativities of the world. Overall, the show has been successful; despite major companies pulling ads for the show and parents bonding together to form a behemoth and telling you “you shouldn’t watch this because other parents say so”. Do people still play Dead Space even after the commercial clearly says “YOUR MOM WILL HATE THIS”? I think so. With people, you can’t always expect the feedback to be positive – or negative; you have different sides. You have one side that applauds the show. “It’s not as good as the UK one but it’s entertaining and dramatic,” said Miguel Insignares, a sophomore. “They are either really upset that it’s similar or really upset that it’s different. Or both, which is weird, says Sofia D’Elia, who plays Tea in the US adaptation of the series. The difference is that on E4 – your basic HBO – you can do so much more than MTV. Even with the already controversial shows on MTV, Skins still lives up to its reputation, regardless of the country.
March 2011/Volume 11/Issue 4 By Emily Rodriguez THE HARBINGER Skins has been named the “most dangerous program” by the Parents Television Council. As the controversy surrounding the show grows, advertisers have begun to remove commercials from the shows time slot. The TV show, based off the hit U.K. series of the same name, follows a group of experimental and sex-obsessed teenagers in their last years of high school in Baltimore. The biggest problem concerning the show is that the actors casted to play the roles of these teenagers range from the ages of 15 to 19 and some scenes may violate federal child pornography statutes. Legal definitions of child pornography say that it is any “visual depiction, including any video, picture or computer-generated picture. . . of sexually explicit conduct, where the production of such visual depiction involves the use of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.” Anyone younger than 18 is considered to be a minor. The Parents Television Council condemned the show for its “graphic content involving high school children on a scale never before seen on TV” and called on Congress and the Justice Department to open an investigation regarding child pornography and exploitation. They also began to criticize Taco Bell for advertising and sponsoring “a program that glorifies teen drug and alcohol abuse in addition to sexual The cast of Skins US. Google Images. content involving minors that could actually be illegal.” Taco Bell, a public company, pulled its advertisements to avoid any sort of controversy. The company stated that it shifted to other programs because Skins was “not fit for [the] brand.” “The American version is way cleaner than the U.K. version,” said Ivan Montoya, a sophomore in the Health Academy, “if Skins gets censored even more, then there isn’t really a point to the show.” Ever since the sexual content of the show came under scrutiny, a half-dozen advertisers have publicly distanced themselves from the new provocative series including General Motors, Wrigley, H&R Block, Schick, Foot Locker, and Subway. To make up for the loss, MTV has rearranged the length and contents of their commercials. The commercials will now primarily consist of promotional spots for MTV’s own shows like Teen Mom, their own public service announcements against online harassment and anti-gay language, and film trailers, especially ones that are for older audiences to counter complaints that advertisers in controversial shows are looking to reach younger consumers. Companies that haven’t pulled out their ads, like Red Bull and Zeno Hot Spot, are still being urged by the Parents Television Council to do so. SPREAD9
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