Cuckoo

minkyfan

As a full disclaimer, I'm not English. However, I do happen to have an Irish friend here with me! From what we understand, the uniforms are pretty standard. Have you ever seen The Inbetweeners? Similar to that. V-necks and sweaters if you're more posh. For the girls, the skirts aren't supposed to be short, but people roll them up unless they're passing by a teacher.

When it comes to the apathetic teachers and easy expulsion, I think that's mostly Skins exaggerating to make the kids more sympathetic and justify their rebellious natures, which if you stop and think about it are pretty ridiculous, considering most of them are lower to upper middle class. If their teachers were all kind and caring, their lazy attitude towards school would be much less justified and make them look like jerks. You have to make the authority figures stupid if you want the audience to believe that teenagers really do know best.

At the same time, it's implied on multiple occasions that Roundview isn't the best college and that all the slackers get dumped there. Since its reputation isn't that great and the students clearly don't respect the adults, I doubt many teachers aspire to work there, which could explain the lackluster caliber of staff.

HP-Skins

I would say mostly this was Skins exaggerating reality I doubt any college would allow Effy to turn up wearing the outfit from 301 and they simply wouldn't be allowed to expel students so easily.

I've thought this before and it made me wonder why characters like Tony, Jal and Naomi -to name a few- ended up there. I guess with Tony its easy to imagine him choosing somewhere he could easily gain influence, but for the others I'm not so sure. Though maybe Naomi heard Emily was going and couldn't help herself?

heimweh

Hey Welcome here and thanks for the thread! That's a really good question, I've been wondering myself I doubt Effy would be allowed to dress like that in a real college. Good point about Tony. Why would he ever want to go there? Maybe because of Sid?


Aww, that's cute

minkyfan

Also Jal was really passive and into music, so I guess I could see her picking a school where she could just sort of fade into the background and excel at her relatively obscure talent.

Dark-Zero

Being born and raised in the US i always wondered this. I knew it was exaggerated but Nick Hoult said it was because it would be boring if it wasnt. Which is true but i still wonder what parts were real.

minkyfan

Yeah, I think showing mainstream college would be boring, and you know the writers will literally do anything to avoid being boring.

Also, this might just be a wild guess from an American, but I think that the pub culture facilitates the party atmosphere for British kids a lot younger. Of course, American kids drink underage too, but usually not until high school or college. Every British/Irish person I know started drinking when they were 13 or 14 and pretty much spent all their free time partying. Needless to say, most of them weren't very good at school. That's not to stereotype though, I also have friends who earned their Master's and still drink four or five nights a week. It's just a different lifestyle that they've grown up with.

Dark-Zero

So in that way Skins is portrayed correctly?

minkyfan

I mean, since I'm not British I can't say with 100% certainty, but it seems like to some extent yes. Especially among kids who already don't care about academics.

But I still think the hard drug use is exaggerated (hopefully).

NinjaPenguinOnSkis

I think that's a cop out to be frank. Original Degrassi managed to make a legendary show based on the super ordinary, everyday lives of mostly average looking kids. It proved with good enough writing even the most mundane lives can be made interesting. My So Called Life managed to pull it off as well. Skins was smoke and mirrors. Extreme style over substance. Basically, hour long music videos disguised as cinematic drama. As the seasons wore on more and more people realized there was never much there to begin with.

minkyfan

Oh man, original Degrassi was amazing and super relatable. You've got me all nostalgic now.

Dark-Zero

Yeah, there is no way it isnt. Half of the time, drugs didnt even affect them. Not to mention their immunity to hangovers (except for less than a handful of parties)
Well, this was wow.... Ok let me start. First off the only way to compare Degrassi to Skins is the tone and the fact that is based around school. There is nothing else comparable about the show. Degrassi has more episodes in every season (having around 20 episodes every season except 1st) compared to Skins having 10 episodes or less. Second, Degrassi's main cast had more than 2 seasons for character development unlike skins not to mention the show started in middle school and went all the way to graduation, Skins started on the end half of high school.

Lastly, how can you compare a show that had one season to a show that had 7? Its first season had 19 episodes with the same running time of Skins with 10 more episodes in its first season. Skins seasons are based around school years, not a school year. 1 season equals one school year. The biggest thing is that Skins has at most 10 episodes per season and school lasts for 10 months, so 1 month per episode? They didnt even do that so it was that much harder with a gap in time so often.

And dont sit there and say something as idiotic as that last sentence, especially considering Skins is considered a good show by fans and critics alike. Skins has a 8.1 on IMDB and Degrassi has an 7.4. If you are going to compare Skins to a show, make it atleast make sense. Dont sit here and talk bad about a show in which you've talked about/watched for a while and say that season after season people realized there was nothing to begin with but yet you still watch. Contradicting and idiotic. You dont deserve to talk about Skins.

minkyfan

I know right?! They even make coke look like a piece of cake.

A friendly reminder to keep things civil. We might have different opinions, but we're all here because we're interested in Skins in some way!

CONDEMNED666

Its more realistic than something like James Bond, or anything with Timothy Olyphant in it (Justified/ Deadwood) where Olyphant always plays a character who carries a gun and never dies/ cannot be killed (similar to Chuck Norris)

Skins does have a bit of death in it, because death is so unacknowledged in showbusiness

minkyfan

Anything is more realistic than James Bond!