MTV's Sordid 'Skins'
The cultural Left would like you to think that children should be free
to experiment persistently in the Laboratory of Life without
soul-stifling rules. They have limits to libertine behavior, to be sure.
No high school bake sales (encourages obesity), no bottled water
(destroys the environment), and absolutely no uncivil bullying of people
who are different than you (unless they belong to the Tea Party, in
which case you can blame them for random shootings.)
Now those secular progressives at MTV have opened a new front. They
feel one should enjoy a childhood stuffed with sex, drugs, and
alcoholism. That would be the message of their new teen drama "Skins."
Adapted from a British series and filmed in Canada, MTV boasts that the actors are actually under 18
- in another intepretation, we call them "children" - and that the
show's writers are barely out of high school, so its libertine escapades
are authentic, "the real secret lives" of teenagers.
MTV promotes itself as "the world's premier youth entertainment brand"
and "the cultural home of the millennial generation." It's so proud of
this show's sleaze that they're even rating it TV-MA (for mature
audiences only). It's not a warning. It's an invitation.
The show is so sleazy that the New York Times reported Viacom is now
pondering whether the upcoming third episode will have to have teen
actor nudity edited out so MTV won't break child pornography laws.
This show is so debauched that even the TV critics are panning it.
Washington Post critic Hank Stuever announced he would usually dismiss
the warnings of the Parents Television Council and other supposedly
uptight hall monitors of TV, but: "By and large, 'Skins' is a repugnant,
irredeemably nihilistic viewing experience for grownups - the very
thing for which 'off' buttons are made," even if for actual teenagers it
"might be something of a vicarious thrill." He reluctantly concluded
that "'Skins' is so determined to relate to hardened kids - without
sermon, theme or context - that it accidentally discovers a new
frontier in phoniness and filth."
The PTC has called on the House and Senate Judiciary Committees to
investigate Viacom and compel Attorney General Eric Holder to
investigate this show for possible violations of laws against child
pornography and exploitation.
The show centers on a ringmaster of sleaze named Tony. In the first
episode, he's busily arranging for his friend Stanley to lose his
virginity (that horrid yoke) before he turns 17. He tries to persuade
several high-school girls to be Stanley's "candy mountain," then settles
on a girl named Karen, because she'll do anything if you provide drugs,
or "a busload of bud," as Tony promises. How cynical is Tony? He
explains his plot to Stanley thusly: "So we go to a party and get some
girl racopiously spliffed up, in a confused state, and she comes to
believe, however momentarily of course, that you're attractive,
and...she bangs your brains out."
Tony is having trouble getting others interested in confirming the
success of his plans for Stanley because there is a "big gay lezzerama"
planned. One male friend (a Muslim that Tony pulls out of morning prayer
at the mosque) boasts it will be "Like live porn, man. And Chris said
we can probably convert them, it'll be like girl on girl on dudes!"
The episode ends with Stanley still a virgin, since Katie overdoses on
pills before Stanley takes advantage of her. Tony says to him, "That's
embarrassing," and Stanley agrees.
They should just call the show "High School Orgy." That's at least the
tone of the talk on this barbarity. But kids will be kids, as MTV knows
so well. "Skins" debuted with an audience of 3.2 million, and one
million viewers aged 12 to 17. They decided to watch because of an
intense marketing campaign from MTV that directly targeted this age
group. The creator of the show even bragged in an interview that he
would deliver kids to advertisers.
The advertisers came in droves, especially the movie promoters. Some
ads matched the show's tone perfectly, like the new movie "No Strings
Attached," which features Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman promising
to use each other for sex - until someone has an ounce of actual love
for the other one. An ad for the ultraviolent video game "Dead Space 2"
features mothers (or grandmothers?) tut-tutting the shooter game as the
announcer promises, "It's revolting, it's violent, it's everything you
love in a game. Your mom will hate it." That spot ran twice.
There was also an ad for Taco Bell to support this junk, and one for
Subway. Their new slogan should be "Eat fresh, but watch poison." It
perfectly matches the new rules of the cultural Left. Taco Bell has
pulled out now - but only to advertise on other MTV garbage.
