LGB Representations in Skins (TV)

liah

Do any of you watch Skins? If so, how do you feel about the representation of the LGB characters in the series?

Seasons one and two feature Maxxie, who is gay.
Seasons three and four feature Naomi and Emily, who are lesbians.
Season five so far features Frankie, who is possibly pansexual/bisexual (when asked what she was 'into,' she replied "I just like.. people," but no term was used), with gay parents.

I think it's one of the few TV shows that actually handles it pretty well. While a lot of people may dislike the fact that Skins features some rather unrealistic scenarios, I believe that, in spite of that, the interpersonal character dynamics and how they react to those unrealistic scenarios are some of the most realistically portrayed in the genre of Teen Drama.

Maxxie in seasons 1 & 2 was easily one of the most likeable characters in the series. He was sweet, affectionate, had a sense of humour, didn't take his sexuality too seriously, was a fantastic friend, but was still human and made mistakes. They treated him as another character and his sexuality was entirely secondary to who he was as a person, not just the "token" gay character that so many other teen drama shows try to incorporate.

Naomi and Emily in seasons 3 & 4, however one may feel about those seasons overall, had a full-fledged lesbian relationship, unlike season 1 where Maxxie's relationships were rarely alluded to. It was represented complete with coming out problems, social and family dynamic problems, etc. I thought they again handled it realistically and the same way they would any straight relationship on the show, the characters never felt like "token" gay characters and their scenes together didn't come across as exploitative to me.

Frankie in season 5 is so far a pretty interesting character, but with season 1 concluding I'm not sure if they're going to continue down the pansexual/bisexual route. It's all pretty unclear so far, but I do hope they continue along those lines, as I would like to see how they handle it.

So how do you feel about representation of LG(B?) in Skins so far, provided you've seen it?
Do you feel they've been respectful to real LGB people and the situations they may face, or do you feel they've been exploitative and used the LGB tag to gain watchers? Do you feel the characters are simply of the token variety in comparison to the other straight characters on the show?

Do you feel they're positive or negative role models for people who may be around the same age as characters on the show and therefore find influence in them?

What are your thoughts?

Chuchoter

I really should watch that series with Naomily, I've been told its amazing just whenever I try to watch skins I just can't get over how insanely unrealistic and silly the whole thing is, all anyone seems to do is have sex,get stoned and get hammered. Maybe my life is just incredibly boring though :P

bitter_lemon

i'll spice your life up crayon girl

wonderfulname

crayolastereo wrote: »

I really should watch that series with Naomily, I've been told its amazing just whenever I try to watch skins I just can't get over how insanely unrealistic and silly the whole thing is, all anyone seems to do is have sex,get stoned and get hammered. Maybe my life is just incredibly boring though :P

Season three was good, I gave up at season 4, it hurt my head.

The whole thing is horribly unrealistic just remember that it is fiction, its not meant to be

As for the OP, I agree that from what I've seem skins gives a very progressive portrayal of sexuality. I wouldn't see the characters as role models as such, but the portrayal of queer characters as the same as everyone else can only be a good thing.

SugarHigh

I think there is far too much analysis of LGBT characters in films and television. Anything that isn't seen as an ideal representation just gets moaned about constantly.

wonderfulname

I'm sorry, I failed to see any moaning about characters in this thread, might you be carrying over a previous topic of conversation? Have you seen skins? Do you have an opinion on the programme?

Killer_banana

I think Skins is one of the best shows on tv when it comes to LGBT representation. Mainly because the characters sexualities and romances are treated the same regardless of orientation.

I thought Maxxie was decent enough character although a bit underdeveloped and very underused.

Naomily was done very well for the most part (went a bit downhill in season 4 but so did everything else). I liked both characters and I liked how it was treated and written. They didn't completely ignore coming out issues and the like but they didn't focus solely on them either. The balance was very well done.

I liked Frankie up until the last episode when she turned into a whiny annoying selfish cow. That has nothing to did with her sexuality though so 'll stop complaining about that. I liked that she said 'I like people' because that kind of how I see my orientation as well. Only thing about this season I like really is how Frankie's sexuality has been handled. That said, however, because she wear masculine clothing it could possibly lead to people confusing pansexuals and transgender people as one and the same or thinking pansexuals are 'weirdos' or something if they read too much into it. I think it's interesting to see someone who doesn't label themselves on tv though, it's probably been done before but I haven't seen it before.

Annasopra

SugarHigh wrote: »

I think there is far too much analysis of LGBT characters in films and television. Anything that isn't seen as an ideal representation just gets moaned about constantly.

If you don't like the thread, you don't have to read it

keepkeyyellow

I hated Naoimi and Emily, I felt they were the oddest pairing ever and were only there so they could have lesbian sex scenes. But that's just me.