Skins - how are young people represented?

The UK-Based drama I have chosen to work on is Skins. There are 3 generations of Skins but I have chosen to only work on the first generation, as I feel like this generation is the easiest to work with and a lot more relatable than the others. The characters involved are shown below:

(left to right) Chris, Anwar, Tony, Sid, Maxxie, Michelle, Sketch, Jal and Cassie.

How does the use of costume represent young people?

As the picture above shows, many of the characters haven't really put much thought into what they are wearing, apart from Tony who seems to be dressed smarter than the others (in the very first episode Tony is shown picking out an outfit for the day suggesting he cares about his appearance) and Cassie and Michelle who seem to have colour coordinated their outfits. Apart from them, the clothes the others are wearing give off the impression that young people are lazy or don't give much care about the way they look. However, the colours that the characters are wearing seem to reflect their personalities: Sid who isn't wearing much colour is a dull and borimg character with not much personality, but Cassie on the other hand is wearing flowers and bright colours, to match her quirky personality.

How does the use of actors help to represent young people?

In the first generation of Skins, the actors are the same age as the characters they're playing (16-18) which is unusual because teenagers are usually portrayed by adults. The fact that their ages are the same helps them to identify with their character because they are most likely going through the same struggles e.g. exam stress, typical teenage problems. It also helps because it helps the viewers (which are mainly teenagers) to identify with the characters a lot more and help them to believe they aren't the only ones going through the struggles of teenage life.

How do the characters' actions help to represent young people?

Many of the actions taken by the characters equate to those taken in real life. The thoughts and feelings are the same of those that occur in teenagers. For example, Tony and Michelle are constantly on and off, but Sid (Tony's best friend) is in love with Michelle, which is something that could definitely take place in real life. Also, the character Maxxie struggles to cope with the fact that he is homosexual and finds it hard to tell his friends which is also a problem in today's society as being gay is still not accepted by some people/places. Overall, the show deals with real life problems, and hardly dramatizes them for television which helps other people to understand how young people really feel and the struggles they have to face.

How do the storylines help represent young people?

One of the biggest and most major storylines is Cassie dealing with her anorexia. She struggles with it everyday and constantly thinks people are judging her. In one episode, she was having hallucinations that involved her believing people were texting her 'EAT.' Her anorexia led to her attempting suicide, which isn't unheard of in our society as this problem happens often. Another major storyline is teenage pregnancy that involves Chris and Jal. This is a problem that is commonly faced by teenagers these days and Skins helps us to understand these problems by placing them in a show, which we can watch for entertainment but can also help us to understand the dilemmas faced by teenagers in the world today.