More trash from those dirty Brits! I grew up watching British television… shows that my dad and I watched together because he found them so funny and I acquired the taste. First it was “Monty Python” which at the time was mildly pushing the envelope. Then we got into “Dr Who”, which is odd sci-fi rather than comedy but the effects were so bad it was funny. Then “Benny Hill”, which I never really found funny… though it was somewhat more offensive than most of what got on television here if I recall. I did not bother to watch that one. Fast forward to this century and we saw the arrival of “The Office”. I loved the British version and came to love the American version as well. Then they tried to import a show called “Coupling” which is a racy adult sitcom. I was glad that failed here. “Little Britain” made it to HBO over here and redefines the phrase pushing the envelope. When they did a “Little Britain USA” it went far beyond that even. We recently got an American version of “Top Gear”. The original is hilarious. I have yet to see our version. Now we have an American version of the show “Skins” and all sorts of people are up in arms. It is controversial and should be. It is the sort of thing that no teenager should watch, let alone Christians. I say that as one who probably has far too relaxed moral standards for comedy. In other words, some of what I find funny, I probably should not. Okay… I just should not. Skins is not comedy though and when BBC America ran the original, I found it very disturbing.
Skins presents a youth ministry discussion opportunity. If you are not familiar with the content of the show, a glance at the website will give you enough. Or you could read the review done by Focus on the Family. I find their reviews more than thorough. Even secular papers are giving this a bad review for inappropriate content. (“By and large, Skins is a repugnant, irredeemably nihilistic viewing experience for grownups—the very thing for which ‘off’ buttons are made.” Hank Stuever in The Washington Post) The Parents Television Council declared Skins “the most dangerous program that has ever been foisted on your children!”
So what is the opportunity? Well, obviously a discussion on morality in media… but even more interesting would be to see if students can grasp the impact of a show like this on our society. When we make deviant “normal” we lower the standards. Skins has that potential because it glorifies sin. Oooh… a conversation on what we glorify… that would be cool. At the same time, I think we need to be careful not to come across to students as legalists or holier than thou. We need instead to help them see the brokenness in sin itself. Jesus died for those kids.
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