Skins/ Teenagers and Contemporary Visual Culture

Welcome to the SKINS and Contemporary Culture interdisciplinary research and publications project. Now in its sixth series on E4 in the UK and first series on MTV in the US, the brainchild of father-son writing team Bryan Elsley and Jamie Brittain has gained popularity and critical acclaim for the honesty, authenticity and humour of its no-holds-barred depiction of the teenage experience. In a reflexive turn, Skins has become a cultural phenomenon whose influence is registered through its status as essential teen viewing, the Skins party craze and the tendency among fans to perceive their own identities and experiences in relation to characters and situations from the show. The richness of Skins as a televisual text supports wide-ranging explorations of the show’s aesthetic, thematic, ideological, social and technological implications.

The SKINS and Contemporary Culture project will explore, assess, and map a number of key core themes:

• Representations of teenage life and teen culture
• Fandom and analysis of fanvids, fanfics, fanart
• Assessments of the meaning/cultural significance of specific storylines (c.f. the Naomily phenomenon)
• Technologies of production, distribution and reception in the post-broadcast era
• Comparative analyses of Skins and other television shows

Related themes will also be identified for development and exploration. Out of our deliberations it is anticipated that a series of related cross context research projects will develop.