Skins, Channel 4's new 'yoof of today' drama went on a rather debauched field trip to Russia in their last episode, which I caught on repeat last night. It annoyed me. Firstly, for anyone who has actually seen the show, it is occasionally good, occasionally funny, but mainly cringingly clichéd, tryhard, car crash TV. ***tip to C4, next time you make a drama about teenagers, don't get fortysomethings to write it***
My main gripe, however, was the portrayal of Russia. According to Skins, Russia pretty much stopped in the 1970s, the number one currency is the bribe, all men are either misogynists or soldiers who chant 'Kalinka' at any given opportunity, all the women are either sexpots or Neil Diamond fans, showers come in the form of hoses, transport happens in open-top trucks, everything is grey.
Now, as we all know, this is only slightly true. But there is another side, as our partying in St. Petersburg section demonstrates, which is pretty modern, and startlingly cool. Anyhoo, for more unadulterated Skins bashing, do check out our mate Nick's rather belligerent myspace blog.
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