Flow of Madness

I was talking to my friend the other day about ‘Skins.” She was talking about how the show is an ensemble show with an emphasis on one character on particular that acts as the face of the generation. Many people argue whether or not Franky was the face of Generation 3; however, she was suppose to be so for this post I am considering her as the face. Anyway, she brought up the fact that it seemed to her that the face of all the generations tends to be the characters who might not be the most likable. They are not usually the ones you think to yourself “oh, man I want to be her friend.” 

This intrigued me. So I wanted to do some digging about the three faces of all the generations: Tony Stonem, Effy Stonem, and Franky Fitzgerald. 

Tony Stonem: Is someone who has sociopathic tendencies and a definite case of narcissistic personality disorder (apparently not recognized as a disorder—but he has it.) He manipulates people out of boredom to see what happens. He treats people as if they are pawns in his game disregarding their autonomy and their feelings. He uses sex as a symbol of his power over others. 

However, by the end of the series due to massive head trauma and his recovery. Tony becomes a more thoughtful person and learns to allow himself to show his feelings a bit more than he use to. He becomes more human and humbled by his situation. Though he does crave for that power and that passion again. 

Effy Stonem: Definitely has some sort of personality disorder. Psychotic Depression or Bi-Polar Disorder. She was selectively mute in the beginning and lived a double life. She does not understand the point of emotions and feels as if they get in the way. She plays games and uses people like Tony only sometimes she uses her powers to fix situations. Still she is quite secretive and is capable of using people’s weaknesses against them due to the fact she is quite perceptive.

By the end of the series she gets the help she needs and is on her way to recovery. She allowed herself to fall in love and even broadened group of friends to include several different personalities. She is also shown being more affectionate.

Franky Fitzgerald: She has extreme abandonment and intimacy issues. Which gives her that crazy pulling people told her and pushing people away at the same time vibe. She does not understand what love is and finds it quite baffling. In the beginning she did not have a real sense of self or identity. She is prone to run away from problems and accidentally hurt people as she runs and self-destructs.

At the end of the series Franky confronts her past and stops stringing along several of the other characters along her path of destruction. She is shown to have good intentions but she simply does not know how to love or what love is. However she desperately wants to find out.

All Three: Every one of the main faces of the series has issues with emotions especially love. Tony sees love in the beginning as a weakness. Refusing to declare his love for Michelle in fear that she will hold the power in the relationship. Seeing it as a sign of weakness. Effy sees love as something that is suffocating and that it actually crushes you by the intensity of it. Love tipped her over the edge psychological she did not know how to cope with the powerless feeling love gave her. Franky simply does not know what it means to love or to be loved unconditionally. She feels it with her adoptive fathers but she can’t comprehend or accept it after being denied it for so long. 

The main faces of the show are three people who have issues with emotions and have deep seeded psychological issues. They push many of the plot points forward with their issues and the things they must learn. They are the…destroyers. Some may be more easier to love than others, but all of them hurt people some meaning it and some on accident. THE BRINGERS OF DRAMA!