SKAM – The Teen Drama You MUST Watch

By: Aicha Korachy & Salma Omar

With its unique perspectives and exposure to real life controversial topics usually covered up, SKAM provides you with advice in the most accessible way possible; a bowl of popcorn and a laptop screen.

Skam, in other terms ‘Shame’, is a norwegian TV series that circles around the lives of highschool students in Norway. In a unique way each season revolves around one specific character from the show and portrays their lives in a way every teen can relate to.

Having topped the charts not only a Norwegian but on a global scale, Skam is the new teen favorite rising to glory. Consisting of four seasons, the show focuses mainly on the lives of Eva, Noora, Iask and Sana. Discussing controversial topics such as homosexuality, Islam in the modern world, cheating (or is it?) and much more. Tackling other daily teen struggles along the way like starvation, rape, drugs and alcohol.

The teenage drama kicks off with some of the lightweight shit we go through, suspecting your boyfriend of cheating? Feeling isolated from your friends? Unable to make new friends? This was the life of Eva Mohn. The episodes revolve around her life as she watches the once sweet relationship with her boyfriend Jonas turns sour with lies. When you screw up and wish for a reset button in your life, you’re never granted one, but you are granted friends that help you face your past and stand by you through your future.

It’s not a foreign concept to girls: you don’t date a friend’s ex. You don’t fall in love with a man who broke your friend’s heart. Noora, a member of Eva’s new gang, is torn apart between being loyal to her new friends and following her heart. Falling for the school ass, handsome ass though, Noora lives a cliche she resented and becomes the girl that ‘cries over a guy’  like she’s never wanted. But as the attraction grows Noora must face her friend Vilde and tell her the truth. As their relationship grows, William becomes suspiciously secretive and denies Noora in front of his brother. Why is he so worried of her meeting his brother? Why is Niko such a threat? Unfortunately for Noora, she finds out too late and has fallen in a trap and is unable to face William. What does one do when they think they’ve cheated? Or was it rape? Doubting herself, William doubting her, this season is spiced up with so much trust and faith that chips off with every episode that it breaks your heart along the way with the surprises.
Previously introduced as Eva’s friend in season 1 Isak faces a variety of troubles with accepting his identity as a homosexual teen. He forces himself to believe he is into girls however feels nothing until he falls head over heals for Even. Not only does this season talk about Isaks self acceptance but it further dives into topics such as bipolar disorder and depression, topics that every teen needs to hear about because they are also going through the same things. As love flourishes so does confusion about how to deal with such issues so they choose to take it ‘week by week, day by day, minute by minute’.

Unlike many other teen based shows season 4 of Skam is shown from the perspective of a muslim hijabi Sana. It shows how she preserves her faith in a society that is so different even though she is constantly faced with the option to go against it, at times she even questions her own religion which is a taboo many teenagers would understand. Although many people believe muslim girls don’t feel what other teens would feel this goes against this idea and Sana is faced with a love life that is so complex but yet she still preserves her beliefs in the face of a handsome boy, Yousef.

When episodes were being regularly uploaded it gave an experience like no other and took advantage of the digital age. Instagram accounts were set up for the characters and instead of feeling like a show it started to feel more like another reality. All in all, Skam not only deserves your attention but it’s almost like a pamphlet to all the things that makes teens ashamed, when in reality, we all face them.

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