Straight talk on sex and streaming
It’s explicitly aimed at teens. News & views,
In the first few minutes of Netflix’s “Sex Education,” a man and woman are mid-coitus, and naked from the waist up. The woman is having a great time while the man is going through the motions. A conflict breaks out when the man fakes his, ahem, finish.
It’s not a particularly groundbreaking setup for a show on the streaming service, which unlike broadcast networks is unencumbered by FCC regulations. Netflix luxuriates in the risque, from sex and profanity in “House of Cards” to violence in “Marvel’s The Punisher.”
But what’s different about “Sex Education” as opposed to, say, “Orange Is the New Black,” is that the new series is aimed at teenagers as well as adults.
You wouldn’t be alone if you frantically Googled the ages of the actors portraying the hormonal teens in “Sex Education,” a British comedy series about a high-schooler who offers sex therapy to his peers. There’s nudity, extended sex scenes and graphic descriptions of sex, as Otis (Asa Butterfield), the series’ amateur counselor, helps his peers grapple with everything from nausea during oral sex to erectile dysfunction.
In contrast to premium cable channels such as HBO, streaming services (especially Netflix and Hulu) are actively courting teen and pre-teen viewers. And with some programming, they’re doing so by being as filthy as teens themselves can be in real life.
Netflix’s ultra-popular “13 Reasons Why” features frequent profanity or violence. So do such shows as “American Vandal,” “Marvel’s Runaways” on Hulu and “Titans” on DC Universe.
Like the smoking on “Mad Men” or the violence on “The Sopranos,” part of being explicit on shows aimed at teens is a creative choice to be relatable.
Animated comedy “Big Mouth” brings the gross hilarity of puberty to cartoon life, frequently showing giant penises and cartoon sex. Hulu’s upcoming “PEN15” has two adult actors playing middle schoolers among a group of young co-stars, with hormones and crushes unabated.
Teen sex has been a TV staple for years. A popular ad campaign for CW’s hit “Gossip Girl” featured closeups of steamy scenes with warnings from groups including the Parents’ Television Council over them, its racy content a selling point. But few shows have been able to do so in an environment free of regulation until the streaming boom. When Blair and Chuck got hot and sweaty, everything was PG-13. But on “Sex Education,” everything from full male nudity to pornographic drawings is fair game.
What’s the point of getting explicit in these shows? Like the smoking on “Mad Men” or the violence on “The Sopranos,” part of it is a creative choice to be relatable. Shows that sidestep the realities of teen life can seem sanitized, as in ABC Family’s “Secret Life of the American Teenager,” which tried and failed to get real about teen sex while adhering to the Disney-fied brand of the channel.
Yet some shows risk stepping over the fine line between realism and poor taste. “13 Reasons Why” has been the subject of unending controversy for its depiction and discussion of suicide among young people, which eventually led Netflix to add content warnings.
“Big Mouth” acknowledges, in its scripts, that if the show were live-action or used younger voice actors, it would be wildly inappropriate.
Whether “Sex Ed” steps over that line depends on personal taste and beliefs. It’s worth noting that on British television, there’s not as much cultural sensitivity surrounding nudity. Explicit shows air on broadcast TV, especially in later hours. Popular teen drama “Skins,” which aired from 2007 to 2013, was far more graphic than many of its American contemporaries.
Yet from a creative standpoint, “Sex Ed” doesn’t need the nudity on top of its frank discussion of sex. As the season progresses and the nudity subsides, the series gets more self-assured and more character-driven. The education is often more compelling than the sex.