The Real World Stockholm

To have a camera watching your every move, to have your telephone bugged, to have hidden microphones recording every sound you make in your own home. It sounds like just another work-ing day for a secret agent, but in this case concerns the living conditions for seven young volounteers during a period of three months. It's all about The Real World Stockholm. The idea is, as so much with TV, Ame-rican. The series began by portraying youngsters from New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and London. The Scandi-navian version, as with the American, brings together a cross-section of young people aged 18-23. These have been selected from the 4.000 applicants. None of the chosen have met each other previously, and are from such distant places as Bollnäs, Copenhagen and Mo in Rana in Norway. Their different social backgrounds and characters are a prerequisite for the series, which aims to portray an everyday drama. Their opinions, values and lifestyles are brought under scrutiny, probably for the first time. There's no escaping, neither from the others nor from the camera's watchful eye. It is a tough test for your integrity and everyone agrees that it was heavier than they'd expected. The Real World Stockholm follows the American concept completely. Over 1.000 hours of film has been reduced to thirteen half-hour episodes, where everything happens at an incredible MTV-tempo and where trendy music is an important ingredient. To complement the fast editing, a moments contemplation is allowed in the ''boiler room''. The participants can make a ''confession'' about their thoughts and feelings to let off steam. The Real World has been called every-thing from soap opera to documentary. It is perhaps a hybrid of the two. The series' producers emphasise that it isn't about a rectified ''reality'', rather that they have taken the documentary ma-terial and edited it as if it were a soap opera. Hopefully making it entertaining. And it is fun seeing The Real World Stockholm. Every episode ends with a cliff-hanger: Are Elisabeth and Stubben going to kiss? Is Sina going to tidy up his dirty socks? etc. The Real World Stockholm includes everything that was characteristic for the American series: friendship, conflict, love, discussion and laughter. Those who have seen the American series can now revel in the uncensured version. Gone are the silly ''beeps'' every time anyone says f-u-c-k. What's on offer is the liberated, natural, youth of Scandinavia. LL