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next_to_normalIn case you missed it, Lesley at Fatshionista posted an interview with Savannah Dooley, creator of the awesome little (heh) show, Huge. The whole thing is worth a read (and I will seriously cry if Huge doesn't get a second season), but I wanted to pull out two quotes that illustrate something I'd noticed recently in my TV watching:
Lesley: Speaking for myself, I actually reached a point while watching Huge — and I should note that I don’t watch a lot of other television, which may be related — but it started to seem to me like the people on other shows all looked so… small.
Lesley: Your point of being hyper-aware of your body at that age is really critical, though. So often in teenager-centric shows, everyone acts like they’re in their thirties and there’s no uncertainty about their physical bodies. But at that age, that awareness is real and omnipresent.
So, here's the thing. I've started watching The Vampire Diaries (review post forthcoming, once I finish season 1), and I'm not picking on them specifically, because I've seen enough of these "high school" shows to know that they're all pretty much the same when it comes to casting thirty-year-olds as teenagers (all of whom look like models, natch), and writing situations and dialogue that teenagers would never do or say. But because it's the first new show I've watched since Huge, I have found it terribly distracting how unbelievably TINY all the actresses are (and how well-muscled the guys are, for that matter - I don't mind looking at them, lol, but how many teenage boys do you know with six-pack abs?). And how OLD everyone looks, OMG. Is there a single person in that cast under 21? And of course the characters all talk and act way older than their ages (well, except for the vampires, obvs), and it's just SO distracting to me, after watching Huge and thinking how real and honest its portrayal of that awkward teenage phase was. It's weird how, on TV, Huge is the exception, when in fact it's the only show that really comes close to real life. In so many ways, it shows how warped our perceptions have become.
Granted, maturity isn't always a bad thing. I love Buffy and Veronica Mars for their quippy, snarky dialogue, which is often far too clever for any teenager to come up with on their own. But I also recognize that I didn't watch either of those shows as a teenager - I watched them as an adult, at a point when I can identify with characters who act like they're thirty. :) And I enjoy The Vampire Diaries as an adult - I just hope to God actual teenagers aren't watching it and taking their cues from those characters. Watch Huge, kids. You'll feel better about yourselves.
Lesley: Speaking for myself, I actually reached a point while watching Huge — and I should note that I don’t watch a lot of other television, which may be related — but it started to seem to me like the people on other shows all looked so… small.
Lesley: Your point of being hyper-aware of your body at that age is really critical, though. So often in teenager-centric shows, everyone acts like they’re in their thirties and there’s no uncertainty about their physical bodies. But at that age, that awareness is real and omnipresent.
So, here's the thing. I've started watching The Vampire Diaries (review post forthcoming, once I finish season 1), and I'm not picking on them specifically, because I've seen enough of these "high school" shows to know that they're all pretty much the same when it comes to casting thirty-year-olds as teenagers (all of whom look like models, natch), and writing situations and dialogue that teenagers would never do or say. But because it's the first new show I've watched since Huge, I have found it terribly distracting how unbelievably TINY all the actresses are (and how well-muscled the guys are, for that matter - I don't mind looking at them, lol, but how many teenage boys do you know with six-pack abs?). And how OLD everyone looks, OMG. Is there a single person in that cast under 21? And of course the characters all talk and act way older than their ages (well, except for the vampires, obvs), and it's just SO distracting to me, after watching Huge and thinking how real and honest its portrayal of that awkward teenage phase was. It's weird how, on TV, Huge is the exception, when in fact it's the only show that really comes close to real life. In so many ways, it shows how warped our perceptions have become.
Granted, maturity isn't always a bad thing. I love Buffy and Veronica Mars for their quippy, snarky dialogue, which is often far too clever for any teenager to come up with on their own. But I also recognize that I didn't watch either of those shows as a teenager - I watched them as an adult, at a point when I can identify with characters who act like they're thirty. :) And I enjoy The Vampire Diaries as an adult - I just hope to God actual teenagers aren't watching it and taking their cues from those characters. Watch Huge, kids. You'll feel better about yourselves.
Hey!
Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 06:03 pm (UTC)Re: Hey!
Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 06:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 06:40 pm (UTC)Related: I watched the first ep of Doogie Howser on Hulu, and I was AMAZED at how young NPH was. He wasn't actually that old. If that show was on now, they'd have some 23 year old playing a 16 year old.
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Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 06:48 pm (UTC)Charisma cracks me up. I love how, on AtS, Fred is technically a DECADE older than Cordelia, but it's obvious they've completely given up on continuity with Cordy's age. They don't even bother trying to make Charisma seem like she's in her late teens/early twenties.
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Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 20th, 2010 11:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 12:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 03:04 am (UTC)I have ISSUES with Dr. Jasmine, though. Role picked advisedly because of her manipulative feelings circle crap where she tries to get the kids to obsess over their shame just to make sure they have it. Just because you have an eating disorder does not mean everyone else does, JFC.
And how OLD everyone looks, OMG
There's something sketchy and fetishizing about tiny-hawt-adults playing high school students, IMO. Whole gross culture.
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Date: Sep. 21st, 2010 03:18 am (UTC)WORD on Dr. Rand. She is, like, the last person ever who should be running a fat camp, but I can see why they included her character, because it allows them to explore adults with eating disorders as well as teens. If the show continues, I think Will may be good for her in that way, showing her that being fat doesn't have to mean hating yourself.
There's something sketchy and fetishizing about tiny-hawt-adults playing high school students, IMO.
Yeah. I've always assumed it was partly a practical thing - actors who are minors can't work as much and have to have a tutor on set, etc. But no one seems to want to watch shows about realistic teenagers anyway, and the maturity of the actors actually allows for more sketchy content. I can say this - given how sexualized a lot of these shows are, I would NOT want to see actual 17-year-olds doing it.