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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.
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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)