I am quite ambivalent towards this show. On the one hand, I understand where the show is coming from. The creator tries to depict drug addiction, self indulgence, and manipulative behaviour as the product of teenage immaturity, emotional pain, and the desire to be accepted and loved. While I can relate to this, especially in my high school experience, I did find that at times it felt as though this kind of behaviour was glorified/sensationalized. As teenagers, their ability to rationally think and consider the lives of others is limited when compared to adults. This is in part because their brains haven’t reached full development and also they haven’t had as many experiences, so they don’t know or understand the full implications of their actions. Based on this, I can sympathize with the characters and regretfully I can actually relate with some of the petty arguments the characters had with their parents, and usually always playing the victim. It’s really pathetic honestly, but I used to do it too so I can’t bash them.
One thing I really didn’t like about this show was the amount of sexual content and nudity. I get it “sex sells”, and many teenagers can relate to these experiences. However, I don’t think it’s appropriate to have actors depicted as teenagers having sex and getting nude. This made me feel very uncomfortable and I think it’s wrong that they did this, or least produced it in the manner they did. At times it looked like soft core porn. Because of this, i don’t think teenagers should watch this show, as it might give them a false expectation of what a healthy sex life is.
The character development was not very strong in my opinion. One example is at the end of S 1, where an entire episode is dedicated to a discussion between Rue and her counsellor to help her get off the drugs, yet in the first episode of S2 she’s back to doing drugs and feels no regret about it. Sure, it depicts the insane self deception of drug addicts and how hard it is to get off drugs, but I think it gives people who are experiencing a similar problem (maybe not as bad) a reason to justify and rationalize their problems. There also isn’t an ark to any of the characters. Nate remains a sociopath, Maddie remains imperious, Cassie stays stupid and self deceiving, Kat stays manipulative and self righteous, and Sue doesn’t get over her drug problems. Sure, the situations may change, but I saw no real change in how the characters actually behaved, which is what a character ark is.
Another thing i didn’t like was the lack of constructive and productive behaviour displayed by many of the main characters. They all seem like weak minded, arrogant, manipulative people with no redeeming qualities. I saw no strong values shown by any character in the show besides in Jules, Ethan, Lexy and Fez. The high school I went to wasn’t full of saints, but there were definitely good and genuine people who went there. You also only ever see the extremely negative side of the characters lives, which I don’t think is an accurate representation of the teenage experience. Most people in high school are consumed with homework and extra curricular activities, so I don’t know why it didn’t include any of that kind of stuff.
Some additional pros and cons: I liked the music choices, cinematography, acting and the wisdom of Ali. I didn’t like the plot lines and redundant dialogue.
Most of the characters would be 3-5 years away from being on Jerry Springer and many would have already been on Dr. Phil. These characters are not your average teens.