Zara Vale

I'm all for shows that depict gangs, violence, death, sex, drugs, etc. But where Riverdale differs from other shows that display these themes is the fact that they glamorise and glorify them. A fifteen year old character performs a strip tease, a sixteen year old joins a gang and tortures people, another kid goes to jail and fights in illegal rings put together by wardens. Sure, would I watch storylines like these if they were handled properly? Yeah, most likely I would. But they aren't handled well at all. I'm not religious or celibate by any measure and I fully support teenagers exploring sexuality. But a male gaze scene that lasts about two minutes of a sixteen year old played by a twenty something year old actress stripping to her underwear and dancing for a bar of middle aged men who are known to have a history of violence, all while portraying this as a sexy and reasonable thing to do? That's creepy. Making it look cool to join a gang that is notorious for killing people, handling drugs, torturing people, etc., when you're sixteen? Also creepy. Glorifying child rape and pedophelia by getting the audience to feel sad when a teenager's thirty year old girlfriend is found to have been molesting him? BIG RED FLAG RIGHT THERE. Don't watch the show, there are so many examples of creepiness, bad writing, glamorising of dangerous themes, etc. Just... just stay away from Riverdale.