It’s funny how the space of a few years can throw a new perspective on things…..youth magnifies things which the passing of time later reveals to be insignificant…..
I watched an old episode of Dawson’s Creek – from the second (and best) season – and couldn’t help but laugh at one particular situation which, for some stupid reason, brought the ever present teen angst that underpins the show gushing to the surface.
- Girl (Andie) quizzes beau (Pacey) about his Sexual Purity; assumes he’s a blushing virgin and whatnot….
- Later at a loosely-termed “study night”, it’s revealed to girl that said beau did in fact shag his teacher a long time ago (first season – I’ve wasted too many teen hours on this show!)
- Girl goes all “How could you?” bursts into tears and skedaddles out the room
- I’m sitting on me sofa laughing at the absurdity of her reaction. You’d think poor Pacey owned up to being a serial rapist, or to fucking his mum, or summat along those lines….
A similar thing happened ‘tween the protagonist and his bird (Joey) when the former ended up shouting away a poor child who had a crush on him; not the most diplomatic means of dealing with a situation, but from the way Joey reacted you’d think he’d been placed on some nonce (sex offender) register…
What is it with all the histrionics that permeate our reactions in youth, ’specially in the case of situations which really aren’t that much of a deal upon reflection? I mean if Pacey was fucking his English teacher whilst dating this Andie, I could understand a somewhat adverse reaction on her part, but in the context of the story, it was done and dusted – history! Like I said, it wasn’t as if he’d been some evil predator or anything; the guy merely went outside the boundaries of convention, as opposed to basic decency, and yet that was all it took to bring his girl’s world crashing down.
Funny that – I’d hate to see what would’ve happened if he’d gone on a crack whore binge…
Now you may well accuse me of reading too much into a mere TV programme, but as is often said, life imitates art and all that shit. I can think of many a time when I’ve blown a situation beyond its natural proportions and I’m sure the creative minds behind this show have seen and/or experienced such rushes of (what seemed like) perpetual angst over stupid and infinitesimal shit. Is this because of the glass houses of idealism we build around ourselves at that time in our lives? The same ones asking to be smashed?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m big on the old idealism myself, but even I can see that idealism to the extent of solipsism – walking round with blinkers on – is just a one-way ticket to Hades! When our self-fabricated perceptions take the place of communication and true understanding we become one-(wo)man car wrecks waiting to happen, hence the plague of histrionics that follow our crushed illusions….
~MRDA~
Reminds me of a friend in 6th form. She had this boyfriend who, to be fair, was thick as pigshit. Anyway, every time they walked into a pub, She’d kick up a fuss, accuse him of looking at other girls and run into the toilet (even if he’d been looking at the floor). Don’t even get me started on how she reacted when she found an old porno mag.
Point being, girls are conditioned to be all insecure about everything; exes, past affairs, you name it. Personally, I think it’s fucking stupid.
But then, I hate Dawsons Creek.
speaking of perspectives –
do not forget that this show is filled in the US, a country that was founded by Puritans. This stupid country got it’s panties in a bunch because the president got a blow job from an intern. Like that never happens *rolls eyes*.
I would be happy if we could get the socio-sexual bullshit moved into our past. It’s pathetic.
as for the enormity of our youth –
hormones are pretty dreadful things for making the adrenaline rush at a moments notice. Not to mention that the whole of your world consists of the people in front of you. Very few teens are really looking at what the rest of their life will be like, who they will be around, or what they will do – most teens (at least in this country) operate under some delusion that the friends they have now are going to be around them for the rest of their lives, any threat to the “sanctity” of that situation might as well be the next world war, as far as they are concerned.
I was very glad to leave my 20s, my 30th birthday was a great milestone, it meant that I was leaving all of the angst and drama that swarmed my integration into the adult world in the past – I was able to get away with focusing on my own shit, my own health, my own life, without being hounded by fuckheads. YAY. I do not miss the fuckheads.
But then, I think you have seen my boundary rant. 😉
*chuckles*
I was just telling Ivan how awesome and intelligent you are, and it just so happens that you’ve done a really, really long post about Dawson’s Creek. What are the chances? 😉
(I liked that show too!)
Dawsons Creek, eh?
I haven’t seen that show in a very long while.
As for Joey, yeah, I think that was a bit of a dramatic reaction…
and I probably wouldn’t have troubled myself as much as she did about it. He did tell the truth about it, didn’t try to cover it up with a lie or anything.
Funny that – I’d hate to see what would’ve happened if he’d gone on a crack whore binge…..
lmao…yeah I bet she would have killed her self or something. Who knows to what limits she would have taken herself…
And yes it is far more entertaining to watch than experience…
Forgive me a momentary lapse into Cultural Marxism, but you are certainly correct that this sort of presented drama feeds into how people conceive of situations and learn to react to them. Drama shows especially give the illusion of being about people, and people learn from watching other people. Especially at a young age.
There is a great deal of evidence that suggests things like ‘monogamy’, or romantic love, and the sort of cliched outraged reaction that ever teenage girl seems to have over minor social events are completely social constructs. Now not being an Ultra-Leftist I do not automatically scream that we should tear down all artificial government (ala Jefferson) or all boundaries of any kind (ala Chomskyites) but I do think that it’s problematic that most people can not distinguish between these categories or even see how much an arbitrary habit of history they are. People literally define themselves these days in terms of music and television; it’s no surprise they’re completely bats.