On Why "Awkward" Has It Wrong

I have a dirty little secret.  I watch MTV.  Specifically, I watch Girl Code and Awkward.  That's right: my media consumption is not limited to BBC News, CNN, the NY Times and Wall Street Journal, HBO, and the internet.  Shocking, I know.  MTV's Awkward endeavors to present the life of a socially-awkward American blogger in high school.

But MTV has it wrong.  Not that this really surprises me, since MTV also gets Skins, the people who go "down the shore," and a lot of other things wrong.  But as much as I love Awkward, it is in no way because it accurately portrays the life of a blogger.

The show treats blogging like a tell-all confessional diary on the internet.  And for some bloggers, this is probably the case -- especially if those bloggers are, say, 13, which I assume is the market MTV is shooting for with this show.  But for most bloggers late into high school and into college, the posts are typically less about which boy is fighting for your attention and more about how you see the world.

Do I post life updates on my blog?  Absolutely.  Because they help contextualize the things I have to say, and also because they make for useful excuses when I've been bad about regularly updating, not because I fool myself into thinking my readers actually care about my exam schedule.

People still keep diaries, and some people are silly enough to make their deepest, darkest secrets open to the internet viewing public.  But that's not what most awkward teenage/twenty-something bloggers are doing with their blogs.  They're trying to change minds, spread awareness of issues, comment on social change and new media, not complain about the fact that their ex and their current boyfriend are fighting over them.

Also, that's not even awkward.  But it does make for interesting television.

The fact remains, though, that when this is how bloggers are represented in traditional media (kind of like how the movie Hackers presents hackers, which is not at all like what hacking actually is or what hacktivists do), it delegitimizes the medium.  Most bloggers see themselves as the voices of new media, their work taking the place of traditional Op-Eds in a world where print media is dying out.  Positing the work of bloggers through the lens of a girl who uses the internet to work out her petty relationship problems takes away from the legitimacy of bloggers, teenage girls, and the internet generation.

Don't get me wrong, though -- I would pay good money for Tamara's wardrobe and vocabulary, and Jenna Hamilton's life is ceaselessly amusing.  Just don't confuse what she does with what most bloggers are trying to do.

Unapologetically yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Skins and Adolescence

Last Monday was the premiere of the first episode of the last series of Skins.

For those of you who don't know, Skins has been one of my favorite shows since it first washed up stateside my junior year of high school.  I loved it for a lot of reasons, including, in large part, the fact that Nicholas Hoult played Tony Stonem in the first two series.

But really, what drew me in when it comes to Skins was the way they portrayed people my age.  Yes, the show was racy and definitely a lot more wild than my life (or anyone that I knew, really) was at the time.  But after years of seeing the 16-19 year-old years treated like nothing more than bad grades, shopping trips, and shenanigans learning to drive, it was amazing, to me, to see a show that portrayed its teenage characters as complex, autonomous characters.

The characters in Skins had the complicated backstories that are often associated with much more adult stories -- neglect, abuse, loss, joy, family.  They also had real, complex problems -- depression, suicide attempts, eating disorders, bipolar disorder, anxiety.  Skins was the first show I ever watched that treated my generation more like adults than children.  And it made me feel less alone.

The characters in Skins made real, complex decisions and those decisions had consequences.  Even now, with the final series and the reboot of some of the original characters in the specials Fire, Rise, and Pure, the characters, who have aged since the last time we saw them (Effy Stonem, for example, is now working for a high-powered investment bank instead of wreaking havoc on her high school/college), are facing adult issues with real consequences.  And I'm excited to see where it all heads.  In the meantime, I'm glad there is at least one show that presents adolescence as something more complicated than just that awkward time between when you're a little kid and when you become a full-fledged grownup.

I am speaking, of course, to the UK version of Skins.  The American adaptation that MTV tried to pull off was a laughable shadow of its British counterpart.

Culturally yours,
Rachel Leigh

Photo credits: 
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On TV and Hormones

There must be some clause in every television writer's contract that says that, if you write for a television series aimed at anyone from their early teens to their late twenties, you must have one episode entitled "Let's Talk About Sex."

In this episode, the main character (or even several members of the cast) have some sort of crazy sexual awakening that ultimately leads to "the Talk" with either their partner or their parents, and several uncomfortable hijinks ensue for all involved! It's super funny and super awkward! Lol hormones and condoms!

As of right now, there are at least 8 series which have had this same episode, and while Salt 'n' Pepa gave us all a great song title with which to encompass this extraordinarily old plot device, it's time to give it a rest. It's a cliche title for a cliche idea, which reflects a time when most kids didn't have access to sex education -- or the Internet. No one's first exposure to the idea of condoms or birth control or STDs or pregnancy is from The Talk anymore. Sex Ed, 16 and Pregnant, every teen show on television, and Wikipedia have all made sure of that. (Of course, that still doesn't insure people will be safe about it, either.). Sure, the Talk is still a big moment in any coming of age show. I doubt there will ever be a time in history when talking to your parents about sex isn't uncomfortable. But there are less cliche ways to address the issue. Or at least come up with a new title. I really like the sound of "Lol Hormones and Condoms!"

Unclichedly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Lessons I Learned From TV

TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal.

Marina and the Diamonds has it right.  (Side note: Way to be real world for totally not recognizing my Halloween costume.)  I have spent way too much of my life watching television and feeling all the feels.  But thinking back on it I've realized I've learned some interesting lessons.

Things TV Taught Me:

1.  It's Never Lupus.  Except when it is.  Any House fan out there probably knows this.  It's like the fundamental rule of House.  I think the real takeaways from this, though, were that a) it's never as bad as it could be and b) no trope is safe from subversion.  Because it's never lupus.  Except for that one episode where it was totally lupus.
2. Don't Mess With the Girl Who Can Kill You With Her Brain.  River Tam is smarter than you.  She's a better fighter than you.  Also, she can kill you with her brain.  This crazy lady from Firefly is probably the biggest reason to never break the heart of a smart and emotionally unstable girl.  She will find you.  She will kill you.
3. When You're Sad You Should Stop Being Sad and Be Awesome Instead.  Okay, so it's not usually that simple.  But I have to give Barney Stinson some credit for this one... Sometimes the best way to get past being sad is to just pretend that you're not sad, force yourself to go do something fun, and let the fun make you actually not-sad.  Be awesome instead.  Also, a more important lesson from HIMYM: more people should suit up.  You look really classy, and I love that.  Also NPH is a god.
4. Even If You're Completely Nuts, Good Friends Will Love You Anyway.  Okay, so this isn't based off of a quote, but seriously.  Sheldon Cooper.  Gregory House.  Donna Noble.  Real friends love you for who you are, even if that means you are an absolute psycho sometimes.
5. Fictional Characters Are Better At Their Jobs Than Real People.  Jed Bartlet.  That is all.
6. And finally, it doesn't matter if it's non-canon, inappropriate, incest, against their sexual orientation, squicky, or if it involves inanimate objects, bending of fictional universes, or time travel.  Somebody Out There Ships It.

So all those hours watching TV on Netflix totally weren't wasted.  At all.  I promise.

I enjoyed this post, and while I was writing it, I started thinking of examples from books and movies, so there is a decent chance there will be future lists based around books and movies.

Your Favorite Couch-Potato,
Rachel Leigh

On Schadenfreude, Falling For Your Best Friend, and Terrible Television

This post is decidedly not intellectual in the slightest. Please do not try to decipher an intellectual or pseudo-intellectual message from within it. I appreciate your cooperation in this matter.

So, my darling readers, as I'm sure you've come to understand, I have an addiction to bad television. And good television. Okay, just television in general. And my roommate does not help with this matter.

Recently added to our repertoire are such delights as Blue Mountain State, which I have to confess is actually ridiculously funny; Ridiculousness, which really just makes me want to lock Rob Dyrdek in a cupboard somewhere until he agrees to stop trying to be Daniel Tosh; and, thankfully, new episodes of South Park which, while mildly offensive and occasionally depressing, give me faith in the world's ability to laugh at itself. But what I really want to talk about is a new show on MTV called "Friend Zone."

The concept is slightly adorable, I confess. A guest on the show comes on and admits that they have feelings for their best friend and would like to take it to the next level (move out of the metaphorical Friend Zone). The episode progresses with the friend helping them to plan a date for "someone special" and then right before the date is supposed to begin, the guest reveals their feelings to their friend, in hopes that the friend will agree to go on the date that was really intended for him/her.

This concept is cute...supposing the friend says yes or returns the feelings. But let's take a moment to look at this a different way -- what if they say no? I have two major complaints here. The first is that it seems incredibly sadistic to watch someone get their heartbroken on national television. This show would be entertaining if the endings were always happy, but to delight in watching some poor kid who put their heart on the line get turned down (and probably ruin a good friendship forever), is a kind of schadenfreude that leads me to worry about the human race. Not that a lot of things don't do that. See Rob Dyrdek's "Ridiculousness" for examples of other things that test my faith in humanity.

My other problem here is that anyone who legitimately cares about your feelings, I would think, wouldn't turn you down on national television. If someone is really your friend and they ask you on a date on a reality show, your thought process should probably be "I may not like him/her like that, but the only thing worse than getting turned down would be getting turned down in front of millions of viewers." And then you suck it up and go on the date...then break the news to them after. Because someone who would knowingly humiliate a good friend on television probably needs a lesson or two in what being a friend entails. Like, y'know, a bit of self-sacrifice and some compassion for the people you supposedly care about.

Just my input. Anyone with some quality/terrible TV suggestions, I would love to hear them!

Lovingly yours,
Rachel Leigh

On Bad TV and Life in General

Okay, my darling readers, I am SO sorry. I have been a horrible horrible blogger. It is now September, which I believe means I've gone two months without a post.

My last 6 weeks or so have consisted of logic, economics, Ancient Greek philosophy, club meetings, bizarre trips to downtown Richmond, wonderful amounts of sushi, and bad television.

A lot of bad television.

My roommate and I go back and forth between watching MTV, Comedy Central, and the GOP debates. I don't know which I have a harder time taking seriously. I might be kind of obsessed with Awkward, and Fox's new series New Girl just deepens my unhealthy obsession with Zooey Deschanel.

I think, though, that the most entertaining aspect of our television-watching is definitely the running list of GOP/Tea Party debates. They are far too entertaining. I find Michele Bachmann to be one of the most entertaining examples of human insanity I have ever seen ever. Making the back-asswards statement that HPV vaccinations have been linked to "retardation" (which will never be politically correct, nor will it ever be factually accurate) is just so ludicrous that I cannot even begin to comprehend it. Ms. Bachmann, you entertain me.

Vegetatingly yours,
Rachel Leigh