My So-Called Life.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:40 pm

Continuing the "Yeahduff Tours the Small Screen and in the Process Proves He's a Teenage Girl" series of threads, I turn your attention to a gem from the nineties, My So-Called Life. Anyone in high school who wants a mirror and a guide can look no further, anyone who's long since left high school who wants a reminder of how stupid and awesome they used to be can end their search. You'll probably just say, "Pff, whatever Duff, you just had/have a crush on Claire Danes," and you wouldn't be wrong, but this is seriously great stuff that was tragically cut short. To your video stores immedietely, knaves, and try to look past all the flannel.

Garneta · Post by **Garneta** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:50 pm

You know, I never actually saw that show. Didn't get the channel.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:22 pm

I remember it, I didn't like it too much. I thought it was too soppy and full of cliches. My sister was watching it regularly though. She didn't like it either, it's just that the tv program offer was awfully skimpy in those days.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 8:54 pm

Horrible tv programming is why I have the internet.

No more boring evenings for me!

Doomsandwich · Post by **Doomsandwich** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:30 pm

dont think ive watched tv (other than late night anime) for weeks

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 5:28 am

Vorticus wrote:Horrible tv programming is why I have the internet. No more boring evenings for me!

Not tonight dear, I've got broadband.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:00 am

Now that we have this writer's strike, lets do what we shoulda done a long time ago: turn off the tv and go outside.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:06 am

*turns off the TV and turns on the computer*

Renee Katz · Post by **Renee Katz** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 8:50 am

Jim North wrote:*turns off the TV and turns on the computer*

Better than going outside.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 9:06 am

Uncultured louts.

Doll · Post by **Doll** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:04 am

I never saw it, but I hear good things.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 10:36 am

McDuffies's characterization misses the point. The plots were all typical American high school bullshit. You go for something universal, there's not much you can do about that. What made it great was the details. The show understood teenagers and what their world looks like. The standard stereotyping in most high school shows/movies (the jock, the nerd, the outsider, etc) is alien here. There are actual characters with different levels and different roles in their lives. Angela might be the shy good girl, but she's also moody, is a bit of a misfit, and totally wants Jordan Catalano's cock. Her parents aren't perfect, nor are they villains. And the "nice guy" isn't actually all that nice. Best of all is the way the kids talk. This show ranks up there with Ghost World in how well it speaks in the teenage voice. The rapid shifts from dead-certain conviction to paralyzing insecurity, the predeliction toward vagueness, it's all so pitch perfect.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:48 am

Sounds like fun. I didn't watch it the first time because I was too young. I didn't give a shit about stuff like that back then, but now I'm all about that.

On an off note, I still stand by my point about people going outside.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:26 pm

The jock, the nerd, the outsider, were the cliches from 80ies, this series was just using a new, mid-90ies generation of cliches which I've later seen in plenty of family series. I might be mistaking, "My so called world" might've set those standards and others followed - but I don't think that the series was that influential. As a teenager, back then, I didn't feel it was talking in my voice. It was just another soap-opera.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:37 pm

I hated being a teenager and everything about the teenage world. I can't see myself enjoying anything that perfectly captures that experience.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:44 pm

Well, the characters simply were not stereotypes. Compare the gay character in a subpar work to Ricky from My So-Called Life. The kid may have dressed different, but he wasn't singing Judy Garland or being outspoken or coy, he was just a shy kid who knew he was fundementally different than others and tried making his way. I can't speak of how influential it was, but I wish it were moreso. Maybe it was a soap opera, but it was filled with people, not cardboard cutouts.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:46 pm

Jim North wrote:I hated being a teenager and everything about the teenage world. I can't see myself enjoying anything that perfectly captures that experience.

They say Saving Private Ryan perfectly captured being in WWII. Doesn't mean the people who liked it wished they were at Omaha Beach.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 2:52 pm

Just 'cause other folks like watching stuff about things they hated being a part of doesn't mean I'ma gonna! I want my escapism, dammit!

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 3:11 pm

they just released my so-called life to DVD. http://www.amazon.com/So-Called-Life-Co ... B00006SFLV

Nanda · Post by **Nanda** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 7:17 pm

Jim North wrote:I hated being a teenager and everything about the teenage world. I can't see myself enjoying anything that perfectly captures that experience.

This is exactly how I felt about "Welcome to the Dollhouse." Everyone said to me, "Oh, Nan, you're gonna LOVE this movie, it's reminds me so much of Ugly Girl!" And when it was finished, I felt like shit. My early teen years were an ugly, traumatic experience, and watching that movie was like reliving only the bad parts. Forgive the comparison, but it was like expecting a rape victim to watch a realistic portrayal of rape for fun.