In difficult times, young people need programming about them more than ever.
No matter what happens in a young person’s life, adolescence and early adulthood are challenging, especially when they are growing up in a high-stress, polarized environment.
Television gets a lot of things right about young people, although sometimes it still misses the mark.
American shows need to learn some lessons from Degrassi High (and Degrassi: Next Class)
Degrassi HIgh feels like it’s been around forever. I remember it was on PBS when I was a kid, but I didn’t watch it at the time.
But if you want to know what proper writing looks like for young adults, you have to check out Degrassi: The Next Lesson.
The show deals with a lot of LGBTQ+ relationships, but the truth is, that only scratches the surface of what makes it great.
LGBTQ+ shows shouldn’t just be about queer kids. I know it sounds counterintuitive, but there’s a lot more to being young, and LGBTQ+ identity isn’t our only identity.
This is especially true if you are Black, Indigenous, Jewish, or any other marginalized identity.
Your queer identity is only part of who you are, and LGBTQ+ representation should showcase the diversity of the community.
Degrassi: Next Class does this by including people from different cultures and showing how their culture affects their queer identity and vice versa.
Sadly, the show only lasted two seasons and is best classified as a teen soap opera. This means it contains romance, issues with parents, addiction, and other things of interest to young adults.
It’s also designed to appeal to Generation Z, which means there’s plenty of smart tablets, phones, social media and other technology familiar to today’s kids.
But despite the gimmicks, the characters are well-rounded and realistic, something we sometimes miss in shows about young people.
Watch Degrassi Next Class online
One of the few similar shows I can think of is the recently concluded Good Trouble.
Like Degrassi, the characters in Good Trouble are well-rounded and have a lot going on in their lives. It’s not just about LGBTQ+, it’s about being a young person whose LGBTQ+ identity becomes a part of who they are.
This is why we need more LGBTQ+ representation!
Watch Good Trouble online
Besides, there’s more to being a young person than romance
Shows like “Good Trouble” and “Degrassi High” have many romantic subplots. In a way, this makes sense.
After all, young people are still new to the game of love.
Every crush, every meaningful look, every fight…all of these are intense when you’re in love for the first time or your second time.
Additionally, love triangles, insecurities, jealousies, and other relationship obstacles can lead to intense drama.
That said, sometimes shows aimed at young adults focus too much on romance, especially those that straddle the line between teen drama and soap opera.
Young adult shows tend to fall into one of two camps: teenagers who find the person they’re destined to spend their lives with at 16, or teenagers who quickly form relationships with someone else after their heart is broken.
(Of course, the two are not mutually exclusive.)
The truth is, teen love lives are filled with drama, but it can get tiring when a show focuses too much on the romance angle, especially when it involves too many partner switches.
I was thinking about this when I recently read an interview with Leo Howard, who plays Tate on Days of Our Lives.
Howard was pleased that unlike many soap opera characters, Tate was calm enough that he would honestly tell his ex-girlfriend that he had moved on. However, he blamed teenagers for Tate’s rapid change of partners.
To a certain extent, Howard is right—some teens do jump from one partner to another.
However, it bothers me that this trope is so prevalent in shows involving teenagers.
The easiest and most common way to create drama is to break someone’s heart and then sleep with someone else, who is often their ex-partner’s worst enemy.
While this may be quasi-realistic, shouldn’t television strive to do better?
Shouldn’t there be shows that show teenagers real role models whose lives aren’t centered around relationships and who do something other than jump from one relationship to the next?
Young people are passionate about many things. Yes, crushes and relationship drama are part of teenage life, but what about idealism? What about after school clubs? What should I do if I have conflicts with teachers or parents?
When there is too much focus on romance, it starts to feel like the message is being sent that that’s the only thing that matters, which is a terrible message, especially for a show that focuses on girls.
Watch Days of Our Lives online
Furthermore, this focus on romance often ignores asexual adolescents.
Both “Heartstopper” and “Sex Education” introduced genderless characters, making them exceptions to this rule, although “Heartstopper” does a better job of getting it right.
Heartstopper Season 3’s “Isaac” storyline is great because it shows what it’s like for an asexual teen to feel ignored when their friends start dating.
Isaac was happy that his friend was in a relationship, but he felt like a lightbulb, which often happens when you don’t have a crush or interest in dating.
Watch Heartstop online
Conversely, Sex Education’s asexual storyline is mostly forgettable, and I have mixed feelings about it.
On the one hand, not focusing on it makes O an asexual person, but on the other hand, it gets lost in the larger storyline of O trying to take over the sex therapy business.
It just goes to show that we need more stories with asexual characters, period.
That way, those who don’t explicitly mention asexuality don’t raise questions about whether they’re adequately represented.
Watch sex education online
Where do fantasy shows fit in?
Shows like Riverdale with supernatural elements, superhero shows and vampire shows have always been popular with young people and still are.
There are many reasons why these shows attract young people. They’re about people who are capable of extraordinary things, and the heroes are often the outcasts.
The message behind these shows is that young people can do anything, including the unimaginable, and they can make the world a better place.
Obviously, these shows are not realistic, but they contain some of the best depictions of young people on television.
They help young people cope with difficult situations (remember how problematic Jughead’s father was in Riverdale Season 1?) so that they not only survive, but thrive, and thrive. Help others in worse situations.
Watch Riverdale online
Over to you, TV fanatics.
If you watch a lot of teen shows, especially if you’re the target audience, I’d like to hear from you.
In what ways do you think television is good for young people? What needs improvement?
Hit the comments with your thoughts.
