THOUGHTS ON DEGRASSI

Have been reading Linda Schuyler's memoir "The Mother of All Degrassi" and thought I'd share my thoughts on the book and the franchise.

First of all, in my personal opinion, from reading the book, Schuyler's personal relationships seem awfully convenient. She falls in love with Kit Hood just when she needs help producing films and with her current husband when she needs help with her union and other stuff. At the very least, in my view, this points to the author having a problem with security.

"Degrassi Junior High", in its own way, was quite a remarkable program. From what I can tell, it was the first successful primetime drama for teens.

As well, though I knew Kevin Smith was a creepy superfan of the show, I had no idea "Jr. High" was as popular with certain other noteworthy Americans as it was.

I had seen part of the episode where Wheels' parents die sometime in the early nineties after the show had ended because my babysitter was watching. Other than that, it wasn't until the fall of 1999 and its pivotal re-running on CBC after school I saw most of the episodes.

I always looked at the show as great for making fun of and not to be taken for what it was trying to do. I mean, as if a fourteen year old girl from a loving (albeit single parent) family would typically get pregnant by her boyfriend of the same age who would then go on to, at fifteen, take acid for the first time and jump off a bridge, thus turning himself into a retard.

I watched "Next Generation" for many seasons after it premiered in 2001. At first, they managed to strike a balance between over the top teen melodrama and something that was also trying to work in lightheartedness as well as get a message across, but then this spin-off just became over-the-top ridiculous, to the point where I couldn't even watch the show to make fun of it anymore.

As for the "A New Start" and "Accidents Happen" pro baby murder two-parters, the pro-life side is given short shrift in both of them. 

For one thing, unlike what Manny was told at the murder mill, many women do regret their abortions.

Also, though Emma makes the argument a little more strongly in "Accidents", it is never truly properly stated that every baby who was aborted, had it been carried to term and all other things being equal, would have grown up to be a person just like you or me.

Don't title an episode about teen pregnancy and baby murder "Accidents Happen." That just gives kids the idea doing stuff like that is OK. Might I suggest "Abstinence Should Happen" instead.

Schuyler doesn't say it, but you can tell she got burned for that "Next Generation" episode because no pregnant girls on the show ever had an abortion after Manny, and Liberty "didn't even want to think about that." I just picture some exec from TeenNick whispering in her ear, "Abortion isn't a practical solution to every single unwanted pregnancy, you dumb cannuk."

By the way, abortion is an inherently antiwoman policy. For one thing, we all start out as girls in utero for the first six weeks until the testosterone kicks in for those of us possessing y chromyzomes. 

For another thing, what if the baby is a girl? 

For another, it is a highly invasive medical procedure and anything like that carries a lot of potential risks.

As for the Marco character, the world truly does testify against itself. Marco is a perfect example of how homosexuality can be caused. You have an artsy boy who likes dancing growing up in a macho Italian family within the hypermasculine noncountry of Canada. Had Marco had the affirmation that being into dancing and the arts was perfectly all right for a boy, such as he would have had growing up in his ancestral homeland, he most likely would have turned out straight.

As for Rick's shooting spree that crippled Drake, the other kids at Degrassi Community School should have had guns so they could fight back.

As for the character of Adam, hereafter referred to by her proper pronouns and name, Gracie, it's a shame she died because, had she lived, we could have seen the storyline where she realizes that the real problem was, as stated by a character with some actual sense, "you don't like you. Gracie didn't like Gracie and Adam isn't going to like Adam any better. It doesn't matter. You could self-identify as a boy, a girl, a cat, a unicorn, an ice cream cone, a pile of bricks, or the essence of nothingness. The problem you have is with yourself and no surgery or asking people to refer to you as whatever or new self-identity is going to change that."

By the way, after looking at YouTube clips, the reason why Becky fell for her is because Becky couldn't find any boys who were that good, teenage boys being teenage boys and everything, and the reason Gracie fell for Becky was because she envied the fact Becky was so comfortable with being a girl.

     Now, I need to comment on some quotes from the book:

"Our stories saw Maya ... push back against microaggressions as she made a debut singing appearance in a night club." (You mean not everybody's going to like me right away or be 100 percent nice to me?!)

"Hunter ... couldn't understand why his Gamer Club was shut down due to misogynistic content." (No Gamer Club for you, and no right to speak in your own defense either.)

"Yael ... came to terms with their gender fluidity," (See Gracie above.)

"and Zig ... and Maya engaged in consensual "yes means yes" sex." (Yes, but how will the two of them feel a little while from now? Plus, in five years, both will have given it to someone whose name neither can remember anymore.)

"After much internal debate, I finally reached a conclusion: at that point in American history, our show was probably just "too Canadian."" (If you mean stupid, smug, socialistic, humourless, remarkably self-unaware, wholly impractical, self-obsessed, and unrealistic, then you got that bloody right.)

Also, the bloody hubris of Lola's baby killer vlog. Sure, babe, you don't regret murdering your baby less than 24 hours after you've done it, but how will you feel tomorrow, the day after that, the day after that, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years from now?

"Trying to come to terms with Canada's historic systemic racism..." (The only thing systemic to Canada is failure and smug stupidity.)

Linda Schuyler probably avoided Harvey Weinstein-type sexual harassment by not being the type of person who would agree to have sex with a guy in exchange for a role in his picture and 150 thousand dollars hush money.

Also, I call bull on that whole Montreal massacre story. "Nobody's Perfect" aired on December 5, the day before the tragedy.

Finally, it must be said that today, a program of the type which Degrassi is is irrelevant. Teens know they are not alone. If they want to hear about a variety of people dealing with abortion, homosexuality, gender issues, anorexia, abusive boyfriends, teen pregnancy, or a host of other problems which Degrassi tackled, they can follow the real life plotlines through vlogs, blogs, podcasts, message boards, etc. on the internet.