[ SECRET POST #4915 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4915 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


01.



__________________________________________________



02.


__________________________________________________


03.


__________________________________________________



04.


__________________________________________________



05.


__________________________________________________



06.


__________________________________________________



07.


__________________________________________________



08.


__________________________________________________



09.


__________________________________________________



10.


















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 62 secrets from Secret Submission Post #704.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I feel like there’s a happy medium somewhere, but I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen a show portray it.

One thing that’s always annoyed me a little is that “edgy” teen shows always seem to lean hard into the idea that the way they’re depicting teenage life is real and unfiltered -- not fake bs like those other, non-edgy teen shows. But I can’t relate to edgy teen shows at all. As a teen, me and most of the people I knew weren’t doing anything edgy or adventurous. We were going to school, drudging through our homework, watching TV, hanging out at each other’s houses on the weekends doing fuck all, maybe doing some kind of extra-curricular. That was about it.

Everyone’s life is full of nuance, and even the most seemingly well-adjusted teenagers have pain. That much I absolutely believe. I just hate the narrative that real teenagers party and do drugs and hook up, and if you depict teenagers who don’t, then you’re just lying to placate the Christian parents of the kids who watch your show.

[(Anonymous)]

+1.

As a Christian who can't stand Christian shows, I really want that happy medium.

[(Anonymous)]

This is how I feel too. My teenage years were not filled with sex or drugs or anything like that, and I dislike the implication that somehow my experiences were less 'real' just because they weren't grim and gritty. I know these shows only have so big a cast but I'd like to see a show that even acknowledges that in high school the sex/drugs/dangerous behavior kids and the just hanging out/having good clean fun kids can both exist and neither one is more realistic than the other.

[(Anonymous)]

RA

Yup. I was also one of those kids who wasn't out there doing drugs etc. My ass had to head home after any extra curricular and I always had errands to run for my mom, etc. I spent a lot of my free time reading or online.

And that's not say the other things weren't happening, I had friends who partied, friends who dealt with a lot of shit, there were even certain scandals in my school. There are too many nuances, and they are all valid experiences, none making the other less valid.

[(Anonymous)]

In my experience (as a very straight-laced teen), both types even exist together. The kids I knew who did drugs etc, that wasn't All they did. There is a spectrum and even the pot smoking cutter would sometimes spend time watching ANTM with her straight edged friend.

[(Anonymous)]

even the pot smoking cutter

NAYRT - This isn't a criticism of you; I know you were just speaking off the cuff and I agree with the overall point you were making. But another thing I always find a bit off is the way teenage pain tends to get automatically lumped with teenage wildness and with being "bad."

I cut, and was anorexic (both secretly, both for years), but I was neither the "high achieving perfectionist" nor the "wild, edgy rebel." I was an A-minus student who slacked off as much as possible but basically followed the rules, and was extremely boring. Which is something I feel like I've never seen in the media -- the recognition that teenagers can be pretty fucked up without it showing much in their obvious behaviors.

[(Anonymous)]

Me too. In fact, the majority of teenagers in my high school weren't doing drugs and having sex but focusing on school, hanging at each other's house, watching movies etc as you say. Sure, some of the "popular" kids were hooking up and doing drugs and there were some other outliers but on the whole it just wasn't part of the culture of the school. This was a public school in Australia btw. Maybe it's different elsewhere?
(Also the ones who were having a lot of sex and doing a lot of drugs were looked down upon ultimately by the others in the school.)

[(Anonymous)]

Honestly I think the best in between I've seen is Skam. The characters go to a lot of parties, and tend to drink a lot at them, but I've never had to ask how a bunch of teenagers have access to cocaine. Some characters also do drugs, some don't (and their reasoning is never questioned which is nice. Two characters quit drugs because one is bipolar and drugs make him more likely to have a manic episode and the other quits because he wants to support his boyfriend quitting drugs).

Unfortunately it does have some very confusing lack of parental supervision, which is sometimes justified (one character is a runaway, one character has a single mum who works night shifts) and one that is kind of confusing (she moved away for her parents for reasons that are explained but are less logical character choice and more needs tragic backstory that isn't that tragic)

[(Anonymous)]

200% this. I am certain there ARE teens out there doing drugs, drinking alcohol and having sex, but it sure as hell wasn't any of the people I knew.

[(Anonymous)]

As a teen, I was a shy, awkward dork with bad skin and no idea what to do with my hair or what clothes looked good on me. I definitely wasn't getting laid! The friends of mine who did have sex weren't going out and hooking up at parties because we partied together as a friend group and that's not an environment conducive to no-strings-atrached hookups. They had sex with people they were dating (even if those relationships were ill-advised and/or didn't last long). I had friends who smoked but no one ever offered me a cigarette. No one ever offered me drugs and the only person I can recall offering me alcohol before I was old enough was my grandmother.

It's not always down to teens making choices between "good" and "bad" behavior or being too busy to do the "bad" things. Sometimes certain opportunities just don't present themselves. The "true" teen experience can be a lot of different things and that's just the way it worked out. I wouldn't mind a show about teens who aren't purposefully trying to be "good" all the time, but can't find many opportunities to be "bad." (Although I still wouldn't watch it because I'm just not interested in shows about teens since it's been 20 years since I was one.)