There was a phrase in my thesis that got snipped by my editors. Of all the cuts and changes that I had to make, this one stuck with me. The sentence read(s):
“Dawson’s Creek straddles the line between introspection (à la My So-Called Life) and melodrama (à la 90210), [and here I continued: resulting in extreme moodiness].”
When discussing my project with others, Dawson’s Creek is one of the shows I was working with that most often elicited coos and exclamations and memories of watching it as a child/preteen. People remember it as smart (because the characters talked a lot) and relateable (because the characters talked. A lot.) But here’s the thing, for all the talking and putting feelings out there in the open to discuss and analyze, the characters on DC completely fail to act or interact with any more maturity than other teens their age.
Furthermore, as the seasons progress and the characters continue to melodramatically reflect on their lives (out loud), they end up repeating themselves. A lot. The main problem I have with this series is that while occasionally “witty banter” the majority of their near constant babble is angsty, hormonal bitching and moaning. After having to watch and re-watch episodes in conjunction with the rest of my sample, it soon became clear: all they do is complain and they’re never very happy.
As a result, Dawson’s Creek was by far the show I most dreaded having to review.
Of course at this point, all I’ve really been complaining about is the tone: the angsty depression that all of the main characters refuse to drop. From tone alone, it would seem that to DC, all being a teenager IS is moping, making bad, emotion-fueled decisions, pushing away the people who care about you most… and all those negative things/stereotypes I tried, as a teenager, to escape.
But here’s my theory as to why. DC give us endless angst in the place of plot and character development. As the love triangle continues to revolve, and characters remain entrenched in their typical, cast roles with no growth or change, they continually rehash the same moody problems they never stop having. The SAME moody problems. Over and over.
In the beginning, the show had huge potential. The first season, in fact, is good. There’s a narrative (several, actually!) and we’re introduced to characters who are young, and have personas, but also places to go and people to grow into.
But then, by and large, they don’t. After the first season, character development stagnates, narratives rehash old problems and never fully move the characters to new emotional spaces or relations. Of course the introduction of new main characters in season 2 delays the obviousness of this claim, but by seasons 3 and 4 the show is misery to watch. (I never bothered to watch the final two seasons, and as my thesis project was to watch characters in high school, I never had to.)
What began as a heartwarming coming-of-age story about four small-town friends:
an ambitious, if naive, wannabe filmmaker; a shy tomboy with a crush on her best friend; an eloquent, sarcastic loser fighting his loserdom in search of romance; and a wild hottie from New York City running from her mysterious past;
devolved into a warped carousel of endless rehashing. Idealistic 15-year-olds became bitter, self-loathing high school seniors, and by the time they’re preparing to go off to college we’re left with:
a frustrated future filmmaker with a grudge against his best friend; an angry former tomboy who can’t get past her high school romances; a frustrated/self-pitying loser who both wants to and refuses to escape his loserdom; and a depressed former floozy, still running from her past. Oh, and now there’s a gay guy.
