What's this I hear about Emo?
What's this about a remake of Beverly Hills, 90210?As you know, I'm a long-time fan of the classic 90s Teen drama. But a remake? With a new cast? And this time they're all outcasts? One should ask oneself, what made the original series so great? The rich, popular, beautiful people! And if we, the viewers, started to feel badly about ourselves because we weren't rich and popular, we had Andrea (who we always felt better than, because at least we aren't 30-year-old high school juniors with no friends and old lady arms).
The remake (written/directed by one of the good men who brought you Dawson's Creek and Veronica Mars) features a brother/sister pair who move to Beverly Hills from the Midwest...well, sort of. The brother is actually an adopted brother, a bad boy who's smart but has some lingering social problems...remind you of anyone? And the sister is an emo loner who desperately wants to be accepted by the "in" crowd. That's right! It's just Seth Cohen and Ryan Atwood of The O.C. SO not the same as Brandon and Brenda Walsh, the twins from Minneapolis who are sort of in love with each other.
The whole "emo kid as outsider" is sort of a silly concept at this point, since emo became the new cool back in 2003 (the year I heard a Death Cab for Cutie album playing in a Starbucks, made some comment about it to the 16-year-old working there, who looked up with his angry, distant eyes and messy on purpose longish hair and scoffed a reply that might as well have been "What's it to you, Grandma? You'll never understand our generation and our unique brand of self aware pain"). You aren't an outsider no one gets when you can buy clothing with your own subculture on it. Sorry. Did they ever make "I Heart Grunge" t-shirts??? Doubtful. And if they did, you can bet the grunge kids didn't wear them. The emo kids, however, can totally wear an "I Heart Emo" cap because it's ironic and self-aware, which is part of the who shtick...and that's fine. But come on, you aren't an outsider. You're one of the ironic, self-aware cool-but-not-cool kids. Get over it.
So, maybe I'm just getting too old to appreciate a teen drama? Perhaps. Those kids and their internets! A recent Gawker.com post complains about the characters as I have, adding that the internet (Facebook, blogs..whatever) plays a prominent role in this new series and saying that "the internet barely, if ever, belongs on television." I for one have to disagree on this point. Why wouldn't the internet and television go together? Some of the best plot twists every involve the internet (my favorite being that everything had been happening inside a computer the entire time)! If the internet is a part of the kids' lives these days, why not feature it on the TV? Plus, let's not forget about the wonderful lifetime movies telling mothers everywhere to beware the internet's dangers, which feature the web as a major player in child abduction/teenagers' suicides.
My favorite of such films is the Lifetime original Defending our Kids: The Julie Posey Story which aired in 2003 and starred the incomparable Annie Potts. Ms. Potts is a concerned mother who discovers her daughter's online conversations with a pedophile. She poses as her daughter online in order to see what this sicko is really after and catch him at his own game, eventually setting up a public meeting (with the doubtful yet along for the ride local police backing her up) disguising herself as a young girl. How does the middle aged mom do so? By wearing a baseball cap, of course! I'm pretty sure the pedophile stalking her daughter on the internet has a pretty keen eye for distinguishing between young girls and middle aged women. Sorry. Apparently it's based on a true story though...Speaking of the Ghostbusters, what a film! I recently watched it on HDNet, and I have to say, I had forgotten just how great a movie it is. And Annie Potts plays one sassy receptionist/secretary! Also, the new Ghostbusters video game is coming soon with some original actors voicing their parts, including Ms. Potts. Hopefully the video game will be as delightful, nostalgic, and ironically self-aware as the film. And if I ever need someone to help me catch a predator, I know who I'm gonna call!
Labels: Brigitte, Movies, music, TV
This entry was posted by Brigitte, on
Wednesday, March 19, 2008.
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Who you gonna call? Um...(everybody shouting) ***Middle-aged mom dressed up as a teenager to catch online predators?***
Annie Potts is one of those people that I never know who she is but I feel like I've heard her name a thousand times. So I totally thought the "Speaking of Ghostbuster" segue was just a joke so we could all talk about Ghostbusters.
Also, Gawker calls the daughter an "emo/theatre kid" -- I don't know how I feel about the two teen clique identifiers being lumped together. I didn't think it was possible. I see emo kids as the opposite of loudmouth theatre geeks.
i think maybe it's just two kinds of losers...you know...she's not popular...she's emo...or...into theater....
maybe she's not a loudmouth theater geek, maybe she's quietly into theatre and poetry and all that other emo stuff?
How can you remake 90210 and completely change the characters?! So the only thing that this new show has in common with our favorite teen drama is that it takes place in Beverly Hills and they want to re-use the title? Stupid.
Oh, BTW, did anyone hear about Gabrielle Carteris's lawsuit because her face is now out of control spasming due to some scene she shot for a movie where she was getting dragged around by her hair?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23705091/
I unfortunately watched a whole episode of Entertainment Tonight about her. I don't really understand why she decided to show that video of her spasms to the world or had to share all about it on television, though.
I think the show could be interesting if the old characters were involved, but as their current or recent characters on television. Like Jenny Garth from "What I Like About You," Tori Spelling from hundreds of TV movies, and wasn't Luke Perry in something? And Shannen Doherty from "Breaking Up with..."
I respectfully disagree with your stance, Amy. When they did Star Trek: The Next Generation, did it not take place in the same realm as the original Star Trek took place? Then why can there not be a "second generation" show like 90210, where the environment is perhaps as vital to the show as the characters?
Oh, and if Luke Perry showed up in the new 90210 as Jeremiah from the show Jeremiah, I'd flip the F out in excitement.
There's a difference between a second generation and a remake. I just don't think you can call it a remake if you change all the characters and relationships. A new generation, maybe? But then we have to ask ourselves, why? Like Brigitte was saying, isn't that what the OC was?
i'm not sure if they're calling it a remake...that might have been my own miswording. they might be calling it a second generation. still, though, why isn't the OC a second generation of 90210? star trek is difficult to compare to this genre, because there are so many teen dramas, and many are very similar, while star trek had some unique themes and aspects, and aliens and stuff. right? and those carried through into different generations, i believe.
I can't believe I'm defending the O.C. (yes I can), but apart from the personality similarities to this new generation/remake/whatever of 90210, I don't see the O.C. as basically already a new generation of 90210. 90210 was very much centered around the rich lives of a bunch of teens, whereas the O.C. focused on both the lives of the teens and their parents. The story lines intertwined and even though we all talked during the "adult" scenes, I feel like Julie Cooper is infinitely more memorable than say, Steve's mom. Now, Dawson's Creek - that I can get behind as a "new generation" of 90210. Or even Gossip Girl.
Brigitte, did you watch Star Trek?
yeah, of course i watch star trek. the next generation rocks!
i think you misunderstood my point, chris. all i was trying to say was that this new generation of 90210 didn't seem to have much more to do with 90210 than did, say the O.C. i wasn't trying to imply that the O.C. was just a remake of 90210, or a next generation. i was trying to say that if this is what they're calling the new generation of 90210, why not call many other teen shows the same thing (particularly the o.c. just because it also deals with rich kids and their families). also, 90210 really does deal with the families of the kids, especially as the series continues. so in that way i would actually argue they are very similar. and the storylines of the adults and kids really do intertwine in the same sort of way (steve's mom is a bad example, but kelly's mom, david's dad, and of course the walshes [like the cohens] are very important to the storylines).
also, make no mistake: i will definitely watch this new series should it actually air. will i complain? maybe. these are just speculations i'm making. will i keep watching it even if i'm complaining and still enjoy the show? most likely.
I have a question going back to Brigette’s yesterday comment about the Blogulator being a TV show. It has nothing to do with the current conversation, although I can remind everyone that I rock because I was at a party on The OC.
Right now, the rest of us are text and Sean is video. If we ever evolved into television as proposed, and we became video, what would Sean become? A real person?
i think that the next level for sean (as the next level for us is video) is hologram.
Then he'll have to double as Saphire, the leader of a pop-rock band that has to put on lots of benefit concerts for all of the orphans that Sean (the non-hologram) must take care of for some reason.
iii'm confused.
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