lunedì, febbraio 18, 2008

"Scott was a jerk! And I was his best friend!"

Today I was watching some "classic" episodes of Beverly Hills 90210-a drama, which in my opinion was and still is one of the greatest television shows ever created. It had everything; ridiculous plots, unbelievable characters, Shannon Doherty in her prime, and not to mention the amazing sideburns of Luke Perry (aka Dylan McKay). Anyhow, today's episode (well, really 1991's episode) was an especially awesome one (it was the one where David's friend Scott accidentally shoots himself and then everyone feels really sad and asks David how he is until Davis freaks out on his radio show* and yells at Brandon on air that people only care about Scott now because he's dead!) In a word-rad.

Okay, but here's where my own special brand of cool comes in. So in another (totally believable) subplot, the school is celebrating the opening of a fifty year time capsule, complete with a ginormous chorus that seems to sing all the time and huge banners and events. The fifty year old memorabilia (from 1941) is then displayed all around campus. And here's what gets me. In one of the display cases, there's a newspaper with the headline Pearl Harbor Attacked! Which is fine, except that happened December of 1941, and if this was a time capsule from the class of 1941, who presumably graduated in June, something just isn't right.

Now I know, I'm somewhat of a history geek, and teaching history to teenagers certainly isn't helping matters**. But, Aaron Spelling et. al., I expected more from you.


*okay, seriously. This is one of the more implausible plots of 90210 (and thus illustrating its genius) What high school has its own radio station? And what high school student has their own radio show in said high school? Which brings me to another point. a) the passing periods are utterly ridiculous at this school. There's enough time for several main characters to run into each other, have some sort of drama, and move along the story line... usually lasting for at least several minutes. And this happens all the time! I work at a high school, and let me tell you one barely has enough time to make it to their next class between all the dodging of other students, and quick trips to the locker or restroom. Never have I seen two students break up or have some sort of meaningful life-er, plot- changing dialog...


**Although sometimes their responses and reports can be quite amusing. For example, I had my students create a Russian Revolution comic strip, and for the first box they had to illustrate the autocracy of the czars. One student chose to draw a czar saying "Only Prussian allowed!" Which would be fine. Except we're talking about Russia, and Prussia at this point in history no longer exists. But it made me smile.

1 commento:

Elizabeth ha detto...

The radio station thing - I think it's in "She's All That" a classic Freddie Prinze Jr. movie that they have a radio station at their high school too.

I know that if Usher is a student at your high school (like in the movie), it would be a good idea to have a radio station. But seriously! All the students listening to the radio station in between classes? I don't think so.