And at the very latest when the show tells you: “This is what kids today struggle about” the regular teenager feels lacking. It appeals to people, even though narratively it is framed as a bad thing. But guess who wouldn’t realise that? 15 years old me! When Zendaya, a real-life adult with the experience and confidence of having been a top class member of her profession for five years now, full of extremely stylish Hollywood make up, gets high a a huge excessive party in the most gorgeous mansion ever and the lighting and the smoke and the party guest just make for the most epic shot ever, that is most of all one thing: Really, really cool. To me it is clear this show makes about how crime is bad and violent people are assholes and addiction is harmful. Now, I know that Euphoria handles the issues it does stress with the necessary respect and gravitas. And when making shows about teenagers, we should take their struggle seriously. By making a show of the regular old “Crime, violence, sex” approach, but this time with high school aged characters, it seems like the show is not taking teenage struggle seriously, as if teenagers only struggled when they had the same super serious problems that are a problem literally everywhere with any demographic. All of them, or most of them, and not an extreme minority. I feel if you want to make a show about teenage struggle you need to actually represent what teenagers struggle with, by virtue of being a young person growing up. But they are a minority, just as adults with these issues are a minority. The show explicitly moves away from realism, and even if it needed to be realistic, there are enough high school students dealing with the same as the characters on Euphoria. I have seen the term “realism” thrown around the debate often and I don’t think that’s fair. What it - most of the time, at least - doesn’t mean, is being an alcoholic criminal drug addict nymphomaniac sex worker. Puberty and growing into adulthood means going through a lot for such a young person. Teenage struggle is real, and it is tough. But when looking at what most regular teenagers struggle with, the issues are different. And believe me: Euphoria delivers on those. Sometimes it feels like to american executives stories are only interesting if they have crime, violence and sex. And while that makes for good entertainment, it does not really take into account what many young people experience. It’s highly stylised, very trippy and most of the time, quite over the top. Now, the show isn’t really grounded in reality. This does not mean that I believe those characters are bad or that their struggles aren’t real, my issue comes down to the following: “Euphoria” is about teenagers with struggles, and not teenage struggle, but seems to tell its audience that it in fact is. But, having been a teen myself not so long ago, I utterly failed to identify with the show’s characters. The show has been pretty much unanimously hailed by critics and, quite often been described as a welcome modern depiction of being a teen in our world. It’s cinematography, set design and character design is out of this world, it has a good script, interesting characters and good acting. So first things first: This show is good. It tells the story of a group of high school students struggling with drug addiction, nymphomania and queer identity. I have an issue with the HBO show “Euphoria” starring Zendaya, and also the public discussion surrounding it. So there’s something that I wanted to get off my chest for a longer time but didn’t really know how to say but I think I know what I mean now. R/television's favorite shows of all time (2022 edition) >!Spoiler!!Television!< becomes Television Links
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