In the 80s, teenagers had Sixteen Candles and Fast Times At Ridgemont High. In the 90s, it was 10 Things I Hate About You and Can’t Hardly Wait. Then Mean Girls, Bring It On and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants arrived. No matter the decade, there was always a relatable teen movie to offer solace to high school kids just looking to fit in – or to come to terms with not fitting in. But in recent years it seems like these stories have headed to the small screen. Shows like Pretty Little Liars, The Vampire Diaries and now Riverdale have effectively relocated the tumultuous drama of youth to TV.
Riverdale, a moody adaptation of the Archie comics, is The CW’s latest addition, yet another series that centers on a love triangle, a murder and the mystery that follows it. The network knows their audience – as evidenced by popular series such as Jane The Virgin, The Vampire Diaries and iZombie – and Riverdale is further proof that the formula for a popular teen show plays upon the sort of heightened drama that matches the surge of emotions one feels as an uncertain 16-year-old. Stories about high school work best when they are borderline outrageous, when there is spectacle and broken hearts and love scenes backed by swelling music.
The characters in Riverdale uphold this expectation. Here, Archie is conflicted about whether to be a musician or a football player, and he and his gang are caught up in a murder that has befallen one of their peers. The town is covered in fog and there’s an ominous sense of foreboding. These teens are worried about who to take to the school dance, but they’re equally concerned about who fired the killing shot. The show feels set in the past, but the pop culture references are modern, with characters slinging mentions of everything from the Beyhive to Tinder. There’s also someone for every young viewer to relate to, whether you’re the sweet Betty or the sultry Veronica (or maybe you’re the outcast Jughead, who watches the action from the outskirts).
In many ways, the show takes up the mantle of Gossip Girl, the series that arguably set off this resurgence of teen TV. The characters on that series, which aired from 2007 to 2012, were conflicted and complicated. The rich bitch wasn’t always what she seemed, which also appears to be the case with Riverdale’s Veronica, played by newcomer Camila Mendes. Every episode of Gossip Girl was melodramatic, often to the point of hysteria, and it felt easy to get roped into the narrative because it mirrored any sense of personal drama the viewer felt.
Teens on television are not new, of course. But in the past, they’ve often been relegated to young-leaning cable networks like Nickelodeon or ABC Family (now called Freeform). The success of The CW in identifying their target audience, who flock regularly to every series the network unveils, is allowing these teen shows to become more and more mainstream. And adults watch, too.
Netflix recently announced that they will be releasing an adaptation of Jay Asher’s 13 Reasons Why, a popular young adult novel about a teen girl who kills herself. It’s in the vein of John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars, one of the rare teen flicks of the past decade that wasn’t based on a dystopic novel. Selena Gomez will produce the series, set to air 31 March. If that works, surely more Netflix series targeted toward the under-18 set will emerge.
Skam, a Norweigan web drama that follows a group of 16-year-olds in an Oslo high school, has found such success that it’s being remade for the US under the name Shame. It’s earned accolades for its gritty representation of teen life without cliches or the sort of amped up controversy than came with shows such as Skins. It’s also proof that American TV producers (in this case Simon Fuller) are on the lookout for any story that might translate to a young audience on a recurring basis.
Hailee Steinfeld’s recent film The Edge of Seventeen is an anomaly in the theatrical release schedule of the past few years. The movie gave a realistic, grounded look at teenage angst and friendship, and what it means to struggle with your relationships as you come into your own. It’s become harder and harder for younger viewers to find that sort of tone on the big screen, even when movies like The Hunger Games and the struggling Divergent franchise purport to be for their generation.
TV shows are also able to tap into changing viewing habits. Movie studios release less and less films each year, usually centered on spectacle. Franchise films sell, but movies like The Edge of Seventeen aren’t based on action or thrill; they’re based on introspection and personal relationships. Teens are much more likely to binge watch a Netflix series or watch a few episodes of a network show on demand then they are to go to the theater for something that might not feel as relevant to them. The Edge of Seventeen, for example, made less then $15m at the box office despite excellent reviews.
If teen television tells us anything, it’s that viewers want to feel connected to the characters. They want to see themselves onscreen. Even in shows like iZombie or The Vampire Diaries, where fantastical elements propel the storylines, there is a feeling of real emotion. Will the girl get the guy? Can the tension with the parents be resolved? Will anyone talk to him on his first day in a new school?
Riverdale is aimed towards teenagers, but it also has the ability to capture an older audience who grew up begging their mom to buy an Archie comic in the checkout line at the grocery story (guilty). There’s a reason we continue to re-watch movies like Pretty In Pink or Mean Girls. Like these recent TV shows, those films remind us that we’re not alone. Everyone feels like an outcast at some point – and if there’s a murder to solve as you learn to reconcile that, all the more exciting.
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