[selowitch]

So who else is watching this show on ABC Family? I find myself strangely riveted by it. My kids are two young to watch it, but I find the characters really compelling. That said, I really do like the performances. Ashley, Amy's younger sister, is extremely well drawn. For me, she's the emotional center of the show, curiously, not Amy. One thing I don't really like is the way they portray Adrian, the primary Hispanic character on the show. She's supposed to be high-achieving but she's also clearly the most licentious one. I kind of wonder if there isn't some sort of Protestant superiority complex at work here: Adrian's a Catholic (so is Madison Lauren, Amy's redheaded BFF, and she's seen as somewhat ditzy and disloyal) and Hispanic and she never goes to church -- is there a message there? They really make a big deal out of how she'd rather have sex than attend. It's pretty over-the-top, no?

Anyway, if you have opinions or reactions to the show, I'd love to hear them! It's a bit hard to find intelligent conversations about this via Google, and MacNN is a very literate and thoughtful community, so I thought I'd try here.

[ghporter]

I have a child at home who has only very recently stopped being a teenager, and a lot of his friends still are, so I have more drama than I need in my life anyway!

Do you think that it's possible that Adrian is portrayed that way to show something other than some sort of religious bias? Like she's one of those smart, aggressive people who thinks social rules don't fully apply to her?

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Do you think that it's possible that Adrian is portrayed that way to show something other than some sort of religious bias? Like she's one of those smart, aggressive people who thinks social rules don't fully apply to her?

Perhaps. But consider as well that Adrian's mom is also having an affair with Amy's dad, a married man. So the "slut" is the daughter of the "homewrecker." They even play a little salsa riff whenever Adrian enters a scene. So while I admit there's probably no anti-Hispanic conspiracy here, it's not a very nice image of that group. Also, how come all the African-American characters (Madison, Ricky's foster Mom, Mr. Molina [or is he actually Hispanic?], even Madison's brother are wise and saintly?

Oh, and one funny oddity of the show is how these young characters spontaneously burst into monologues that sound like drug commercials, like Madison's brother's "fetus" lecture or Madison's discourse on prenatal care. As much as I do see the value in these topics being covered, no doubt the realism of the show suffers greatly under the weight of these things.

[ghporter]

In real life, kids pick up on parents' behavior and often unconsciously mimic it... But we're talking about a TV show, not a sociological study, so I'm really reaching by mentioning it, right?

[Chuckit]

I hate to be a Negative Nancy, but: Oh, man, the writing on this show hurts. It's pretty hard to exaggerate how much teenagers think about sex, but somehow this show actually manages it. Me and two of my siblings (both in their early 20s) compared notes afterward about which sex conversation was the most ham-fisted. Good grief, find something else for these kids to talk about occasionally.

Of course, it's from the creator of Seventh Heaven, a show that had an episode about how smokers are complete dolts who burn down houses with impunity (seriously), so I wasn't expecting a lot of subtlety. And yes, she does seem to have a strong Protestant bias.

[selowitch]

Adrian even comes on to the guidance counselor, for Heaven's sake! And she's often rather mean. Interestingly, she's apparently super-smart (aced her SATs) and also very needy for affection -- even to the point of insisting that Ricky sleep over despite his rigid foster-parenting situation (well, there's yet another unflattering stereotype of Latino women, that they're overly demanding of men, etc.) Yet for all that, though, Adrian is a very appealing character, despite her flaws.

You know who's actually kind of boring to me? Amy, the main character. She's kind of dull. Not a bad actress, just not very interesting. Grace is really quite fascinating. Her fundamentalist Christianity may expose her to some derision from her classmates, but to the viewer, she's actually quite admirable and principled. In fact, I consider her to be the heroine of the show, not Amy.