Seems even though ive come into this game and found this website very late, i hope it's not TOO late, lol...
I actually watched the show when it originally aired, 18 years ago now(WOW). I was a "complete" adult back then, 28-29 but was able to relate with nostalgia, as well as appreciate the show on an adult level emotionally. I absolutely remember loving it back then, was extremely impressed with CD as a young actress and remember thinking she'd be off to do movies asap, which of course is what happened and what i recently learned was a major reason for the show's demise(along with poor ratings). I was disappointed in its premature end. Over the years i caught an episode or two on MTV but had pretty much put the show in my past with many others that had ended w/o syndication. Ive noticed the past few months its been on Sundance channel and have watched episodes here and there, but havent caught the pilot again until last nite. Just recently i became aware it has been a hugely popular cult hit and there is a dvd set(which i have yet to purchase). Supposedly there were early internet advocates who rallied to keep the show on tv. Completely unrelated, my question is who WERE these people who used the internet in that way almost 20 years ago when I didnt even have my first cell phone until 1998, LOL. I only started using a PC in the very late 90's...But I digress....Just goes to show how slow i was coming into tech bc of my age i guess
I joined this site about a week ago and have been randomly reading threads, etc, and its amazing and overwhelming the amount of intense analysis that has been done with many details of the show. I love it!
Up until now i had only put such intense analysis into certain movies, usually of the surreal genre, though ive always enjoyed hashing out analysis on any film ive enjoyed with a likeminded companion. Besides the X-Files or BTVS, ive never looked at tv for much meaningful metaphor, though metaphor is to be found everywhere and as a published poet i know this to be certain fact, lol. More on metaphor later...
Back to the pilot, i saw it last nite for the first time since its original airing. I had forgotten how young CD was and appeared in contrast to later episodes. I dont have the dvd set yet, so mostly ill be paraphrasing here.
The scene between Angela and Sharon about their friendship rang so true to life because it happened to me. One of my best childhood friends who lived across the street from me decided when HS started she wanted a different group of friends and dropped me like a hot potato, without much, if any explanation. I remember being devastated and asking her why, more than once, blah blah. We went our separate ways and never really were friends ever again. If i saw her over the years, we were polite but distant, with little to talk about or share. Adolescence ended our friendship forever. I see that even though Sharon thinks she did something wrong and Angela makes it sound like its her fault, to an extent, I see clearly it isnt anything Sharon DID, but what she represented that Angela had moved away from. I think as an teenager she was changing and just wanted to try on a different personality with different friends. Forgive me if i sound outdated as adolescence was a LONG time ago, lol. To clarify that fact i will compare it, in a small way, to when Sandy in "Grease" went from Sandra Dee to Hot-Spandex-Wearing-Curly-Hair-Smoking-Spiked-Heels Sandy at the end of the movie. Though she was changing her outward appearance, i seriously doubt her good girl inner self went flying out the window completely. Even after Angela dyes her hair and dresses up the way she does for the club, afterward and in later episodes you could tell it was mostly just a superficial change; skin, or in this case, hair-deep!
The other scene i want to point out is the scene with the cheerleader crying in the hall. A VERY stylish and almost surreal shot. I think it represents a subtle answer to Angela's earlier VO about cheerleaders and why cant they just cheer alone, or w/e the actual line is. I see it as a reference to teenagers in general, individually and when alone, the angst and isolation for many of them. Cheerleading as a group stands as a metaphor(for me) here, of the conformity and peer pressure to FIT IN and be the picture of happy, well-adjusted teenagers to both our families and a specific social clique; the good girls or boys, the Sharons or Brians.
In the scene here is see it as the cheering, for the cheerleader, can only be done or felt within the group. Alone, the cheerleader is just another lonely and isolated teenager(metaphorically speaking). Her appearance here , alone and crying as Angela is running to class is to emphasize their parallels, of which Angela is unaware. While Angela is trying to now FIT IN with the wilder crowd ,she is feeling guilty she is late for class( showing her true self, as does the cheerleader) .
Anyway, thats all i have for now. This is my first post which i decided to write after catching the first episode(again after soooo long) last nite. I will watch the show again tonite, as it goes in order every day MON-FRI, re-running all five back to back the following Sunday. I think i will head over to each episode thread after watching it and see what/if i can contribute. Not sure if i can add to anything to the wonderful posts on here, or if its even relevant to many anymore on this site. Like i said, ive come here LATELATELATE.