“These are dark times we live in.” We hear it a lot these days. Every day there’s a tragedy on the news, or something that’s sure to be remembered as a major historical event. But through these struggles and fears that we live in, we all still remember that we have to live. If we’re lucky enough to have lives that allow for any sort of normalcy, amongst volatile moments that are sure to become dark and perhaps even traumatizing memories, we still try to continue on with our lives as if nothing’s happening. When you’re young, you need that normalcy, and the chance to keep mundane things as your primary priorities in order to be able to cope with the horrors in your own backyard. It’s a universal experience when things are happening outside of your control and you’re expected to relax despite being at the mercy of the adults, many of whom don’t seem all that concerned with you. These are just some of the core themes explored in the 2018 show Derry Girls.
Derry Girls takes place in Northern Ireland, but is produced by a British production company; somewhat ironic as the show takes every opportunity to throw digs at the English in tongue-in-cheek references to the tense relationships that Catholics in Northern Ireland share with the U.K. It is set in the ‘90s towards the end of the infamous “Troubles” that had plagued Northern Ireland for upwards of 30 years. Based on the show’s creator Lisa McGee’s own experiences, Derry Girls showcases the lives of young teenagers growing up in the town of Derry during “the Troubles”. The actual “Troubles” serve as an violent and deadly backdrop to their adolescence as they manage and sometimes struggle to go on with their regular lives of school, homework, exams, and relationships amongst everything else while growing up in a war torn era.
From the start, Derry Girls doesn’t shy away from the religious tensions and discourse that were one of the main factors of “the Troubles”. The very first scene establishes the dark humor that runs throughout the show, putting a raw focus on the ramifications that war can have on everyday life, rather than an intimate look at the war itself. We get an establishing shot on the hills overlooking Derry with a military tank driving down the road. As the camera moves further to zoom into the actual town there’s a quick glimpse of two people graffitiing over a sign welcoming people to the town. The sign reads “Welcome to Londonderry” but they’re crossing out “London” so that it just reads Derry. A few seconds later, as we go through more of the town, we see another welcome sign. This one reads “You Are Now Entering Free Derry” while a voiceover of the main character’s diary is read aloud stating that the town is called Derry or Londonderry “depending on your persuasion.” This is a subtle representation of the deep seeded conflicts between Catholics and Protestants that span centuries prior to “the Troubles”, which began in 1968. Londonderry is what the town is referred to by British unionists, primarily Protestants, while Derry is what the nationalists, mainly Catholics, would refer to it as. In modern day people are likely to just refer to it as Derry outside of political discussions depending on which side of the debate someone falls.
One big aspect of the actual “Troubles” was the usage of bomb threats and attacks towards civilians, which the show utilizes in order to tap into the fear and anxiety that this type of warfare would instill in people. When the threats become real it reminds the characters that they’re still embroiled in a very deadly conflict but for the most part we see how civilians will become desensitized to potential violence when they’ve been surrounded by it for a long time. Throughout the first episode, there’s several references to a bomb that’s being dismantled on a bridge in Derry. Everyone, kids and adults alike, treat it as more of a nuisance disrupting their everyday lives, rather than something considered worrying or scary enough to give attention to. The visual of three generations of characters (the main character Erin, her mother, and her grandfather) watching a bomb threat on the news and just barely taking it seriously (due to it being so par for the course) carries the weight of many years of violence and oppression in just one family, something that many people could potentially see reflected in their own families.
The beginning of the show also has the song “Dreams” by the Cranberries playing in the background. That song is about first love and meeting someone special in your life; things that many young people want to find and often do when they can let go of the pressures and struggles of life. They want to be free of everything else and be with the person that makes them happy, even if everything around them is as dark as what these characters are going through. No matter what’s happening around you, it’s natural to strive for those moments of lightness, and the show taps into that reality for the kids who grew up in this time period. It shows how generational trauma is reflected in every character in this first scene of the show to the point where it’s considered normal to focus on the things they can actually control, such as what they’re going to wear to school and if they’ll be late to work driving around a bomb that’s been set on a bridge in their small town.
The song “Dreams” later comes full circle in the season 1 finale with a parallel to the bomb threat of the first episode. While the kids are at their school talent show dancing on stage together, the adults are at their house watching the news story of a bomb attack that killed 12 people and injured more. It’s an eerie juxtaposition as well as an almost continuation of the opening scene. The fact that it’s different bomb threats as well just reminds the audience of how common and deadly all this fighting was. It shows that, even though they’re mostly used to it, as shown in the first episode of the series, every once in a while it reinforces just how powerless it can feel for the adults living in these eras who can’t protect their kids. The kids are able to still have fun with each other, even when they’ve grown up with these struggles within their town and their country, but the adults know more. All they can do is try to keep their kids from losing whatever innocence they may have for as long as possible so they can still be kids. The show is only political in the sense that it references real world issues in order to juxtapose them with the much smaller scale problems that teens have to deal with. It shows how much the regular citizens, especially the children caught in the crossfire, are forced to compartmentalize just to carve out a normal childhood for themselves because the instability surrounding them does take its toll.
Derry Girls as a show manages to serve as the very thing that the show itself represents: an escape from the struggles and anxieties and uncontrollable reality of life outside of storytelling. This is something that media as a whole can be for those that find comfort in it, but Derry Girls especially is a very funny and lighthearted show with lovable characters who, at first glance, might seem to be going through things that may be unrelatable, but their focus on the simplicities that make life livable amidst these outside factors are what helps it become that comfort and simplicity for its audience. On top of that, considering the volatile state of the world today, it makes sense that anyone would be looking for an escape from everyday life, while still wanting to watch something that feels relatable to them. This show is a fairly perfect mix of all of the above.