Growing up in the early 2000s had already created a raunchy stigma behind high school and what it should be like for my middle school brain. But the shows that were offered to me to watch on my favorite channels such as TeenNick, Freeform, Fox and Disney emphasized these unrealistic expectations I had of myself between 2016 and 2020. In my 12-year-old mind, I pictured myself growing into what looked like a 20-year-old body by the time middle school was over, cruising around the town with absolutely no parental supervision, and going to movie-like football games with my best friends in the whole world. As many of us can expect, I had a pretty rude awakening when I started my freshman year in 2018! But what caused this revolutionary unrealistic idea of the high school “dream?” Now that I’m on the cusp of 20 and have completed high school, I think I can justifiably blame the TV shows and movies that hired adults to play students in some of my favorite shows.
Although I have no regrets about watching programs like Glee, High School Musical, Pretty Little Liars, Gossip Girl, or The Vampire Diaries, they drastically built my entire false knowledge of what being a teenager in high school would be like. For example, the cast of Glee was primarily between the ages of 19 and 30 years old, and they were playing the roles of high school students! The classic movie Grease had actors ranging from the ages of 22 and 35 playing high schoolers. This not only damaged my idea of what a 16-year-old’s body should look like but also how I should interact with my peers. Additionally shows and movies like Gossip Girl, High School Musical and The Vampire Diaries focused on such dramatic topics and completely disregarded the idea of having to do schoolwork in school. Instead, these programs focused on partying, vampires, and criminal dramas that seemed exciting to my teenage mind. However, in reality, we get slammed with so much homework and studying that we don’t have time or the curfew to party with our friends or find 3,000-year-old vampires!
As I ventured through my freshman year, I tried to make my fictional dreams come true. Unfortunately, the acne-prone, brace-faced and prepubescent teenager in me knew it was going to be pretty hard to accomplish in my small town. When the pandemic hit in 2020, my sophomore year came to a screeching halt and high school went from a new adventure to looking through my computer screen in bed. This was very hard to cope with, considering I was hoping for a musical-induced and party-filled second year of school! But I quickly adjusted and realized reality was setting in and my workload was picking up. My 16-year-old self began working a part-time job, embracing my growing body and emotions, and making real memories with my friends and family. As I’ve grown up, although it’s entertaining, I now look down upon material that promotes the fantasy world of high school and nearly impossible expectations of appearance. I hope that this storyline for shows and movies will continue to change and evolve to meet the standards of reality and what it really means to be a high schooler in America today!