“How do you do fellow kids?”
“what?”
tweens: the middle ground between children and teenagers, 8-14 year olds who haven't
quite started wearing makeup and bras but have (quite literally) grown out of kid's
shows and barbie dolls.
In the US and Canada, this age has a territory all of its own: middle school.
However, the 21st century has seen the tween demographic steadily shrinking as children,
especially young girls, are encouraged to grow up faster than ever before.
the divide between child and teen is now starker than ever, and nowhere is this clearer than
in the media.
pre-teens start off watching cartoons and crazy antics on Nick and Disney, before taking
a drastic leap to shows on the CW, Netflix, and HBO that depict teens doing drugs , sleeping
or worse, - jingle jangle -, and partaking in other questionable teen activities such
as entering gangs.
as tweens grow up, there's little option for them to avoid potentially age-inappropriate
content.
Teen shows used to be more conservative in their storylines and relationships.
In the book TEEN TV Stefania Marghitun notes: “Due to network television’s Least Offensive
Programming agenda, showing teen s*x, and subsequent teen pregnancy, continued to be
taboo until the late 1990s.”
Even Friends, a show targeted towards adults, was pretty conservative in its depiction of
s*x.
However, as both the taboo and restrictions concerning teen s*x on screen decreased, teen
TV has become raunchy enough to rival or even outdo adult programmes.
We have to wonder if there even are many age-appropriate tv shows for teens, let alone tweens.
The tween-appropriate shows [Never Have I Ever, I am Not Okay With This] definitely
seem to be in the minority.
Not to mention, in the age of social-media, all content has been democratised.
Tweens no longer have to sneak downstairs to watch late-night shows [the iron giant
clip] or scrub their internet history of ‘[how to kiss]’ google searches from the family
computer.
Tweens are learning about s*x, dr*gs, and rock n’ roll earlier than ever before from
social media posts and increased internet access.
Shaniya of Shanspeare is making a video all about the impact of social media on tweens.
This video is actually in collaboration with Shanspeare, Shaniya’s channel where she
dives deep into issues of race, femininity, and class, and plays a personal stylist to
the stars, popular shows, and her subscribers.
Shaniya’s video analyses the link between social media and the s*xualisation of tween
girls.
In this video I pick up on similar themes in teen television: I analyse Nickelodeon
and CW shows to highlight the huge gap that exists between kids and teen's media and how
there doesn't seem to be much middle ground between them.
If you want to see the full scope of this analysis, I highly recommend watching Shanspeare’s
video as well.
I think the best way to truly illustrate the disparity between children and teen shows
is to analyse a sample of each.
Let's take an episode of Sam & Cat and an episode of Riverdale, one of the most popular
shows aimed at the teen/pre-teen demographic, to compare.
I used a random number generator to pick which episode each would be so there was no selective
bias.
It resulted in the 13th episode of Sam and Cat "#SecretSafe" and the 27th episode of
Riverdale "The Hills Have Eyes".
One of the principal characteristics of the typical Nickelodeon/Disney Channel Show is
that it follows a sit-com format.
While there are recurring characters [S&C - BritBrats] and some overarching storylines
[wizards of waverly place - school], each episode tends to have a narrative arc that
concludes within its 22 minute run time.
This episode of S&C revolves around a safe Sam & Cat find in their closet.
Once Sam cracks the code, they discover a hidden bunker that has long been abandoned.
They're babysitting their neighbour Dice, but he locks them in in order to sneak out.
Their friend Goomer frees them and the gang find out that Dice is a children's party performer.
To get their revenge, they lock Dice in the bunker and go off to enjoy "sloppy waffles".
As is the case with many children’s shows, Sam & Cat is a comedy with largely innocent
humour.
The humour tends to be very formulaic with punchlines relying on silly words and unconventional
delivery.
“That machine is called a motorcycle, but who knows what they’ll be called ten years
from now?
Maybe..
STRADDLEZOOMERS!”
“I don’t need a babysitter I’m 12…
POINT FIVE” It also relies on physical comedy and slapstick humour.
While the humour may be repetitive and a little odd to older viewers, it’s age-appropriate
for the young audience.
On the other hand, Riverdale, like all CW shows and the majority of teen TV, consists
of overarching storylines that take episodes if not an entire season to resolve.
From serial killers to cults, the show concerns itself with a broad range of adult topics.
And since every episode is over twice the length of a kid's show, they can pack a lot
more into each.
With a change in subject matter comes a change in style.
Both are significantly darker than their childish counterparts.
Riverdale, Gossip Girl, Sabrina, Euphoria all have dark, moody colour palettes that
contrast the bright-lit studio sets of Nickelodeon and Disney shows.
In episode 27 of Riverdale, friends Archie, Veronica, Betty, and Jughead go to a lake
house for a romantic getaway.
Archie and Veronica are dating and so are Betty and Jughead.
Their friend Cheryl, insulted that she wasn't invited, calls Jughead and tells him that
Betty kissed Archie in the past in order to spark some tension.
As a solution, Veronica and Jughead kiss to "level the playing field".
Each couple makes up (and makes out) and tries to make the most of their weekend.
The episode bounces between the lake house and Riverdale town, where we see Josie telling
Kevin that her mom and his dad had an affair, and Cheryl tells her girlfriend Toni that
her homophobic mother broke up her last relationship with a girl.
Back in the lake house, a group of men the gang saw in town break into the house, Veronica
activates a silent alarm, they escape, and one of Hiram's bodyguards kills one of the
intruders.
Ok, so obviously a very different tone from Sam & Cat.
S*x, violence, and mafia murder.. all in one episode.
Other episodes include more of the same themes as well as dr*gs (jingle jangle), gangs, attempted
su*cide, attempted SA..
It's a stark shift in subject matter and a rapid uptake of adult themes.
Though Riverdale has garnered a lot of attention for its sensational storylines, it's not the
first teen show to feature plots beyond the realm of teenage possibility.
Gossip Girl, Skins, Euphoria, and Pretty Little Liars also show underage s*x, dr*gs, murder,
and more, including inappropriate teacher-student relationships.
Though elements may ring true for teenagers, they don't feel representative of teenage
life.
These shows could easily be set in college, with adult casts and characters, there’s
really no need to set them in high schools.
If they have to make a show set in school, at least show the characters navigating school,
balancing study, family, friends, and hobbies that don’t involve sniffing out murder mysteries.
It feels gross and exploitative that middle-aged or older executives and writers are still
creating media that is supposed to be for and about teenagers but include highly inappropriate
plotlines and rampant teen s*xualisation.
The result is that tweens jump from watching shows where the climax of a relationship is
a first kiss like in iCarly and Wizards of Waverly Place, to witnessing teens getting
hot and heavy every other episode.
The default for teen shows has become grand melodramas in which the characters rarely
attend school, instead getting involved in distinctly adult activities.
I understand there is a need and desire for escapist media, but I think more importance
should be placed on portraying realistic teens rather than writing teens into adult stories.
In fact, the only teen / tween shows I have seen that feel somewhat accurate to the teen
experience are the Norwegian Skam, Sex Education, and Degrassi.
Granted, Degrassi covers a lot of bases and has a lot of drama, but it doesn't feel like
it's glamorising any of the more 'adult' parts of teen years.
Skam is very grounded in reality as the principal conflicts for the characters are their relationships
with their friends, crushes, and significant others.
Sex Education is a charming and wise look at the relationships and s*x lives of teenagers
in a school in England.
And though it may centre on s*x and s*xuality, it doesn’t fall into the all-too-common
trope of teen tv, that is: Casting older actors to play teenagers is
by no means a new phenomenon, from Rebel Without a Cause (james dean = 24 ) to Grease (John
Travolta = 24, Olivia Newton-John = 30), high school students have almost always been played
by actors in the mid-to-late-twenties.
there's reasons behind these casting decisions, of course, with strict child protection laws
limiting what child actors can do and what hours they can work.
Also, with the track record of child stars, abuse and mental illness [Amanda Bynes, Lindsay
Logan, Britney Spears, Jennette McCurdy] it’s vital that we don’t endanger and exploit
children for entertainment.
And with this, one of the most alarming repercussions of casting adults to play teenagers is the
hypers*xualisation of teenagers.
I believe part of the reason we've become desensitised to the unrealistic and hypers*xualised
portrayals of teenagers is because the actors are almost always 5 to 10 years older than
the characters they're playing.
So it's easy to forget that these teenagers.. are teenagers and in reality a 14 year old
would look more like this [insert pictures] than [this].
Mina Le just put out a video that explores this topic and I highly recommend checking
out her video too, as she retroactively examines shows she watched as a teen and highlights
their problematic portrayals of teens.
The only shows I've seen that have cast teenage actors to play teenagers are the Norwegian
show Skam and Degrassi.
I've been watching Degrassi recently and you really notice the difference in watching actual
teenagers acting, and even those teen actors are a year or two older than their characters.
Watching it as a 23-year old, their attempts to flirt and kiss feel viscerally uncomfortable.
The thought of these teens being s*xualised in the same manner as the adult actors in
other teen shows is sickening, and makes the stark reality of what those shows are depicting
sink in.
exploring one's s*xuality is a facet of many people's teenage years, it's important to
represent this exploration on screen.
The problem however is the excessive s*xualization of teen characters.
Many shows, from Riverdale to Gossip Girl, include unnecessary s*xual scenes that add
nothing to the plot.
The scenes essentially function as excuses to showcase the bodies of the attractive actors.
Euphoria goes as far as to show one of the teenagers engaging in s*x work.
Kat illegally (she’s 16/17) engages in s*x work as a way to gain empowerment, and though
it doesn't end positively, it plays a part in the normalisation of teenagers starting
s*x work, which i’ll address later.
The glamorised, unrealistic portrayal of s*x on film and tv is often teenager's first exposure
to s*x.
And given the fact that s*x education in schools is poorly lacking, many teens don't have the
education or points of comparison to contextualise it.
I think Degrassi is a show that strikes a good balance of exploring s*x and s*xuality
without s*xualising teenage characters.
It not only features heterosexual characters navigating crushes, s*x, and relationships,
but also portrays queer characters exploring their s*xuality.
It may allude to characters having s*x but doesn’t explicitly show it, which is a far
cry from other teen shows.
The s*xualisation of teenagers, especially young girls, has implications that extend
far beyond the tv screen.
It creates a sense that all teenagers are having s*x and living crazy lives, putting
pressure on teens to live up to these unrealistic expectations or making them feel dissatisfied
with a life that seems mundane by comparison.
It also impacts self-esteem during a time when bodies are drastically changing with
fluctuating weight and skin concerns.
But the characters have no acne, wear expensive clothes and have carefully curated wardrobes
that, even aside from everything else, makes them look like full-blown adults.
Framing these adults who, in their mid-to-late twenties, have left puberty far behind, as
teenagers ignores the trials and tribulations puberty throws at you.
Besides that, the s*xualisation of teens impacts young girls and women in particular.
Society is obsessed with s*xualising young girls, just look at the difference between
the google results for school boy and school girl.
Britney Spears, Natalie Portman, Millie Bobby Brown, Billie Eilish, Miley Cyrus, all of
whom were child stars, are (young) women in the spotlight that were s*xualised from the
time they hit puberty - look at Britney's "... Baby One More Time" which was filmed
when Britney was SIXTEEN.
In this article, Onji J. Oduor points out that her costuming and choreography branded
Britney as a “North American unspoken Lolita”.
[Rolling Stone cover, Britney at 18].
Britney in particular straddled the line between family-friendly and s*xy but the continued
tendency for child stars to swing from squeaky clean to hyper s*xual represents a public
desire to see young girls in s*xual situations.
Even news outlets play into this with speculation about MBB’s love life when she was THIRTEEN,
and trending stories about Billie Eilish’s boobs as a 17 year old as well as countdowns
til her 18th birthday are just a couple recent examples.
There’s a gross desire for people to see “barely legal” women in provocative situations
- Bhad Bhabie started an OnlyFans 2 weeks after she turned 18 and she made $1 million
in 6 hours.
All of these real-life examples of hypers*xualisation of teen girls stem from the pervasive media
that frames adult bodies as teenagers and the “p*dophilic corporate elite” .
The tween to teen pipeline is steadily shrinking, and it feels as though we’re witnessing
the extinction of the tween demographic.
These kids are highly impressionable and susceptible to what they see in front of them, from social
media to network television.
The media depictions accelerate our growing up as tweens and teens emulate what they see
on TV.
And given the normalisation of dr*gs, s*x, and other questionable activities this becomes
a problem as children and teenagers are pushed into adulthood faster and faster.
It seems that the wealth of teen shows from Euphoria to Riverdale that are about teenagers,
don't necessarily seem to be for teenagers, especially younger ones.
Tweens have slim pickings for appropriate content, as shows swing from one extreme to
another with no real middle ground.
I think the problem lies in teen TV, as it fails to bridge the gap between kid’s programming
and teenage content, instead diving into adult topics without letting its young viewers come
up for air.
Watching teen TV as an adult, with the ability to contextualise its sensational plotlines
and unrealistic depictions, it’s easy to forget how damaging these shows are.
However, hopefully, with recent stories like Eighth Grade and Pen15, media that recognises
the importance of those tween years will continue to grow and a space will be made for tweens
once more.