By Emilia Hwang
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Maybe you haven’t heard of the prestigious Rawley Academy, even though it’s one of the most exclusive boarding schools in America.
Perhaps you’ve vacationed in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and yet never been to Capeside.
If these places don’t ring a bell in the campanile of reality for you, don’t worry – they’re all made up.
That’s right. There is no Rawley Academy. There is no Dawson and he doesn’t really have a creek.
On July 12, the WB premiered its latest teen drama “Young Americans” strategically in the time slot directly following “Dawson’s Creek.” The same criticism, however, that plagued its predecessor seems to apply to this new series as well.
I’ve heard people say that “Young Americans” is unrealistic. One look at Will Krudski and you’d say: “Whoa, he looks way too old to be 15 years old.”
Well, of course he does. First of all, Will is not a real person. He is a character played by actor Rodney Scott, who is 22 years old in real life.
Which brings me to another point: What is “real life”anyway?
If I wanted to see the face of reality, I’d sit in front of my bathroom mirror for an hour every night after dinner. But because the real world isn’t all that great sometimes, I choose to spend my Wednesday evenings watching a show that relieves me from the truth of my own mundane existence.
In reality, UCLA’s summer session A is a woeful routine comprised of atrocious midterms and never-ending chapters about the theory of human communication. At Rawley Academy, summer school is a whim for the young and the beautiful who spend their sunny days rowing crew and frolicking in a dazzling blue lake.
What would you rather watch?
A television show does not have to be based on actual people in actual situations to be deemed worthwhile for general viewing.
A truly captivating show, however, needs to have more than just visual appeal to captivate this astute TV watcher. “Young Americans” is more than just blue-eyed beauties in trivial adventures – these gorgeous guys and girls are on an incredible journey.
The remarkable thing is, they never have to leave their New England town, because their extraordinary odyssey is one that spans the adolescent mind and soul. The theme here is pretty universal – teenagers struggling to find their identity.
And just like the teens in “Dawson’s,” the Rawley kids talk about life as if they know everything there is to know – at the age of 15.
But that’s the beauty of being young – you don’t know enough about “real life” to know that you haven’t got a clue. And at the same time, the world of a teenager doesn’t have to be larger than your parents and the girl who lives down the creek to cause confusion, frustration and grief.
Look at those “Dawson’s” kids. They’ve known each other all their lives and they’ve never left Capeside. Not to mention, their extensive vocabulary is larger than the average SAT prep book. Yet, they still can’t communicate their most essential fears and desires to one another. What could be more realistic than that?
In “Young Americans,” the kids come from different pasts and face different futures together. One look at the seemingly generic story lines and you’d say: this show is too predictable.
But, isn’t the process of growing up a little predictable at times? Your parents watched you make the same mistakes they made. And you’ll probably watch your kids make the same mistakes that you made.
Why not watch the kids at Rawley make some mistakes while you’re at it?
Finally, if you think that all the shows on the WB network are the same, they’re not.
Sure Rodney Scott looks a little familiar. That’s because his character, Will, recently appeared in “Dawson’s Creek” as a long-lost friend of Pacey (Joshua Jackson).
I learned about this in my English class. It’s called intertextuality and it’s at the core of human existence. Everyone is an individual yet we are all connected.
In literature, intertextuality is the weaving of outside texts within a story. In life, it is the intertwining of similarly unrelated situations or people, like the popular theory of six degrees of separation.
Our lives may steer down divergent paths, but they all eventually lead back to a single point of convergence. The bottom line is we are all familiar with the same stories, players and settings, no matter how divergent our paths may be .
In literature, life and television, intertextuality adds a remarkable layer of richness to otherwise isolated and irrelevant instances.
In bringing together its network genealogy and its $6 million sponsor, “Young Americans” makes playful references to it’s WB cousin “Felicity” while integrating its Coca-Cola product placements into its rich plot. What genius – the WB must be where philosophers and poets go when they die.
Don’t get me wrong, “Young Americans” is far from being the perfect show. In fact, it is sometimes so bad, it’s embarrassing to watch. But it seems to me that that feeling of vicarious humiliation and self-consciousness is also at the core of growing up.
So even though there is no “real life” Rawley Academy or Capeside to visit, their fictitious inhabitants exhibit enough raw emotion and young hope to keep this aging American glued to the tube.
Hwang will be watching “Young Americans” on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on the WB. You can e-mail her at emilia@ucla.edu.