It's interesting to me to look back on this show. When it was actually on the air, I believed myself "too old" to watch it — even though I'm in the same graduating class as the title character. Instead, I saw it twenty years later, as part of a process wherein my wife and I share media from our formative years. So I watched the show from two simultaneous perspectives: the one that says, "Yeah right, Idiot Ball, teenagers are dumb," and the one that says, "I'm in this photo and I don't like it."
It's always fun to watch actors get their start. After seeing the later seasons of the show, I can see why Katie Holmes declined to come back for The Dark Knight: she was wasted in Batman Begins, and her character could've been (and should've been) so much more. Meanwhile, Michelle Williams was wasted here in Dawson's Creek, where she had the most interesting character but was never given anything to do. (Neither was Meredith Monroe.) The other thing I wish was explored more was the Jack & Pacey double act, which only gets one episode but is one of the funniest episodes of the run.
The show was Fair for Its Day, but today cannot have the impact it did when it aired. A gay protagonist? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. The first gay kiss on primetime television? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. (The kiss itself isn't exceptional either, barely lasting half a second.) Averting "Sex Is Evil" for teenagers? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. It's a product of its time, resulting in Dated History; but I can appreciate how important these moments were at the time.
Most of all, though, I can see why the show was contentious. My wife and I are now watching Freaks and Geeks, another Teen Drama, but besides having the same subjects the two shows couldn't be more different. Instead of Cringe Comedy, Dawson's Creek attempts to capture teenage's feeling of magic and potential — being on the cusp of adulthood where everything is both scary and exciting, and any choice you make feels like it could shake the world to its foundations. It does this by taking that magic and potential seriously... and, as a result, can come across as utterly pretentious. But that's the point. Being a teenager is about being utterly pretentious, being old enough to dream big but not old enough to have context. And Dawson's Creek comes in and says that it's okay to live in that space, to be ready to shake the world to its foundations. Freaks and Geeks is about disillusionment; Dawson's Creek is about hope. And, pretentious or otherwise, I'm glad they made a show which celebrates that.
(And, if you must know, Dawson/Gretchen for the win.)
Dawson's Creek: A Retrospective
It's interesting to me to look back on this show. When it was actually on the air, I believed myself "too old" to watch it — even though I'm in the same graduating class as the title character. Instead, I saw it twenty years later, as part of a process wherein my wife and I share media from our formative years. So I watched the show from two simultaneous perspectives: the one that says, "Yeah right, Idiot Ball, teenagers are dumb," and the one that says, "I'm in this photo and I don't like it."
It's always fun to watch actors get their start. After seeing the later seasons of the show, I can see why Katie Holmes declined to come back for The Dark Knight: she was wasted in Batman Begins, and her character could've been (and should've been) so much more. Meanwhile, Michelle Williams was wasted here in Dawson's Creek, where she had the most interesting character but was never given anything to do. (Neither was Meredith Monroe.) The other thing I wish was explored more was the Jack & Pacey double act, which only gets one episode but is one of the funniest episodes of the run.
The show was Fair for Its Day, but today cannot have the impact it did when it aired. A gay protagonist? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. The first gay kiss on primetime television? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. (The kiss itself isn't exceptional either, barely lasting half a second.) Averting "Sex Is Evil" for teenagers? Big deal back then; hardly noteworthy now. It's a product of its time, resulting in Dated History; but I can appreciate how important these moments were at the time.
Most of all, though, I can see why the show was contentious. My wife and I are now watching Freaks and Geeks, another Teen Drama, but besides having the same subjects the two shows couldn't be more different. Instead of Cringe Comedy, Dawson's Creek attempts to capture teenage's feeling of magic and potential — being on the cusp of adulthood where everything is both scary and exciting, and any choice you make feels like it could shake the world to its foundations. It does this by taking that magic and potential seriously... and, as a result, can come across as utterly pretentious. But that's the point. Being a teenager is about being utterly pretentious, being old enough to dream big but not old enough to have context. And Dawson's Creek comes in and says that it's okay to live in that space, to be ready to shake the world to its foundations. Freaks and Geeks is about disillusionment; Dawson's Creek is about hope. And, pretentious or otherwise, I'm glad they made a show which celebrates that.
(And, if you must know, Dawson/Gretchen for the win.)