The World We Don't Live In
Steve Lippo Final TV Essay 10/26/00 The World We Don’t Live In Television is
not real life. It’s not even close. From Friends to Frasier, people’s lives do
not resemble TV show plots by any means. Television’s number one goal is to
portray what viewers would want their lives to be like. Dawson’s Creek is no
different. The world does not revolve around a small group of high school
students, yet in this show it seems to. Dawson's Creek chronicles the wry humor
the undeniably intense period of awakening known as teenage years. Set in the
Boston suburb of Capeside, this series explores the blooming self-awareness and
growing pains that go hand-in-hand with the triumphs of growing up. Dawson’s
Creek’s fantasy lifestyle and unrealistic dialogue create a world where
consumerism rules over conflicting relationships and the search for true love.
Wisely intelligent and yet naively open, four teens are at the heart of this
drama as they unknowingly embark on the road less traveled, going against the
norm in the paths they choose. Together in this passage from adolescence to
young adulthood, the series stars Dawson Leary, Joey Potter, Pacey Witter, and
Jen Lindley. Dawson is a 17-year-old Steven Spielberg fanatic who is charmingly
obsessive and passionate about his love of movies. Dawson's longtime best friend
Joey is the tomboy and emerging beauty who lives a less functional home life
down the creek. Pacey’s gift for sarcasm is topped only by an over-confident
knack for stumbling awkwardly and unprepared into adult situations. Rounding out
the inseparable foursome, Jen may appear to be the girl next door, but she has
an air of mystery surrounding her as she harbors a dark secret from her past.
Together, they learn that growing up is never as easy as it seems in the movies.
Blindly testing the waters towards young adulthood, these four astute teens shed
their childlike innocence and endure the compromise of morality that accompanies
so-called maturity. Exploring the passions that lie beneath the surface of
Dawson's Creek, they deal with friendship, jealousy, family, school and love in
their struggle to attain adulthood. The opening of Dawson’s Creek features these
lyrics sung by Paula Cole: “I don’t want to wait for our lives to be over. I
want to know right now what it will be. I don’t want to wait for our lives to be
over. Will it be yes or will it be…sorry.” Each episode begins with this song as
clips of the group sitting around and laughing with each other are flashed by
the viewer’s eyes. The opening resembles one of the music videos commonly seen
on MTV. This is significant because Dawson’s Creek and MTV try to obtain the
same teenage viewer demographics. By using this strategy for the opening
package, the show relates to the pop culture side of their audience. It is that
MTV lifestyle, that livelihood, which the show tries to focus on. The obvious consumeristic success of MTV is a desirable trait to networks. Teenagers today
are savvy consumers, and this is becoming more and more evident to networks. If
you tap into the consumer side of teens, you have opened up a whole new world of
ratings never seen before. The lyrics themselves also relate a message about the
show. As in real life, the characters in the show grow up way too fast at this
stage in life.
