Instead of tweeting every single random thought I have while watching MSCL, I decided to just write them all in a Scrivener document, then present them all at once. Some of them just occurred to be in the moment, others I gave at least a few minutes thought.
With that, here are the unedited (okay, I did one pass before posting this, because, really, truely unedited writing is not something anyone should ever have to read) impressions of djchall while watching My So-Called Life, episodes #4 and 5.
The Zit
Brian is always the expert when it comes to any written document.
Amusingly, the hottest girl at Liberty High has the last name Hall. This note doesn't mean anything other than the fact I am completely fascinated by people who have that last name. In the unlikely event I ever have children, I will give serious consideration to the name "Casey Hall."
Although it’s set in 1994, MSCL feels like it could be set in the 50s, 60s, 70s, or 80s with changes that might seem significant, but in terms of Angela’s existential condition, would in fact be relatively minor. All of the show’s elements that are modern are also the more extraneous elements… references to the Clinton administration, efforts at diversity.
If you set it just five years later, the mechanics of the show’s plot would have to be completely different. There would have to be email, celphones, even instant messaging for the more technically advanced.
Culturally, the show would be very different if it were set five years earlier—cultural references. But the plot mechanics would be completely the same. Characters have to run into each other or meet in the bathroom to talk, even the adults.
The Substitute
The Chases’ cat is never named but I think “Plot Device” would work. Or maybe just Tino.
Graham knows how to sew, which is perfect. I’m not sure what the significance of the girl scout theme is in this episode. It might be just a comedic device, but it might also be meaningful in a way I just can’t comprehend yet.
What’s the significance of Vic Racine giving Jordan a copy of “Of Mice and Men”? Is Jordan Lenny? Is Angela George? Does it suggest that Angela’s attempts to help Jordan will be ultimately futile? If Vic Racine has already identified Jordan as being learning disabled, then “Of Mice and Men” is a troubling thing for him to read. Although, possibly uplifting, since it is a book with profound meaning that can be read with an elementary school education. Is he challenging Jordan to rise above a possibly doomed existence, in that as someone who is learning disabled, he will be forever typecast as “dumb”?
“We go further”… Grateful Dead/60s counter-culture reference.
Vic Racine treads perilously close to being a mouthpiece for Winnie Holzman’s ideas about writing and creativity. Although since she makes him out to seem like a douche, that calls into question everything he says during the episode. ALTHOUGH... the episode is most likely really about learning to tell the truth from BS, and learning to decouple the worth of what's said from that of the speaker.
“this ____ person” — Patty’s favorite way to describes people she disapproves of
My So-Called Life represents a culmination of 500 hundred years cultural history in which it matters who owned a printing press. It is the apotheosis of bourgeois narrative. MSCL is the last great narrative of the pre-Internet era.
“The Substitute” has an excellent moral that is somewhat under-represented in popular culture, which is that interesting and compelling people often turn out to be assholes in their personal life.
It’s interesting how Graham is made to seem so self-effacing in this episode. Setting up his rebirth in the episodes ahead.
One thing that bothers me about MSCL (and this may just be borne out of my own personal experience) is that African-Americans are strongly represented as background characters at Liberty High, but nowhere to be found as protagonists. This is a paradox which MSCL was never able to resolve, and the fact that the show was able to integrate a character of both ambiguous sexuality and ethnicity, but no African-American characters, is quite predictive of what happened with American society in the post-Civil Rights era.
“Is there anyone’s car you won’t get into?” Almost every conversation Angela and Brian have starts as childish bickering and ends with genuine emotional connection.
I love how Angela’s parents tell her to compromise.. it’s so heartfelt, and yet so depressing. Late boomers try to comfort the late generation X.
“Would you like to join her, Brian?” “I can go by myself.” Poor Brian always get dogged, even in an act of civil disobedience.
The most horrifying thing about this episode is how Angela’s act of rebellion is rendered so impotent. Although, that’s a perspective borne of seeing what’s happened in the past eighteen years. At the time, it seems like maybe Angela has at least had a spiritual awakening as a result of her experience. Now, though, it just seems like that, between her parents and school administration, Angela’s options for meaningful rebellion are very limited. And indeed, when you look at the rest of the series, Angela’s agency is limited to her love life and her female friendships. (Even including the two holiday episodes, which are completely fantastical.)
The great unsolved dilemma of western civilization is that our narratives are so good at deliniating the flaws of our society, but that any proposed solution smacks of the polemical, and we thus avoid it. We've created a sytem which is better at identifying bugs than fixing them. This is not to say that artists should be more prescriptive in their work. There are very valid reasons why artists should focus on what they feel compelled to create.
If anyone had written a monograph on the fact that Kurt Cobain’s suicide occurred while this season were being written, now would be the time to link it, but that doesn’t seem to exist. I would suggest, though, that this is probably the defining work of art that occurred in the post-Nirvana, pre-Internet world.
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