My So-Called Life
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My So-Called Life was a television program that aired on ABC from August 25, 1994 to January 26, 1995. The show was short-lived, airing only 19 episodes before it was canceled on May 15, 1995 due to low ratings. However, in the time that it has been off the air, the show has gained a substantial cult following. My So-Called Life reruns are currently airing on The-N television network.
My So Called Life is also the name of a song on The Ataris' album Look Forward To Failure. The song refers by name to the TV show's lead actress, Claire Danes.
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Characters
My So-Called Life had an unusually large and diverse cast of characters for a family-themed series. Most characters presented an expected archetypical aspect and a hidden unexpected side to their personality.
Angela Chase, played by Claire Danes, is a fifteen year old girl going through several common aspects of puberty and teenage angst including, among many others, the awakening of sexuality, the fall of parental figures from the superego, a propensity for abstract thought and a thirst for independence. Angela also has literary ambitions; this makes her numerous metaphysical considerations believable as coming from a fifteen year old. For example, some of these themes can be seen in one of her voice-over monologues in the pilot episode set during a family dinner: "I cannot bring myself to eat a well-balanced meal in front of my mother. It just means too much to her. I mean, if you start to think about, like, chewing, what it really is, how people just do it, like, in public."
Patty Chase and Graham Chase, played by Bess Armstrong and Tom Irwin, are Angela's parents. In a way, they are typical suburban American parents. But in other ways, they are an atypical family since Patty is the main bread-winner and, at the beginning of the series, employs her husband. Patty is the father-like authoritative figure, while Graham is a more mother-like affectionate parent who cooks and is far less strict than his wife.
Danielle Chase, played by Lisa Wilhoit, is Angela's younger sister. She rarely influences the major storylines. Actually, there is a great emphasis on how much she is ignored by her family.
Rayanne Graff, played by A.J. Langer, is Angela's "new best friend" at the beginning of the series. She is wild, unpredictable, sexually active and irresponsible. She is in many ways the opposite of Angela. However, Rayanne's freedom comes along with a negligent single mother and teenage alcoholism.
Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, played by Wilson Cruz, is Rayanne Graff's other best friend. He is a gay Hispanic fifteen year old boy raised by his uncle who physically abuses him. In 1994, when most of the show takes place, Rickie is as "out" as a teenager could be in his circumstances.
Sharon Cherski, played by Devon Odessa, is Angela's ex-best friend. Their mothers are best friends. From Angela's point of view, Sharon represents a suffocating world of boredom and conventions as opposed to the wild world of Rayanne Graff. Yet most characters are mistaken when they assume that Sharon's life is devoid of passion. Sharon might be as passionate as Rayanne Graff, but is afraid to show it.
Brian Krakow, played by Devon Gummersall, is the geek of the show. He is remarkably intelligent and conformist. He, much like Sharon, is mistakenly believed by other characters to be devoid of emotion. He is in love with Angela. Yet, he has no hope of her noticing him as he knows he is unattractive.
Jordan Catalano, played by Jared Leto, is one of the best remembered characters of the show, though he was possibly the least seen. He is one of the worst students of the High School and on the brink of being expelled. He almost can't read and is mistakenly believed to be stupid because of this. Angela is in love with him. Although he appears to belong to a group of rebellious teens, he is tired of the meaningless acts of vandalism that his friends commit for fun. Yet he has no reason to believe that his life will change.
Themes
My So-Called Life brought up issues that were usually not mentioned in family series in the mid-nineties, when it was aired. These include child abuse, homophobia, teenage alcoholism, homelessness, adultery, kinky sex, same-sex parenting, censorship, and drug use, among many others. While a lot of shows would bring up these themes as a one-time issue that would be brought up as a problem at the beginning of an episode and resolved as the end, in My So-Called Life, they were just a part of the world. The very title of the show emphasizes how the perception of meaninglessness that many teenagers experience is the main theme of the series. The show depicts teenage years as difficult and confusing as opposed to a light fun-filled time of pranks and jokes, as it would be in sitcoms like Parker Lewis Can't Lose or Saved by the Bell or in movies like Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Style and legacy
The world of My So-Called Life was devoid of last-minute miracles, of simple resolutions and instant revelations. Instead, the least surprising and least shocking thing usually happened. Jordan ignores Angela and no "final revelation" instantaneously justifies his past behavior. Graham considers cheating on Patty, but no spectacular revelation scene happens. Graham simply decides not to do it. This style inspired shows like Six Feet Under and Boston Public which try to be realistic and non-sensationalistic in a similar way, as well as the equally short-lived (and similarly praised) Freaks and Geeks.
The interior voice-overs in My So-Called Life come, with two exceptions, from Angela's point of view. Yet they illustrate all the intertwining plots of the episode. Often, at the end of an episode, Angela will enumerate items or principles that parallel the main points of the episode. For example, at the end of episode 10, "Other People's Mothers", Angela lists the name of a few Tarot cards. For each card names, a character of the episode is shown to illustrate the role he or she has played in the story. Graham is "The Magician" as a reference to his talent as a cook in this episode, and Patty is "Strength" because that is the quality she showed in this episode. This style is often used at the end of the show Scrubs. Scrubs is also driven by an interior monologue and is also realistic in that there are no medical miracles in the show.
In contrast to its realism, the show has small elements of potential supernatural elements, such as ghosts or foreshadowing. There are very few of them and whether or not they are literally true within the story is never clear.
External links
- My So-Called Life at epguides.com (http://www.epguides.com/mysocalledlife/)
- The My So-Called Life online community (http://www.dreamworld.org/mscl)
- MSCL-Fan-Project (http://www.mscl.com)
- so-called NewsChannel (http://news.mscl.com)
- The Internet Movie Database's page on My So-Called Life (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108872/)