Smells Like Teen Spirit
Mondays. 10-11pm. MTV. It’s officially my new favorite hour in TV.
Though some may rightly question its designation as “reality TV,” Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County is at least, as its subtitle suggests, more real than The OC. For example, the types of life-or-death, I-could-just-die moments on LB run along the lines of, say, having to bite your tongue while your friend gets extensions just like yours, or facing down your romantic rival while getting a mani-pedi before the big dance — not, say, shooting your boyfriend’s brother, and oh wait, that was after you were held at gunpoint by a deranged pal with a really bad crush on you. One’s a soap opera, the other’s simply operatic. Though I never went to dances in SUV limos (well, they didn’t even exist when I was in high school), I can relate. I feel Jessica’s pain. Don’t even try to tell me that high school wasn’t as potentially tragic as La Bohème.
On My Super Sweet 16, meanwhile, the genius is that these horrible, spoiled girls think that they are the epitome of chic and cool, while in fact they are simply horrible and spoiled. They are so wonderfully oblivious — self-delusional perhaps. Lesson number one: Money doesn’t buy you taste. (Then again, my dad never handed me wads of cash for shopping trips to Miami, so really I can’t say for certain.) This week’s princess (as she called herself) went to YSL to look for a dress for her 16th birthday blowout — and found the outfits there far too tasteful. Last week, The Triplets (as their friends oddly chanted out at their party) thought “sexy” meant dressing like Playmates and Vegas showgirls. (And can I just say that they had no business showing their bellies?)
Call it schadenfreude, but I feel a perverse sense of satisfaction on behalf of my 16-year-old-self, reinforcing my belief that the self-proclaimed cool girls now aren’t so different from the self-proclaimed girls cool then. Only then they didn’t have MTV to expose themselves to the whole world. Damn, I was born before my time.
*****
This blog is meant to be an escape — a tribute to the frivolous things in life — but the utter devastation we’re seeing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina puts everything in stark perspective. I for one am going to forsake (okay, put off buying for a month) one pair of Manolos to give to the Red Cross.
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August 31st, 2005 09:16
I watch ‘Laguna Beach’ because my teenager students love it so much, so I sometimes use it as an ice-breaker before my lessons. Unfortunately, here in Italy MTV hasn’t shown ‘My Sweet Sixteen’ yet, and it’s such a pity: I like these ‘reality/operatic’ programmes, because they really convey a sense of the emptiness of the so called ‘cool’ new generations. Ok, maybe it is not so different from what happened in the 80’s/90’s, but MTV makes all this look as the aim for modern teenagers to reach
August 31st, 2005 19:12
Seriously…did you spend real, actual *money* on those shoes? Seeing as that they are Prada, I imagine it was quite a pretty penny, too…shame.
Seahorses? Reminds me of something a kindergartner (read: not a professional woman that hopes to be taken seriously) would be delighted to wear…
Otherwise, I find your blog entertaining. Carry on.
September 9th, 2005 23:41
I just saw that show with the triplets. Weren’t they turning 18 or something? And me tell you:I’m definitely learning to swallow flames and/or swords for my next milestone birthday. Not dressing like a showgirl, anyway.