For over a decade I have watched Degrassi: Next Gen. and it's movies. I have a fond memories of growing up as a preteen and teenage girl waiting for each episode to come out screaming, laughing and crying online with my friends with what each character said or did.
So In 2015 when I heard that the Degrassi series was going to be canceled on Teennick I was devastated; I had not watched the series in years, but it forever made a mark on me growing up. It was a guide of what to do and not to do while in JHS and/or HS. Later on it was said online what the new series of Degrassi( Next Class) was soon to be on Netflix and Canadian Television. Excited I patiently waited the day of which I was able to watch it. I called some old friends over and we binged the whole season. And... It was horrible.
The first thing I noticed was the horrible opening song, with some weird remixing(?) type of new intro with pseudo snap chat and Instagram pictures and videos. And we dove right into the content, while I had to say I hated most of the characters because they were not developed correctly, whatever problems these characters went through we all laughed because we didn't care or feel for any for them. And then we have the classic: Gay guy, confused guy/girl, emo chick that's hiding a secret, on-off couple, unstable characters etc.
But what bothered me and really ticked me off was there portrayals of "social issues." In the first and second season; they used buzz words, talked about issues that HSers do not even talk about. Seriously when you were in HS did anyone really join "feminist club" and tried to screw over everything you liked for no reason?
I am not one to have issues when talking about racism,racial equality, sexism , LGBT rights and etc. And I even try speak about women's rights in the west and east, but they were ridiculous. When you try to do these things:
DO IT RIGHT!
Let me give you a few examples: -Maya calls out a heckler at a bar and he called her a B, but that's what hecklers do they heckle and if you're a performer you have to learn to deal with that. But she calls him a sexist pig as she breaks his phone.
- The feminist rally to get the EQUAL bathrooms of 6 for boys and girl in 7 for girls and 5 for boys. They complain that the girls bathrooms are always crowded. I agreed with this until my friend said, "of course they are; girls usually fix their makeup in there, bring friends that don't need to go, have periods and do more things in there than boys do." What BS, they end up rallying and shame all the guys that want to keep the bathrooms equal
-They shame a white girl who is on the volley ball team who accidentally drew a black member of a rival team as a monkey and that girl who did acted like it was nothing. They then say she did it because she has white privilege and doesn't know anything about racism and she is a racist.
*HOWEVER, the writers of this stupid show could have used that episode to show that the girl was privileged not because she was white but because her parents and rich and have influence. But, no you're white and you did that it doesn't matter if it was an accident, you're still a racist.
- They have a protest for a black kid who was wrongfully suspended( which was right, he was some guy body slammed him and he defended himself) But they focus that said volleyball player got no time for being racism of which they didn't tell anyone! NO ONE WENT TO THE PRINCIPLE OR TEACHER OR TELL THEIR PARENTS?!
-The characters get super easily offended, a police officer says that they should muzzle their friend, she is Hispanic in return that doesn't mean he's saying for them to shut-up, but he is calling her a dog. (Yes words don't mean words) A teacher says man power and a student says he was sexist. Misunderstandings are racist,sexist and homophobic. And even if you get everything right about a culture down to the T if you wear tradition clothing of speak the language you're so insensitive and horrible.
Just watch the 2 seasons, I got so mad half way the 2nd I stopped watching. This isn't HS, at most they are trying to act like this is college with the things these kids do.
Overall a someone who has watched since the first season of next gen, this is disappointing. The writers of this show are following some radical SJW book and acting as if this is what you should be doing in HS, no it isn't. These shallow characters always go on another person for doing something they like. Every episode someone is offended and cries that no one with listen and blah blah blah.
Utterly disappointing, I guess this is what you do when you've washed up 2-3 decades of this type of show... I wish I could give it a 0/10.
