Gleeful
While I know this does not make me unique, I am loving the TV show Glee.
For those not already addicted, it’s about a high school show choir. And, of course, they burst into song several times a show.
While it is slick, and much prettier-looking than high school really truly was (especially in the case of my first two years of High School, spent at a small enough rural district that we didn’t even have a show choir…I didn’t even know such things existed!), it catches many of the things I remember as the best and the worst of High School. (I’m curious if it just works for those of us who are long-graduated, or if it still rings true.)
There’s the whole deal where people are in and out of love with each other every other week (in other words, raging hormones).
The intrigue of teachers’ relationships (…gasp…they have human emotions and feelings!).
The teenaged sense that the world truly does revolve around you (famous rock ballads, clearly written to apply specifically to YOUR life).
And this week, an episode called “Laryngitis” which was absolutely brilliant, and especially for this: it hit right on what I think is one of the major tasks of teenager-years. Forming identity.
Teenagers are trying to figure out who they are. Everything from changing who you date, switching out an entire wardrobe, trying out for a new sport or trying a new extra-curriculuar, working harder in a subject, redefining your relationship with your parents…it’s all about defining who you are. One of the joys, and one of the gut-wrenching difficulties, of being 16 is that who YOU is is still malleable. You really aren’t sure. You really can change yourself. You can reinvent, reapply, reform.
If you’ve forgotten what that’s like, try to track down this episode. It was a well-done reminder.