http://socialistworker.org/2008/06/27/freaks-geeks-and-class

Freaks, geeks and class on TV (Compares Freaks and Geeks, Veronica Mars)

June 27, 2008



I'VE REALLY enjoyed the recent series of articles and letters
challenging the predominant portrayal (or non-portrayal) of working-
class people on television ("Television's buffoons and bigots", "Was
Archie Bunker a middle-class fantasy?", "Where are Black workers'
lives on TV?").

I wanted to let SW's readers know about two more modern shows that
explored class and class conflicts in interesting ways. Both are off
the air, but available on DVD and well worth renting.

Freaks and Geeks, which aired for a single season in 1999-2000,
follows siblings Lindsay and Sam Weir at their Michigan high school
in 1980. Made by the people now responsible for Knocked Up and
related movies, it is in my opinion a far more hilarious, and
certainly more human, comedy-drama than their films.

Many of the scenes are ad-libbed by now-famous young comic actors
like Seth Rogen and Jason Segel (and the under-famous Martin Starr),
generating much more natural dialogue than the scripted slickness of
most shows. Refreshingly unglamorous characters, an awesome period
soundtrack and frequent allusions to the classic My So-Called Life
round out the mood.

A central storyline is Lindsay's decision to drop out of the
"Mathletes" and start hanging out with the school's "freaks and
burnouts." The consternation of her teachers and middle-class parents
and her gradual acceptance by her new friends is a standard
storyline, elevated by the way each character's humanity is slowly
revealed over the course of the series.

The class differences between Lindsay and her new crowd are
emphasized from the very first episode, when antagonist Kim taunts
Lindsay, "Hey Brain, I shoplift in your daddy's store. Kim concludes,
"You're just some rich kid who's trying to piss off her parents."

Again and again, Lindsay's boundless belief that you can do anything
you set your mind to runs up against the reality of her new friends'
lives. The show portrays, but does not celebrate, the kids' problems
and their sometimes poor strategies for addressing them.

Above all, Freaks and Geeks is a celebration of friendship, as the
often-contentious but very genuine relationships among the school's
various social groups help them deal with such predicaments as
failing grades, flawed parents, threats to be shipped off to the Army
and some very unfortunate wardrobe choices.

Very different in tone is the stylized teenage mystery show Veronica
Mars, whose first season centers on the title character's quest to
learn who killed her best friend. The setting is the fictional
Neptune, California, a dot-com industry "town without a middle class"
where "your parents are either millionaires, or they work for
millionaires."

The clash between these two groups, and Veronica's bitterness as an
outcast former member of the in crowd, are the backdrop to a tightly
plotted storyline. Veronica scores small victories against the
authority of her vice-principal and the petty local sheriff, but it's
never clear whether she can really win.

At the same time, the show sets up another season-long mystery: who
drugged and raped Veronica at a party shortly after her friend's
death? Its willingness to explore such a storyline for its main
character--not just her friends--sets Veronica Mars apart from other
shows about young women, even very good ones. (The WB network, for
example, refused to allow a comparable storyline in the fourth season
of Felicity, calling it "too dark.")

All these themes remain central to the show, as the class and racial
tensions become even more explosive in the second season, and date
rape re-emerges as a major storyline in the third season. To my mind,
Veronica Mars steadily declines over the course of its three seasons,
but all are fun and season one is among the best of recent television.

Elizabeth Wrigley-Field, Madison, Wis.