#degrassithenextgeneration

Hi you guys, so currently I’m on break and I thought it’d be a good idea to write. Recently I’ve been catching up on Tv, more specifically old tv shows and rewatching to see if I missed anything I misunderstood when initially watched when I was a minor.

Degrassi was a teen drama show about a group of students, throughout this series they tackled issues like racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, mental illness and many other serious topics. All of these stories were told through the perspective of the students.

Now what I realized is that most people didn’t know that Degrassi started way back in the 80’s and we see some of the characters that we know as parents in Degrassi: Next Generation are actually students at the school. Spike, Snake, Caitlin, and Joey were the familiar faces that appeared in Degrassi Junior High. When I watched Degrassi junior high it was as if the adult characters who I knew and loved were completely different people, watching the show gave me context on why they were a certain way when on Degrassi: The next generation.

Archie ‘Snake’ Simpson was always the reliable friend who most people can depend on to do the right thing even when no one was watching. While watching you could tell that he was used to playing it safe so I now understand why he chose to become a teacher at Degrassi years later. What was really interesting was that in Degrassi high they tried to tap into his relationship with Spike, it showed that Spike had romantic interest in and he did too but it didn’t work out for them and they moved on from that plot in the episode, also it was cute to see him around Emma knowing that in DTNG he became a father figure in her life. It was a bit predictable to see snake as a teacher and a principal because he was always wise beyond his years. He looked out for the people around him and he often had his life together when other peoples life was falling apart. He was on a straight and narrow path to success due to his strict parents. Him being a principal and teacher to teach students right from wrong and not was something he was destined to do because of his natural leadership skills. What now makes sense to me since I watched the show is that is that in DTNG when he had a rebellions streak and cheated on Spike now since I have context behind him as a character I now understand that his rebellious streak came later in life because of how he was raised. He was raised with strict parents who didn’t even tolerate him having a gay brother so the minute he got a little freedom in a better hold on life he acted out in a weird way, and it looked bad on him because he was a grown man with kids when he encountered rebellious stage. Overall he was a predictable character but it was good to have context on Snake as a kid and why he chose to stay at Degrassi for so long.

Spike was the first teen mom in the Degrassi franchise ever. She got pregnant when she was in the eighth grade for her then boyfriend Shane McKay. While watching the show I was frustrated with her because I felt like she was unnecessarily harsh on Shane, Shane’s parents wanted to keep him away from the baby because they didn’t agree with teen pregnancy. When Emma was born he wasn’t there because they sent him away to camp for the whole summer. When she came back she was met with a cold shoulder Spike and she didn’t allow him to see or hold Emma only make child support payments. I thought that she was being hardheaded and making the situation worse than what it was, she did get an opportunity to meet Shane‘s parents and they told her to her face that they don’t support him having a baby and her keeping the baby so she already knew what the situation was. But when I thought of it later on she was only 13 or 14 years old having a baby in Junior high school. Spike had a harder because she was the mother and she didn’t have a choice but to take care of Emma since she wanted to keep it. She was lucky that she had a good support system like her mom behind her. I slowly understood her frustration towards Shane because she had to grow up at 14 years old and the only thing he had to do was pay the child support and even sometimes he couldn’t do that because he still wanted to be a kid. I respect spike as a character now than I did before because she had it harder than most of the other classmates. She was a good mother to Emma and I think she wanted her to be better than what she was, I admire the open and honest relationship they had with each other because it kinda reflects the relationship that Spike had with her mother.

Joey was the character I was most shocked by while watching. Joey wants to trade as a ladies man and the class clown. He rarely takes school seriously and that did lead him to getting held back a year in junior high while his friends went on. With him being left back in the eighth grade we got to see the relationship between him and Caitlin begin. While he was together with Caitlin you did see a huge improvement of how he was in school and how he treated other people. Joey was very selfish but with Kaitlyn she hardly tolerated his selfishness and she always get up for herself and let him know that she will leave if she felt like she wasn’t being treated right. While he was together with Caitlin he learned how to consider other people’s feelings and do better with himself as his grades started to get better when she was with him. Watching him on DTNG he owns a used cars lot, it was kind of funny to see that because in the original Degrassi he wanted this car so bad that he walked in school naked so he could buy one so it came full circle that he was now an owner. Also on Degrassi Next Generation, I feel like Joey often showed regret for how he acted when he was his younger self. From the first episode of the reunion he couldn’t even face Caitlin properly when he first saw her. To see him as a family man was unexpected, he was portrayed in Degrassi High as someone who only cared about himself but now he has to look after his mentally ill step son and his toddler daughter alone. I think the way Joey’s storyline played out was perfect because he was ‘the man’ in high school and to see him humbled and mature enough to care about someone other than himself was a perfect way to show his growth as a character.

This the end of the post! This post was mainly about the characters and some of their storylines, I’m not sure if I should go in depth about it yet but I’m working on more posts!

Now since I’ve written so much and I have a lot more to say this will be an ongoing series! I have more characters to review from this show and I’m so excited to share.