high school existentialism
i am here talking to ronah and i was telling her about my high school thing. this relates to my last post, when ray told me i'm still in high school. ronah agreed. i'm pretty sure all my friends that know me would agree. ronah couldn't understand it, though, cuz she thought high school was such a miserable time, and in our discussion, i realized some really important things about high school that i love, and why i love teen dramas and teen movies in general.
1 - there is no experience in American culture that is so intensely melodramatic and trendy. the characters are all there - the jock, the geek, the outcast, the brain, the princess, the slut, the artist, the oppressive forces (i.e. teachers), the government, the student-government. it's a microcosm of activity, typically volatile, completely reliable from far away, a volcanic trap within. looking at high school is like admiring a star - it's existence is older than you, it's pretty and impressive, it's large, but if you get too close, you'll realize that it's a whole explosion of gases, burning at unbearable temperature, ready to collapse upon itself at any moment. The emotions and hormones run wild and yet you can totally expect them to do so. The characteristics are so reliable in their chaotic deception.
2 - it's an existential nightmare, specifically, in our middle-class suburbs. where else will you get some of the most poignant, probing, meaningful life questions about existence right next to the most superficial, shallow, ignorant notions of the world. Mediocrity and the backdrop of pop culture set the stage for breeding ground of idle yet memorable activity, where melodrama can run virtually free of the cares of money, illness, fears of the outside world. The bubble is containable, yet it is completely dangerous to one's esteem and ego within. People have been destroyed in the bubble.
for a storyteller, this dream world exists in reality and is perfect setting for a great fuckin story.
if you're in high school right now, no matter how much it sucks, relish it. it is the most unique mass-produced item of culture that the world has to offer. it is walking contradiction and hypocrisy, yet somehow innocent and pure. passionate and apathetic. it's everything, the whole spectrum, compressed to a boiling point, yet the explosion rarely comes, and simmers when you graduate until you forget it because of the torturous process it can be.
did that make any sense? you bet it did.
love you all,
dave
1 - there is no experience in American culture that is so intensely melodramatic and trendy. the characters are all there - the jock, the geek, the outcast, the brain, the princess, the slut, the artist, the oppressive forces (i.e. teachers), the government, the student-government. it's a microcosm of activity, typically volatile, completely reliable from far away, a volcanic trap within. looking at high school is like admiring a star - it's existence is older than you, it's pretty and impressive, it's large, but if you get too close, you'll realize that it's a whole explosion of gases, burning at unbearable temperature, ready to collapse upon itself at any moment. The emotions and hormones run wild and yet you can totally expect them to do so. The characteristics are so reliable in their chaotic deception.
2 - it's an existential nightmare, specifically, in our middle-class suburbs. where else will you get some of the most poignant, probing, meaningful life questions about existence right next to the most superficial, shallow, ignorant notions of the world. Mediocrity and the backdrop of pop culture set the stage for breeding ground of idle yet memorable activity, where melodrama can run virtually free of the cares of money, illness, fears of the outside world. The bubble is containable, yet it is completely dangerous to one's esteem and ego within. People have been destroyed in the bubble.
for a storyteller, this dream world exists in reality and is perfect setting for a great fuckin story.
if you're in high school right now, no matter how much it sucks, relish it. it is the most unique mass-produced item of culture that the world has to offer. it is walking contradiction and hypocrisy, yet somehow innocent and pure. passionate and apathetic. it's everything, the whole spectrum, compressed to a boiling point, yet the explosion rarely comes, and simmers when you graduate until you forget it because of the torturous process it can be.
did that make any sense? you bet it did.
love you all,
dave