About Popular: Not Your Ordinary HSM-like Teen Dramedy
Eto na yung show that makes my evening: POPULAR! Ok, it's not some kind of show like Hannah Montana where the girl's all popular and happy but ends up with a problem and solves it; neither is it like Lizzie McGuire wherein the antagonist -- the snobby Kate Sanders -- seems all perfect but is "defeated" in the end. Popular is about the lives of two students: Brooke McQueen, a popular cheerleader (the Glamazons), and Sam McPherson, an unpopular and unliked journalist of the school paper who loves to destroy the populars by exposing their "true selves". Popular is GREAT because it shows us the other side of the "popular" people -- as they all say "the jocks and the cheerleaders". It shows us how imperfect they really are and how similar we are to them. The show talks about finding your true identity but not in a cheesy way like the corny but really entertaining High School Musical (no offense). It presents to us what school society really is: that there is such thing as cliques and that there will always be people you will not get along with.
Despite that, it also shows us another side to the whole world of cliques. It paints to us a picture that cheerleader and unpopular can get along and eventually become good friends. Sam's mom and Brooke's dad fell in love with each other and moved in together which is why Sam and Brooke had to live together under the same roof. Though they did not get along at first, as the weeks and months pass by, Sam continued to understand more about Brooke and what she deals with, the pressures that go with being popular and even helps Brooke with her problems. Likewise, Brooke would also reciprocate the little (or huge) things that Sam does for her and it brings about an impact on the student body. The populars and the unpopular actually get along for once and interact in a way that, for once, does not destroy the other camp. Some of them even end up dating a person from the other group, like the quarterback Josh Ford (Brooke's ex-boyfriend) and animal-rights activist Lilly Esposito (Sam's friend). Carmen, Sam's other best friend, also became a Glamazon (name of the school's cheerleadering squad is Glamazons) because of the generosity of Mary Cherry, Poppy Fresh, Brooke and Nicole (also as their Christmas gift to Carmen) and of course because of her natural talent in dancing. But good things come to an end and unity between the two groups are on and off unfortunately and the conflict between the two bodies continues to surface again and again, just after the tension repeatedly subsides. Does that mean that the populars and the rejected can never be permanent friends? Scrap that.
Anyway, it shows us what teens nowadays are going through. Each episode has a theme, such as charity, sexual orientation, safe sex & teen pregnancy, humiliation & failure, fame and success, lies and betrayal, poverty, changes, fitting-in, friendship, teen love & crushes, admiration for someone, studies, tests & cramming, misunderstanding with parents and similar topics. Popular mainly revolves around finding your true identity and being who you are. With numerous characters confused with who they are and what their purpose is, the whole process of finding their identity takes many episodes, just like it would take months and years in real life. This goes to show that it doesn't matter how long it takes or that you feel awkward about it. It proves to us that what's important is that YOU are comfortable with who YOU are and that you find your TRUE self & not some person you're just pretending to be so people could like you. It's all because of this competition for attention. Everyone wants to be noticed and be known that they are good in a certain field. I guess that's the problem with finding out who you really are because there's a need to be liked. Everyone wants to have a sense of belonging.
I just finished the episode wherein a "freak" (they called him that) filed a case in court against "those who made him miserable" (his Biology teacher Ms. Glass, the lunch lady and the populars -- basically the school itself). The unpopulars (excluding Carmen) immediately take his side and are against the populars (who were actually representing the school, and is represented by Brooke). In this episode, Brooke mentioned that the populars are always the scapegoat. It's true. Sometimes that is a problem as well. We always perceived (or at least TV series, movies and the like) that the populars are the source of misery, and hey, I'm willing to admit I did believe in that before. But that's not always true, and it's always these perceptions that cause hostility between the two groups. These are probably some things that really caught my attention and things that I actually learned and picked-up when I watched Popular.
Unlike High School Musical, the protagonists are not necessarily the good guys and neither the protagonist or antagonist clearly win. Usually it's a tie between the unpopulars and the populars, Sam and Brooke. Both parties end up winning because they learn something from their own experiences and the problems that they face and ultimately learn more about themselves & become better people (kind of). With characters of various personalities and different backgrounds, this series is definitely not a typical light teen drama. High School Musical is very light when compared to Popular. Popular may have comedy and romance in it but it's mostly a drama catering to teen audiences that opens your eyes to reality and possibility.
Grabe talaga. It's so hard to describe Popular. Just watch it yourself and you'll see for yourself! Unfortunately, the two-season series ends in a cliffhanger that will leave you wondering what will happen after... This series is no kid stuff, trust me! :)) This might be the only series that's not an anime that I might get on DVD. Haha. By the way, it's an old show... dates back to 1999.
Despite that, it also shows us another side to the whole world of cliques. It paints to us a picture that cheerleader and unpopular can get along and eventually become good friends. Sam's mom and Brooke's dad fell in love with each other and moved in together which is why Sam and Brooke had to live together under the same roof. Though they did not get along at first, as the weeks and months pass by, Sam continued to understand more about Brooke and what she deals with, the pressures that go with being popular and even helps Brooke with her problems. Likewise, Brooke would also reciprocate the little (or huge) things that Sam does for her and it brings about an impact on the student body. The populars and the unpopular actually get along for once and interact in a way that, for once, does not destroy the other camp. Some of them even end up dating a person from the other group, like the quarterback Josh Ford (Brooke's ex-boyfriend) and animal-rights activist Lilly Esposito (Sam's friend). Carmen, Sam's other best friend, also became a Glamazon (name of the school's cheerleadering squad is Glamazons) because of the generosity of Mary Cherry, Poppy Fresh, Brooke and Nicole (also as their Christmas gift to Carmen) and of course because of her natural talent in dancing. But good things come to an end and unity between the two groups are on and off unfortunately and the conflict between the two bodies continues to surface again and again, just after the tension repeatedly subsides. Does that mean that the populars and the rejected can never be permanent friends? Scrap that.
Anyway, it shows us what teens nowadays are going through. Each episode has a theme, such as charity, sexual orientation, safe sex & teen pregnancy, humiliation & failure, fame and success, lies and betrayal, poverty, changes, fitting-in, friendship, teen love & crushes, admiration for someone, studies, tests & cramming, misunderstanding with parents and similar topics. Popular mainly revolves around finding your true identity and being who you are. With numerous characters confused with who they are and what their purpose is, the whole process of finding their identity takes many episodes, just like it would take months and years in real life. This goes to show that it doesn't matter how long it takes or that you feel awkward about it. It proves to us that what's important is that YOU are comfortable with who YOU are and that you find your TRUE self & not some person you're just pretending to be so people could like you. It's all because of this competition for attention. Everyone wants to be noticed and be known that they are good in a certain field. I guess that's the problem with finding out who you really are because there's a need to be liked. Everyone wants to have a sense of belonging.
I just finished the episode wherein a "freak" (they called him that) filed a case in court against "those who made him miserable" (his Biology teacher Ms. Glass, the lunch lady and the populars -- basically the school itself). The unpopulars (excluding Carmen) immediately take his side and are against the populars (who were actually representing the school, and is represented by Brooke). In this episode, Brooke mentioned that the populars are always the scapegoat. It's true. Sometimes that is a problem as well. We always perceived (or at least TV series, movies and the like) that the populars are the source of misery, and hey, I'm willing to admit I did believe in that before. But that's not always true, and it's always these perceptions that cause hostility between the two groups. These are probably some things that really caught my attention and things that I actually learned and picked-up when I watched Popular.
Unlike High School Musical, the protagonists are not necessarily the good guys and neither the protagonist or antagonist clearly win. Usually it's a tie between the unpopulars and the populars, Sam and Brooke. Both parties end up winning because they learn something from their own experiences and the problems that they face and ultimately learn more about themselves & become better people (kind of). With characters of various personalities and different backgrounds, this series is definitely not a typical light teen drama. High School Musical is very light when compared to Popular. Popular may have comedy and romance in it but it's mostly a drama catering to teen audiences that opens your eyes to reality and possibility.
Grabe talaga. It's so hard to describe Popular. Just watch it yourself and you'll see for yourself! Unfortunately, the two-season series ends in a cliffhanger that will leave you wondering what will happen after... This series is no kid stuff, trust me! :)) This might be the only series that's not an anime that I might get on DVD. Haha. By the way, it's an old show... dates back to 1999.