My (so-called) secret shame
The way I remember it, I was just out of high school when My So-Called Life originally aired. Math and Wikipedia insist that I was actually 23, but the wounds must have still been fresh, because that show SPOKE to me, you guys. The high school drama (which, in a break from convention, featured several actors who were actually in high school at the time) boiled down adolescence to its purest form and served it up in heaping tablespoons.
I don’t think we had the word “emo” back in the early 1990s, but My So-Called Life was ten pounds of emo in a five pound bag. Rewatching it recently, we kept having to adjust our on-the-fly drinking game, because rules like “drink when Angela sighs” or “drink when Angela responds to a perfectly ordinary situation with a bewildered voiceover about the unfairness of the universe” threatened to lead to alcohol poisoning.
The thing is, you have to embrace the emo, and remember that fifteen year old kids thinking that every little thing is the end of the world is about as true as life gets. And the beauty of My So-Called Life is that it always rang true. Angela Chase (played by Claire Danes, who went on to star in one of the Terminator sequels and commercials for prescription eyelash-growing serum) is is a typical teenage girl trying to figure out what she wants and who she wants to be. She’s madly in love with Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto, who got beat up real bad in Fight Club and I think made some movie where he was a runner or something), but he’s way too dumb and way too good looking for her. Geeky neighbor Brian Krakow is hopelessly in love with Angela, and Angela’s best friend Rayanne Graff has a devil may care attitude and a drinking problem. Then there’s Rickie Vasquez, their other friend, who’s a total sweetheart and almost too gay to function. Rickie gets kicked out of his house. It’s all terribly dramatic.
I, of course, identified most with Brian Krakow (and — I’m just going to throw this out there — the actor who played him apparently grew up kind of hot, even if I never forgave him for date raping the pink Power Ranger in the first season of Felicity). When I yelled at Brian Krakow onscreen — “You suck, Brian Krakow! You deserve everything you get, Brian Krakow!” — of course I was really yelling at the fifteen-year-old version of myself, who shared that fear of human interaction and conflicting need for approval that can make a kid all gentle and sensitive, but also aloof, oblivious and occasionally mean.
Watching the show now, I have other characters to bond with. Angela’s parents get a surprisingly large chunk of plot throughout the series, and when her dad starts freaking out because he thinks his buddy is too young to have a heart attack — well, that’s the age I’m turning this August, you know?
Observations on mid-life crisis, though, aren’t the main attraction here. My So-Called Life had the power to make me feel like I was still in high school when it aired in 1994. It still does, 17 years later. And as mind-boggling as it is that the show is now actually older than Claire Danes was when she starred in it (seriously, how old am I?) it’s good to know that I can still visit.
Because lord knows I wouldn’t want to live there.
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Some of my favorite “Matt Moments” are about you and MSCL.
Specifically, that time that you were telling me about how the mom and the dad were talking about “Who really thinks that they’re beautiful?” and the dad thinks about it and says, “Ru Paul”, thoughtfully, as if he’d really considered it.
Awwwwwww infinity.
Also, technically, we didn’t actually drink during any episodes of this show. We definitely drank during several episodes of our re-view of the X-Files, and also Pride and Prejudice, but I have to say that we are, in fact, misrepresenting our drinking game activities. We will *say* “Drink!” whenever we see anyone wearing overalls (in either Buffy or So Called Life, as we are watching both concurrently) but there is no actual alcohol involved so far. I am not ruling it out for late seasons of Buffy, though. We only just finished 2, though, so it should be smooth sailing for a good long time.
I know it’s important to you, but nothing you write here is going to make the world think we aren’t lushes.
Fact: We made a drinking game to “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” (drink whenever they say “yip yip, Appa,” etc.)
It was a very romantic Valentine’s Day.
Also, Claire Danes won buckets of awards that have nothing to do with eyelash serum:
My So-Called Life Angela Chase 1994–1995 Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Drama
Young Artist Award for Best Performance by a Youth Ensemble in a Television Series
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series
2010 Temple Grandin Temple Grandin Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
This is like when you wrote the post about “Spectacular Spider-Man” and I had to restrain myself from jumping into the comments to add all of the things I would have written about in my version of the review.
Also, I’m pretty sure we had a drinking game to “Spectacular Spider-Man.”
I loved Rayanne. I wanted to be her but was definitely more of an Angela. I need to watch it again now that I’m closer to the age of the parents.
It’s on Netflix and Hulu Plus, and the Sundance channel is going to start airing it again in a couple of weeks. Just so you know.
You didn’t mention My So-Called Cat.
That’s right! I did, indeed, once name a pet “My So-Called Cat.” I later had a second cat named “Party of Five,” because Party of Five was the show I used as methadone to get me off of my MSCL addiction after it was cancelled (it worked, too, and fortunately I only had to watch about a season and a half of Fiver before kicking).
I thought you meant that they buy catfood and kitty litter but we never actually see a cat. Ever. I mean, not 12 episodes in or anything.
It’s an imaginary cat born entirely from Angela’s existential pain. You know she’s capable of extended delusions (what was the deal with that 1960s dead student hallucination?)
Graham & Patty just put food and litter out for it because it’s easier than confronting the issue.