Teenagers

[princess.sparkle]

I actually think HAA could learn a few things about the portrayal of teenagers from Neighbours . They have kids and adults mixing all the time now (Rache/Zeke/Susan/Karl, Bridget/Miranda/Steve, Declan/Rebecca, Ringo/Frazer), and I personally think they pay alot more atention to character relationships between these teens in the way HAA used to.

[Frankie]

That is very true... if only it were that simple.. becaus as we know.. Home And Away does far better in the ratings race then Neighbours...so why is this? Some of us would appear to want the teenager to be more realistic and for their relationships with their families and with adults in their lives to be more realistic... yet the show is a ratings success despite the lack of this. Why? Can we have realism and the melodramatic? We used to have it and it was succesful then... so why have they moved away from it?

[emmasi]

Many families watch the news at 6. After that, they mistake current affairs programs as a continuation of the news, and watch that instead of Neighbours. Current affairs programs reinforce stereotypes that teenagers are all alcoholic, sex-crazed criminals, and so when Home and Away follows on directly after with the same stereotypes, the people who make up the biggest chunk of the ratings think that they're getting an accurate representation of youth, and see no reason to question the adult characters staying away, because no sane person would want to be anywhere near a teenager.

[Taz]

Ah , but according to the current affairs programes all teenagers are spotty, monosyllabic, overweight, anorexic, bullimic, pot smoking, coke snorting, shop lifting, drunken, sex crazed, bed hopping, lay about truants who don't wash, don't change their clothes, have multiple body piercings and tatooes and who spend all day in front of the PC or TV and do not communicate with any one except via MSN or via text. I think I'd faint from shock if I saw one of these teens on Home And Away.

[princess.sparkle]

That is very true... if only it were that simple.. becaus as we know.. Home And Away does far better in the ratings race then Neighbours...so why is this? Some of us would appear to want the teenager to be more realistic and for their relationships with their families and with adults in their lives to be more realistic... yet the show is a ratings success despite the lack of this. Why? Can we have realism and the melodramatic? We used to have it and it was succesful then... so why have they moved away from it?

Personally I think the reason HAA does better in the ratings is because alot of people prefer the whole surrealism and so-called Hollywoodisation of the programme- the explosions, evil stalkers, sex, drugs, cars etc. Kind of like when you compare Tabloids to broadsheets- tabloids are easier and perhaps more entertaining to read whereas broadsheets take a bit more development and time, I guess it just depends on which one you prefer.

[TabbyCool]

The problem with the teens at the moment is that they are all growing up now. They are all 17 / 18 / 19 years of age, they are too old for a lot of the storylines they used to give to teen groups in the show.

The show needs a younger group of teens to fill the void. We have a few young kids (Pippa, Ryan, VJ) who we hardly ever see, as well as Rory, who is still of primary school age, despite being in secondary school.

The only younger teen we have currently is Annie, who has ended up just tagging along with some of the older teens, mainly Luc and Belle (as well as Geoff, obviously), because there aren't any other kids for her to hang around with.

[celtgirl]

What drives me crazy is the whole Martha thing. I like her character, but her storylines since she started were for someone in their early to mid twenties or more. It's annoying for somebody who has been watching Home and Away from the very beginning as Roo only had Martha in 1988/89, so she would only be about 19 now, yet when she first arrived over two years ago (making her 16 or 17), she was a fully qualified electrician and full legal drinking age (meaning that they had her age at at least 18). Mindya, Home and Away isn't the only soap guilty of rapid ageing syndrome. Neighbours have done it as well (e.g. Lolly).

[chatter box]

I don't think its purely to do with people liking the whole stalker thing , more. I think its the time slot thing. At 6.30 people are still coming home, having thier tea etc. Neighbours have their share of stalkers and psychos and it has made little or no difference.

I enjoyed the Nick Smith era. He was such a rounded character. There were so many facets to him he wasn't one dimensional and he he was consistently written, particularly during Coral's era. I agree with the poster who said that teenagres are wrtten like mini adults, or at least like part adults. They don't seem to want them to be teenagers, to enjoy or expereince youth. Their are pains in growing up but their are joys too. There is mischief and fun, angst and a lot of this can be utilised in drama. They don't. They impose adult story lines onto kids.

Someone recently uploaded the 2002 school formal. Compare that with the recent school formal. It had drama in it, but 2002 was so much more fun, there was more attention to detail, and it was so much more like a formal. I liked that about it.

I think when teenagers are allowed to be teenagers then we can care about them a great deal more and invest more emotionally in what happens to them. At present the only real emotional investment I have is with the adults and that is because I am an older long term viewer. I used to love the teenagers like Nick , but I find it very hard to invest emotionally in the current crop, with the probable exception of Belle.

[Level]

The more time goes on.. the more older actors they hire to play teenagers.

[chatter box]

The more time goes on.. the more older actors they hire to play teenagers.

That is a very good point. It is easy to believe Annie is 14 as Charlotte Best is 14. However although I think Sharni Vinson is an excellent actress I never really believed her at 22 as 15 year old Cassie. Teenagers playing teenagers more than 2/3 years outside the age of their characters are not really credible, they don't have the gaucheness, the vulnerability, that awkwardness that goes hand in hand with being a teenager.