The word “familiar” had more meaning than the simplistic “been there done that”, but rather the much richer and deeper meaning of “am I not the only one who feels this way? How can you describe so accurately what goes on in my head and inside my guts?”That feeling still surprises (or thrills, or shocks) me, when it hits. I love how you put this, Nilly.
The characters were also real. Just like people, even though they could be described in a couple of words, just like I did above, this sort of description is lacking and pale. Just like in life, there are no “good” or “bad” characters. They all have their advantages and their weaknesses, interwoven in each other. I could support one of them in one storyline, be against them in another, and in repeat viewing contradict my former positions.I'm nodding so hard I'm afraid I'll hurt my neck.
A few years later, another show took the highschool world and managed to portray the world through it. Instead of describing the situations in a clear mirroring of reality, it chose a different path, and used the reversing of conception regarding these situations. So, when a teenager didn't go out in the evening to meet her friends, it really could be the end of the world. The show was called “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, but that's another story.I was waiting to see a BtVS reference, because although MSCL and BtVS were so different, their truths were not.
never stopped reading stories full of faraway imagination, or sliding into distant worlds every now and then, but even in them, now, I see more than more of myself, of the issues that bother my thoughts in my everyday life, the tiny as well as monumental indecisions which appear as a result of the small details. In every beloved tv story. under various plot disguises, I now find the common denominator of inner observation, honesty, and a search which is also a purpose in and of itself. Just like Angela of the last episode couldn't go back to being the girl she was on the first one, I myself can't watch tv in the same way ever since. The discovery of magic, depth and beauty that are so close by affected the gray routine, the distant adventures, the imagination and the mirroring of reality. And this, too, is my so called life.This is beautiful.
Nilly, did you ever get the show Freaks and Geeks?