While some genres, such as science fiction/fantasy, a discovery with the horizon of the year 2020 Emmy nominations, a genre that still has overlooked: a teenage girl is shown. Even in a year filled with really great shows highlighting teen experiences, just a couple of winks went to these programs and the people behind them. It is frustrating tendency that, unfortunately, is nothing new.
This year, with the exception of one, the closest teen shows have come to the Emmys is a handful of nominations in the creativity of the categories. The euphoria and The Political both snagged a pair of nominations each, in creative arts categories, and Zendaya managed to break in the category of best actress for her leading role in the The euphoria. An argument could be made that Strange Things it is a kind of a teen show, but as it focuses on the adult characters as much as their pre-teen and the characters, that it doesn’t really count as an example of the genre.
For the veteran viewers, this is not a surprise: the Emmys rarely, if ever, recognize teen shows, and when they do, it is usually in the creativity of the categories, not in the context of the nominations. After all, the means of communication that is aimed at teenagers (especially teenagers, which is the main demographic of many of the most popular teen shows) has historically been dismissed as a minor across the board. Happens with movies, what happens with the TELEVISION, and above all can be seen in the music industry. Music critic Brodie Lancaster suggested in one of 2015 Pitchfork article in which the artist of “legitimacy” is often linked to when they come out of the girl or a group of boy-band “hysteria” behind:
“The Pop artists to earn respect only when they no longer appeal to a teen demographic . . . The boy bands and girl groups—not to mention its passionate followers—that made these artists famous are apparently only of value when they act as stepping-stones to the next, best group of grateful listeners. Fall of the caste pop songs about unrequited love and the hand that holds, that are taught, and they will move on to the right type of fans: the adult, men. It is as well as it becomes a artist, right?”
This is not a new phenomenon, either. The Beatles are, today, hailed as icons of the music; in his early days, who were fired as a disc-haired teen idols to the fans of other young women liked it. There is a prevalent idea that the fandom of girls and young women is “hysterical” — that ugly, historically loaded word that suggests that in 10 letters that women are less capable of critical, rational thought and therefore can be dismissed as dull. The same applies to television: stories that delves into the experiences of adolescents, particularly adolescent girls, get the brushing as overemotional, stupid, insipid, silly, you name it.
The Academy of Television, like many critics, seems to think that the only “worthy” of the narratives of the adolescents are the ones that cast him in a negative light and to cover the darkest corners of their lives.
This dismissal will forget two things: one, that we were all teenagers once, go through all these things, and, two, that the melodramatics of teenagedom are not really different from the melodrama exaggerated in many adult critics favorites. Isn’t it interesting that the “teen” shows that are getting the Emmy love — The euphoria and The Political — are those who treat their characters teenagers, basically, as adults, to explore sex and drugs and rough, dark things. Is that part of the teen experience? Sure, for some teens, it is. But for many teens, the stakes are a bit lower in daily life — and that is not good enough for critics and voters, apparently.
That is why the omission of the sample as I’ve Neverfor example, insect bites. The Academy of Television, like many critics, seems to think that the only “worthy” of the narratives of the adolescents are the ones that cast him in a negative light and to cover the darkest corners of their lives. They are like anthropologists studying some of the foreign culture and to catch the most scandalous of the elements. I’ve Never covers the awkwardness of being a teenager, the cultural identity of the concerns, trying to discover the sexuality (at multiple orientations), and pain — all of the topics that should appeal to the voters, if history is anything to go by. And, however, it is a sarcastic comedy centered on a teenage girl and her friends.
Let’s clarify something: I’m not saying that all teens shows that you do not get an Emmy nomination in reality it is a high-quality program that can just be pushed aside because of a snobbery about your target audience. I don’t think anyone would say something like Riverdale or Outer Banks is Emmy-worthy programming! But when there are shows through the years as Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Gilmore Girls or, more recently, Sex Education or I’ve Never that are really excellent TV, it is difficult to find other reasons for their exclusion other than gender bias.
