I hate Dawson's Creek and I think I'm one of the few teenagers in America that doesn't watch it. In the hallways at my school, there is constant discussion about the trite plot twists and predictable storylines. Are Dawson and Joey going to get back together? Is Andie going to go psycho and go on a mass killing spree in Capeside? We can only hope. My complaints are many, and I hope by reading this article you will give the show a second thought.
A major complaint of mine is how the show was created to get ratings, not made for quality. The WB needed a teen drama to pull in the viewers and make a name for themselves among the giant network stations. So they picked a teen genre writer, Kevin Williamson, and hired a cast of beautiful, young, marketable stars. They placed these four teenagers in a rural setting and made the protagonist an innocent boy-next-door type. Of course they had to have the tomboy, the bad girl with a dark past, and the wisecracking-but-everybody-loves-him best friend. The writers then proceeded to rip off every good movie, tv show, or story line to use in the boring, redundant episodes. An example of this is the 3rd season's season premiere where Jen gives that "speech" at cheerleading tryouts. Come on, has anyone seen Angus? His speech at his prom packs so much more of a punch then anything the writers of Dawson's Creek could come up with. Do they ever think of anything original? And a blond seductress stripper comes to the Creek and tries to corrupt Dawson. That just screams predictability. Let's try a little harder, for god sakes.
I think its also quite interesting how they tried to make the characters seem intelligent by making them have large vocabularies that the average teenager would probably not even understand. "But they use big words, and like, big words are cool." You get the picture? It seems like laziness to me. You could make the characters more intelligent by developing their personalities and thought processes but in normal speaking context. But no, they just use words like "allegorical" instead.
Another rant, the characters are extremely inconsistent. The 1st season was okay, the characters remained basically the same throughout and their decisions when faced with problems seemed rational based on the role. But when the 2nd season came around, Joey no longer had a backbone, Jen became somewhat moral, Dawson's behavior was totally unlike his previous one in the first season, and Pacey was no longer the smartass we had all grown to love. Well, maybe not all of us. The point is, there was no longer that fantasy where you knew that it could somehow be based on reality because in reality most people do not make a full circle change in the span of a summer. Yes, people change, change is good. But radical change is not realistic.
The show is so predictable and boring, it gets ridiculous. Dawson and Joey have the Ross and Rachel syndrome. They will never get back together because if they do, it will be even more boring. There will always be the "will they, or won't they" question but nothing substantial will happen if the show continues to go downhill. Dawson's Creek is nothing more than a primetime soap opera filled with twenty-somethings playing teenagers and psycho-babble. There is no humor, actual drama, or interesting story arcs that merit the show "watchable".
Kevin Williamson made a smart decision by leaving the show before he went
down with the ship. Dawson's Creek is doomed for failure. The hype will
fade, the stars will age, and the teenagers will grow up and hopefully get a
clue. Its time you stopped watching and gained some intelligence. Turn off
the tv, pick up a book (no, not YM, a book, say it with me now) and learn
something. For the sake of our generation and my sanity.
Note: All negative comments will be dissected and twisted around to reveal your true character. That's just a warning.
