So Ginny and Georgia wants to liken themselves to Gilmore Girls; lets see shall we…

Welcome back!

As we all know, Ginny and Georgia was released on Netflix recently and has gained a surprising amount of buzz. Mainly stemming from Mr. tap dancing it’s Friday with the man bun. But in case you missed it. Ginny and Georgia centers around a family who moves around a lot. Georgia (who’s birth name is in fact, not Georgia) was a teen mum who got pregnant and had Ginny (or Virginia) when she was around 16. She has a very difficult life before pulling herself out and trying to make a good life for Ginny and her son as a single parent. So, yes, the similarity is definitely there, and they do in fact make reference to being Gilmore Girls, which is an interesting angle. Yes, it is obvious but still such a bold move to call yourself out for being a rip off. Anyway, Georgia is a particularly resourceful woman who moves her family to a new town and we get to see them adjust. SO, here is my comparison of Ginny and Georgia and Gilmore Girls.

So firstly, let’s just talk about how many “similarities” there are between the two. We can’t ignore the alliterated GG of Gilmore Girls and Ginny and Georgia, a bit suspicious. Teen pregnancy. Angsty teens, new school, small town, dad who is half in the picture, the 1 local restaurant with a flannel wearing man. Estranged grandparents. Wow, kind of an aggressive rip off but anyway. Multiple love triangles, because where would television be without love triangles. Anywho, here is the corresponding characters:

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Character comparison time:

Ginny is very Rory. They are both just so annoying and bitchy. Their plot lines kind of follow Mean Girls two with them progressively becoming worse and worse. They also both can be really disrespectful and rude to their mums. We do not accept disrespect towards Georgia or Lorrelai. Ginny moves to a new school, making new friends and dating boys for the first time. Granted I like Ginny less than Rory but they are still an obvious copy.

I mean Lorelai is also obviously Georgia including little romance with the guy who works at the local hang out place (diner could we say). We also have the very clear teen mom thing and the homelessness. Estranged parents. Georgia is the light of this show and I feel the same towards Lorelai. They both have unhealthy ties with their exes/ fathers of their children.

I’m gonna say Maxine is Paris purely because she is so neurotic, or she could be like a cross between Maxine and Abby? Anyway, Paris gives off a definite bi energy about her and Max is gay. But that is probably where the comparison ends.

Luke is clearly Joe. I mean, look at these two pictures, my god.

Man who runs the local hang out place, has a long standing crush on our main gal, sarcastic, and watches her date other men rather than just saying he loves her. It’s okay Joe, I’m sure there will be light for you in season 2 if they make one.

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But, does that make Peter, any of Lorrelai’s boyfriends. I guess we will go with Max though, the good guy who she easily could’ve ended up with but also we like diner boys. Proposes very quickly, we know it won’t work out.

We have a very clear similarity with Christopher and Zion. Both swing in and out of the girls lives, Christopher is constantly with Lorelai and not with her and making very confusing times for everyone, they really copied this with Zion. Even down to the begs to get married and claims of change. The motorcycle is a dead give away. Parents who disapprove of the woman who got pregnant by their son. It’s like practically word for word copied.

So kid next door must be Jess. I mean, bad boy, doesn’t want a girlfriend, messing with her and her relationship. Even motorbike crash/car crash comparisons…. Also they do kind of look alike…

But I would feel terrible calling Hunter, Dean or Logan. Maybe he’s Rory’s fiance in the a year in the life season… because she does constantly forget they are dating. Also cheating but hey. I know people hate Hunter but he isn’t a bad guy, I have more respect for him than Ginny, that’s for sure.

There isn’t really a clear Lane to me, I suppose it has to be Max again but purely on closeness to Ginny, not a very good comparison though.

Her co-worker is clearly Michel. I hope I don’t need to explain this but her coworker has the same no nonsense attitude. Also is the main co-worker of Georgia.

If Max is Lane does that mean Sophie is Matt Brody before he joined The OC?

Taylor is Cynthia because he gets a bit too political and is always harassing people and getting in everybody’s business. Although, I hope we see a bit more of her story in a future season as they hinted to there being a lot more going on below the surface.

So, is it a rip off, I mean yes. I would be lying if I said no. I still enjoyed watching it and it brought forth a lot of issues particularly surrounding racism, however, it is a copy. I don’t think acknowledging it is a copy negates the problems with that fact. However, I absolutely love Georgia, I love Joe and I would definitely watch another season. They did bring a different kind of comedy forward too through Georgia and her con-artist ways. So definitely check it out if you like Gilmore Girls or even if you don’t, I personally don’t love Gilmore Girls but I did enjoy this and I think some of the issues they discuss are important and while “oppression Olympics” was maybe not an ideal scene, the points raised are really important.

Thanks for reading!

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Why Dance Academy is so great…

Netflix, Uncategorized

Dance Academy is an Australian teen drama which first aired in 2010, ran for 3 seasons and one movie which made it into Australian Cinemas. Dance Academy follows the lives of a group of teens attending the National Academy of Dance in Sydney. These kids were primed to join the Australian Ballet Company once they graduated if they were the best few. It is currently on Netflix if you’re interested in checking it out or re-watching! I grew up watching Dance Academy, it made me want to be a dancer or an athlete. However, I think it was a bit late for any of that.

So, here are all the things that I think make Dance Academy so great to this day and make me able to still enjoy it 10 years later.

Despite the actual ‘elite’ talent of the teens and their living away from home, Dance Academy is incredibly realistic to the teen experience. They show young teens making stupid mistakes over and over. It represents the real issues of eating disorders in teens, explores sexuality, cheating, hard work. Kat even has an identity crisis which I think is incredibly relatable to many teens who may discover they aren’t as about sure what they want to do after school than they once were, or realize that they don’t know at all. Kat portrayed this in her move away from dance before she returned realizing her passion and working hard to get where she wanted to be.

Dance Academy also dealt with illness and grief. Ben is a cancer survivor who in the movie has a ‘relapse’ and has to come to terms with his limits. The loss of their friend, Sammy honestly broke me and still hurts me when I watch it.

It talks about familial expectations and how hard they can push one. Working your way through school to support oneself. Sammy has a real struggle with his family throughout the whole show.

It also takes a hard look at how complicated friendships are in teen years and how hard it can be to know who your real friends are.

Body image issues and eating disorders need to be explored more in teen shows because it is such a common problem and Dance Academy did that. They looked at eating disorders and body image in elite athletes.

It also tackles crime with Christian’s past and upbringing in that world and Abigail’s shoplifting. They showed sexual assault as well.

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Another realistic portrayal they presented was athletes and injury, athletes get injured often and keep going through the pain, this is exactly what happens in the show and it also presents how detrimental this can be for athletes.

Additionally, it portrays financial hardship, both Sam and Tara need a scholarship to keep attending because neither Sammy on his own or Tara’s family can afford to send them to the Academy.

Another important aspect for me about Dance Academy is, the actors they chose could genuinely dance. As opposed to other shows like Blue Water High (no shade) where actors are chosen as actors but can’t actually do the exact thing their character does. All of these actors were athletes. There was no need for stunt doubles or cutting scenes to avoid the face of the actor.

I also just feel like there is something so pure about the portrayal of the age group. While they aren’t incredibly young they also aren’t in their late teens which means that there are some cringey embarrassing moments and a lot of personal growth and self discovery. Had they set the ages as older the show would likely have revolved largely around bitchyness and sex but they chose teens who were still largely children. So yes, there is some crime in Dance Academy but I think that is so genuine to the age group, unlike shows like ‘Never Have I Ever’ (check out my thoughts on it here https://simplymythoughts.blog/2020/08/29/never-have-i-ever-been-less-impressed/), the cringe is so normal, its teens acting like teens worried about pimples and if the boy likes them.

Dance Academy showed that with hard work you can reach above and beyond. Tara began her time at the academy as one of the worst trained dancers in her year and became one of the best through hard work and determination. However, it isn’t unrealistic about how having a dream isn’t always enough especially as an athlete.

Keiynan Lonsdale also came from Dance Academy – you may recognize him from The Flash, Love Simon or Work It.

The Movie:

Honestly, the movie really didn’t disappoint me, I feel like I was prepared to be a little disappointed by it because when it came out I was 17 and following up 5 years after the end of Dance Academy, I was worried. But it really didn’t disappoint me, I feel like the movie in a way grew up with the original audience showing them working in the industry and the issues they’re still facing. The only disappointing part for me was how little Christian was in it, but, at least he came back. Almost all of the original cast came back for the reunion movie which I think is great. I also think it was quite exciting to be able to watch the movie on a cinema screen with the Dolby Atmos sound.

So, to sum up, I believe Dance Academy stood the test of time over my youth. I think it was super well done and showcased a lot of issues in a relatable and realistic way. Also, I love dance and any dance movies or tv shows so that was exciting. And we gotta support the Aussie television industry somehow. Don’t forget you can watch Dance Academy on Netflix now!

Thanks as always for reading, please give this a like, comment or share if you enjoyed it and if you follow down below you will be notified every time I post!

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February 7, 2022

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‘Grand Army’ is worth the watch!

Netflix, Uncategorized

So, grand Army came out a long time ago and I hardly heard anyone talking about it, so I finally checked it out on Netflix recently. I was definitely surprised but what I was faced with and had not at all expected it. For me this was a very clear case of judging a show by its cover image, and I was way off!

Grand Army is about a school in New York and a set of kids at this school, but it is a little dark. Not in the regular sense of a dark show, I feel like Grand Army is unapologetic in showing all of the worst aspects of high school. Particularly in America.

Some themes which are discussed include; friendship, selfishness, racism, sexism, feminism, terrorism, rape and sexual assault, religion, sexuality, class, poverty, pressure on women, victim blaming and more. In only a few episodes.

For me though, the most influential character was Joey who starts as a very confident woman trying to support women’s rights at their school, going against dress code norms and being confident in her body, sexuality and herself. However, this character later goes through a turmoil with rape, losing all her friends and going through the criminal process as a victim. I feel like her acting was incredibly compelling through this show.

We see her come to lose confidence in her body, her memories and her personality at points, she moves to shroud herself in clothing. A woman who stood up in her school for non sexist dress codes and free the nip. We watch her lose herself entirely for a time.

While the other stories are also important and well done, hers had the most impact to me, however they all did impact me in one way or another. But I wouldn’t want to spoil the whole show for you!

Although, I have to admit, I hated this girl so much and I hated the amount of screen time she got!

So, is Grand Army an enjoyable show? No not really, but I think the messages are very important and they didn’t totally shy away from the worst of a high school experience. You can learn things from every character. I also feel like there is a character that we can all probably relate to.

So I do 100 percent recommend Grand Army but it is nothing like I was expecting and it can be difficult to watch at points. Because they chose honesty. I think more shows should be more honest about these issues rather than recycling the same ideals and the same way to approach issues.

It is a very confronting show a times but, that added to the realism for me. So, if you have a chance, please do check it out and let me know what you think!

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