Veronica Mars: Class
Dec. 9th, 2006 02:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowThis, and the VM posts to follow, are for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hornedhopper.
It's not a new observation - see Veronica Mars, Class Warrior - that one of the fundamental aspects of Veronica Mars is the class issue. The population of Neptune is sharply divided on class lines. There are the 09ers, such as film star Aaron Echolls, software mogul Jake Kane, and all the people who rode to prosperity on Jake Kane's coattails, and there are the people who work for the 09ers, and the division between the two groups penetrates most aspects of life in Neptune. (For example, there is - of course - the usual sort of social cliquishness at the high school, but it is reinforced by quasi-official sanctions, such as the "Pirate Points" system.)
I'd like, though, to point to a couple of interesting aspects of the situation.hornedhopper has mentioned the importance of families, functional or not, in VM storylines; it's worth noting how this relates to the class structure. The Kanes are distant and uninvolved parents; Aaron Echolls is abusive of his children and his wife; and most of the other 09er families we see are likewise flawed. On the other side of the fence, we see families like the Fennells (Alicia is doing a careful job of raising her children, even though her efforts are singlehanded) or like Mac's parents (though her mother doesn't really understand her changeling child, she really is doing her best). It's a bit of a cliche, of course, to have wealthy but dysfunctional families compared to poor but loving ones, but it works reasonably well in this context.
Then there's Veronica. She stands - or seems to herself to stand - outside the class divide. Before catastrophe struck, her father (and by extension Veronica) was, at least ex officio, an 09er, but they are no longer accepted in those circles. She doesn't, however, fit well on the other side either. Her family is likewise neither one nor the other. Her father, whatever social status he may have had, was always (it seems to me) lower middle class in tastes, in manner, and in attitude, but her mother was 09er through and through. (She was even, if I recall correctly, Homecoming Queen to Jake Kane's King back in high school.) It was Veronica's mother who had an affair with another man, and her father who forgave and hid her transgression. When their status changed, it was Veronica's 09er mother who ran away without warning or explanation, and her plebe of a father who stayed and maintained the family. Neither fish nor fowl...
There's more to say, but I'll leave that for later.
hornedhopper.It's not a new observation - see Veronica Mars, Class Warrior - that one of the fundamental aspects of Veronica Mars is the class issue. The population of Neptune is sharply divided on class lines. There are the 09ers, such as film star Aaron Echolls, software mogul Jake Kane, and all the people who rode to prosperity on Jake Kane's coattails, and there are the people who work for the 09ers, and the division between the two groups penetrates most aspects of life in Neptune. (For example, there is - of course - the usual sort of social cliquishness at the high school, but it is reinforced by quasi-official sanctions, such as the "Pirate Points" system.)
I'd like, though, to point to a couple of interesting aspects of the situation.
hornedhopper has mentioned the importance of families, functional or not, in VM storylines; it's worth noting how this relates to the class structure. The Kanes are distant and uninvolved parents; Aaron Echolls is abusive of his children and his wife; and most of the other 09er families we see are likewise flawed. On the other side of the fence, we see families like the Fennells (Alicia is doing a careful job of raising her children, even though her efforts are singlehanded) or like Mac's parents (though her mother doesn't really understand her changeling child, she really is doing her best). It's a bit of a cliche, of course, to have wealthy but dysfunctional families compared to poor but loving ones, but it works reasonably well in this context.Then there's Veronica. She stands - or seems to herself to stand - outside the class divide. Before catastrophe struck, her father (and by extension Veronica) was, at least ex officio, an 09er, but they are no longer accepted in those circles. She doesn't, however, fit well on the other side either. Her family is likewise neither one nor the other. Her father, whatever social status he may have had, was always (it seems to me) lower middle class in tastes, in manner, and in attitude, but her mother was 09er through and through. (She was even, if I recall correctly, Homecoming Queen to Jake Kane's King back in high school.) It was Veronica's mother who had an affair with another man, and her father who forgave and hid her transgression. When their status changed, it was Veronica's 09er mother who ran away without warning or explanation, and her plebe of a father who stayed and maintained the family. Neither fish nor fowl...
There's more to say, but I'll leave that for later.
