stoutfellow (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stoutfellow) wrote2006-12-09 02:07 pm
stoutfellow) wrote2006-12-09 02:07 pm
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Veronica Mars: Class
This, 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.
no subject
This, and the VM posts to follow, are for hornedhopper.
HH:
Thanks! I am finally having a moment to respond.
SF:
It's not a new observation - see Veronica Mars, Class Warrior
HH:
That was a very interesting review. I completely agreed with the author's opinion that the program rises WAY above the level of "teen television." Although I suspect that it is very appealing to high schoolers (although I wonder if RL-'09ers recognize themselves (g)), its plots, conspiracies, struggles to succeed, politics are a microcosm of the real-life world we live in. Whether it is office politics, family squabbles, dealing with grief, loneliness or betrayal, we all have had to confront these situations in our own day-to-day lives.
SF:
- 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.)
HH:
The writers of and actors playing the '09er parents give enough edge and contour to the characters to keep them from being two-dimensional symbols of greed, lust, and betrayal, thank goodness. The viewer can enjoy the storyline, hate (or sympathize with) the characters, while recognizing that they do stand for various class icons. The main thing about the upperclass characters, ISTM, is that they are, to a one, *users.* They are not only wealthy and privileged, but they misuse that privilege. No one in this group suffers from nobless oblige. Aaron Echolls has no problem sleeping with the help and firing her later. Duncan's mother does her best to have the entire Mars family ostracized and/or ruined. It isn't clear to me whether she actually believed that Veronica was her husband's daughter, but she was happy to use the tidbit to keep her away from Duncan. The Casablancas' father had no compunction in fleecing the poor high school business teacher who invested his life's savings in Casablancas' fraudulent real estate scheme, even knowing that the teacher had a countdown to retirement based on income from the investment. There are countless such examples in this segment of Neptune's society.
no subject
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.
HH:
It does. Perhaps partly because these parents have no distance between them and their children. There are no nannies or housekeeper, no one else to keep track of where their children are or what they're up to. There's no doubt that these parents are seen as *caring* more for their children as individuals and not as junior representatives of a family with a reputation to keep up.
More later.
...