One Tree Hill and its false portrayel of High School

One Tree Hill 

When you watch a TV show, there are many questions that come to mind.  One of my favorite TV shows ever is One Tree Hill.  I have probably seen every episode from every season about 2 or 3 times.  When there is a TV show that is solely concentrated on high school, one thing that people always notice is how old the characters look when they are suppose to be playing 15 year olds.  Unless they stayed back, last time I checked 22 year olds are not suppose to be in high school.  In a sense, this gives teenagers watching the show a different interpretation of what high school is suppose to be like.  Another thing that is interesting when watching One Tree Hill, along with other TV shows, is how short the classes are.  Sometimes when the episode is during a school day, they won’t show them in any classes at all.  I remember going into high school and it being nothing like what I had seen in television shows or movies.  

Specifically in One Tree Hill, you can easily tell that the characters are not 15 year olds in real life.  They are all reaching 20 years old or are already in their 20s.  They always seem to choose the most attractive people as well to be the main characters.  I mean, who doesn’t like Chad Michael Murray.  He plays the main character, Lucas, who plays for the high school basketball team.  He is probably the most attractive, amazing at basketball, and is secretly obsessed with Shakespeare.  What could get better than that?  By having characters older than what a high schooler should actually be, it can cause stress to teens nowadays.  Teenagers feel they need to be just like their favorite character on a TV show that they watch.  What most people do not realize when watching television is that these characters are more matured then what a 15 year old would be.  They are also obviously reading off a script.  Duh.  One Tree Hill is solely focused on the basketball team.  What also comes with a basketball team, are the cheerleaders.  All of the cheerleaders are obviously drop dead gorgeous, and all of the guys on the team are stud muffins.  Not everyone in high school is perfect and that is what television shows are portraying to teens everywhere.  

What is also crazy that happens in television shows is how dramatic they can be.  In One Tree Hill, there is something ridiculous that happens in almost every episode.  Sure people have crazy lives, but these ludicrous instances occur more frequent than the simple life of an average American teenager.  Not everyday do you find out that a high schooler is pregnant and getting married midway through senior year.  Sure, these instances can occur but nobody in One Tree Hill makes it a big deal at all.  I can only imagine what rumors would be spread about me if I was getting married as a senior in high school.  One thing you notice while watching One Tree Hill, is that almost everybody has a boyfriend or at least trying to get one.  In an article I read online it says that “On TV, every character has another character they are either dating, or have so much sexual tension with that troll of the Internet dedicate Tumblrs to their would be relationship” (wordpress.com).  I knew a lot of people in high school who were single for awhile and they were perfectly ok with it.  Especially watching One Tree Hill, everybody wanted to have the relationship that Nathan and Haley had.  Nathan is related to Lucas and started off as an asshole then met Haley who changed him forever.  They are everything that I ever wanted in a relationship.  You have to realize though, that TV shows are completely scripted and purposely make it the perfect relationship.  Not only in just television shows, but movies as well will display high school to be something extremely different from what it is actually suppose to be like.  Even though I am absolutely obsessed with One Tree Hill, with the amount of chaos and romance it has, it is nowhere near what high school is like in real life.  

Works Cited: 

Kocer, Steph. "TV vs. Real Life: 10 Things I Wish I Knew in High School." Am I Watching Too Much TV. N.p., 20 May 2014. Web. 25 Sept. 2015.