Those Crazy (?) Canadian Kids: A Grudging Appreciation Of Degrassi

By Maureen

I can’t believe I even suggested I write this. I don’t watch Degrassi. I don’t care about Degrassi. I am too old and too not-Canadian to have grown up with it and find it endearing. I openly mock it and still remind everyone Drake was once Aubrey Graham.

Manny Santos hugs her mom

That said, my friends did go through a post-college, pre-full time employment period of watching the shit out of Degrassi. During the marathons I unwittingly experienced, there was one thing I noticed that I did find impressive.

Degrassi presented three different resolutions to unplanned teen pregnancy storylines. One character is shown raising her child, and dealing with the struggles that come with trying to finish school while raising a child. Her mother is helping her, but their relationship has been strained as a result of the stress. One character is shown giving up her baby for adoption, after having forged a relationship with the adoptive parents throughout the pregnancy. She returns to Degrassi (the school) shortly after this event, and resumes her pre-pregnancy life as well as she can. The third resolution comes as a sort of reveal, a “shocking secret” that one character has been harboring for a several-episode arc. When it comes time to reveal her secret, we find out the she had an abortion at age 15.

Liberty Van Zandt and her baby

I like this because it seems to me to be a more realistic portrayal of the gamut of average teenage experiences. We see the characters weigh their options, and we see them struggle to accept their decisions before, during, and after they make them. I feel that this is where Canada really makes the difference, because American shows and films barely ever seem to acknowledge that abortion exists, let alone is a viable option for an unexpectedly expecting teenage girl to consider. Even American features about unexpected pregnancies from the male perspective treat abortion with the same vitriol usually used for lepers (see Knocked Up). I think being Canadian does give Degrassi that advantage and luxury to be able to depict this topic with honesty and realism.

Mia and her daughter, Isabella

I also remember a scene where a teenage character’s father is getting remarried. Midway through the scene it’s revealed he’s marrying another man. My NYC born and bred self literally sat staring at the TV with a quizzical look on my face for five straight minutes before it occurred to me—Canada has gay marriage. It’s not a “commitment ceremony,” it’s not a “civil union,” it’s two men getting fucking married to each other. I was then, of course, immediately mortified that it took me so long to process this. All of the characters were so supportive and it was such a non-issue, that I instantly gained a grudging respect for this teenage tripe. I wish our shows here showed this much acceptance and lack of drama over these types of situations.

No matter how many “Very Special Episodes” they air, no matter how many iterations keep re-starting, no matter how many kids they try to push as the next “big thing,” Degrassi will always have my respect for telling things like they are, or how they could be. If only we were all as cool as Canada.