The O.C. Lives On
TGIF includes: a Pop Culture Moment in Time, Playlist, Tribeca Film Festival, & Time Warp
Somehow surviving my freshman year of high school, I wasn’t particularly thrilled or passionate about high school. Like most kids, I just wanted to survive with a diploma. That summer wasn’t a standout, aside from just turning sixteen. Much to my strict parents’ chagrin, undiagnosed anxiety/depression affected my focus. However, that summer was pop culture perfection.
Although that summer wasn’t ideal because of summer school, my older sister had just gotten her license which was the best thing to ever happen to a sibling (if they’re cool). She’d take me out with her when she could as she was balancing her senior year and a part-time job. The movie theaters were like a second home that summer. The Lizzie McGuire Movie, Charlie’s Angels Full Throttle (released on my birthday, and yes, I did go with my posse for a girls night out with my mom), Legally Blonde 2, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl all came out that summer.
Meanwhile, on tv America’s Next Top Model premieres. The essential Young Hollywood issue of Vanity Fair was on all the newsstands. Not sure if anyone remembers the sensationalized drama due to the love triangle between Disney darlings and then nemesis’ Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan. Aaron Carter dumping Hilary for Lindsay was inescapable “news” until pop culture’s next big IT thing. By August, it got it.
Despite corporations cashing in on youth culture, teen dramas were a dying breed on TV. 2000 saw the end of Beverly Hills, 90210. In 2002, it was Moesha; meanwhile, in 2003, we said goodbye to cult classic teen shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson’s Creek, and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch. These wildly entertaining yet unrealistic tv-shows dominated our TVs until about the late ’90s. Enter UPN’s (now The CW) One Tree Hill and The O.C. on Fox.
Before Bravo changed reality tv with the first housewives franchise (ironically, it was The Real Housewives of O.C.) in 2006— before MTV introduced us to LC and Stephen Colletti in 2004, The O.C. took viewers behind the gates of the superficially glossy ways of Orange County in 2003.
The O.C. centers around rugged bad boy Ryan Atwood (Ben McKenzie), a heart of gold, and an affinity for Journey (sorry Laguna Beach and Glee, The O.C. had a Journey moment first). Ryan’s seen as intelligent but less than coming from Chino with a lack of educational resources or familial support.
Unfortunately, the Chino way of life catches up to Ryan and his older brother Trey as a wrong decision leads to police custody. Ryan meets Sandy Cohen (Peter Gallagher), his public defender, later turned legal guardian, who takes him in after being abandoned by his mother after making bail.
Sandy Cohen’s up there with the best TV dads; I forgot how much I adore his character, the Californian Jewish surfer from the Bronx. Sandy was truly ahead of his time as he had no qualms about calling out his superficial community to do better while working as a lawyer for those underrepresented. His architect wife Kirsten reminds me of Gossip Girl’s Lily van der Woodsen, only because they’re both strong-willed women in men-centric businesses who’d do anything for their families. They’re also both rich bitches who can tell someone off, especially fellow society ladies or assholes. Sandy and Kirsten’s only son Seth Cohen (Adam Brody) is Ryan’s partner in crime in nonconformity and overall best friend; their dynamic of loveable mischief and sardonic geek outcast works well. The storytelling paired with the aesthetics and meta pop culture mentions/moments made for a sleek new format.
Slick with scenic over shots (same style that Laguna Beach, The Hills, and The City adopted) thanks to the executive McG production (director of the noughties girls staples, Charlies Angels) mixed with the ability to capture the fluttery yet chaotic melodramas of being a teenager. It’s why the show remains evergreen and what captivated us in the reality TV counterpart, Laguna Beach—essentially making both pop culture phenomenons.
The series focused on teens and classism in a way that younger viewers hadn’t seen. During that time, there was an invisible shift in power structures as income inequality began to grow; in retrospect, it seems this is when the dissolution of the middle class slowly started (before the Great Recession hit everyone). Being working-class, it was evident that socio-economics were changing. As were cultural influences, this is why I’m happy to revisit as Ryan’s introduction to a new world of excess and disposable wealth piqued our then-curiosities of how absurd the One Percenters live. It’s an inside albeit fictional look, like a small fish in a shark tank. As my re-watch began yesterday, the parallels of time continue to blur since unlocked memories started as soon as I heard Phantom Planet’s twinkling intro of California playing in the Pilot.
Re-watching after 10+ years, the inescapable obtuse thinking of sexuality, hegemonic masculinity, classism, and more was evident. Queer as an insult? How groundbreaking. Nevertheless, the story arcs and character development drew us in with the whopping 27-episode first season. While we were kids, that doesn’t excuse us now as adults, and that’s how we learn from our imperfections. “It was a different time”; this stale excuse is why Americans struggle to move past our historical accountability, especially in our media as we see with its reckoning with misogyny and more. Acknowledging the difficulties of our past historically makes room for emotional growth and evolving as people. Watching these moments was uncomfortably unfunny, but that’s time-evolving, so recognizing it then and now is significant. Even with Ryan’s working-class representation, the show didn’t make any deep insights on societal and its intersectional issues are known, and that’s ok because the series was an escape. It wasn’t anything other than great entertainment yet still relatable. For instance, Ryan’s anger at the world made him relatable (to me) until my parents’ first notable separation the following year. Then I resonated with all of Marissa Cooper’s (Mischa Barton) angst.
Marissa’s emotional and familial turmoil drew me in immediately; she was another sad girl character I revered. Like The Virgin Suicides’ Lux Lisbon and Lost in Translation’s Charlotte, I loved these girls through their alienation and feelings of invisibility among navigating new experiences. I had a significant Sofia Coppola phase in my teens and beyond. Also, like all three characters, I used music as an escape. The soundtracks to my youth are nostalgic and drenched in the escapism of pop music or anthems of the past as I discovered new music, at least new to me. I was well into my indie/punk phase, which started inadvertently in 2001 (thanks to The Strokes and Ramones). Luckily, the music featured on the show changed the game with the music featured in the series thanks to Music Supervisor Alexandra Patsavas (Gossip Girl, Grey’s Anatomy, Twilight). The O.C.’s soundtrack solidified a definitive love of indie music that helped shape me and opened up opportunities from a then-timid wallflower to who I am now.
The contrast of indie and angsty ballads and glittery pop anthems spoke to me. It also mirrored Ryan and Seth’s dynamic, Seth’s an indie/punk lover, and Ryan’s Top 40 circa the ’80s. It stood out even more since it’s ironically also Marissa’s and Summer Roberts’ dynamic in a nutshell (Summer being Top 40 and Marissa being the indie/punk lover).
Marissa Cooper didn’t seem like she knew who “Legs” McNeil is but the doe-eyed girl next door to Seth Cohen is full of surprises. “Coop” has a penchant for designer labels, bad boys, and alcohol due to self-sabotaging (and trying to cope), with her entire world disintegrating.
Coop’s partner in crime is childhood best friend Summer (otherwise known as the love of Seth’s life). Summer breaks the mold as far as the rich mean girl archetype she started as; she’s always looked over and not taken as seriously. She’s my favorite character with a fantastic arc, which is why she always got the last laugh. Both characters were eye-opening to show girls (or whomever) that we can be mysterious, flawed, and imperfect. There’s no definitive way to be a teenager.
Despite The O.C. and other shows romanticizing the idea of the One Percenters being possible saviors to a specific desired lifestyle, they are instead of the symbols of wealth hoarding and consumerism (we didn’t know it then).
The series is still as captivating as ever, although regrettably, The O.C.’s domination didn’t last long. Only four seasons, although its lasting legacy among my demographic and beyond continues. Newer generations are discovering this series, which showed teens have broad tastes in pop culture and social issues. New viewers can watch hegemonies, and clique hierarchies were as entertaining as having a granola Chris Pratt as your college roommate Brown, which is why we loved seeing the gang takedown fellow rich kids and corrupt Newport Beach residents. I digress; still, it’s precisely this level of self-awareness that this show helped cultivate with meta-humor. Something that spoke to my fondness of all things related to pop culture. I can’t wait to finish re-watching.
🎵 For your enjoyment, a musical youthquake moment in time with The O.C. soundtracks. I did my research and included all available music from season one via a master playlist of songs of pure nostalgia.
✨ For my fellow Apple Music listeners, HERE.
✨ For my Spotify listeners, HERE.
⏳ Meanwhile, over at MTV, there was another tv show also making its debut. The Newlyweds introduced the world to a documentary-style show of then-newlyweds Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson. Further ascending the-then-music-network into the pop culture hall of fame with Jessica’s straightforward question. “Is this chicken that I have, or is this fish?”
My fellow Texas goddess, Jessica, is more than deserving of her flowers; she was constantly mocked, ridiculed, and embarrassed for the sake of comedy. While I’m sure she’s not too fond of this era, Jessica now has the last laugh, as does her bank, because she has made quite the empire, and, honestly, revenge looks damn good on her.
🎥 For my fellow film lovers, cinephiles rejoice! The Tribeca Film Festival™ returns with the world premiere of Lin-Manuel Miranda and, director, Jon M. Chu’s In the Heights.
The 2021 Tribeca Festival™, presented by AT&T®, will kick off its 20th anniversary on June 9th. They’re making a celebratory splash with the event film of the summer, the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ highly anticipated musical celebration of In the Heights. In partnership with City National Bank and Montefiore-Einstein, Tribeca will host the film’s world premiere at the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights. In the neighborhood, where the vibrant story takes place.
For the first time, the festival’s opening night will be screened simultaneously across all five boroughs in multiple open-air venues. The 2021 edition will run June 9-20 as the first major North American film festival in person since COVID-19. The 12-day live celebration is the culmination of NY PopsUp, the statewide revitalization initiative to bring back live entertainment and the arts to the community. Visit Tribeca Film for more information.
Time Warp is where I’ll feature moments in pop culture for the day, with some director’s commentary. 📢
Here’s what happened on this day, April 16th:
HBD Catherine Scorsese, Italian-American actress and mother to Martin Scorsese.
📢 In my house, we put respect on her name.HBD Henry Mancini; American composer and conductor.
📢 Thank you for your masterpieces.Swiss scientist Albert Hoffmann accidentally discovered the psychedelic effects of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in 1943. Three days later, he went on the first-ever recorded LSD trip in history.
📢 More on this coming June 👀.HBD Ellen Barkin, American actress.
HBD Selena, Quintanilla, Mexican-American singer and songwriter.
📢 Then-Texas Governor George W. Bush named April 16th as Selena Day in Texas in 1995. This man did one thing para mi Diosa eterna.The Pulitzer Prize winners announced that for the first time since 1977, no book won the Fiction Prize in 2012.
Spider-Man 3, directed by Sam Raimi, premieres at the Tokyo Film Festival in 2007.
📢 No disrespect to Sam Raimi, but this is my least favorite Spider-Man out of all 57.
So far, I love the re-watch. I wasn’t quite strong enough to finish the entire season, so I’ll be doing that this weekend. “It’s Fate. It’s Destiny. We Both Like Burritos”. - Seth Cohen.
Beautifully written. Looking forward to Part II. And I of course got the playlist in my library:)