Why do we like stories about teenagers

The second season of Ginny & Georgia, a series about motherhood and growing up, premiered on January 5 and a few weeks later. was in the lead in the global Netflix rankings. This is not the first story about a teenager that won the hearts of the audience. Unsociable Wednesday beat record for hours watched on Netflix in a week, the sequel to "Sex Education" lasted in the top six weeks, and "Euphoria" overtook Game of Thrones on HBO. But why do viewers love teen drama so much?

We feel not alone

Teenage series tell not only about fun and parties, but also about the serious problems of people. So, in Gossip Girl, Dan and Jenny Humphrey from Brooklyn become outcasts in an elite school on the Upper West Side. IN "sex education» Aimee can't get on the bus due to recent harassment, and Ginny, in Ginny and Georgia, injures herself with a lighter due to a misunderstanding with her mother. Bullying, suicidal tendencies, rejection, coercion, adaptation, approval seeking are just some of the topics covered in these TV shows.

When we see the problems our favorite characters face, it becomes easier for us to get rid of the feeling of loneliness. Wednesday Addams knows how difficult it is to adapt to a new school, and Otis Milburn understands unrequited love. And they can understand us. The viewer associates himself with those characters whose life is similar to his. This gives him support.

We find possible solutions to problems

Trauma can be a reason for choosing teen content. Watching the crises of the characters from the side, we think: “How would they solve my problem?”

While observing the solution of the problems of the characters, it becomes easier for the viewer to understand why it happened to him the way he did and how to live with it. As a result, spending time in front of the TV Maybe produce a therapeutic effect.

We feel things we haven't felt before

Watching movies and series is an opportunity to experience something that we have not experienced before. Elite's Murder Investigation Makes Us Detectives, Hannah's Story From "13 reasons why"- rescuers, Katniss from "The Hunger Games" - defenders and freedom fighters, and Gwendolyn from "Timeless" - time travelers. The audience simulates the situation, thinks out the missing parts and solve problems for the on-screen characters.

We are nostalgic for youth

Regardless of whether our teenage experiences were good or bad, watching movies and TV shows or reading books about familiar experiences and experiences evokes feelings of nostalgia. Bettina Sengel, Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, University of Southampton claimsthat studying at school is one of the important stages growing up and not so easy to erase it from memory. “This is the time when a lot of things happen for the first time: we fall in love, we form meaningful relationships with other people, we reach heights. Such moments always remain in my head,” says Bettina.

Months and years later, it’s as if rose-colored glasses are put on us: negative memories are overlapped by positive ones. Therefore, it becomes even pleasant to watch “own” injuries and grief on the screen. There is a feeling that youth was less difficult.

We're running from reality

Bettina Sengel explainsthat in adult life we ​​are not subject to impulsive actions and extremes. Decisions become more balanced, and actions are more deliberate. We can’t, like the characters in Stranger Things, leave work and run around Hawkins all day looking for a stranger named Eleven. A letter from Hogwarts won't come, and Stiles Stilinski won't help you be cool werewolf. But hope dies last.

When days seem too boring or unpleasant, we try to hide from what is happening in the other world. It helps to distract and diversify the daily routine.

In addition, exaggerated teenage problems in the series make it clear that our difficulties are not so terrible. And that motivates close gestalts.

We miss the drama

Research Center founder and ex-professor of medicine at the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Amit Sood in the course of his work figured out, What brain has a neural predisposition to suffering. The craving for mental pain is especially strong if we are haunted by mental trauma. Over time, we get used to the negative, and endless suffering begins to bring not only harm, but also pleasure.

Following the self-destruction of teenagers in "Euphoria”, we subconsciously fill the need for suffering. We look at the neon footage of Ru lying in a strange house for several hours under the influence of drugs, and inadvertently feel her pain inside us. The visual of the series simplifies the "imposition" of the character's life on itself - it becomes more pleasant to suffer inside a beautiful picture than in a residential area of ​​a Russian region.