"Dawson", "Les Frères Scott"… Why are teen series also a hit with adults?

"Dawson", "Les Frères Scott", "13 Reasons Why", "Beverly Hills", "Elite" ... Teens are not the only ones to plunge into the loves of high school students, the unfailing friendships, the small betrayals and the big ones jealousies.

Adults also zap readily.

Marie, 27, devours them to calm herself down.

“They really do me good by making me forget my worries.

"The young woman likes" these series more conducive to daydreams than others.

I go back to my 15 years, with dreams in my head.

»A side of Madeleine de Proust in which the active people have a good bite.

Jennifer, 31, is a 'Scott Brothers' fan.

The series places two half-brothers, Lucas and Nathan, in love with the same girl.

The first is a poetic sentimentalist, the second a self-confident "rich kid" who will have to open up out of love.

"We all have the bad boy fantasy that will change for us, I was in the Nathan team," jokes Jennifer, who enjoyed watching it during the second confinement.

Between nostalgia and the need to be reassured

“I'm a little nostalgic for my carefree youth.

I watch Les Frères Scott as I flip through a photo album of school friends.

I tell myself that worries can have a positive outcome, and it's good to get a reminder on the importance of communication.

This flashback comforts me in this agonizing time.

"

This is the analysis of Rémy Oudghiri, sociologist, author of “These adults who will never grow up” (2017, Arkhé).

The need to be reassured.

“We look back on our increasingly young past, to find our bearings.

Young adults are in search of recklessness and putting themselves in this cocoon allows them not to face the future directly, by suspending time.

"

Rémy Oudghiri places this phenomenon on the same level as the success of vinyls and thrift stores.

“Going back doesn't seem weird anymore.

We accept that an adult has a blanket, watch series for teens.

Twenty years ago, we were sure that democracy would prevail everywhere, that the Internet would improve our lives.

How can we project ourselves today into a world marked by the health crisis, global warming, the collapse of democracies?

This nostalgia is the symptom of a society that is doing badly but also that of a society that goes towards what pleases it, freely, without fear of judgment.

"

Help to build

If the fans of these series are mainly women, we find men, like Jean, 29 years old, follower of “Dawson” and “Brothers Scott”.

“These series helped me to build myself, I understood that I had to open up to others, to gain in sociability.

»Jean prefers« Dawson »for his« adult dialogues in the mouth of teenagers ».

While watching the series of his youth, Jean takes a look at his own evolution.

Reassured.

He identified with Pacey and enjoyed being "out of that sense of illegitimacy and that constant urge to clown."

It's also good to find these bands of friends so important in adolescence, these feelings so tenfold at this age and to follow a drama per week.

"

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Sarah Sepulcher, communication teacher and author of “Decoding television series” (2nd edition in 2017), confirms that these programs for teens find their audience among adults without costing the platforms dearly.

“They are aimed at a teenage target, therefore small, but they are a hit.

Dawson is the most talkative series in the world, it descends into psychological doubts.

These series help to grow, to think, to position oneself as a human, to test our reactions without taking any risks.

Adults look at them alone as a guilty pleasure, with a few friends out of nostalgia or with their teenagers to enter their world.

"

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This is the case of Lise, who discovered "13 Reasons Why" with her 15-year-old son.

The series reveals the reasons why a teenager committed suicide following a rape, leaving 13 explanatory videos.

“Watching it together demystifies the children's world in which we imagine our teenagers.

They are more open, less shocked than us at their age by certain violent scenes.

We were able to discuss sensitive themes such as drugs, sexuality, grossophobia.

Americans are more cash than us to talk about all this and I let myself be caught up in the intrigue.

"