Why Are Teen Shows Getting Darker?
The reason may be deeper than you think
I wanted to look at the rise of dark teen shows like Riverdale, Winx Saga, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, basically most shows created by the CW Network.
In recent years, we have started to see teen shows take a darker and darker turn, especially on previously light-hearted content. My biggest question is, “Why?”. To start, let’s look at the progression of teen drama shows.
Historically, teen shows have been known to talk about sex, drugs, alcohol, love triangles, fighting with parents, and overall rebellion. However, in recent years, we have started to see the extremes like Riverdale, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Winx Saga, and even 13 Reason’s Why.
According to this article by Nylon, “Why are Teen Shows getting Darker and Darker?” we can start to get some context.
“Teen drama has changed dramatically in the past 10 to 20 years. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer paved the way for teen horror in the late-’90s to early-2000s, it certainly wasn’t the norm as far as teen television goes.
As time has passed, though, teen dramas have decided to veer away from reality. We saw this trend begin with Gossip Girl. While the show was still about rich kids sleeping with one another and arguing with their parents…
