"Bite Me."

Amongst all the name calling, I’ve recently been labeled a: “Nikki Wong”.

According to Wikipedia, the Canadian-produced cartoon 6Teen is a “…series (that) chronicles the adventures of six sixteen year old friends at their local mall.” It goes on to explain that “Each character is tailored to resemble a range of subcultures or subtypes of teenagers… and targets issues that teens deal with on a daily basis, while still remaining entertaining. The result is that the teenaged target audience can relate to the characters and their lives at the mall.”

What’s freighting is it assumes that the general audience can identify with these types of characters and moreover that it is an ideal lifestyle to aspire to! (media imitating reality or reality imitating media?)

Unfortunately, I cannot fully deny the aforementioned accusations. I did grow up in the suburbs. I did go to a high school across from a mall. And I did eat my lunch there almost everyday…BUT for the record I never worked in the mall!

6Teen illustrates contemporary suburban adolescent culture but does its representation critique or reinforce these ideas?

+Watch it!: (airing only in Canada) on Teletoon. also, Mallrats + Dawn of the Dead + Clueless , related to mall culture.
+Navigate it: 6Teen’s website – Use i-Pods, cell phones and the fictitious mall map (allan thinks it’s suspiciously similar to the West Edmonton Mall!) to work your way through episode highlights and character profiles!

+Say It! :: (shopping related quotes)

"For me, shopping is like masturbating public." - Slavoj Zizek

"They came, they saw, they did a little shopping." -Graffiti on Berlin Wall

"...commodities are in love with money but 'the course of true love never did run smooth." - Karl Marx