Did Pretty Little Liars Groom Us?

Подписаться 68 тыс.

Просмотров 919 тыс.

50% 1

For more information, please go to www.rainn.org/.
In this video, I analyze the TV series, Pretty Little Liars, and its problematic relationships between the main protagonists and their love interests, including a teacher-student relationship.
Chapters:
00:00-02:36 intro
02:37-04:11 disclaimers
04:12-06:44 conception
06:45-08:55 ezra + aria intro
08:56-9:47 underage relationships
9:48-17:25 wren + spencer grooming pattern
17:26-18:59 effects on audience
19:00-19:49 morality
19:50-23:34 the problem with “mature for your age”
23:35-24:26 perception framing
24:27-25:34 music
25:35-28:07 “leveling” power dynamics
28:08-30:35 “right” vs wrong
30:36-31:34 villainizing characters
31:35-33:03 making ezria lovable
33:04-35:10 the soulmate problem
35:11-39:20 the writers room
39:21-41:33 pll on underage relationships
41:34-44:22 the effects of tv
44:23-47:56 ezra’s reveal
47:57-51:28 aria’s letter
51:29-52:08 ezria endgame
52:09- 54:53 why?
54:54-55:46 merch
55:47-57:23 family values
57:24-59:54 blame game
59:55-01:00:55 why now?
01:00:56-01:02:17 what now?
Art by Joyblivion on IG
Sources:
• Lucy Hale, Ian Harding...
www.huffpost.com/entry/pretty...
deadline.com/2011/03/pretty-l...
• EXCLUSIVE! 'Pretty Lit...
• I. Marlene King Talks ...
• Marlene King Teases Th...
• Pretty Little Liars - ...
www.rainn.org/statistics/chil...
ew.com/tv/pretty-little-liars...
• Oliver Goldstick Talks...
• Oliver Goldstick at th...
• Ian Harding Talks PRET...
lulamag.com/meet-eliou-harry-...
wordwall.net/resource/6169950...
www.theguardian.com/education...
poshmark.com/listing/Rare-Pre...
www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...
www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/ar...
web.archive.org/web/201210260... - Nielsen research
www.employmentlawhandbook.com...
academic.oup.com/columbia-sch...
ezriaisendgame.tumblr.com/pos...
www.elle.com/culture/movies-t...
www.tvguide.com/news/pretty-l...
• Lucy Hale, Ian Harding...
www.thedailystar.net/daily-st...
pagesix.com/2010/08/10/ian-ha...
www.tvguide.com/news/pretty-l...
www.tvboblevy.com/companion-c...
ew.com/tv/making-of-pretty-li...

Кино

Опубликовано:

11 июл 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 2,6 тыс.

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

Hi guys! I wanted to point out a correction. At 4:36, I say that the Twilight saga inspired The Vampire Diaries, but I’ve just learned that the Vampire Diaries books actually predate Twilight! L.J. Smith published the first Vampire Diaries books in 1991 and 1992 (books 1-4, The Awakening, The Struggle, and The Fury). Stephenie Meyer released the first Twilight book in 2005. Then, in February 2009, L.J. Smith released the first installment of “The Return” trilogy, which is what I was referencing-I didn’t know there were others before. (My belief is that the widespread popularity of Twilight sparked this new trilogy and TV show.) Apologies for the mistake. Thank you for letting me know :) And I just want to say to those who have told your stories below, I've been typing and deleting this sentence a dozen times because whatever I write sounds wrong, but please know that your voices are so important. Thank you for sharing them. (Sources: discovery.arcadialibrary.org/GroupedWork/94a2d8fb-cce3-a858-07ac-2a02d3f0557a-eng www.britannica.com/topic/Twilight-Saga web.archive.org/web/20130508001937/www.vampire-diaries.net/the-books/the-return-trilogy/ )

@Hcamsd 7 месяцев назад

Fun fact Car jackings increased a significant amount the year the movie Gone in sixty seconds came out! So media definitely has an influence

@user-hy2qo6lj2q 7 месяцев назад

The underlying point still stands up that the decision to adapt TVD was "inspired" by the success of Twilight's film adaptation, so no big deal.

@phoebetompkins7546 7 месяцев назад

SLOAN!! I just found your page today, YOU ARE AMAZING I love your content and long-form style. 10/10 thank you for being a creator ❤🩷❤

@tierraellerbe1802 7 месяцев назад

Love ur vid it's crazy how we normalize that and now that we're older its just disgusting anyways can you talk about the summer I turned pretty how the love triangle trope have become very dangerous in or the trope of brothers can be harmful to breaking the family how idk if that makes sense🤷🏽😩

@satisfied656 6 месяцев назад

Better late than never....😏

@elysia6543 5 месяцев назад

it's wild that they framed Aria's dad as being so much more creepy and predatory for getting with his college student than they did Ezra for knowingly getting with a 16 year old 🙂

@paulapaprocka1585 5 месяцев назад

For real I never even realized this but hearing u say that it rlly makes me wonder what were the writers on 🤨🤨

@kuritheking 5 месяцев назад

@@paulapaprocka15852010’s crack

@FernBlackwood1995 4 месяца назад

Yeah. Like, college aged can be a span of legal ages, while an adult with a 16 year old is NEVER okay. In hindsight wtf, you know?

@elioefra 4 месяца назад

The frame it like cheating is worse than grooming

@elysia6543 4 месяца назад

@@elioefra fr though! like both is an abuse of power but for Aria's dad it was bad cause it was cheating and for Ezra it's just star-crossed lovers constrained by society like huh

@amourtabb7859 7 месяцев назад

Its crazy that the writers were like "if you tell on ezra he'll go to jail." Like yeah thats what happens when you abuse a minor🤨

@tell-me-a-story- 7 месяцев назад

TWENTY FREAKING FIVE. He's closer to THIRTY than he is to her age!

@Mia_M 7 месяцев назад

It always bothered me her parents never actually pressed charges. While she was the age of consent, it's illegal for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with a student.

@trainsarethecoolest 7 месяцев назад

Also “if you tell anyone I’ll go to jail” is such a common grooming/SA phrase that abusers use 😢

@happyjellycatsquid 6 месяцев назад

@@trainsarethecoolestright ?! It’s the mf bread and butter of the creep from My Dark Vanessa and those idiots thought they’d written a romance for the ages for crying out loud

@lizzyblitz07 6 месяцев назад

@@trainsarethecoolest it is and that's so sad. The only reason it didn't bother me as a teen was that the actors looked the same age (because they were actually very close in age). I only watched casually. By the time I watched the first season wholly I was older, and again kinda struggled to see her as a 16y/o. I was usually multitasking so I kinda just zoned out in their parts 😅 It's a gross plot ESPECIALLY with the twist at the end that he knew her age the moment he met her 🤢🤮.I'm glad the actors were close in age so at least they weren't harmed though. Edit: WOAH. I just got to the showrunner saying they're "soulmates." Okay. That's just vile Edit 2: I never got to season 4, I had just heard about the reveal. I had no idea Hannah told Aria she "did the right thing" when she decided not to report Ezra. Vile isn't strong enough. I'm glad I stopped watching in season 2 or 3

@user-em3vg6ui4g 6 месяцев назад

"I hate that we had to grow up to find out what the adults knew, the entire time, was wrong" Hits so hard

@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 5 месяцев назад

This is why it's important that parents should check in with their kids about what their kids know or not. There are age appropriate ways to talk about things. Parents really need to worry more, not about what their kids are watching, but what their kids are or aren't taking away from what they're watching and why / why-not.

@toxiczombiewolf5692 2 месяца назад

Worse growning up knowing its wrong and creepy and some people in hollywood put grooming in a romantic light. It's creepy af and not how teen girls actually are.

@Talkingperfectly-loud 7 месяцев назад

I was 15 when PLL first aired. At 16, I was preyed upon by my 27 year old drama teacher. I distinctly remember using the Aria/Ezra storyline as a mental touchstone with which to justify my “relationship” with this teacher, because Ezria were so in love and it was meant to be! …Right? Even years later I struggled with why this storyline felt so romantic, even though I knew it was wrong. This video is SO incredibly cathartic for me. It feels romantic because they MAKE IT feel romantic. We were groomed to view this kind of relationship as star-crossed, rather than wrong. I was young, naive, impressionable, AND their target audience. This storyline had very, very real consequences… my own story being one of them.

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

I am so sorry you went through that.

@lesliel9994 6 месяцев назад

I’m so sorry that happened to you and I hope you find healing. I also agree with the video that because this situation is normalized people often will blame the victim. I was preyed upon by a 60 year old teacher. Everyone blamed me. I even remember a student one time asking me what I had done to get him to act this way. Luckily things never escalated too far but he always tried getting me alone and touching me. One time he did it in a library and I actually ran away and never told anyone because I knew everyone would make it my fault somehow.

@justine15422 6 месяцев назад

I am so sorry you had to experience that.

@dominiqueritchey6795 6 месяцев назад

I'm glad this video was able to offer some help. Thanks for speaking up.

@harperdean203 6 месяцев назад

I had the same experience but with a math teacher. I'm glad you got out ❤

@ericalevinson213 7 месяцев назад

It could’ve been so powerful if they had Aria go through a journey of realizing he was a predator and reporting him and getting justice.

@MileinaJuarez 7 месяцев назад

I never watched the later seasons and the A reveal but considering the spoilers that Ezra is A, he also literally tormented her and her teenage friends for years. This is not just a sexual predator, it’s a psychological dangerous person.

@MileinaJuarez 7 месяцев назад

At the point hen Aria learns that he knew how old she was, who she was etc. and that he tormented her and her friends, it would have been great if Aria went to get counseling and a proper adult would have helped her work through it and report it. It would have empowered Aria and the storyline of the big age gap etc. would have served a purpose, to empower victims to speak up.

@buchbummelant8980 7 месяцев назад

@@MileinaJuarezEzra was never A, he never tormented them. He was researching Alison and wanted to write a real crime novel about them. But yeah, once you know he knew how old she was, it get's really sinister.

@susvne 7 месяцев назад

i think that's how it went in the books, more or less?

@katie5998 7 месяцев назад

@@buchbummelant8980Not just that, but his obsession with Allison (and hints that he was perhaps even with her romantically, in earlier seasons) shows a pattern of behavior. Honestly, as bad as it would have been if he was A, him writing an invasive story about their life, going after a girl he knew he was underaged, and having an obsessive little room with giant pictures of Allison feels almost worse.

@PresleyRoxy 7 месяцев назад

The thing that really gets me with the Spencer/Wren situation is that Spencer’s family get mad at HER after Melissa catches them kissing. They go as far as blame Spencer for the kiss and not the grown ass man.

@maddiesharpe7118 7 месяцев назад

RIGHT!!! I mean her parents are lawyers for god sake

@KASPlaysSims 7 месяцев назад

Yeah and that’s not the only time they do it or it happens . They do it with I forgot his name but it’s the police man who Hannah’s mom was with I believe . Spencer sisters acts like it’s her fault . a lot of this seems to happen in the show and looking back on it I don’t really like it or appreciate how they portrayed it .

@GirlMeetsSunshine 7 месяцев назад

Even more fucked up in the books tbh. Spencer really is an outcast in her own family and her sister is even worse. But the characters were all a little less moral in the books, sooo... They changed a LOT about Ali, she was HORRIBLE in the books, and that's even put nicely.

@aaronshouting588 7 месяцев назад

Not too far removed from reality tbh

@fortheladies771 7 месяцев назад

@@GirlMeetsSunshine They should have kept Ali’s character the same as in the books. She became less interesting when she became “nice”

@moonymoonlight 5 месяцев назад

the thing that endlessly fucks me up is that sara shepard originally wrote ezra's character as a predator who isolates aria, ruins all her relationships and ultimately leaves without a second's hesitation as soon as word gets out about the relationship - never to be seen again. he was ALREADY an abuser originally, and marlene king actively chose to romanticize it instead. and was always clearly her personal favourite too...

@summy1300 4 месяца назад

Somebody gotta check Marlene's dm history frfr

@noticiasinmundicias 3 месяца назад

It's Leslie Morgenstein the one you want, Marlene is just a decoy. @@summy1300

@Birdyboys 3 месяца назад

@@Amazingunreleasedmusic-nx3uithat’s what they said

@user-rg8wx3ik4i 3 месяца назад

This!! Ezra and aria were never endgame

@moonymoonlight 3 месяца назад

@@Amazingunreleasedmusic-nx3ui but in the books ezra was (correctly) portrayed as a predator who nearly ruined every relationship in aria's life, only to bail as soon as the cops got on his ass without a care in the world for the teenager who he had isolated from everyone in her life and was now left to deal with all of this alone. he's gone by book five and only ever comes back once on a later book with ANOTHER minor in his arm, only further proving the kind of monster he is. it was marlene king who read this entire storyline in the books and actively decided to change into a "forbidden but true love" (barf) situation, so yes, it is her mentality that should be put into question and not sara's

@EroticInferno 6 месяцев назад

I was in love with this older guy (24) when I was 16. He was so sweet and charming until he realized my age. Then he distanced himself, stopped flirting, and outright told me this wouldn’t work because of age. He had more maturity than most people. That being said, I thought he just meant literally. Like, I went and got a fake ID thinking that would make any difference at all… very sad. Teenagers are crazy. I love this video.

@ShadowSonic2 6 месяцев назад

You were lucky that guy had integrity and the smarts to know it was wrong.

@ismininotonline 6 месяцев назад

He didn't have more maturity. He just wasnt a pedophile. Let's say it how it is. Im 24 thinking of dating someone 22 and younger feels wrong to me. Not because i am mature. Because I don't want to babysit a literal child

@elijah4621 5 месяцев назад

@@ismininotonlinethere really isn’t that big of a gap between 24 and 22 though? why are you comparing them to a child?

@ismininotonline 5 месяцев назад

@@elijah4621 bro i just said how i see it. Can't have a personal opinion about my own fucking life or something?

@csrjjsmp 5 месяцев назад

@@ismininotonlineyou can have your opinion and other people can tell you your opinion is dumb

@Chitamashii 7 месяцев назад

PLL definitely had a negative impact on the girls in my middle and high schools'. My school had a teacher, Mr B, that was in his mid-late twenties and looked like Ezra but with icy blue eyes, and the phenomenon of "Ezria" was so influential that there was an issue with girls openly pursuing Mr B and citing the show as a reason to the point that our school had to have an assembly about appropriate relationships and that teachers were there to tech us and not date us. Luckily Mr B wasn't a creep, and didn't entertain the advances from his underage students, but if he was then he'd have had open pickings of whatever underage girls he wanted thanks to the popularity of PLL and Ezria

@greyc.4845 7 месяцев назад

wow! Im so glad the school had an assembly about it.

@megarakadmea 7 месяцев назад

I can only imagine what that guy was going through, trying to be a mentor and do his job, and also picking his way through a million land mines a day. Good job to the school for how they handled it.

@IrrelevantParanoia 7 месяцев назад

Poor guy must have been so uncomfortable

@itspribanerjee 7 месяцев назад

omg

@_namasteshay 7 месяцев назад

Yeah same, my freshman English teacher was like 25-26 and very attractive man and PLL was on like season 2 or 3 and all the girls would openly flirt with him (including me, I would eat lunch in his classroom my sophomore year)

@kthxbi 7 месяцев назад

It feels so obvious to me that a lot of these showrunners are actually writing UNIVERSITY aged story-lines, but setting them in highschool because the highschool audience was a more reliable 'get' for ratings. But then they completely fail to factor in how being 16 vs being 19 VASTLY changes what their characters can or should be doing. The amount of HS set shows where the main characters routinely go clubbing or are out driving around to each others houses at 2am with nothing said about it by their parents? The writers literally forget they're all children

@jewelvang8242 6 месяцев назад

EXACTLY, SO MANY STORIES ON TV WOULD DO SO MUCH BETTER IN A COLLEGE SETTING! Anime too, like My hero academia. Ah yes, let's have these highschool students basically train to be police officers and get them on dangerous internships

@melr.6738 6 месяцев назад

and casting actors in their twenties to play teenagers doesn’t help either. The girls don’t look much younger than their male counterparts in the show but I bet if they casted actual teenagers it would look a LOT worse on the eyes of the viewers

@chelsey8737 6 месяцев назад

Yes! I'm always complaining about how teens don't actually do that many drugs or have that much sex or do literally any of those things. Of my group of 4 in hs, 2 of us didn't drive and a different 2 were from pretty religious families so there was absolutely no way we were sneaking to parties or doing drugs or even together past 10pm for anything other than a bday party on a Friday night. People love to make teens out as these heathens who can't be controlled but the reality is that most teens just want to have less homework and more friends

@OutrageousAspect 6 месяцев назад

It's more likely they are gen x writers who experienced an unprecedented level of parental neglect and disengagement. So for gen x seeing a girl hotly pursuing an older man... that doesnt look like abuse it looks like a younger girl doing what they often did. Dating someone older than 18 was a total score, also there was a ton of drug use, sex, drinking and clubbing either at underage clubs or because I.D. wasn't that hard to get, and it had none of the security stuff they have now, honestly you could open the laminate on the side and insert your picture, plus there were a lot of I.D.s Gen x did it differently, and they got into a lot of stuff they shouldn't have ..and all that changed when they started raising kids because they knew it wasn't great.

@luluanthem 6 месяцев назад

@@OutrageousAspect Yup that's exactly what I thought, being a teen in the 70s~90s looked a lot like this. Clubbing, doing drugs, having this much freedom and being exposed to a lot of shit with no consequence to the adults around them really was commonplace. I went to hs around the time the show was running (2012~), and although this wasn't the rule anymore, there were definitely teenagers exactly like this doing these things, from the clubbing to teacher-student affairs, and everything was treated either as "teens being teens" or even seen positively - you were cool and mature for stepping into the adult world earlier. So basically, these things shouldn't be criticisized because they are unrealistic, they really aren't - at least they weren't at the time. They SHOULD be criticisized because they are unsafe and hindering to teens, and showing these situations existed is not the same as fetishizing and normalizing them like this show does. Glad things changed for the better since then, it seems!

@2ctheocean 5 месяцев назад

I'll never forget- I was doing a lot of volunteer work with a teen SA prevention group at the time... and my mom and my little sister started watching this show. She was 12 at the time, I was 16. I watched the pilot and pulled my mom aside and told her the show was telling my sister that a relationship between an adult and a child was okay... and my mom yelled at me about it.

@AdelineCowgirl 5 месяцев назад

None of them were believable as children though. It's hard to see it as predatory behavior when the "child" is obviously an adult 😂

@alexandriagrace711 3 месяца назад

Girl no she didn’t have mercy, good for you though🤎🤎

@nikki4803 Месяц назад

I hope you spoke to her yourself about it after that then. Honestly I think 15 is the minimum you should be to watch this show and I understand now why my mom initially told me to not watch it when I started watching it at 11. Idk if she knew about the underage bullshit but it was pretty mature for an 11 year old. Even if I was able to handle it while not being able to fully comprehend everything going on

@sulafaljabal1956 Месяц назад

Why did she yell at you tho 😭

@Jkjoannaki 11 дней назад

Your comment is why I think it wasn't unrealistic that Spencer's parents blamed HER for being groomed. Unfortunately, adults in our lives, even if they aren't groomers and supposedly love us, can be unintentionally manipulating us into justifying our abusers abuse. And blaming ourselves for being though it. Or making us think its no big deal that such abuse exists. I was blamed by my mom for being sa'ed when I was 8.

@Makberries 6 месяцев назад

I’m appalled that all these comments are just completely ignoring the intro of this video where Sloan says that they were able to count 13 adult/minor relationships in this show!! Like yes I get it Ezra and Aria are the main focus bc it’s what started it all and was the most popular one. But 13?! Why was a fellow woman of all people the one pushing this agenda on teenage girls?! Why was this allowed to pass networks and get the green light everytime a new season came around with another 2-3 illegal relationships?!

@noyesbonne 4 месяца назад

😮 that's way too many for one young people show.

@thitsmcgee1917 4 месяца назад

“From a women” Women are predators too. They usually get away w more bc most men unfortunately never come forward

@emmaleahebert3114 4 месяца назад

And in all honesty, there’s more instances of it happening than she counted, like she said! It’s small things like wilden creeping on hanna, the way they have adult men interacting with the teenage girls…it’s so much deeper than the writing..it’s encoded in there

@i5m5bob 4 месяца назад

Age gap is natural. Women age faster than men

@moonbeam0099 3 месяца назад

Money and ratings

@pam9919 7 месяцев назад

You know a relationship is bad when Joe Goldberg is sounding reasonable😂😂😂

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

This made me laugh. Thank you for watching!!

@pam9919 7 месяцев назад

@@SloanStowe thank for making this video I always knew pll had bad adult kid relationships but 13 just wow

@samariasylvester402 7 месяцев назад

🤣

@mazvitaselemani 7 месяцев назад

This may be a low bar but Joe was everything but a pedo so a W is a W😂

@CharlotteEveline 7 месяцев назад

@@mazvitaselemanihey at least he has standards. He has to draw the line somewhere 😂

@Natalie_Anne21 7 месяцев назад

What’s also crazy is the fact that Allison’s actress was actually 14, a minor, on the show and was basically around these grooming behaviors.

@gucciraccoons1637 7 месяцев назад

🫢

@rokhayas 7 месяцев назад

Sasha (the actress who played Allison) was groomed by her husband

@gucciraccoons1637 7 месяцев назад

@@rokhayas omgggg I never knew this

@itsmesuhaniii25 7 месяцев назад

@@rokhayasare they still together? I remember his photos on her insta

@VioletEmerald 7 месяцев назад

She also was only 12 when the pilot was filmed.

@MuzikFreak161 5 месяцев назад

I’m still in shock that this show had 14 year old me hardcore shipping Ezra and Aria instead of shipping Ezra with a hypothetical prison cell mate 😂

@Kristianalexis1 4 месяца назад

Yeah so did I but that’s also funny how you phrased it 😂

@toxiczombiewolf5692 2 месяца назад

I think I watched this at 16 and it made me feel ill to see it I git so much shit in the fandom calling out how creepy and illegal it was.

@g.g446 2 месяца назад

I just saw a documentary about a teacher grooming her 13 YEAR OLD STUDENT and then later getting married to him. And what did she say as an excuse?? "He was mature for his age." Just sickening.

@savannaaah 14 дней назад

Mary Kay Letourneau 😤

@veramavka 11 дней назад

You just described Brigitte Macron, also known as the First Lady of France, respectively.

@peblezQ 7 месяцев назад

I watched this show with my dad when I was in high school. I started 9th grade in 2011, so I was the prime audience. My dad started watching it on TV and I watched it with him because he said the mystery was neat. Back then, my friends thought it was so funny that I watched this show with my dad, but in retrospect, I am so glad I had my dad as a filter. His horrified reactions to these relationships made me realise how dangerous they are, and he warned me about predators. We both were also so mad at the A reveal, no proper setup or payoff. I can thank this show for inspiring me to write better stories lol

@kpoppy9635 7 месяцев назад

Wait...which A reveal? Because I thought the Mona A reveal was good and they give small hints in many episodes leading up to it...but after Mona was revealed as A the show gradually got worse.

@NoelleTakestheSky 7 месяцев назад

This is what I do with my daughter, and have since she was younger. She just turned 14, and is VERY alert for hidden dangers in pop culture, and she’s the filter for most of her friends whose parents are either oblivious or don’t care.

@SL-lz9jr 6 месяцев назад

The TV raised me as my parents didn’t speak English and were busy working. I’m glad that I rarely fell prey to dangerous behavior from TV. They certainly glorified a lot of bad behavior to a point that I don’t feel horrified watching shows like PLL. But I’ll have to make sure to be the kind of parent that watches tv or reads books with my kids so I can be their filter and offer a realistic perspective. Banning is never going to work, but educating children will. Same with fairy tales. I won’t ban them but i’ll try to offer a more empowering perspective.

@mimimosa259 6 месяцев назад

That’s really sweet

@tomorrow4eva 6 месяцев назад

This is good parenting.

@emilyisallwrite 7 месяцев назад

You adding the real life photos of the actors at 16 & 25 was so powerful in an already amazing video. Excellent, thoughtful work.

@beetle1516 6 месяцев назад

it really was. I'm 16, I actually look my age unlike Aria and I couldn't stop thinking about how disgusting it would look if I were in a relationship with Ezra. And then the actual proof of how disgusting it would look was put on screen.

@Ayshasil 5 месяцев назад

@@beetle1516 I'm 25 and I could have sex with an older man (around 40) but only sex. I would never date one. That's really problematic

@lorestuart5259 5 месяцев назад

@@Ayshasil such a strange and unneccesairy thing to add, especially knowing youre saying it yo a 16 year old..

@kitkat2702 4 месяца назад

Do you have a timestamp, please?

@arsyn.kolgrim 4 месяца назад

@@kitkat2702 31:40 is when she points out their real life age difference while filming (Lucy was 20 and Ian was 23) and then compares it to how the actors both actually looked at 16 and 25, 32:08 is the side by side comparison if you want to skip the dialogue

@ThestuffthatSaralikes 5 месяцев назад

I was 19 and he was a 32 year old. “I’m 19 at heart and you’re like… a really old 19” 🤢 WTF was I thinking?! Only a loser would say and some shit like that… I’m 43 now. The mere IDEA of being with a person even 5 years younger than me just grosses me out…

@t.a.d.7892 3 месяца назад

My sister was groomed by 20+ year olds. I was 14 at the time and thought there was something wrong with me that they didn't "want" me. Now as an adult, i am horrified that i even thought that. I am horrified that my sister went through that. She still tries to think she was "in a relationship" with them and "it didn't end well" or they "broke up". Honestly, it is just denial due to trauma. I attempted to pursue a 22 year old when i was 16. I was shut down immediately. At the time, i thought it was "relationship rejection". No! I was lucky, protected and safe! Thank God for that guy.

@morganf1968 7 месяцев назад

The whole book thing was so stupid if they just had the balls to make Ezra A and didn’t have ezria get back together after that reveal , it would’ve been a way better digestible story line.

@maddiesharpe7118 7 месяцев назад

It also would’ve hit so much harder and would serve as a lesson to young viewers that no, a grown man who is interested in a high school junior is INHERENTLY not a good guy. The creepiness of the whole situation would be so much more apparent and actually disturbing

@morganf1968 7 месяцев назад

@@maddiesharpe7118 This!! Exactly

@mykad6 7 месяцев назад

off topic but the malcom/maggie/ezra storyline was so pointless too! they added this life altering information just to let it go 10 episodes later. Ezra made Aria feel so bad when Malcom got hurt under her care but he never questioned himself on why his teenage girlfriend was babysitting his 7 year old child. He needs to get his priorities in check for sure.

@morganf1968 7 месяцев назад

@@mykad6 yes that storyline was dumb too, again they could’ve put it in to make aria realize that she doesn’t want to be a step mom at 17 and have her leave Ezra but nope they didn’t do that either :/

@alias1150 7 месяцев назад

Yes! Ezra or Aria should have been "A". Or they could have both been on the "A team" I believe in the books Ezra goes to jail and they should have done that in the show. It would have been better than the vaguely transphobic CeCe storyline that they went with.

@daisydaisy0121 7 месяцев назад

Wren was ALWAYS a creep. Full on creep. I don't know what the writers were smoking. They normalized behavior that was so clearly criminal. He's literally preying on minors every time he comes on screen. Did they just have no concern for their audience? It baffles me.

@Lilt348 7 месяцев назад

at least they made him a villain in the end helping Alex and killing him off, that info makes it like "ofc he's going after teen girls" like he's a sick piece of sh**

@judelbugsrutter6727 7 месяцев назад

I would love for Melissa to have a moment where she realised that she attracts a/holes and gets therapy. Telling Spencer she's sorry. That it wasn't normal and now she's working on herself to see why and will change to make it stop. Without blaming the delorentes family for all her family's problems

@judelbugsrutter6727 7 месяцев назад

@Lilt348 i agree but you didn't think it was a bit ambiguous with Wren just dating an unhinged girl who was pretending to be her sister and then killed him? He seemed more go-with-the-flow than an actual villain in the stuff with alex... I wish they'd upped the ante a bit because they alluded to the fact that he also messed with people who had mental health issues in radley... brought that forward just a bit more

@justjoannak 7 месяцев назад

Agreed

@brandireifsnider4840 19 дней назад

Wren was supposed to be A (Charles) apparently, but I guess the actor had a prior contract with another project he was doing so they had to come up with something else for the finale and could only get him for a certain amount of time to shoot.

@Jade-rp3ms 6 месяцев назад

My cousin married her former student teacher. Let's just say that this haunts her to this day. Her parents have never met her husband and she apologizes for destroying her relationship with them at least twice a year. But letting go that shame...that step of actually (after FIFTEEN years) getting her husband to meet her parents? That has not happened. The man STILL has influence over her like she's still his student, making her decisions, abusing her, having affairs and bringing his kids for her to raise...it's profound and life changing and it destroyed a once brilliant girl's chances of a good future. I never watched this show. It just had so many triggers for things that have destroyed my family or the lives of people i know. And i think that if adults have no shame in peddling these wrong relationships to their underage viewers, if they thought it was okay, why not try seeing how it will go down to actually cast kids and adults that age? Its DISGUSTING and they know it, so they cast these adults and make them play teens and have them emulate all these wrong life destroying actions and actual kids learn and believe these actions. Is no one ever held accountable when it comes to these things? Cancelling a show after so many have been affected is kind of useless

@Normaschthewanderer 3 месяца назад

I am so sorry.

@beesbrownies 5 месяцев назад

52:30 this point is so crucial. It's not an adult's responsibility to stop a kid from liking them... it's their responsibility to not be involved with the child very explicitly.

@smurfyday 7 месяцев назад

This is why I'm so skeptical of pop culture favorites. So many morally rotten behaviors are glorified. Only years later do some people recognize that. Thanks for delving into this issue & show.

@meadowsweetstudios444 7 месяцев назад

When the show came out and throughout its run, most of the viewers were teens so they probably didn’t realize how wrong it was till years later.

@smithmarina970 7 месяцев назад

there were many teens who saw how morally rotten it was, not a new thing, also how many people were rooting for olivia pope in her affair with the president or root for villains , or joe the murderer in you, 🙄, its not that people don’t see these things as it is happening, its that for most people , its not in their reality, so its just entertainment.

@sziszyke 7 месяцев назад

Portraying something doesn't automatically glorify it. Even if the behavior of the actors is positive towards it. That's what storytelling is. Do you think Shakespeare agreed with everything his characters were doing?

@2shadowgamer2 7 месяцев назад

@@sziszykeIn the end of the day it's all about framing. Example: A high school girl is talking about her math homework but all the camera does is focus on her developing features. What is the scene trying to tell the viewer even though the high schooler is only talking about math? People will only remember the framing of the scene not the math homework dialogue. It's just something to think about. Stories can be about anything but all those little things are really important.

@sziszyke 7 месяцев назад

@@2shadowgamer2 That's a good point. You're right, in most cases it's used exploitatively. However sometimes it can be part of the narrative. I think the 2016 Handmaiden from Park Chen-wook is a great example. Nimphomaniac from Lars von Trier.

@fenjah8131 7 месяцев назад

Honestly looking back, PLL consisted of so many weird relationship dynamics: Multiple boyfriends of Melissa hitting on Spencer, Jenna basically raping her step brother, Ian and Jason FILMING their very underage neighbours through the window while they were getting dressed- and Jason was depicted as the good guy later on??? It‘s creepy how grown people even thought of these storylines, much less applied them to literal children🤮

@sophiewebb2887 6 месяцев назад

yea and all alison's "love interests" that were always like 10 years older than her. which is especially creepy bc the actual actress was her real age or even a little younger

@Ker77u 4 месяца назад

Not basically. She did in fact assault her step brother.

@ShadowSkyX Месяц назад

A projection nto their f-cked up lives probably.

@animetechnoblade1009 5 дней назад

I thought it was only Ian doing that?

@MikPenguin 7 месяцев назад

This was such a great and useful video, thank you. As someone who has been a victim of grooming + SA, I just wanted to add that the way Ezria was treated and portrayed really aligned with my own experience. When I was a minor in a "relationship" with an older guy, I was chastised and the one punished far more heavily than he was when it all came out. I think that if PLL had portrayed this relationship differently it would've helped me realize that the way I was treated was wrong. I was the victim, the child, not the one who should have been held accountable and punished while my abuser got off with so little repercussions.

@briannabou 6 месяцев назад

Wow I’m so sorry that happened to you!

@othrwrldLea 3 месяца назад

As someone who was a 14 year old being groomed by a 20 year old, we were in a "relationship" for three years. I'm probably one of the few who caught on to what was going on in the show as it was airing because I had experienced it personally. I'm relieved that this is becoming a more widespread concept, that this show was wrong in its choices in relationships. Thank you for taking the time to make this video, and for providing the resources that someone may not know are available... like me. I didn't know there were resources available to help. I didn't go to my family for help because he told me that I would go to jail, too. Truly disgusting. Thank you again for speaking out on this. Editted to add: I am now 33, raising a 13 year old son. I have been working hard to make sure he understands everything that is wrong with what had happened to me, along with the respectable way a person is supposed to be. He's a good kid.

@dorrolorro 7 месяцев назад

Imagine if Aria turned 20 and was suddenly too old and no longer desired by Ezra. He goes and hooks up with (in legal terms, rapes) a new 16-year-old, and Aria walks in on them. Maybe then she and the audience would realize that he's a disgusting creep and deserves prison for life.

@lianmizu2488 6 месяцев назад

That literally happened in the books minus her turning 20. After she was serious with Noel, Ezra groomed another student. Very sad.

@victoriagordon4071 6 месяцев назад

The sad thing is in Pennsylvania where this is set the relationship is not illegal because of age. 16 is the age of consent. The only thing that made it illegal is that Ezra was her teacher. I took it as a comment on how messed up it is that states have different laws surrounding age of consent and relationships.

@eternityriley1833 6 месяцев назад

@@victoriagordon4071 But I believe the age of consent still only applies to children of the same or similar age, not a legal adult and a child. So two 16/17 year olds is okay, not a 16 year old and a 38 year old.

@rosestar1324 6 месяцев назад

@@victoriagordon4071 That means a 16 year old can have sex with other teens their age or older. But if you're like 21 or older, you cannot have sex with anyone younger than 18

@spectralight8412 6 месяцев назад

I found out a year after I graduated high school that my old English teacher was arrested for grooming a girl the same class year as me. This exact fate befell his wife, whom he met over a decade prior when he taught a high school in a nearby town. She was eighteen and was his student at the time. They got married started a family, years later he preyed on. A 15 year old girl who didn’t report him until after we graduated.

@letteaseauh 7 месяцев назад

When i was 16 (5 years ago) i had a crush on one of my internet friends who was 4 years older than me and when I confessed that I had a crush on them, they RIGHTFULLY shut me down and I argued with them about it. Obviously, it ended our friendship and I was sooo upset, but looking back I realize how lucky I was because it IS the adults' responsibility in this situation. PLL rotted and romanticized this "age gap" (illegal) relationship into my brain, and unfortunately for so many people my age this is not the case.

@heyhorinshi 7 месяцев назад

Just proof that they were actually a good friend to you which in a way is wholesome even if you got heartbroken…

@snek149 7 месяцев назад

Im so glad they were responsible and moral and shut that down. I got into 3 inappropriate relationships when I was 17. The first was 23, and once he slept with me he left. The second was 22. He sexualised me so much, it made me uncomfortable and I left him. Tje last was 21

@crazystemlady 6 месяцев назад

Same thing totally happened to me. I was done chasing down everyone after I finally got shut down like that. Really humbling and taught me so much. Glad for us

@greenLimeila 6 месяцев назад

Same here, at age 17 I actively pursued a friend who was then 24 and as a good person, he got away from the situation. That's what a decent person would do. All this shit about it being ok because the kid is the pursuer is incorrect. The adult is the one responsible to stop it.

@chelsey8737 6 месяцев назад

100% and it still happens in ya heterosexual romance. That genre in particular is disgusting ripe with predatory age gap relationships and yet its always a happy ending

@Akursedtime 5 месяцев назад

I remember having a crush on my History teacher and it was just a crush. Think he knew but made sure there were boundaries. Looking back, with all the toxic shows introducing the teacher/student predatory relationships and promoting it as if its a good thing. I'm glad that mine, treated me as a pupil and an intellectual equal (i think thats why I had a crush on him) and didn't take advantage of me. Now as an adult, I appreciate it. And thank god for the boundaries because I don't even have the urge to see him. I'm just grateful.

@Catloafcafe 2 месяца назад

The more I watch this video, the more I realize that I've been groomed by my social teacher when I was 15. I was at my lowest point at that age, had trouble with family and had my first relationship or "first love". He was the person closest to me at that time and he used to cheer me up whenever he could. He'd ask me to stay after class so we could talk about how I was feeling or how my family situation was going. He once even told me to make sure I was using protection in my relationship and I CAN'T BELIEVE I never realized how weird that sounds, a 30 year old telling a 15 year old to use protection? He was sooo invested in my life. Once when we were talking about my mental health, he shared a secret that he claimed he hadn't told anyone else at the school(mind you, he was the school's favorite teacher out of like 30 and was the closest with all of his students which was a bit over 100, he always said to his students that I was his favorite, the school had around 500 students total). I used to think that it was such a nice gesture for him to tell me something that was so incredibly sacred to him. Now I realize it was just for him to make me feel special. Something that really establishes his grooming was what happened when I once didn't turn in an assignment. He was notorious at that school for being VERY strict with his assignments. He was the kind of teacher to give you an F for turning in an assignment just one minute later than the deadline. I was having trouble with starting the assignment, so I essentially just gave up and accepted my fate with the grade F. He noticed this and asked what happened. When I told him, we had a deep talk about everything, and it was when I got home that I realized that he gave me an A for the assignment. An assignment I never finished or even started. On the last day at school, he asked for my Snapchat. I still have it.

@Michelle-1893 7 месяцев назад

I remember in an interview from a while ago with Troian on some late night show, the host made a joke about why Spencer keeps kissing all of her sister's boyfriends and she responded why do all these adult males want to kiss a teenager? I remember seeing that years ago and it was one of the first instances it was really addressed that the show has a problem with inappropriate / predatory relationships. But it also shows that the actors were able to speak up about it but just never did.

@claudiabcarvalho 5 месяцев назад

Yeah. Either their were ok with that, or their career picked with PLL, and they might be afraid to turn against it just for them to lose followers and get blacklisted. But those actors were really young, they might've been convinced to accept those things. Just remembering what Joss Whedon did to Buffy cast, what the showrunner for One Tree Hill did to the show's cast... It makes me wonder what Marlene and other more powerful people did or said to them.

@jaginaiaelectrizs6341 5 месяцев назад

Was that before or after the show had ended, though? (Genuinely curious, 'cause I rarely watch things like late night show appearances, so I don't know.)

@hidansektas 7 месяцев назад

id like to mention there is proof of sasha pietersa who played alison about her grooming. she got with her now husband as young as 15. there is a picture of them on a family vacation when she is 12 nad he was 19. and there are pictures on her instagram when she is 17 and when she turns 18 there are headlines "sasha gets engaged to LONGTIME boyfriend" LIKE WHAT. THE RELATIONSHIPS WERE NORMALISED ON THE SHOW FOR HER

@LoLovesLife 7 месяцев назад

Yikes. That's awful but also not hard to believe. She was very young when she started working in Hollywood. Many child actors are forced into situations that they absolutely should be protected and shielded from.

@hidansektas 7 месяцев назад

@@LoLovesLife YES and not only Hollywood. seems like her parents encouraged it

@diesdas5851 7 месяцев назад

Holy shit I didn’t know about this… what 19 year old sees a TWELVE year old as anything other than a kid??

@hidansektas 7 месяцев назад

@diesdas5851 a pedo. check out their old pictures HE LOOKS OLD LIKE THE WAY HE LOOKED BACK THEN MADE ME GO HM THIS SEEMS FISHY

@VideosForYou90 7 месяцев назад

@@LoLovesLife True, it reminds me of Liz Gillies and her husband. She played a role in the Nickelodeon show "Victorious" and it allegedly started between them when she was only 16 and he was like 37. She defends him and shuts down everyone who even tries to voice criticism about their relationship and it's really sad to see how she got so manipulated.

@cassidyneurotica1296 6 месяцев назад

I used to aggressively flirt with my attractive teachers. I am so lucky they were good men

@barbarapatino5458 5 месяцев назад

"I hate that we need to grow up to realize what these adults knew all along". WOW. Just wow, what an amazing video!

@gudrunmoe 7 месяцев назад

As a mother to young girls I love to see how this generation of young adults are so much more clued in to things than we where at your age. This was a great essay, so here is a comment for the algorithm 😊

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

Very appreciated!! :)

@sarab3417 7 месяцев назад

They are so smart 🥹

@Rose-hh7mk 7 месяцев назад

I think one of the biggest things that made it feel normal to the audience was the fact that the actors didn't actually have a big age gap. Ian (Ezra) was only 3 years older than Lucy (Aria). Julian (Wren) was only 2 years older than Troian (Spencer).

@Sleepingwei 7 месяцев назад

Definitely, if Aria and Spencer had looked 16 and not early twenties then things would’ve been a lot different - but that’s exactly why the liars look the same age as their adult love interests, so that it doesn’t seem inappropriate

@bluz1864 7 месяцев назад

exactly. I hate to say it but if we just look at the physical chemistry, it is there. I still think Lucy and Ian look good together so naturally their characters would look good together. Casting wise, it should always be the case that age gaps are minimal. They could have tried harder to make the actors have less chemistry.

@fleerow 7 месяцев назад

I wonder if they liked role playing being a groomer form time perspective

@jesaea 7 месяцев назад

@@fleerowIan (Ezra) did not, he actually called out his character bc he thinks he's a pedo

@marianadineva14 7 месяцев назад

They look "mature for their age" because they are not that age but 4n years older. And no matter the 'mature' makeup a 16-year-old will put on, they wouldn't look 18 or 20. I hate the whole 'mature for their age' and 'not understood by society' explanation for pedophile 'going out' with a child. I'm going to say it - there is a reason an older person will go for a younger (less established, or underaged, etc. 'partner') and that is not because they are so mature, if that person wanted mature, they would be going out with someone their own age or older. And if that child was so mature they would understand that this relationship is not good for them and the other person deserves to be arrested and in jail. Media has fucked us up, several years ago a cousin 25 was dating a 16-year-old, I was weirded out but only 3 years later understood the big problems with it so many of us are not equipped to navigate such situations, and even then when we talked between the family it was not right - his mother was like "SO YOU'RE SAYING HE IS A PEDOPHILE" what about your daughter who is 16 and dating a 18 year-old, whose relationship also had some somewhat problematic situations. And his family thinks it was completely normal...

@carolinebbuss 5 месяцев назад

Amazing video! But also, when they reveal that Ezra knew who Aria was, they also imply that he had a relationship with Alison too, when she was 15 (or maybe 14, I don't remember), which means Ezra was not into Aria because they were "soulmates". He wanted Aria because he IS a predator. It's crazy that the show wanted us to believe they had something special.

@nicoleclavel3876 2 месяца назад

technically he wanted her because he wanted to know more about her life and alison and her friends but yeah he still a predator for sure

@user-lu8ue4ns4w 5 месяцев назад

Wow, what an insightful watch. Well done on this video. I was a “PLL kid” and watched it through junior high and high school with my friends. I recall many instances when male teachers would be inappropriate toward me and other female students, but we never thought anything of it or even thought it as flattering because an older guy is “into us”. We’d giggle about it or even feel good about ourselves. It’s SO damn creepy to think about now as an adult. That was NOT okay, and shows like this 100% contributed to our pov at the time that it’s normal and acceptable 😮

@user-lu8ue4ns4w 5 месяцев назад

To add, I also got similar comments as Aria mentioned in this video. “Mature beyond your years” “old soul” etc… it made me feel like their behaviour was okay because I met them at their older age mentally/emotionally, but dear lorrrd, I feel so icky even thinking about it now. I’m super thankful nothing else happened to me besides inappropriate conversations, flirting and glances during class.. but I do remember one of my girl friends in high school that was contacted by a teacher to have drinks with him outside of school, and they had a physical relationship. When we heard about it then, we didn’t think anything of it. Maybe even cheered her on for getting with an older guy. But she was 16 and he was well into his 20s. This is the first time I’ve talked about this since then, and it really gives me a lot to reflect on thanks to this video.

@cccuqi7697 7 месяцев назад

I think the main reason why viewers are insensitive to grooming in television is that they choose again and again 20 somethings to play teenagers. You eventually forget they are supposed to be 16 when they obviously look 24 🙄

@emmadenton1826 5 месяцев назад

It definitely contributes to subconsciously normalising these relationships! The only problem is I don't want any 16 year olds on these sets 😬 It's good to have adults in these roles, kids should be kids and not baring the weight of being the family bread winner. They just need to stop romantically putting together the teen characters and grown ass adults 😅

@cericat 5 месяцев назад

It definitely doesn't help but then too look at society to begin with with how it normalises certain behaviours early on, especially if the groomer is an older woman it's disgustingly common for the victim to be congratulated instead of supported. It feels weird to think that Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High handled CSA better than modern shows.

@skinkscat 5 месяцев назад

@ceriacat I don’t know, there are some pretty bad student-teacher relationships in degrassi (I can think of three off the top of my head that weren’t great and one that was definitely framed horribly)

@cericat 5 месяцев назад

@@skinkscatI'm specifically referring to two series from the 80s to early 90s. And I didn't say they were great, just way better than a lot of more recent stuff like PLL or the original (Australian I know the US adaptation skipped some of the elements of the original but haven't watched it) version of Rake for instance. Mr. Colby got reported and dealt with in DJH for instance even though it took a while for the girls and Wheels to work together on that one. Ideally that's how things should work, support from peers and the adults listening and dealing with it. I cannot speak to later series, I barely even remember much of the show then since it was one of my stepbrother's obsessions not mine but I do remember that arc along with Wheels' encounter with the Salesman that could have been handled in some manner rather than just his escape. Since I was in high school (graduated in 2000) we've had so many shows where there's student teacher relationships that seeming suffer no real repercussions despite all the incidents IRL that you'd think would have informed better writing and handling of it. It's like Dawson's Creek and since tried to whitewash these sorts of relationships for some reason since at worst what tended to happen was the teachers shuffled off to elsewhere when exposed (which as a Catholic school kid of the early 90s tracks but ugh).

@lady_apocalypse178 2 месяца назад

YES, Im not American and when I was in my early teens I watched riverdale with a friend. I was sooo confused at the Archie storyline with his music teacher. I always thought everyone was overreacting because yeah she teaches him music but atleast they are both adults and It's not like shes THAT old. I mean the main characters were in high school but that ment nothing to me (bc again not american) I thought he was atleast 20+.

@CarolineA1900 7 месяцев назад

They should’ve just aged everyone up and put ‘em in college lol idk why they didn’t just do that. The PLL gals don’t even act like teenagers half the time, and dress MUCH older than what’s appropriate for 15/16 year olds :/ watching PLL now as an adult, I see how ridiculous and gross it actually was…

@shannonceleste5557 7 месяцев назад

So many stories are set in high school for various reasons. Mainly, living under the parents' roof raises the stakes, in terms of storytelling.

@marlenewilson3993 7 месяцев назад

@@shannonceleste5557 yeah, plus it gives us a reason they can't just leave rosewood despite all the torment. but honestly i don't think it would have been that hard to make them freshmen at hollis or something in the pilot and go from there - i'd much rather suspend my disbelief in that way than try to watch the show pretending not to be uncomfortable with the fact that the girls are like 16...

@cpilaf 7 месяцев назад

they also stay in rosewood after the time skip@@marlenewilson3993

@justjoannak 7 месяцев назад

It's probably of the book series, which has them as high schoolers. The actresses that were playing them were in their 20s though

@catherinecampbell1215 7 месяцев назад

This is why I love the show Greek. Everyone is in college so their adult behavior makes sense.

@hudak55 6 месяцев назад

Wow reading the comments section and realizing the effect this show had on us while we were teens is CRAZY, I can’t even describe how horrible these experiences were, traumatizing ….

@jesathousandtimesjes 5 месяцев назад

'You said yourself it's not that big an age gap-' 'Yeah but he's your teacher.' The f*ck? Eight years! Half her life! I feel like I'm being gas lit by these writers. Eight years of adult life experience puts you in an entirely different life stage. I can't with these people.

@Caleb17-ym6pq 7 месяцев назад

Even the actor who portrayed Ezra called his own character out. I am so glad more people are addressing this. PLL wasn't the only show that glamorize and glorified satutory-rape. It's very strange.

@KamalianCiranoush 7 месяцев назад

What gets me is that these actors still play these problematic characters, even if they see their behaviour is not addressed properly by the show and is glorified by the fans. Okay, your calling the character out, but you're still playing it???

@Cecilia-hb4vk 7 месяцев назад

@@KamalianCiranoushpeople gotta eat

@itzrainy_outside4450 7 месяцев назад

@@KamalianCiranoushThe actors don’t have a say in how their characters act, They can play a terrible person AND not actually be a terrible person/not agree with the characters actions and beliefs. Plus they gotta get paid. Just blame the writers xP

@realestsienna 7 месяцев назад

@@KamalianCiranoushgirl what.. what kinda logic is this ☠️ they have no control of what the directors and creators add to the story, plus it’s acting. nobody’s gonna lose their money just because they’re playing a fictional character.

@user-xr7ci8tf3e 7 месяцев назад

“who needs morals when you’ve got money” is basically what youre saying. “I’m just doing my job” is what the Nazis said lol

@route7635 7 месяцев назад

When i eventually decided to watch through this show out of just simple curiosity, i think the scene that struck me the most was when Aria is on the phone with Groomer Teacher Man and it kept cutting between him in his grown adult apartment to her bright pink, very obviously owned by a young teen girl bedroom. Like. Wow, that's a literal child! In a better piece of media, that sort of juxtaposition could've been utilized really well to highlight and enhance the creepiness of the whole situation and i think that's what made it really stick out to me.

@oooh19 7 месяцев назад

what? adult women can love colors too

@route7635 7 месяцев назад

@@oooh19 I understand that, but it was just. Decorated in a way that really just emphasized "stereotypical teen girl" room I suppose? I'm not trying to say that pink is inherently only for young girls or anything, just that the set styling and design seemed to, intentionally or not, really push that whole look. Pink has nothing to do with age or gender at all, it's just a contrast that was incredibly noticeable between the two sets and almost emphasized the age gap to me.

@__jlnx4310 6 месяцев назад

@@route7635ignore the person above. We know what you mean. And ur absolutely right and it’s disturbing

@aj_san3788 6 месяцев назад

@@__jlnx4310I agree, the first person was just disagreeing to disagree.

@orangepapercrane 2 месяца назад

This TV show was SO popular that I started reading the first book. I was twenty-four and couldn't finish it because every single male character was a predator. Every. Single. One! WTF??? I've had a problem with this series ever since.

@ShadowSkyX Месяц назад

She was a victim of grooming and doesnt know it or sees anything wrong with it, sounds like.

@eliskakordulova 6 месяцев назад

The tv show Crue Summer (2021) depicts this exact same trope, except it does it extremely well - especially in regard to the real-life consequences. It's basically a much more well-handled version PLL, so if this is your cup of tea, definitely check it out.

@ShadowSonic2 6 месяцев назад

Riverdale, ironically, did it better too with the Archie/Grundy thing. Portraying it as wrong and how Archie was a grooming victim and everyone thought so

@mayjailersirensss 4 месяца назад

yes!!! cruel summer is such a good show

@beatm6948 Месяц назад

@@ShadowSonic2honestly the first season did a lot of things right. It was a good show.

@lary_uwu6027 Месяц назад

The Wilds did too, the main character has a whole arc trying to realize that the older guy was an abuser because she kept refusing that, eventually she burns all she has that reminded her of him (granted it was just one book written by him because she was stuck on an island but)

@dxrkive 7 месяцев назад

"I'm older than you, but you're the mature one in the relationship." I was 14 and he was 19 💀 It's so sad to see myself in Aria.

@aestheticnugget6284 7 месяцев назад

I’m 19 and he’s 34..

@justjoannak 7 месяцев назад

That's awful! I'm so sorry you went through that

@isaberti 7 месяцев назад

I was 13 and he was 22 😵‍💫 It has been 10 years but it hurts to think about it now

@dxrkive 7 месяцев назад

@@isaberti It's a little sad, and disgusting, to think about, especially now that I'm older and wiser. I can't help but feel like we lost a part of our lives that we can never get back. I'm so sorry you went through that, you didn't deserve any of it. ❤️

@dxrkive 7 месяцев назад

@@justjoannak It's been a little hard to accept and live with it, but I'm better now. Thank you. x ❤️

@noahkirschtein8169 7 месяцев назад

“retaking it if you got emily” is crazyyy she was always my favorite when i watched it as a young closeted teen lol

@chexmix4cereal 7 месяцев назад

Yeah same. Emily was the most iconic one for us young queers at the time. I will be taking no questions lol

@dreadwolfrising 7 месяцев назад

@@chexmix4cerealhonestly it was either her or seeking out any media from the previous decade that had a shred of queerness 😂 I'll take emily over the absolutely betrayal that happened with Lexa in the 100 a few years later

@FIRING_BLIND 7 месяцев назад

I think that's the point though....the main thing anyone thought about when they thought of Emily was her queerness. So if you're not queer, she's likely pretty boring to you

@marias.wainwright3481 7 месяцев назад

Not to mention she was the only person of color in the main group like...it's very telling about the state of the fandom at the time that she was the least popular :/

@noahkirschtein8169 7 месяцев назад

@@marias.wainwright3481 i see your point but i also dont think the fandom should get the blame here. she was.. very neglectef by the writers.

@thoughtsofaleo2916 7 месяцев назад

I am so glad I found your channel - I had left this video on my watch later, but ended up turning it on for background noise while doing some chores - only to then sit down and watch the entire thing and do no chores. pretty little liars was one of my favorite shows growing up and I was one of the obsessed ezria fans - I read the fanfic, reblogged the fan art, watched all the amv's/thousand years mash-ups. it's only now, as an adult, am I realizing how messed up that entire relationship is and how insane it was for the showrunners to greenlight everything. I've always had a hard time with "fiction vs. reality" in terms of relationships (and this show did not help) because sometimes it's fun to explore toxic and/or forbidden relationships, such as ezria's, because on one hand I, an adult, am fully aware of how problematic these ships/characters are and know that I personally would not want to engage; but on the other hand, I know that the message can still stick with you, especially when you're a younger person. at the end of the day, it's one thing for me to read fan fiction about a toxic/forbidden relationship about a ship/couple and know that it's bad behavior, but it's an entirely other thing to write a relationship like this and promote and romanticize it to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of impressionable kids. I'm just so glad that so many of us are now realizing how bad it is and not letting it fly anymore. excellent video! your analyses was spot-on and your explanations were so thoughtful! I know you hate asking for subscribers, but I hope you know that you're doing really great work and I can't wait to see what you do next!

@kelseycain3469 6 месяцев назад

Ex substitute teacher here. One of the first rules is NO SECRETS. If they confide in you someone else HAS to get that information. You must be culpable for your actions. No private conversations that cannot be observed. No personal touch. This show is just so gross for this. It's why I never watched it.

@emilysullivan3875 7 месяцев назад

PLL mishandled other sensitive topics too, such as addiction, SA/victim blaming, ED's, and Mental Health.

@Professor.Pericles 7 месяцев назад

When Spencer made that one joke about hiding the cookies before Hanna sees them because she'll eat them all.

@rainbowsauce93wonder77 7 месяцев назад

it still gives me the shivers that Marlene King thought it was an appropriate thing to have Emily forcefully impregnated by A just so her and Alison could have babies... like, YIKES marlene. also why was everything about babies and weddings in the ending? there's more that young girls are interested in

@TotallyxKatiee 7 месяцев назад

Alcoholism in Hanna was so normalized to be okay

@suzanned5859 7 месяцев назад

In my high school there was a popular teacher who had a "special" relationship with his TA of 3 years. She was a very innocent former catholic school girl who was 14 but looked 11. They ended up getting married and she had a child by 18. My friends and I were so grossed out at the time. There were no consequences for the teacher and the town I lived in just seemed to accept it. This was back in the 80s. It still weirds me out to this day.

@skylarjohnson7779 6 месяцев назад

I feel gross reading that. I hope she got away from him.

@cericat 5 месяцев назад

WTF? Why the hell was a TA a minor in the first place, I'm used to them being adults doing their teaching degree or at least having a tertiary certificate (requirement here) to enter the role. I believe you, it just seems ridiculous to put that sort of pressure on a kid.

@suzanned5859 5 месяцев назад

@@cericat It was High School not college. She was a High School student TA.

@cericat 5 месяцев назад

@@suzanned5859yeah I'm referring to secondary (7-12 here) and primary school (K-6), outside translators I didn't come across many ATAs in tertiary ed and I've worked for both a primary and a tertiary institute. It's just weird to me to put a kid in that sort of situation even without where it led that should have had something happen to him. That said well acquainted with CSOs going unharassed by the legal system for far too long.

@grmgt 6 месяцев назад

8:45 I think what worsens this is the fact that Ian Harding and Lucy Hale were only 3 years apart irl. So when we look at them we don't instantly go "that's gross". Nope, our teenage selves only see 2 attractive people who are above 18 and with a small age gap. It's truly terrible for our psyche. PS: Nice, you mention this in a later part of the video!

@strawberrylime33 6 месяцев назад

You are completely right. If aria looked like a normal 16yo and not a beautiful 20yo who never had an awkward phase, we would see the creepiness for what it is. It's hard for teens to denounce ezria when they look the same age.

@JeniJustJeni 6 месяцев назад

I was listening to this video while shopping and I missed the part where she shows pictures of the actors at the ages they are supposed to be. Can you help?

@SirkSage 5 месяцев назад

@@JeniJustJeni31:55

@tanya4001 7 месяцев назад

would also like to mention that Emily too was in a creepy age gap relationship with talia who was both an adult AND MARRIED

@valentinavillota3348 6 месяцев назад

Each and one of the liars were in a age gap relationship, it's genuinely insane seeing how much normalized pedophilia was normalized in this show

@Echo-mg5em 5 месяцев назад

That’s true-not that anything would make it better, but it’s even creepier when we consider that she basically uses Emily to experiment with her sexuality. The husband comes to Emily and asks her not to break up his marriage; did it never occur to him to not blame the high schooler?

@feefee6889 7 месяцев назад

My own mom advocates for teacher and student relationships. It’s terrible… but she tried to teach me that it was okay my whole life, how crazy is that?? She was okay with me marrying my groomer at my old church. He was 20 years older than me. It’s disgusting to know that she’s groomed me to think that it’s okay. Luckily I grew up with the internet and learned on my own how nasty that is. Still sad to know she would never protect me if I got rapped or that man succeeded in his grooming.

@Seraphina93 7 месяцев назад

When I was 13 this 40 year old married dude liked me and my mom said „just make sure you know he‘ll leave you once you turn 18 and are too old for him“. Can’t really… No wonder I dated an abuser for 8 years.

@yumbunny2566 7 месяцев назад

I’m so sorry! You deserve better ❤❤❤❤

@leafyishereisdumbnameakath4259 7 месяцев назад

@@Seraphina93im so sorry. My heart breaks for you.

@leafyishereisdumbnameakath4259 7 месяцев назад

@feefee6889 i am so sorry

@justjoannak 7 месяцев назад

That's awful! I'm so sorry you went through that

@Olivia-vq1gh 2 месяца назад

The age gaps and power dynamics of this show were just so… Like not even talking about Spencer/Wren and Ezra/Aria, the fact that Jenna, a disabled teenager was casually shown with Garrett, a grown police officer, is so disgusting.

@simpbad2961 3 месяца назад

"As if being mature for her age, changes her age"

@abbypierce4196 7 месяцев назад

I was rewatching it over the summer and I was just like…shocked at how I realized almost EVERY single love interest is an adult man AND/OR in a position of power or authority over the girls. I think the only semi-normal one for Aria was the wrestling coach but still, HER COACH.

@kc87557 7 месяцев назад

The only “normal” relationship was Spencer and Toby. They were the only couple I liked after rewatching

@mirandapetersson952 7 месяцев назад

@@kc87557and Emily and Maya! They should have been endgame, they were great together.

@doid4354 7 месяцев назад

Caleb and Hannah! Caleb only solidified my taste in men 😭😭

@abbypierce4196 7 месяцев назад

@@doid4354 LOVED Caleb and Hanna - hated what they did to them in the final seasons.

@justjoannak 7 месяцев назад

@@abbypierce4196Same!

@fortheladies771 7 месяцев назад

I’m still upset at the fact that they RANDOMLY made Spencer’s twin “A” when all the clues pointed towards Ezra’s creepy behind lol

@kpoppy9635 7 месяцев назад

Or Wren's. They literally could have made anyone else A and it would have been a better A.

@kpoppy9635 6 месяцев назад

@komi2001 I mean I kinda wanted it to be Aria cause she was a boring character lol But it was also too obvious to be Aria.

@pudgethefish626 6 месяцев назад

so true. should've been either ezra or wren, who throughout the show were both creeps manipulating underage girls

@Doggybudder 5 месяцев назад

I believe this happened because the fans kept correctly guessing who A was and they were mad bc they wanted the big dramatic reveal

@pudgethefish626 5 месяцев назад

@@Doggybudder i hate it when showrunners like hold the fans' predictions against them, and then create the dumbest storylines out of spite or bc "no one will see it coming." it's just petty

@KayGreylai 6 месяцев назад

As someone with experience with film making both infront of the camera in the industry and behind the camera in short films. I assure you every choice about Ezra and aria from the actors looks to hair make-up and costume making him look younger and her look older was absolutely deliberate. There were people in a room discussing what was necessary to look for in casting to make this relationship 'work' and every decision in Ezras wardrobe hair and make-up deliberately makes him look younger and boyish, whereas they make Aria look older and more mature with darker colours and heavy make-up. Its very deliberate and would have been tested multiple times, changed and photographed extensively to replicate. Note that the actor also is clean shaven at all times to age him down further, with a slight wardrobe tweak he could play a teen in the show.

@violetpinkpanda Месяц назад

I remember being happy when reading the books that Aria and Ezra didn’t stay together past the first book (or the second idk) but then disappointed because that means that they CHOSE to keep them together in the show when they did not have to. Especially considering that, while flawed, Aria had a pretty good relationship throughout the rest of the series with someone her own age. When Ezra later returns it’s to date one of Aria’s other classmates and the narrative points out how weird that is.

@ShadowSonic2 20 дней назад

The problem was that when they tried to break them up the ratings slipped and there was a negative response from the viewers who thought it was "cute" and "sweet". The showrunners were too gutless to stick to their guns.

@phaedrathenerd9721 7 месяцев назад

Can you do a video about Emily and Paige? That bully romance thing always rubbed me the wrong way

@fortheladies771 7 месяцев назад

I couldn’t stand Paige. I always thought I was the only PLL fan that felt this way lol

@shanouboubou 7 месяцев назад

It really was. I still remember Paige holding Emily head under the water...and then it's turned into a great love story without really addressing all of that ?

@phaedrathenerd9721 7 месяцев назад

@@shanouboubou right, it's horrific

@Sophie-ub1wx 7 месяцев назад

⁠⁠@@shanouboubouliterallyyy have never forgotten that… i can’t stand paige

@itsmesuhaniii25 7 месяцев назад

I kinda feel emison worse

@sedarua2696 7 месяцев назад

One of my best friends and I used to be so obsessed with ezria. Up until she turned 18, she ended up groomed and having sexual relations with her 40 something year old neighbor. At 17/18, I found myself having little flings with 25/26 year olds. Looking back, I’m horrified that these older men wanted anything to do with us and that we didn’t see anything wrong with it. I remember we felt so mature and sexy for it. I had friends in high school going out with kids in college, friends of older siblings, etc. One of my friends dated a guy with a CHILD at 18. Sure, it’s ‘legal’ but even the thought of that is horrifying now-we were still in high school. I’m glad you made this video.

@littlepinkcactus 4 месяца назад

Same! I also dated a guy with a child when I was just 18,while he was 26. I stayed with him for 5 years, which were the most unhappy times of my life. Looking back, it was the most toxic, dangerous and life destroying relationship I ever had and I was more pushed and groomed into it by him, than actually wanting it. I wish my parents had said something back then, to protect me. If I ever have kids, I'll try to not make the same mistake.

@oth4evr237 6 месяцев назад

I started the series when it came out and I was 17 when the show came out. When I first watched it I loved Ezria and Aria was my favorite character. I lost track of the show and revisited it at around 18 or 19. By that time I had forgotten a lot so I did a rewatch and was so creeped out by Ezra and Wren as well. It's crazy how just a couple of years later I was able to see it for what it truly was. But I was initially blinded like so many others. I'm 30 now and don't think I could do a rewatch without being disgusted by the amount of inappropriate relationships in the show. Also the ending was terrible.

@magalita336 2 месяца назад

I only watched one episode of Pretty Little Liars, and that was the Halloween episode in 2012 that has a performance by my favorite singer Adam Lambert. When i found out that 16 year old Aria was having sex with her teacher i was disgusted. I am even more disgusted to find out that Arias relationship was not the only statutory rape relationship.

@rhiannonem7743 7 месяцев назад

I was like 17 when the Ezra reveal episode came out and I remember it made me feel so icky about the whole thing but until that point I had never thought their relationship was wrong. Wild that so many adults had no problem putting that show out to teens. But sadly I reckon a lot of the men involved in Hollywood/tv have pursued much younger women and don’t think it’s wrong or don’t want to acknowledge it’s wrong

@K.C-2049 7 месяцев назад

IDK if age gap relationships are always inherently wrong (once everyone is over the age of 25) but men who habitually and repeatedly go after exclusively much younger women (like Leo) definitely give me bigtime "man child who never grew up and can't handle women with actual opinions and preferences and need to power trip" vibes. I think if an age gap relationship is the exception because there's a vibe between two individuals, it's very different than if it's an intentional behaviour or preference.

@rhiannonem7743 7 месяцев назад

@@K.C-2049oh yeah totally context is important. I was more thinking of when it’s a pattern, or where it was initially completely one-sided from the older person and it’s not just two people who just happen to have connected. I just feel like the latter doesn’t happen as often as the former.

@BlackCatBritt 7 месяцев назад

yeah that reveal was what made me stop watching the show cause I straight up "got the ick" from it, as the kids nowadays say. Never regretted dropping the show cold turkey either, cause the constant "who REALLY is A?" question was getting old from being so drawn out & convoluted.

@citydweller99 7 месяцев назад

The showrunner was a woman.. and from what I hear, she would block people on Twitter (X) that called out this story. Didn't this coupling also have a hashtag on Twitter as well ?!?!?

@Beep974 7 месяцев назад

The answer is Yes. It did normalize grooming. I was 10 years old watching this show and it made me susceptible to multiple predators that has taken me a long time to heal from. I remember recognizing that the teacher relationship was bad but Ezria was fiction and they were meant to be but a guy like Wren was just a normal love interest, nothing to worry about. Shows like this may not be targeting 10 year olds but kids like me were still watching it at the time and absorbed whatever “message” they may or may not have intended to send.

@oktinaa 6 месяцев назад

wait this is crazy how this is your second video ever. i love how u go about analysis and also the way u talk is really satisfying and calming 😭❤️

@helenam00n 2 месяца назад

As Mike's Mic said in his 2021 video "An appropriately unhinged recap of Pretty Little Liars (Part 1)" at 12 minutes 30 seconds "I mean, feel free to count on your fingers how many FELONS [older men in "relationships" with minor girls] we come across as we go through the show, and you will run out of fingers bestie!" I've never watched this show but this video was still VERY important imo. Great work!

@norablack1085 7 месяцев назад

I was 16 and my first real boyfriend was 25. My friends thought it was cute. He eventually raped me when i did want sex and wanted to break up with him after 6 months. He groomed me and was patient but i did not want to lose my virginity. Traumatized ever since. I am glad you are putting this out.

@Seraphina93 7 месяцев назад

It’s not your fault, and neither is it your friends. I hope you’ll get better eventually. You deserve to be loved unconditionally in a safe way.

@Riviwriter 7 месяцев назад

You deserve to be seen and heard and validated. I’m proud of you for commenting this (and many others with similar stories in the comments) for taking their stories back and rewriting the narrative (or at the very least, giving voice to a shameful topic)

@Guineapigsreadingbooks 7 месяцев назад

I am sorry you had to go through that. I hope that you know that none of it was your fault. You (like your friends) were just a kid. You didn’t deserve that, and it wasn’t on you to protect yourself from a threat that shouldn’t ever have been there. He is completely at blame for all of this. I hope that you are safe and able to process the trauma with support from your family and friends.

@norablack1085 7 месяцев назад

@@Seraphina93 thank you

@norablack1085 7 месяцев назад

@@Riviwriter yes exactly and thank you

@kate.b97 7 месяцев назад

I remember this show actively affecting mine and my friends relationships with one male teacher in particular in middle school. We used to joke that she was the Aria of our group and her (13) and our 30 something year old history teacher were going to have an affair. Its so nauseating to think about now since, had that teacher been predatory, any one of us could have easily fallen victim.

@cassielee1114 7 месяцев назад

Also that poor teacher, trying to do his job while you’re sexualising him.

@preternatural3231 6 месяцев назад

@@cassielee1114Extremely poor choice of words; "while he was being sexualized" is better as it doesn't imply that these CHILDREN were purposely being amoral. Also, OP only said that this was something they discussed amongst themselves, and not even in an overly sexual way; nothing she said implies that this affected the teacher in any way. Either you have terrible reading and critical thinking skills, or you're a very weird person.

@kate.b97 6 месяцев назад

@@cassielee1114 so true! We were children, being actively brainwashed by irresponsible media, but you're totally right.

@alyssaofsilk 3 месяца назад

Even as a teen when this show first aired I haaaatteeeddd the relationship with Aria and Ezra. It was so neauseating, especially with the music they had on their scenes. I would always record the episodes and fast forward through their bullshit lol

@vampedtone 6 месяцев назад

I've watched this show sooooo many times and this video was so well written and explained perfectly the thoughts I had about this topic! Thank you for this!

@tittytatssauce5567 7 месяцев назад

This show didn’t just groom its characters, it groomed it’s audience

@nicoleclavel3876 2 месяца назад

so sad

@grace-4072 7 месяцев назад

Just only read the title but yeah. Yeah it did. It definitely set me up to believe that older men were in any way okay for me to pursue (not that i, as a literal child, was in the wrong, but you know what i mean)

@NiceDonkey3417 7 месяцев назад

I honesty never dated anyone that wasn't much older than me after that.

@chelseygarrett4221 7 месяцев назад

I was watching this show at 18/19 started at 16ish. My 27 year old boyfriend was telling me how stupid it was. I was 19 at the time so technically an adult but I was just out of highschool a few months before. Definitely thought it was normal.

@beatm6948 Месяц назад

I can hear the restrained anger in your voice surrounding the scene of Hannah telling Aria to not submit. Because how dare they disrespect victims like that. How could they do this? Why are they allowed to have so much power? Why cant they use it to do whats right?

@mechengr1731 Месяц назад

I'm surprised she didn't touch on how they kind of framed it like Aria was doing it out of spite, not that she just realized he had been using her

@tiredandcaffeinated 6 месяцев назад

Thank you for making this video. You are correct on everything and this video hit me like a ton of bricks...I had something very similar happen to me from the ages of 14 to 16, and my groomer was 35-37 at the time...I didn't know what grooming was, never heard of the word. I didn't have internet at the time, and didn't live in town and basically had zero neighbors. I was extremely isolated.... And, go figure, that one of my favorite shows was PPL and I literally saw myself in Aria...so, this is really impactful. Thank you for bringing light to this, truly. I'm 28 now, and this type of thing fucks you up and sticks with you forever.

@chelscara 7 месяцев назад

Marlene does seem to be from the generation that thought Celine Dion’s relationship was aspirational when she met her producer/husband at like 12 and has had an eating disorder since the relationship fully came about. It’s like she’s passing the torch of idolizing creeps and toxic relationships

@binxwaxcap7832 7 месяцев назад

I grew up hearing all the classic phrases "Youre an old soul" "Youre wise beyond your years" "Youre more intuitive than other kids your age" when I was young I took that as such a high reguard; but it led me to being groomed and blackmailed online. I was a traumatized child and seeing the relationships like the ones in PLL or TVD made me truly think it was okay for a man well into his late 20s/early 30s to be talking to and dating a 16/17 year old child. It really was just a toxic combination of pop culture normalizing things it shouldn't and being part of the generation that had unbridled access to the internet because it was still kind of brand new and parents or grandparents didnt understand how truly horrible the internet can be. I fully believe that there and hundreds if not thousands of other who went through similar situations as myself. It feels like our generation was kind of like a test run for our parents and grandparents

@chelsey8737 6 месяцев назад

This is stunning. Such a well written, well explained, and well edited break down.

@TM9_ 5 месяцев назад

And THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is why our parents were eerie about certain shows we watched growing up.

@jenniferbibi1972 7 месяцев назад

I watched this show once when i was a teenager and back then, i always found their relationship disturbing, but i thought it was Aria's fault because she relentlessly pursued Ezra. I feel like that goes to show how right you are about framing and how the writers went out of their way to moralise predators.

@emmadenton1826 5 месяцев назад

Your not the only one! I was 15 when the show started, and it was huge in my school at the time. I always saw it as super creepy! Ezra is objectively hot and I can see why Aria is into him, but why the hell is Ezra into Aria?! It literally never made sense (except obviously, grooming)

@Sage_the_plant 7 месяцев назад

This was great! I’ve been sick and decided to rewatch recently and I forgot just how SICK AND TWISTED some of the relationships in this show were. Even outside the relationships, PLL seemed to think it was perfectly acceptable for grown men to approach MINORS. As a former, ‘mature for my age’ teen it’s been really difficult to rewatch the tv shows I enjoyed as a teen. Awesome video, thank you!

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for watching! Hope you feel better soon!

@TE-yh5ld 5 месяцев назад

I’ve seen a thousand video essays regarding PLL (and other popular tv shows) but your videos are by far the best. Please keep doing this and definitely make them more than 20 minutes :) 1 hour went by so quickly. 🔥🔥

@bunny23275 6 месяцев назад

With the whole Aria and Ezra relationship that really messed me up when I was in middle school. I started watching when the show ended, so in 2018, I was 13. And I literally thought I had a chance with a teacher because I was obsessed with Pretty Little Liars and thought that the relationship was okay. Luckily I never made a movie because I was too scared to and at that time I had a therapist and I had opened up about those feelings; she taught me it was wrong. She thought me that their relationship wasn’t okay and that I shouldn’t romanticized having a relationship with a teacher as a minor. Just thinking about this makes me wonder how many teacher student relationships started because the student was watching PLL and thought it was okay

@AJ-zg1nq 7 месяцев назад

Slight correction- The books that were the inspiration for the vampire diaries predate twilight by decades. The first TVD book came in 1991 while twilight was published in 2005. It would be apt to say that the twilight popularity led to the tvd books being adapted in 2009.

@sparksparkle 7 месяцев назад

I was about to comment that

@torielizabeth6217 7 месяцев назад

I was looking to see if anyone had commented this

@melissagreen7327 7 месяцев назад

I was looking for this comment! Lol. I read The Vampire Diaries before the Twilight books were probably even a thought.

@TheMoreTheMary_ 7 месяцев назад

1991?!!! I never knew that!

@lisa123idk 7 месяцев назад

Yep because the contract L J Smith signed was pre film/TV adaptation being a thing so the publishers have the rights not her, which is one of the reasons she decided to not finish a number of her series that she had started to write again

@loveserene 7 месяцев назад

I will never forgive Marlene for having Aria (a victim) say to her best friend “you’re the problem Hanna, you’re always the problem) when she was confiding to her a grown man came on her bro💀💀

@snydegger16 3 месяца назад

This video is SO WELL MADE, and I’m so glad that u made a video about this bc seeing the show as a young teen and now reflecting on the show as I’m an adult is wild. It’s so disturbing, also knowing that I was one of many young people watching all of this is CRAZY. But I can not express how thankful I’m for you to bringing this up❤

@myraklumb4587 6 месяцев назад

this video is so cathartic, thank you so much

@broadwaybutterfly310 7 месяцев назад

I never got passed season 1 of PLL. I watched it when I was 16 on netflix and it frustrated me that no one would acknowledge that Aria was a minor. It was always "I'm your teacher, no one can know because I could get fired". I remember screaming at my screen "and she's a minor!" when Ezra was explaining why Aria's father can't know about them but he only mentioned the teacher-student part. Idk, I just couldn't get past that they only acknowledge 50% of why the romance was "forbidden"... also I found them cringe :/ There was a scene when Aria calls him by his first name in class and everyone was like :O!! and I got such bad second hand embarrassment I had to stop

@Angelina-kr3tz 6 месяцев назад

I used to always skip past scenes of him

@floresdeisla 21 день назад

I only watched S1 of PLL too... but here's the big distinction. You say you watched this at 16, but most of these 'teenagers' who did watch the show esp as the first season aired, were in the 12-14 year old demographic. That includes myself, I was 12 at the time when it first aired and all my 12-13 y/o classmates would talk non-stop about it. From that one season alone, it had a damning effect on us. While you were screaming at the characters for not mentioning the age gap issue, here we were, young 12 year-olds looking at it like "aw omg, star-crossed lovers. I hope they make it through!" The fact that the writers knew this fact makes me sick, adds a whole new layer of manipulation and deceit similar to how the characters of the show acted it out.

@lilithying3359 7 месяцев назад

this is so well made! 14 year old me never saw an issue with those relationships and actually wanted them to end up together. Im 20 now and am actually horrified how these relationships are still being romanticized all over the internet....

@violethill1174 7 месяцев назад

Thank you for being the person my 13yo self needed to hear. While marlene&co weren't solely responsible for the grooming and SA that happened to me as a teenager, they played a massive part. That trauma permanently changed my life in ways that can never be repaired. It makes me feel so disturbed still to see her be so glib about the whole thing. Maybe if someone gets a petition going we can get all streaming sites to show a disclaimer for shows that depict adult/minor relationships stating why it's inappropriate. It's not much but at least it would be something. Presenting it as "taboo" means nothing, interracial relationships were and sometimes still are taboo but they aren't morally and ethically wrong like this is. Whether corporations like it or not they have a duty to present stories like this more responsibly

@caroliinec 7 месяцев назад

Jess at 52:37 is gold 👌 thumbs up within the first 5 min. This video is VERY well done! Fantastic job!! I supported ezra and aria for an embarrassingly amount of time. I watched several videos about their toxic relationship but still never understood. However, THIS video breaks it down so well!! I finally understand. None of the other videos went as in depth as you did about this topic. I get it now and i am disgusted. The way the writer's basically groomed us has me enraged. Thank you so much for pointing all the details that were never addressed before. I always wondered why this is being brought to light now and you even answered that!! Ian harding having mixed signals about ezria always bothered me. Like, if he hated his character or didnt agree, he didnt have to stay in the show. There's the argument that characters don't represent the actors like in serial killer movies. But with serial killer movies the criminal is portrayed as a criminal, in a negative light most of the time. They're not romanticized. Ezra is romanticized despite being a predator. He's portrayed in a postive light most of the time. A lot of work and research was put into this video and it shows. So excited to see your channel grow! Your commentary is so fun to listen to 💕💕

@nicjonzu 7 месяцев назад

Whoa, your breakdown is incredible. I am so impressed at your analysis! Thanks for making this, I read PLL when I was 14-16 and I absolutely glamorized and got myself into relationships with adults. I felt so “cool” that older men liked me, but when I look back now and realize I was literally a child, I feel sick 😩

@SloanStowe 7 месяцев назад

Thank you so much for your kind words!! And I am so, so sorry you went through that. I cannot wrap my head around the type of person that would pursue a child, but reading these comments, I am blown away by the courage of people like you coming forward about your experiences. Thank you for sharing.

@nicjonzu 7 месяцев назад

@@SloanStowe 🫂♥️ Thank you friend! You are doing an amazing thing by highlighting this issue that was for some reason so normalized at one point; even thinking back on celebrity relationships that we all just thought were okay in the early/mid 2000s! AH!

@maddiesharpe7118 7 месяцев назад

I started watching pll at age 10 and every man I’ve dated is at least a few years older than me. Including dating a 19 year old when I was 14. So I’m living proof of this grooming😂😭

@maddiesharpe7118 7 месяцев назад

Even as an adult now, my boyfriend is 4 years older lol

@Lemonfairyy 7 месяцев назад

Girl same omg

@GH-fb9dh 7 месяцев назад

@@maddiesharpe7118girl… no problem in that if you’re both adults. 4 years is not a big difference at all (for ADULTS). It’s only f up if it involves a teenager with an adult

@maddiesharpe7118 7 месяцев назад

@@GH-fb9dh I know there’s no problem with that or I hopefully wouldn’t be with him😂 I started having a crush on him when I was a teenager and we started dating a while after I became an adult. So if he dated me when I was a minor, it would have absolutely been problematic lol

@stuffwithsoph8264 7 месяцев назад

My fiancèe is 5 years older than me but I "dated" a 17 year old when I was 13 and several 20 somethings when I was 14-15 until I got my first long term AND age appropriate bf at 16 💀😭

@shesmyvampire 6 месяцев назад

This video is so well done and you expressed your point immaculately. I can't wait to see more of your work.

@5gumluv 6 месяцев назад

I came here from your easy a video essay due to how well spoken and thought out it was! I have tried to watch other PLL discussions only to be left as bored as I felt when I decided to stop watching the show when I was 15 ish this is the first PLL video I watched and felt engaged with all the way through. Really well said and explained content. Instant subscribe from me. Please keep up the amazing work!!