Call me a nostalgic 90s kid, but when Disney announced that they were making a "Boy Meets World" spinoff, I was super excited. I don't know what I was expecting, but when I tuned in for the premier, I was disappointed. I guess that I was expecting it to be the same style as "Boy Meets World." Disney Channel - and I - have changed a lot in the last sixteen years. Yet, I kept tuning in, or at least marathoning when I had a long day and didn't want to deal with being an adult-like person. Lo and behold, I wasn't disappointed after all. My expectations just needed to change.
Now, for those of you not familiar with the show, Cory Mathews and Topanga Lawrence (the stars of the original show) now have two kids and are living and working in New York City. Topanga is a high-power lawyer and Cory is a middle school history teacher. His daughter Riley and her troublesome best friend Maya are both vocal members of his class. Sound familiar yet? With a lot of nods to the original show, Riley and Maya tackle the issues of growing up in a modern world and struggling to figure out who they are.
The show is now onto its third season and I'm still watching it.
I keep asking myself "why are you still watching?" And then an episode comes on that actually gets me thinking. See, this show isn't just a nostalgia-filled kids comedy, but a commentary on our society that is hopefully teaching the next generation about how to be better people. It's not just teaching this to the pre-teen audience that is the prime viewership, but actually stands a shot of teaching everyone.
They address topics such as mental health, identity, being different, women in STEM fields, the pressures of succeeding, and how hard growing up and taking the next step can be, among many other topics. The show tackles major subjects, slipping the information into the audience's head without ever forcing it in. With three weeks left of college, I started watching the second season. I don't know what changed, but the lessons even started applying to me. In the episode "Girl Meets STEM," Riley and Maya have to face the fact that most women lose interest in science and math in middle school. As a girl who participated heavily in science and watched as fewer and fewer girls signed up for the classes, this episode spoke to me, and then in "Girl Meets Bay Window" and "Girl Meets Legacy," I got reminded that just because I'm graduating, it doesn't mean everything is changing. Some things change for the better.
Some of these episodes are cheesy, but it's a Disney Channel show, for crying out loud. But other shows are worth watching just to remember that there are some good messages being sent out - equality, acceptance of differences, and so much more.
It's on Netflix. Go watch it. Sometimes you need a reminder that things will be alright in very simple terms.
