When I walked into my 9 AM class a couple of weeks ago, the only thing people seemed to be talking about was Netflix’s newest cartoon, Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg's “Big Mouth". “Big Mouth” follows the story of a group of angsty, puberty-ridden teenagers and their struggles of getting their first periods, bat mitzvahs, and discovering their new bodies. While listening to the countless comments I heard in class about how disgusting it is, how real it is, and how confusing the hormone monsters are, I realized that I needed to see what this show was all about, so I binged it over the course of the last couple of days. Surprisingly, I fell in love with this show, as it tackles the issues of growing up in a way that no book about puberty could ever even begin to.

The Hormone Monsters are the most brilliantly written characters in the show. Not only is their dialogue poignant and hilarious, but their mannerisms and interactions with the teenagers really do symbolize the confusion and rash thoughts of a young teen during such a confusing time. I personally really enjoy how the monsters just come at random times to further confuse the characters who are already confused in what situation that they are in. This reminds me of times I had in middle school when my hormones would make every already terrible situation worse. The random jumps from reality to fantasy further illustrates the confusion that most young people feel during this time.

Now, obviously, this would not be the kind of show that I would subject my children to when it comes the time for them to learn about puberty. This show features way too many off-color jokes and profanity that I wouldn’t let me already confused children be subjected to. I would much prefer to have my children learn about growing up from some sort of wholesome, Disney-esque program. However, there are certain scenes that deal with friendship drama and other topics that I would be more than happy to show them.

While this show could possibly be used as an educational tool, I think that the main purpose is that it can be a humorous relief for all of us who have been there before. Everyone who is human has had their embarrassing moments with puberty. Whether it was a first-period story or something similar to that sort, we all can relate to each other on the same level of awkwardness and terror. The comedic light that this show brings to those experiences helps us to realize that it wasn’t really all that bad and we really stressed about the stupidest stuff. I think that now, after viewing this show, all of us blossomed children can finally laugh about our experiences and rejoice in the fact that we survived what is supposed to be the hardest part of our young lives and celebrate that we are finally the graceful swans our mothers always said we would be.