Monday, January 07, 2008

Veronica Mars: Savior of the races?

OK, so I'm previewing TV shows (I love you Netflix!) to see what would be worth buying for the library. I got my first Veronica Mars installment this week, and I expected to be delighted (similiar setting to my beloved OC, but more crime-solving). But I was actually kind of disturbed.

In episode 1, Veronica cuts a black boy down from the flagpole where he's been duct taped by a local motorcycle gang, and the following week (or hour, in my case), she rescues the Latino leader of the biker gang from a chain gang. Or at least from cleaning up trash next to the highway.

And yeah, she's been kicked out of the white, upper class incrowd, but she was kicked out. She didn't, like, realize they were racist, classist meanies and then start sitting at another lunch table. And she totally still wants her ex. And she's dating a guy who owns a yacht.

I asked a teenage friend what she thought, and she said it was going to give white girls the idea that with a tazer and a dog named "backup," they could brave the mean streets of LA. It'd be like those kids who imitate the moves on the WWF and then kill each other in the living room. Scary.

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