How Degrassi Influenced a Whole Generation

STORY BY: Laura Robson
YEAR: 1990
LOCATION: Winnipeg, MB

Laura talks about the Canadian TV series Degrassi in the late 1980s-early 90s, and what a revolutionary series it was, especially for young people at the time. It showed, for example, a very honest depiction of an AIDS victim, which was not the image of a gay man that many people might have stereotypically imagined. Rather, it was a football player who had unprotected sex with a female cheerleader. There were three pregnancies in the show: one was carried to term and kept by the teenage mother, one was aborted, and one was put up for adoption. Degrassi explored all three different perspectives, perceptions, and consequences in a way that "you won't find... on television these days." She also mentions the first season of Gray's Anatomy, for example, where there was talk of a possible abortion, but it ended up being a miscarriage. Degrassi ended up influencing this whole generation... so it was very important!" Thanks for sharing, Laura.