The 90s of the XX century became a new step in the development of the so-called “soap operas” - television series that ceased to be an extremely naive and cheap sight: their individual episodes were united by the main title idea, the orientation became more narrowly focused on a specific audience, and youth “carts” appeared ". One of the most successful, not devoid of grains of common sense and artistic value, was the television movie "Dawson's Creek" (actors: James Van Der Beek, Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Mary Beth Payle, Joshua Jackson, Kerr Smith).
"Summer ..." and its influence
In the Russian Federation, the show was broadcast by Channel One in 1998, and domestic television broadcasters assigned Dawson's Creek a more lyrical and intriguing title - Summer of Our Hopes. After the dominance of Russian television screens by French youth sitcoms like “Nico and his friends” and “Helen and the guys”, a picture that illuminates all the details of the life of American teenagers became a breath of fresh air.
The audience immediately became interested in the heroes - realistic teenagers, and their anxieties, worries, problems at the peak of puberty. To all the actors of the series "Dawson's Bay" were very attractive in appearance. For the domestic viewer, who has not yet been spoiled by products like American Pie with its rather frivolous presentation of the problems of sexual maturation, this project was a real revelation. Therefore, "Bay ..." can claim to be the championship among US youth series, which had a serious impact on the fragile minds of their target audience.
The plot and characterization of characters
The series "Dawson's Bay" (the actors who took part in the filming confirm this fact) is not devoid of traditional genre cliches in the characteristics of the main characters. Among the characters there is a leader, quiet, nerd and beauty - the queen of the ball. The main characters of the series are typical teenagers: a dreamy movie fan Dawson (actor James Van Der Beek), lagging behind in terms of performance, a good friend of Pacey (Joshua Jackson), Dawson's girlfriend - romantic and in love with no reciprocity, Joey (actress Katie Holmes).
At this stage, in the film "Dawson's Creek", whose actors are the same age as their characters, there is no love triangle, since the protagonist is extremely infantile.
Not all that sparkles gold
But very soon the situation is heating up, as a spoiled urban beauty Jen (actress Michelle Williams) is in a small provincial town, as if in exile. The girl’s parents are tired of her dissolute lifestyle in the wilds of the metropolis, and they send her to the outback in the hope that her daughter will come to her senses. Jen for local teenagers is a standard of freedom, a role model, a litmus test for their secret dreams and desires.
And as it’s not difficult now to guess the main intrigue of the film “Dawson's Creek” (the actors and roles are chosen by the creators more than harmoniously) will be the throwing of the main character between two contenders for his heart. Dawson is literally torn between Joey, who was always there, so habitual and needed, and Jen, who matured quite early, tasted the taste of adult comforts, and therefore beckons, like a forbidden fruit.
Actors: their roles and further fate
Oddly enough, but after participating in the series "Dawson's Creek," the actors, whose photos once adorned all the editorials of the media, did not become real stars of world cinema. The most successful career was created by Michelle Williams, who appears relatively regularly in Hollywood films (Oz, etc.). Katie Holmes, in addition to pleasant exceptions in the form of participation in the projects of Nolan's “The Dark Knight” and Schumacher's “Telephone Box”, did not achieve great achievements in the field of cinema. Her marriage to Tom Cruise does not count. Van Der Beek and Jackson played several more roles in passing youth melodramas and comedies, but their careers did not go far up. Although to regard their roles in these films as a ceiling of opportunities is stupid. And only in the "Dawson's Creek" this four swam in the rays of glory.
The project also glorified the talented screenwriter Kevin Williams, who a little later, in the late 90s, wrote scripts for a number of cult horror films - “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Scream”. Watching the picture "Dawson's Creek", whose actors were idols of the youth of the 90s, is necessary at least to see how it influenced subsequent youth projects of the early 2000s.
About the First
The merit of Channel One is not only that his leadership perfectly feels fashion and new trends in the series (after all, he was the first to broadcast cult "soap operas" starting with Octopus, Twin Peaks and ending with The X-Files and the Millennium ), but that he gave “Bay ...” such a peculiar adapted translation. The name "Summer of our hopes" reflects the original idea of ​​the authors as well as possible.
The television movie itself, most of all its first season, is riddled and full of light sadness - a rather pleasant feeling, but still somewhat disturbing. It is comparable to the teenager’s fear of growing up - the expectation of changes in life and surrounding reality, the loss of childhood and careless adolescence is sad and scary at the same time. In this project, the entire spectrum of such emotions is conveyed very accurately. Summer ends, and a gloomy, sometimes rainy autumn sets in.