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I used to watch Beverly Hills 90210 when it was first airing, and I think I started watching around the third season. I didn't watch every single week but I saw a lot of it and I remember liking it. So I decided to stream the first season to see what it was like when it was just beginning.
I think my perception the show has changed quite a lot because it has been so many years since then. I was similar in age to them when it aired and now they look like babies! Maybe that's partly because when I watched it last it was in season 8 or 9 so they were considerably more mature by then.
Brenda I still like and she seems like a nice girl. Brandon seems like an alright guy and seems like he's a good brother to his sister and vice-versa. I like that they're close.
Dylan looks like he's trying just as hard as he possibly can to be what his idea of "cool" is. To him, that means acting like he's bored because his standards are set so impossibly high, there's nothing that impresses him. Either that or it's "cool" to look perpetually bored.
Dylan has tons of money for a high school kid and drives a Porsche but he also has a motorcycle. He lives in a hotel where he can order all his meals room service if he wants, and it's all paid for. He doesn't have to work a job. Because of that, he occasionally has time to attend school, when it doesn't interfere with his surfing.
Dylan is a reverse snob: He doesn't like rich people even though he lives in Beverly Hills and is rich. That's the part of the show that is so obvious to me now that I don't remember from before. Dylan is their "working class hero" despite that he isn't working class and doesn't come from a working class background. He avoids wealthy people like the plague and apparently is interested in becoming friends with Brandon because he isn't one of "them" - he's from Minnesota so that makes him alright. The only friends he already had were the surfers, but he explains he doesn't go surfing to hang out with them; he just wants to surf. They didn't meet his standards either. He does like the surfer girl "Betty" whose real name is Sarah. She's actually a good person, so of course is not from Beverly Hills either.
The Walsh parents also are used to keep this idea constantly running: Beverly Hills is full off bad people. Apparently they don't think it's possible to become wealthy unless you do something unethical to do it. They're reverse snobs like Dylan, and don't associate with any of their neighbors or the parents of their kids. So far anyway. It's just that they have no interest in meeting them - that they want to keep a good healthy distance from "them" - the wealthy Beverly Hills people. Fortunately they're affluent enough to afford a maid (and the mom doesn't even work) so in Ana, the maid, the mom finally has a good, honest, working class person to become friends with!
Their biggest fear is that Brenda will become contaminated with the Beverly Hills plagues of want and greed. A girl Brenda has over dumps some stolen clothes in a corner of Brenda's closet and the good, dependable maid finds them and presents them to the mother. It's her worst nightmare come true - Brenda is so desperate to wear fancy, expensive clothes that she's resorted to shoplifting!
Brenda, who is so honest she made them turn around and drive back to a store when they were in Minnesota because she forgot to pay for a Barbie doll, tells her parents that she didn't steal those clothes, but they don't believe her. I guess the dad grudgingly agrees to somewhat believe her, but Brenda's mom is too upset with Brenda to even speak to her. Brenda cries about how badly she wants to wear $300 jeans (in 1990 that was like $600 now) but still would never steal. She breaks down, completely distraught over being blamed for something she didn't do and having lost her parents' trust. Fortunately for her, her friend who did steal them comes over to their house and admits she did it and Brenda did not steal.
A few nights later, Brandon's girlfriend from Minnesota is visiting and she sneaks into Brandon's room to have sex with him. She was supposed to be sleeping in Brenda's room and the mom notices she isn't sleeping in Brenda's room. She's not sure what to do because they don't want to assume their 10th grade Brandon would abuse their trust and behave so irresponsibly. The dad says "let's not assume anything" just because she isn't in the room where she's supposed to be sleeping and apparently they also can hear an unusual sound coming from Brandon's bedroom. What if Brandon gets gets her pregnant? What if he has to drop out of high school so he can work a full time job to support his wife and child? The parents decide that they don't want to run the risk of assuming Brandon would be so reckless and risk accusing him of something he didn't do. The dad says they'll "deal with it in the morning" because after all, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen? It's not serious: it's not something like shoplifting. So they just go to sleep.
Gradually, Brandon is being influenced by Dylan. Brandon already has a car he has named "Mondale", after the Democrat who ran against former President Reagan. No, I'm not making this up. His car is actually named "Mondale." How much more obvious could the politics of this show have been? If the actor who played Brandon had insisted Brandon's car be named "Reagan", the producer of the show would have probably had a stroke.
Dylan is already "the working class hero", so what role can Brandon have? I'll figure out something appropriate. Brandon has discovered that the restaurant where he works is paying immigrant workers lower than minimum wage! The awful Beverly Hills woman who runs the place is also nasty and insulting to the kitchen workers. She's an awful woman - awful in a way she could only be if she were from Beverly Hills. Brandon is outraged over this injustice and quits working there. Dylan shows him a restaurant that will be good to work for - The Peach Pit -which is owned and run by a good, honest working class guy.
Brandon is full of self-righteous indignation over the idea that he can't make the basketball team because the 7 foot tall players who are better than him, don't live in Beverly Hills. They're bussed in from some other school district because they are part of the "Accelerated Learning Program" which is something designed to "enrich" the students with "diversity." My goodness, you'd think that Brandon - "the proletarian champion" would be in love with that idea! Except it's interfering with his ability to make the team!
Brandon asks Andrea to write an article for the school newspaper exposing this fraud of a program, because if he wrote it, he'd come across as a guy just complaining because he didn't make the basketball team. She won't though because she thinks the program is great and she also attends the school despite living outside the school district. She secretly attends their school instead of the one in her neighborhood because she wants to go to Yale.
The kids don't listen to rock music; they listen to rap. It's still 1990 when rock was what they'd realistically be listening to, but rap is the music originally created only by the oppressed, the poor, and it's "inclusive" because you can do it even if you don't know how to play a musical instrument. They're showing the kids watching the show that that's what they should be listening to if they wanted to be like all these amazing kids who are filled with far more wisdom than their parents ever had. There are scenes where they'd like to help Kelly's mom with her problems, but being an adult, she just wouldn't understand. Not only are the kids all impossibly good looking, but they've acquired a level of wisdom their parents could never hope to have.
If you're a kid watching this when it first airs, I think it sets a bad example. How do you live up to the standard it sets? It sets the standard for what they should be and what their lives should be like to a level so high that they can never attain it. Even the relatively poor Walshes still can afford to live in Beverly Hills, the kids always wear nice clothes, Brandon has his own car, they always get good grades, and nobody drinks or uses drugs. These kids wouldn't be caught dead even smoking cigarettes. For them, a major problem would be getting acne, but fortunately they all have flawless complexions. If there is ever a time when their parents actually teach them something, I hadn't gotten to it yet. They're in 10th grade but already have life figured out. I know the kids watching it shouldn't expect their lives to be this way, but not all of them would know it.
I might watch some more to see if the Walsh parents ever decide to actually make friends with any of their neighbors or befriend the parents of their kids' friends, or if they try to maintain this perfect bubble they've created which insulates them, protecting them from catching the Beverly Hills plagues of greed and materialism. Or, if they finally realize that they're the snobs - they're the ones in the neighborhood who think they're better than everyone else.
I think my perception the show has changed quite a lot because it has been so many years since then. I was similar in age to them when it aired and now they look like babies! Maybe that's partly because when I watched it last it was in season 8 or 9 so they were considerably more mature by then.
Brenda I still like and she seems like a nice girl. Brandon seems like an alright guy and seems like he's a good brother to his sister and vice-versa. I like that they're close.
Dylan looks like he's trying just as hard as he possibly can to be what his idea of "cool" is. To him, that means acting like he's bored because his standards are set so impossibly high, there's nothing that impresses him. Either that or it's "cool" to look perpetually bored.
Dylan has tons of money for a high school kid and drives a Porsche but he also has a motorcycle. He lives in a hotel where he can order all his meals room service if he wants, and it's all paid for. He doesn't have to work a job. Because of that, he occasionally has time to attend school, when it doesn't interfere with his surfing.
Dylan is a reverse snob: He doesn't like rich people even though he lives in Beverly Hills and is rich. That's the part of the show that is so obvious to me now that I don't remember from before. Dylan is their "working class hero" despite that he isn't working class and doesn't come from a working class background. He avoids wealthy people like the plague and apparently is interested in becoming friends with Brandon because he isn't one of "them" - he's from Minnesota so that makes him alright. The only friends he already had were the surfers, but he explains he doesn't go surfing to hang out with them; he just wants to surf. They didn't meet his standards either. He does like the surfer girl "Betty" whose real name is Sarah. She's actually a good person, so of course is not from Beverly Hills either.
The Walsh parents also are used to keep this idea constantly running: Beverly Hills is full off bad people. Apparently they don't think it's possible to become wealthy unless you do something unethical to do it. They're reverse snobs like Dylan, and don't associate with any of their neighbors or the parents of their kids. So far anyway. It's just that they have no interest in meeting them - that they want to keep a good healthy distance from "them" - the wealthy Beverly Hills people. Fortunately they're affluent enough to afford a maid (and the mom doesn't even work) so in Ana, the maid, the mom finally has a good, honest, working class person to become friends with!
Their biggest fear is that Brenda will become contaminated with the Beverly Hills plagues of want and greed. A girl Brenda has over dumps some stolen clothes in a corner of Brenda's closet and the good, dependable maid finds them and presents them to the mother. It's her worst nightmare come true - Brenda is so desperate to wear fancy, expensive clothes that she's resorted to shoplifting!
Brenda, who is so honest she made them turn around and drive back to a store when they were in Minnesota because she forgot to pay for a Barbie doll, tells her parents that she didn't steal those clothes, but they don't believe her. I guess the dad grudgingly agrees to somewhat believe her, but Brenda's mom is too upset with Brenda to even speak to her. Brenda cries about how badly she wants to wear $300 jeans (in 1990 that was like $600 now) but still would never steal. She breaks down, completely distraught over being blamed for something she didn't do and having lost her parents' trust. Fortunately for her, her friend who did steal them comes over to their house and admits she did it and Brenda did not steal.
A few nights later, Brandon's girlfriend from Minnesota is visiting and she sneaks into Brandon's room to have sex with him. She was supposed to be sleeping in Brenda's room and the mom notices she isn't sleeping in Brenda's room. She's not sure what to do because they don't want to assume their 10th grade Brandon would abuse their trust and behave so irresponsibly. The dad says "let's not assume anything" just because she isn't in the room where she's supposed to be sleeping and apparently they also can hear an unusual sound coming from Brandon's bedroom. What if Brandon gets gets her pregnant? What if he has to drop out of high school so he can work a full time job to support his wife and child? The parents decide that they don't want to run the risk of assuming Brandon would be so reckless and risk accusing him of something he didn't do. The dad says they'll "deal with it in the morning" because after all, what's the worst thing that could possibly happen? It's not serious: it's not something like shoplifting. So they just go to sleep.
Gradually, Brandon is being influenced by Dylan. Brandon already has a car he has named "Mondale", after the Democrat who ran against former President Reagan. No, I'm not making this up. His car is actually named "Mondale." How much more obvious could the politics of this show have been? If the actor who played Brandon had insisted Brandon's car be named "Reagan", the producer of the show would have probably had a stroke.
Dylan is already "the working class hero", so what role can Brandon have? I'll figure out something appropriate. Brandon has discovered that the restaurant where he works is paying immigrant workers lower than minimum wage! The awful Beverly Hills woman who runs the place is also nasty and insulting to the kitchen workers. She's an awful woman - awful in a way she could only be if she were from Beverly Hills. Brandon is outraged over this injustice and quits working there. Dylan shows him a restaurant that will be good to work for - The Peach Pit -which is owned and run by a good, honest working class guy.
Brandon is full of self-righteous indignation over the idea that he can't make the basketball team because the 7 foot tall players who are better than him, don't live in Beverly Hills. They're bussed in from some other school district because they are part of the "Accelerated Learning Program" which is something designed to "enrich" the students with "diversity." My goodness, you'd think that Brandon - "the proletarian champion" would be in love with that idea! Except it's interfering with his ability to make the team!
Brandon asks Andrea to write an article for the school newspaper exposing this fraud of a program, because if he wrote it, he'd come across as a guy just complaining because he didn't make the basketball team. She won't though because she thinks the program is great and she also attends the school despite living outside the school district. She secretly attends their school instead of the one in her neighborhood because she wants to go to Yale.
The kids don't listen to rock music; they listen to rap. It's still 1990 when rock was what they'd realistically be listening to, but rap is the music originally created only by the oppressed, the poor, and it's "inclusive" because you can do it even if you don't know how to play a musical instrument. They're showing the kids watching the show that that's what they should be listening to if they wanted to be like all these amazing kids who are filled with far more wisdom than their parents ever had. There are scenes where they'd like to help Kelly's mom with her problems, but being an adult, she just wouldn't understand. Not only are the kids all impossibly good looking, but they've acquired a level of wisdom their parents could never hope to have.
If you're a kid watching this when it first airs, I think it sets a bad example. How do you live up to the standard it sets? It sets the standard for what they should be and what their lives should be like to a level so high that they can never attain it. Even the relatively poor Walshes still can afford to live in Beverly Hills, the kids always wear nice clothes, Brandon has his own car, they always get good grades, and nobody drinks or uses drugs. These kids wouldn't be caught dead even smoking cigarettes. For them, a major problem would be getting acne, but fortunately they all have flawless complexions. If there is ever a time when their parents actually teach them something, I hadn't gotten to it yet. They're in 10th grade but already have life figured out. I know the kids watching it shouldn't expect their lives to be this way, but not all of them would know it.
I might watch some more to see if the Walsh parents ever decide to actually make friends with any of their neighbors or befriend the parents of their kids' friends, or if they try to maintain this perfect bubble they've created which insulates them, protecting them from catching the Beverly Hills plagues of greed and materialism. Or, if they finally realize that they're the snobs - they're the ones in the neighborhood who think they're better than everyone else.
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