Thursday, April 2, 2009

Archetypes of Teen Soap Operas: Part 3






The Virtuous Virgin




Donna Martin stood alone in the world of BH 90210. She was the only character that did not have sex (at least through highschool and college). Was it because Aaron Spelling did not want to film sequences in which his daughter was acting out every parent’s worst nightmare, or was it because Tori Spelling could pull off playing a girl who was devout and chaste in a world of teenage sin?

We see the legacy of Donna Martin resurface in the persona of Haley James, the resident virgin in One Tree Hill. She begins dating Nathan Scott (the ex of Peyton) and is a crucial element in his personal renaissance from ‘bad boy’ to ‘good guy’. She refuses to sleep with him until they are married, which is remedied pretty quickly because they decide to wed while they are in highschool.

Also note the parallels in their appearance: both have blonde hair, deep brown eyes, and they both happen to be wearing white in these pictures (which I actually just noticed).

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