Cringe-worthy TV Shows

Cringe-Worthy Shows You Should Absolutely Watch

By: Janelle Suriaga Editor-in-Chief

The art of the ‘cringe’ is hard to master. The ability to touch on uncomfortable topics and socially-awkward situations while entertaining a massive audience is usually reserved for only a select few shows. When people think about these kinds of shows, household cringecomedies like Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm come to mind. There are many more shows that excel in the ‘cringe’ and they happen to be streaming on common platforms like Netflix and Hulu. Here are some cringe-worthy shows that you should absolutely add to your watching list.

PEN15: Hulu If there was a show that encapsulated the female middle school experience and how absolutely awkward it is, it would be PEN15. Yes, it’s pronounced the way you think it is. The show, named after the unofficial club most middle school girls were tricked into joining in the 2000s, depicts the antics of two seventh-graders as they traverse the social dynamics of adolescence. The series stars Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle and is spearheaded by the same people that brought viewers The Lonely Island, according to Hulu. Konkle and Erskine, who are clearly adults, play versions of themselves as middleschool outcasts and are surrounded by actual thirteen-year-olds. Hilarity ensues with love notes written in gel pen, middle-school crushes, and AIM usernames galore.

Sex Education: Netflix “Last night I looked at some cheese and got an erection” is an actual line from this Netflix comedy-drama. It stars Asa Butterfield as Otis Milburn, a shy and inexperienced highschooler, whose mom just so happens to be a well-known sex therapist. Equipped with his mom’s advice, Otis starts a sex therapy business of his own with fellow classmate Maeve, played by Emma Mackey. Most of the humor from the show comes from fellow students in Otis’s school and their lack of sexual education. However, this show is more than capable of portraying serious and uncomfortable issues that the main characters go through, problems such as homophobia, sexual assault and parental abuse. Sex Education is not as much so about the actual sex therapy business as it is about the struggles of the people running it.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend: Netflix Have you ever had a friend make some questionable moves and you just watch as a trainwreck unfolds? That is the feeling one gets when they watch Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, a musical comedy-drama from the CW. Rachel Bloom plays Rebecca Bunch, an Ivy Leagueeducated lawyer who suddenly uproots her life from New York to the small town of West Covina, California, to chase after an old ex-boyfriend from summer camp. She is joined by her coworker and new BFF Paula Proctor, played by Donna Lynne Champlin, who enables Rebecca’s odd behavior by suggesting odd schemes, assisting in illegal antics, and giving problematic advice. Bunch suffers from mental health disorders and constantly makes impulsive decisions that tend to harm herself and others around her. The show touches on several serious topics— suicide, depression, emotional trauma— and yet it manages to entertain viewers with witty jokes and original comedic music. With catchy songs like “Let’s Generalize About Men” and “Antidepressants Are So Not a Big Deal,” serious topics that once were off-topic on television are slightly more palatable to viewers.

Cuties: A Harsh Look at Today's Youth

By: John Raspnte Staff Writer

Netflix is constantly dropping new original content and it’s difficult to try and keep track of it all. However, back in early September, a film was released on the streaming service that was very hard for anyone to miss. Cuties is a French coming-of-age drama written and directed by Maïmouna Doucouré. According to Netflix’s official description of the movie, “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s tradition.”

The film focuses on Muslim Senegalese immigrant Amy during her family’s move to Paris. It captures her journey of becoming accustomed to Western culture. Amy ends up joining a dance group with other girls her age and they try to win a local dance contest with the help of a risque routine. Before the movie was released, social media was fuming with things like #BoycottNetflix and #CancelNetflix due to the promotional material for the film seeming to sexualize the young female characters.

I was disgusted by what I saw too; I thought the film was promoting that kind of material and message. However, when I sat down and watched the movie myself and saw how hard hitting it was, I realized it wasn’t what everyone thinks.

Amy goes out in public wearing makeshift crop tops and short shorts, trying to fit in with the other girls and act older than she really is. She and her friends watch inappropriate videos together, take inappropriate photos of themselves and other people, and teach themselves provocative dances based on videos they see of older girls online.

Now, I don’t have any personal experiences like that, but I do have a nine year old sister who I’ve seen do some of those things. She constantly wants to wear makeup and is dressing up. She has googled things like “how to twerk” on her iPad and tries to act older than she is, all based on stuff she sees online. In a digital age, kids are growing up with so much information at their fingertips. With social media, kids feel pressured to act a certain way, which leads children to stop acting like children. USF sophomore Sarah Vandermolen reflects, “I was one of the people who read all the tweets bashing this movie, and thought that it should be cancelled. But, when I watched it, I realized how relatable it was for me and my friends when we were growing up.”

Ultimately, the film helps open peoples’ eyes to children being sexualized at a young age due to social media and the internet. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not promoting the things people complain about online. In an article from the Washington Post, the director of the movie explains, “We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society. I want to open peoples’ eyes to what’s really happening in schools and on social media, forcing them to confront images of young girls, made up, dressed up, and dancing suggestively to imitate their favorite pop icon.” The film is looking to start a conversation about the issues and this conversation is far from over.

“'We, as adults, have not given children the tools to grow up healthy in our society.'"