Degrassi Talks - Part 4
A retrospective by Nick Peron
Degrassi Talks: Abuse
Well here we go with yet another delightful topic, this episode of Degrassi Talks is about abuse. You want to know something about abuse my friends? Being locked in the dank room where I do all my writing because Chris is pressing me for more material for the next Micro-Shock update, and he's forcing me to watch episode after episode of Degrassi Talks (ba-dump-bump. Thank you, thank you folks I'm here all night. Thank you, you're too kind.) Unfortunately this type of writer/editor abuse is not talked about in this episode of Degrassi Talks, but damned if they don't cover all the rest. This episode of Degrassi Talks is hosted by Rebecca Haines, who plays the character Kathleen on Degrassi. Can you, ever faithful reader, guess the shocking mystery secret about Rebecca that relates to this episode of Degrassi Talks? Don't scroll to the final shocking paragraph of this review and spoil the ending!
Rebecca starts by telling us the chilling facts about abuse, and warns us that some of what is about to be seen and heard is going to be disturbing, but for the sake of knowing the truth, these stories must be told. And that my friends, is going to make it difficult to make this part of the review funny without sounding like a total insensitive asshole.
Well things start off with Stacey about to interview some people with a baby when the baby falls over before they're ready to ask a question. Some might think that this was a simple display of child clumsiness, I however subscribe to a more sinister theory: This child has been abused! Yes friends, abused by gravity. When are we going to stop letting these godless theories make our children fall over and appear in our science text books!? I scream for justice! JUSTICE!.... Anyway... Where was I?
They start by asking people when it's okay to hit a child, most people say it's not okay to hit a child (except for one girl who says it's okay to hit her brother.) and of course somebody saying spanking when a child misbehaves is acceptable but it's not child abuse.
We then flash over to a Toronto detention center where we are reunited with our old friend Matt (20) who we all remember was the crack addict from the drugs episode. He starts talking about his relationship with his step-father. Matt recalls fond memories of being in his room with his pants down on his step-fathers lap being brutally whipped. Reminiscing on the red and blue welts and veins sticking out of his tender young buttocks. He tells us all how it felt: "It hurt, I can tell you that." Very deep Matt, very deep, you're eloquent description of what you endured was so vividly explained that listening to your story was almost like being there, experiencing the whipping with you.
After showing a clip from a Degrassi episode, they toss up the caption "It is never okay to hit a kid." Usually when they have captions like this there it's backed up by some Canadian health authority, or university, or statistics group. But apparently when it comes to saying "It is never okay to hit a kid." they cannot find a single source willing to put their name on the record to back this up. Nobody. You'd think maybe they could get like some sort of law maker or somebody quote that or something. Nobody. Fuck, it's not like they're asking people to put their name up against a hot button topic like "9 out of 10 Canadians shoot crack babies in the face" or "17 out of 3 Mathematicians are sex offenders." or something.
And if we haven't had our fill of Matt (20) yet, we go back to him and he drones on about how physical punishment (he's not even sure if he'd consider it abuse -- I'm going to refrain from making a crack memory loss joke here.) was used at the Matt (20) household. It's what he was used to and what he thought most homes were like. And in watching this episode I just realized that Matt has "Ozz" tattooed on his knuckles. What did he want to get the words "Ozzy" tattooed on his hand and just couldn't commit to that last letter? Did the fellow inmate that was tattooing his fingers get shanked just before he can finish? Maybe he's really fond of the land of Oz
And talk about old victims week, we also see Cathy (18) again, who we also know from the drug episode. Should I be shocked that the kids who abused drugs and totally messed up their lives were abused by people as well? She relates to a time in her life where she was dating a guy who knocked her up (Why wasn't she in the sex episode then? Booo!) and had a miscarriage and that's when her boyfriend started beating her up. But this isn't the first or the last time either, because according to Cathy (18) all her boyfriends from the first one to the last one all hit her. Talk about shitty luck, I mean the Yukon is home to about 30,989 people, you'd think there would be one guy that isn't fast with his fists or mistaken's your chest for an ashtray... I think Cathy here needs to expand her networks. Maybe join a dating site. This, according to Cathy, is just everyday life in the Yukon.
We then go onto the streets and listen to people talk about people they know who get beat up by their partners. Well at least a dirty guy who sounds like he's kind of drunk. He muses over how they either stay with the other person or go back to them. Then another Degrassi clip, this one followed up with a 1 in 10 statistic about battered women, at least this one is quoted from a source, not like that "It is never okay to hit a kid" quote.
Next they talk to kids about what they think emotional abuse is, and the kids rhyme off a list of things: Playing with your emotions, parents telling you that you're no good, etc.
We next meet La'Quita (21) who has Cerebral Palsy and was abused by her parents. And you know what? I'm not touching this one with a ten foot pole. I can relate to part of her plight, she explains how she was made to stay in one room and was shut away for days and that time would have no meaning. This sort of timeless feeling is the same sensation I get at this day job that I have that most people who send me angry e-mails seem to think I don't have a life.
We go back to Cathy who talks about how she preferred to be hit than be made fun of, so much for sticks and stones breaking bones and names never hurting. But I digress. We go back to Matt in prison again and he talks about if his step father ever hit him again he'd go "haywire on him." If that were the case, I hope that Matt's step-dad is even more of a spindly runt than Matt is. Then Matt starts talking about how his step-dad beating him led to his drug abuse (surprised?) and talks about how he used it as an escape blah blah blah.
Next is the segment of the show devoted to sexual abuse, the only amusing part is when they ask the kids on the street about sexual abuse, and the really embarrassed ones try to answer the question without saying words like "penis" or "vagina."
We next meet Debi (18) who was raped by her boyfriend.... Yeah, I'm not touching that one with a ten foot pole either. Then there's Kimberly (19) who was also... okay, not going there either, next.....
Then they switch it over and ask the kids if it's possible for a girl to abuse a guy, some spindly Carrot-Top looking guy agrees, Degrassi Talks is there to bring you his heart ache.
We meet Peter (18) who was sexually abused by his babysitter who he has to stress the fact that she was "quite large" who would ask him to hump and he would because he mother taught him to obey the babysitter. And I'm going to leave it alone from here, the potential for jokes is almost as large as this woman's hypothetical gut, but I'm not crossing that line.
Next we meet the French speaking Mathieu, who was abused by his own Father. I also think he was abused by his barber, check out that awful hair cut! But let us move along to our next subject, I don't think I'm going to have too many jokes for the rest of this...
We finally meet "Jim" who was abused by his brothers friends, "Jim" for whatever reasons wanted to have his identity concealed (you'll find out in a minute why) so they went through the trouble of filing him in a dark room, the drawback to this is that they didn't do a very good job. I'm sure that if anybody knew "Jim" was watching this episode of Degrassi Talks they'd be able to notice his eyes, and recognize his voice. Also, if he regularly wears a cowboy hat, I think it's not going to take very long for people to figure out who "Jim" really is. "Jim" later goes on to talk about how he grew up to sexually abuse his niece. And on that note, I think I see why he wanted to protect his identity, but I hope people found out who he is and he's getting his just deserts that only the stigma we have towards genuine pedophiles can deliver.
Finally we do a closure moment where all the victims talk about when they told people they were abused, we cut back to Rebecca who reveals (wait for it, wait for it) that she too was abused and date raped once. She talks about speaking out about it and getting help for you but for your abuser as well. We follow up with La'Quita who has taken up bowling, and we also follow up with Debi who's met a new man, who kind of looks like Howdy Doody.
And that about sums it up. Let's get onto talking about some of my favorite moments in this episode. What few there are, man was this one was grim.
The Most Memorable Victim:
This time around we're going to award Matt with the award for the most memorable victim. We do this not because Matt is a drug addict, or that he was abused as a child, or because he is in prison. No, it is because of his really shitty and stupid prison tattoos.
I already clearly identified that on his hand (pictured left) he has the words "Ozz" written on his knuckles. I've mused over what "Ozz" could possibly mean. It is entirely possible that this guy is the inspiration for the show "Oz
Another interesting thing to note is that in a later shot of Matt hanging out in his prison cell looking remorseful we see that he has the words "RIP" printed on his upper arm. Whatever the "RIP" stands for, you can bet it was just as inspiring as his "Ozz" tattoo.
These mysteries make Matt seem more dynamic than he really appears, at the end of the day he is still just another inmate with converging eyebrows, but we shouldn't blame him for that.
Random Kid Who Likely Made His or Her Life a Fucking Mess:
The kid who thinks verbal abuse is when your parents tell you that you are no good and are worthless, is my pick for the kid that is going to make his life a fucking mess. But not in the way that you think I'm going to play it up. I foresee this kid growing up and being the fat black kid in summer blockbuster comedies. You the kind of movie I'm talking about here, where the fat black kid is a jive talking schemer, who is some how cool, popular and really loves snacks? The kind of kid that the director of said film usually has dance or eat something really disgusting because according to Hollywood the only way a fat black kid can be funny is filming him eating or gyrating.
Yeah, I can see this kid getting his big break in yet another Nutty Professor
Finally, I foresee this kid being in a remake of the 1997 hit film "Good Burger
With that, we conclude our look at Degrassi Talks episodes. I'll be back with more another time with the final two Degrassi Talks Episodes on Alcohol and Depression soon!
