Lost Lives Of Young And Feckless
The Age
Thursday December 27, 2007
ALL signs point towards The Hills being the pits. It is (a) an MTV production; (b) not just a reality TV show but a spin-off from another reality TV show; and (c) revolves around a clique of predominantly blonde, slight-of-intellect Californians who say things such as "Look, I love you so much, I'm eating carbs for your birthday". And indeed, if you take the view that television should offer our young people wholesome, worthy role models, The Hills is the sort of program that will likely drive you to the medicine cabinet in search of your Prozac. Serenity now!
That yardstick, however, seems on reflection a false one: after all, 7th Heaven had role models by the half-dozen, and was about as charming as a decaf soy latte. Television shows, finally, stand to be judged on the quality of their narratives, and the craftsmanship with which those narratives are related, and on that basis, this spin-off from Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County is an improbable delight - so long as you aren't completely allergic to tales of the young and feckless.The protagonist of The Hills, Lauren Conrad, is as far removed from the typical underdog heroine as one might conceivably be: she is white, middle-class, blonde, toothsomely pretty and, without any discernible talent for fashion, boasts a job as an intern at Teen Vogue (with which MTV no doubt set her up). Why, one might ask, should we care about her fate at all? Watch a few episodes of The Hills, however, and you realise that Lauren, so close to being the archetypal Golden State Girl, is actually more of a Lost Girl - largely because she finds herself surrounded by truly archetypal Golden State Girls."People want to hear rich people are miserable - I know I do," said the noted cultural critic Mischa Barton some years ago, and The Hills is testament to her eternal wisdom. Here, the cameras often follow Lauren as she heads to apparently hot Hollywood clubs such as Les Deux and Hyde. But when they do so, they usually also capture a wariness in the Laguna Beach emigre's eyes - a watchfulness which seems to say, "I don't quite fit in here, and I know it." Long-time Hills fans will know that there are circumstantial reasons for that watchfulness: there have been unreliable boys, of course but also "frenemies" such as Lauren's old friend Jen, who pashed on with one of Lauren's former beaus, and most notably, Lauren's former housemate Heidi, who may have spread a "sex tape" rumour about Lauren in the American tabloids. (In the first episode of the current season, Lauren had a run-in with Heidi at a club shortly after the rumour broke out. Much of The Hills seems scripted but the inarticulate quality of this particular argument - "You know what you did! You know what you did!" - had a thrilling authenticity about it. Intoxicated Gen Y-ers don't always have the most inspiring vocabularies at their disposal.) Lauren isn't the only miserable one on show here either. Lauren's housemate Audrina is making the falling-for-a-hipster-loser mistake so beloved of the young. And Heidi is showing the stresses of being engaged to one of reality TV's great villains, Spencer. (For an example of his evil, consider this sample dialogue, dating to last season, when Heidi initially questioned whether she should move in with Spencer. Heidi (pained): "My answer is 'No'." Spencer: "Fine, then my answer is 'Get out of my car.' " A few episodes later, they were engaged. Ah, the follies of the human heart!) Youthful squalor and dissolute behaviour: it might be dismissed as nothing more than the stuff of Big Brother Up Late. But unlike that set-and-forget waste of broadcast spectrum, The Hills offers us the consolation of artistry: as when watching a well-tuned drama, the Hills viewer can sense with some confidence that they are in the hands of considerable craftsmen and women. The high standard starts with the editing, which snaps the story arcs into place with the efficiency of a Japanese car factory, and flows through to the music supervision, which appropriately propels the narrative with the help of Avril, Lily, Rihanna et al.Special mention, however, must be made of the Hills cinematographic team, whose lonely nightscapes lend Los Angeles an incongruous sense of profundity and whose blue and silver-tinged lenses give the Hills' young protagonists an almost cinematic glamour. Curmudgeons might understandably argue that Lauren and co barely deserve such a widescreen sheen. But those who remember keenly the emotional highwire act that is adolescence are perhaps more likely to be quietly thrilled. Teenagers do regard themselves as stars in the movie of their tragicomic lives and one may as well appreciate the grace with which The Hills makes that diaphanous dream true for its tender-aged cast.The Hills screens on Tuesdays at 8pm on MTV.
© 2007 The Age