We all know that the real reason shows like Riverdale and Pretty Little Liars cast actors who are in their early-to-mid 20s as teenagers instead of actual teenagers is because they want us to forget the actual ages of the characters. Casting actual 15 or 16 y/os to play 15 or 16 y/os would turn off a large portion of the viewership because (I would hope) most adults are uncomfortable watching actual 15 and 16 y/os make out and have sex. And since of course the creators want to sexualize the show and its characters, they cast adults to play the teenagers instead.
In Riverdale, Archie starts the show as a sophomore, at age 15 or 16. He has an affair with his music teacher the summer between freshman and sophomore year (ew) making him most likely 15 during that summer. You know how old KJ Apa is? 21. You know who’s an actual 15-year-old actor? Levi Miller.
HUGE difference. Not only do they show Archie hooking up with his much older teacher, they romanticize the relationship by making the makeout scenes look desirable (even as the rest of the characters speak out against it).
Imagine if they tried to pull that with an actual 15 y/o as Archie. Imagine if they tried to have those sex and intense makeout and scenes with actual 15 and 16 y/o actors. Imagine if they tried to have actually 15 and 16 y/o actresses wearing lingerie and extremely lowcut tops, or having actual 15 and 16 y/o actors standing around sweaty and topless or working out in a very “steamy” way that’s intended to be sexually attractive. Imagine if they tried to do Betty Cooper’s pole dance from Riverdale with an actual 15 or 16 y/o actress.
I would hope that most adults would feel uncomfortable watching these minors be overly sexualized by the writers and directors. If you’re an adult and you think you’d still enjoy watching actual minors do all these things/be sexualized in this way, I am very concerned.
Unfortunately, Riverdale and PLL aren’t the only shows doing this. And since they cast adults to play teenagers, the creators can get away with sexualizing minors to this degree without backlash.
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