The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, December 1, 2011 - 3B
D 'MY SO-CALLED LIFE' (1994-1995), ABC
Claire Danes brought '90s teens to 'Life' onscreen
By KAYLA UPADHYAYA
Daily Arts Writer
Many people consider the
'60s and '70s the rule-breaking
decades, a time for protest and
radicalism. But what about the
'90s? That decade, too, was a time
for shaking things up. The '90s
was a time for breaking rules and
breaking ground, especially on
television. ABC's teen drama "My
So-Called Life" is no exception.
Despite its early cancellation,
the show sparked a movement of
serious, candid teen dramas and
remains the most evocative and
sincere depiction of high-school
life ever captured on television.
"My So-Called Life" revolves
around Angela Chase (Claire
Danes, "Homeland"), a naive
yet strong sophomore whose
voiceovers fill every episode. The
show uses this technique more
effectively than most shows ever
manage. Her commentary is poi-
gnant and perceptive at times,
though always delivered in the
believable voice of a high school-
er, with plenty of filler words
and pauses. Angela remarks in
the pilot, "Like cheerleaders.
Can't people just cheer on their
own, like, to themselves?" Other
times, her narration is dramatic:
"So I started hanging out with
Rayanne Graff. Just for fun. Just
'cause it seemed like if I didn't, I of her. Angela at school, Angela
would die, or something." at home, Angela trying to fit in,
Angela trying to stand out. And
there are more than just Angela's
Real teensreal stories to tell. The other charac-
ters borrow the diary and share
their own emotions.
Angela's mom Patty (Bess
Armstrong, "One Tree Hill") and
other parents also get to share
Even when her words are their stories. The parents of "My
cheesy, everything Angela says So-Called Life" are not just zom-
resonates with honesty. Her bie authority figures without
thoughts sound like what a teen- dimension. They have sex lives,
age girl might use to line the fears and real problems of their
pages of her diary. And that's own. Other '90s shows such as
what this show really is - Angela "Dawson's Creek" and "Beverly
Chase's diary, a place where we Hills 90210" also gave screen
see not just her, but all variations time to parents. Making the par-
ents real characters adds an extra
dimension to a show, but we rare-
ly see this anymore - the "Glee"
parents are nondescript and most
of the "Vampire Diaries" guard-
ians are dead or nameless.
"My So-Called Life" also por-
trayed realistic and compelling
friendships, seen best in Angela's
and Rayanne's (A. J. Langer, "Pri-
vate Practice") relationship. Ray-
anne, the show's best character,
is a stark contrast to suburban,
principled Angela. Rayanne was
raised by a single mother, and
she drinks, celebrates in the girl's
bathroom when voted "Most Slut
Potential" and always dances
on the edge. Angela's attraction
to Rayanne perfectly captures
best friendship between teenage
girls. Angela is devoted to Ray-
anne and listens to her. Rayanne
loves Angela right back, saying
early on in their friendship: "I'll
always watch out for you, OK? I'll
always be there for you, so don't
worry." Their connection is inti-
mate, which is a representation of
young female friendship true to
life, but hard to find on television.
One typical'90s trope that "My
So-Called Life" managed to avoid
was the idea of the "very special
episode." Networks in the '90s
popularized the term, which was
used in advertising to highlight
See SO-CALLED LIFE, Page 4B
5
q
too
Aff
academic community whose per-
sonal work doesn't fit neatly into
a scholarly or literary genre -
MPublishing has found an answer
to their needs as well.
The Espresso Book Machine
prints more than just University
textbooks. Not only can it recre-
ate a whole range of novels which
fall under the Creative Commons
license, but it also allows students,
staff and members of the Ann
Arbor community to publish their
own material on a small scale,
right down to a full-color cover.
"People can take anything that
they themselves own, like their
own novels that they've written,
or anthologies of their work or
class projects, and they can make
it a book on the Espresso Book
Machine," Kimball said.
AUSTEN HUFFORD/Daily "It's easy to use and it's avail-
able to anyone, and we're seeing a
lot of really innovative uses for it,"
she added.
ight's multi-format distri- The range of publishing options
ives the student magazine offered by the University for its
an just a way to reach a students and its community is
idience. By offering read- vast. No matter the path the evolv-
ectronic hub that supports ing world of publishing will take,
s's printed installments, it seems that the future of reading,
gazine enjoys a vibrant learning and sharing information
ecosystem as well as an will be bolstered by more oppor-
ome. tunities than ever before.
"This is the best time ever to be
Press to print a reader," Kimball said. "There's
just no dearth of really great stuff
there are members of the to read."
The Espresso Book Machine is located i
PUBLISHING
From Page 1B
MPublishing's self-professed
commitment to all forms of schol-
arly information is crystal clear.
Though it provides first-rate stan-
dard print and digital book ser-
vices, the division's nonstandard
approaches to new modes of shar-
ing information truly set it apart.
"There are more ways to pub-
lish than just in a basic journal
article and book form," Kimball
said. "We're really interested in
broadening access to the scholarly
record in as many ways as pos-
sible."
One of the University Press's
newest and most anticipated
initiatives is the use of an XML
workflow to publish academic
material. XML, also known as
Extensible Markup Language,
allows an entire book to be
reduced to a single packet of com-
puter coding, creating a "mas-
ter file" that can be sent to paper
printers, e-book publishers and
web archives.
By beginning with an XML
book file, the publishing process
can be streamlined for digital and
print publishers while offering
readers various choices on how
to get the information. Not only
can the system accommodate dif-
ferent modes of output, but it can
also allow publishers to use new
methods for releasing scholarly
information that's in "publishing
transit."
"(The transition to XML) will
allow us to parse and piece out
things earlier in the process," Hill
said. "If we want to use pieces for
marketing purposes or put a first
chapter up early, we're changing
our workflow so it can flow into
whatever system it needs to pres-
n the Shapiro Undergraduate Library and is available for anyone to use. It takes about seven rinutes to print a paperback book.
ent that."
The University of Michigan
is one of the few universities
experimenting with XML-based
publishing, and its innovative uti-
lization of the coding process has
garnered a lot of attention, which
is hardly a surprise for a publish-
ing division accustomed to turn-
ing academic heads.
"People are watching how we
support these new pathways with
new skills and new workflows,"
Hill said. "That's one of the things
that does set us apart a little bit
from others when they look at
what we're doing and how we're
doing it."
XML formatting is just one
of MPublishing's many ground-
breaking initiatives, each of which
aims to transform reading into a
more immersive and enriching
experience.
The University Press recently
collaborated with the University's
theater department to create a
web community centered around
"Theater Historiography," a text-
book printed by the University
Press. The highly integrated site
features videos, reviews, a faculty
and student forum and discus-
sions among scholars about the
author's ideas.
MPublishing is also exploring
options geared toward a reassess-
ment of textbooks, making the
project an exciting prospect for
students and their wallets.
"We're really looking at the
whole range of textbook options,
both from a digital and printper-
spective but also from a pricing
perspective," Hill said. "We're
tryingto figure out how we can get
this information into the hands of
students in a more effective way."
The opportunity to tackle so
many new projects is a rare gift
for a university publisher, as press
budgets are routinely slashed dur-
ing tough economic times. The
combination of ingenuity and the
distinctive partnership between
the University's publishing sec-
tors and its libraries is the press's
greatest strength.
"The library has the culture
of experimentation and a will-
ingness to take risks," Hill said.
"There's a conservativeness at
university presses, but when
they partner up with someone
like a library, it opens the door
for much more in the way of
being comfortable in exploring
new ways of working."
"I think that has got the atten-
tion of a lot of other university
presses too, because they just
don't have that same resource,"
Hill added.
Ultimately though, experi-
mentation and innovation are
focused on finding the most
effective ways for the library to
cater to the desires of academic
writers and readers who use the
press to spread and consume
information.
"I would say that we design our
publishing services to really try to
meet the needs of our scholars,"
Kimball said. "We don't have a
particular agenda about going in
(a print or digital) direction. It's
always a negotiation between
what can we afford as a publisher
and what our authors and readers
want."
Looking outside MPublishing
MPublishing may represent a
hefty percentage of the Univer-
sity's press capabilities, but it's
not alone. Countless independent
units exist on campus: Every-
thing from faculty research to stu-
dent poetry is printed, uploaded
and shared every day across and
beyond the University's academic
community. One example is the
Fortnight Literary Press.
Fortnight, which is partially
funded by the Undergraduate
English Association, is a liter-
ary magazine that prints student
prose, poetry and art. Its issues
are released on a monthly basis
and its tight budget shapes much
of the careful planning that goes
into each installment.
"Each semester, we get a cer-
tain amount of money from the
English Department," said LSA
senior Rachel Fentin, Fortnight's
co-editor in chief. "So we really do
have to think about our monetary
restrictions in terms of how many
issues canwe print, orifwe canwe
print in color. But the nice thing
about Fortnight is that it's really
flexible."
Though Fortnight and UAE are
independent of one another, the
magazine has greatly benefited
from a decision to move its issues
into an online format to accom-
pany the distribution of its print
magazines, mirroring MPublish-
ing's multimedia initiative.
The magazine's crisp online
reading interface, which allows
readers to enjoy full-color layouts
and functionally animated page
turns, serves as much more than
just an archive for past material.
The web distribution gives it a
digital anchor point while helping
the magazine to reach a wider stu-
dent audience, including prospec-
tive writers.
"We thought it would be really
important to have a way for people
to look at what we do since we
don't really have a central loca-
tion," Fentin said. "It's really nice
to be able to point people that are
interested in becoming involved
with Fortnight to our website so
that they can check out past work
there."
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The University of Michigan Press specializes in publishing academic literature.
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