Ever since randomly catching an episode during one of my
3am-insomnia induced night-nights, I have been utterly fangirled (a term I
hate, but admit to for this program) by this show. It follows a mid teen,
Rae, her group of friends and Mum (with the more recent addition of her
lover/husband Karim) and how she copes with growing up in the early 90's with a
mental illness.
Sounds a bit like every other teen drama out there, right?
Let me tell you, it isn't! This series has the usual teenage struggle story
lines which consist of boy troubles, the anxiety over losing your virginity,
kissing and relationships, as well as disagreements with parents over curfew
times etc, but this series has an almost philosophical (without the glistening
hue of mind blowing epiphany, as many may expect when they see this word) feel
to it... in a layman's terms sort of way.
My Mad Fat Diary
shows a fair few examples of what everyone thinks about when they are in the
early stages of adulthood, with the added bonus of mental illness. Of course
this is a huge theme in the show, as should be understood by the title, and it
really does deal with, in my own experience anyway, the way of a self conscious
and depressed young woman who doesn't know how to deal with the thoughts and
feelings she is experiencing.
There is a huge amount of times in the program where the
audience yells at the screen for Rae to do something, or not to (or was that
just me...?) which I personally think is a huge indicator to how deep the story
is, or will be, for a lot of people. We see Rae go through periods of wanting
to self harm, seeing how much her self esteem varies from episode to episode,
and also notice how she thinks herself worthless, even though she is seen by
others as a wonderfully bubbly, humorous and talented young lady.
These reasons are exactly why I think that My Mad Fat Diary is a therapeutic sort
of show, the plot gobbles you up so you are a part of it, you realise that you
have, or do feel these thoughts of being worthless, ugly, stupid etc, but that in
most cases, you aren't at all. It also goes on to express exactly why you (and
why others around you) aren't either. For me, that is a hugely uplifting
feeling to get from a show, and one that I have never seen previously in
dramas.
I feel that those of you that have ever felt any feelings of
depression, anxiety, social anxiety and other such disorders should watch this
program. Even though those horrendous times of being a monstrous, hormonal
wreck of a teenager may be behind you, you can still get a huge amount of
understanding about what happened (and is happening) in your own life, as well
as relive some of the more embarrassing, yet character shaping events that we
all have done. And to those of you with teens of your own, maybe watch My Mad Fat Diary with them so that if
they have any questions, or problems that this show may allow them to want to
talk about, they can (which is also another huge factor about the program
that I like!)
Until next time,
Jessiefer.
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