My So-called Life

The Age

Thursday June 12, 2008

Philippa Hawker

My So-Called Life

Force, 855 min, M,

TV series, 1994

4/5

One of the big fans of this short-lived TV series - it lasted a mere 19 episodes - was Buffy creator Joss Whedon: he even wrote an admiring essay that was included among the many extras on the recent US release of this five-disc set. At first glance, there's not much that Angela Chase, the simmering, discontented 15-year-old at the centre of My So-Called Life, would seem to have in common with Buffy Summers, vampire slayer. But the pain of adolescence, although expressed in different ways, was exactly what the two characters shared. Angela (Claire Danes) is strong-willed, often cranky, chafing against what her life has been like and who she is expected to be: she feels hemmed in by school, her parents and her childhood friendships, and she longs for something more. She wants to hang out with a couple of friends her mother takes issue with. And she also longs to get to know an unapproachable boy called Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto). Danes, who was 15 when she made the series, has a memorable intensity, and there are some excellent characters in supporting roles.

DVD extras include: short documentary