Manny vs Paige: Why Is It So Hard to Choose a Degrassi Fave?

I’ve been rewatching Degrassi: The Next Generation for the past few weeks and favorite character discourse has naturally occurred. A friend of mine who has been watching the series for the first time informed me that she does not have a favorite. I was initially shocked by this news, but as I really thought about it I started to see how this could happen. 

Oftentimes when we’re choosing* our favorite characters, we have some sort of criteria**. We tend to choose characters that we: 

1. see ourselves in

2. secretly (or not so secretly) want to be

3. think are cute

4. think are the most morally “good” (or evil if that’s your thing)

5. just admire (like you simply cannot relate because maybe they’re an assassin, but you just love the way they go about life)

*If we’re being honest, we don’t choose our favorite characters, they choose us. It’s a whole process. 

**Please do not fact check any of these criteria. I did no research, but I feel like I am well versed in the world of favorites. 

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Whichever criteria you use, declaring a favorite is a big deal. It’s like a reflection of yourself in some ways. When someone talks about your favorite character, it’s basically a personal attack. You will not catch me going to bat for a celebrity, but please be aware that I will defend Kat Edison until the end. Has she made some questionable choices? Sure, but nothing that we can’t come back from. 

I feel like many shows create these dynamic characters that are allowed to make mistakes and have flaws, but a lot of the time the mistakes don’t have lasting consequences or effects. Many times the story gets wrapped up in a few episodes and we move on. It’s easy to accept a character, flaws and all when after a few episodes we don’t have to think about the flaws at all. This is not usually the case in Degrassi. Yes, there are plenty of problems that do get solved and worked out with a genuine apology, but there are even more times that one mistake leaves a lasting breakdown in a romantic relationship or friendship. I believe that these lasting effects are the main reason that it’s so hard to choose a favorite character in Degrassi. Not only do the characters have to live with their poor choices, but so do we. 

TeenNick

At one point in a group chat I was pressuring my friend to choose a favorite and she said she liked Manny, but that she was making bad choices. Then she asked us to tell her who our favorites were and all of us were unable to name just one person. We each provided a list of 6 or so people because it feels impossible to choose just one favorite. At some point, all of these characters make relatively monumental mistakes that ultimately let us down in some way. It’s this let down that makes it hard to choose because as ridiculous as this may sound, we feel bonded to the characters that we love and accepting the big flaws in fictional characters would suggest that we should also recognize and accept the flaws within ourselves (but we might not be ready for that conversation). It’s easier to distribute the love and focus on the “good” qualities of multiple favorites as opposed to just focusing one and having to take the good with the bad. 

My personal favorites are Paige, Ellie, Marco, Jimmy, Manny, Alex, and also Craig a little bit. Every character I listed has made at least one pretty big mistake, some have made several. Most of these characters we got to see learn and grow from their mistakes, but we also saw some regress and make even worse choices (like coke). People say “if they don’t want you at your worst, then they don’t deserve you at your best.” If I can’t accept Manny at her “drunkenly taking her top off on camera saying that she’s going to be famous” then I don’t deserve her at her “passing up a steady acting gig because it’s not the best choice for her in the long run.” It is okay to have a flawed fave (please let the record reflect that I am not saying Manny is my fave) and it’s okay to be flawed. We are all imperfect people and so are these teenagers on Degrassi. 

TeenNick

When I started writing this I didn’t really know where I was going with it, and to be honest, I’m not sure where I ended up. Maybe this whole post was just me going on a journey of acceptance of these flawed fictional teenagers, or maybe it was just an excuse for me to write about Degrassi again. Who knows? Truth be told, I still can’t choose a favorite character from that list, but now I believe it has more to do with my indecisiveness than my unwillingness to accept flaws. Anyway, watch Degrassi.