ENG 247: Blog Post #2

Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars airs on Monday nights at 8:00 p.m. on the ABC family channel.  This show is a teen drama based on the books written by Sara Shepard.  The show however is created by Marlene King. 

Pretty Little Liars takes place in a fictitious town called Rosewood, PA. The show follows four girls, Spencer Hastings, Hanna Marin, Aria Montgomery, and Emily Fields.  These four girls’ lives begin to fall apart when the “leader” of their group, Alison DiLaurentis disappears.  The girls receive text messages regarding things they do, and secrets they keep.  They thought it was Alison, since the messages are signed “A”.  However, Alison’s was found dead.  As the seasons progress the girls continue to receive these messages and begin to discover clues to help them find out who killed Allison, and who “A” really is. 

The girls in Pretty Little Liars all have their own typical teen issues on top of this one major one involving the death of Allison and a mysterious follower by the name of “A”.  Spencer Hastings, played by Troian Bellisario is the preppy, smart one.  Spencer is a perfectionist and appears to be the “good girl”.  However, she has a habit of stealing her sister’s boyfriends.  Hanna Marin, played by Ashley Benson quickly becomes the most popular girl in school following the disappearance of Allison.  Before becoming popular, Hanna replaced her father being a part of her life through eating and shoplifting.  Aria Montgomery, played by Lucy Hale, has a very dysfunctional family.  Her father had an affair, her brother found himself in series of incidents involving the police, and she has a relationship with a former teacher.  Emily Fields, played by Shay Mitchell, plays a lesbian.  Emily finally decided to let her parents know she was gay and they did not accept it at first.  Emily was a star swimmer for the school until various other life issues took over, and she was no longer a part of the team. 

I feel that overall, things have gone well.  I enjoy watching this show and each episode keeps me on edge and waiting for the next one.  The day to day issues the girls deal with are realistic and I feel they are easily related to.  However, the fact that they have not been able to expose anyone is dragging out to the point of some unrealistic events.  As far as portraying the girls’ lives, the show touches on most issues teenage girls face in today’s world.  It covers sexuality (age and gender based), theft, weight, popularity, lies, friends, enemies, family, and school, just to name a few. 

This show has won awards in teen categories, which is very appropriate.  Pretty Little Liars is most definitely a teen based show, however the mystery/thriller part of it lures in an older crowd.  The producers have done well in attracting viewers through a combination of tactics.  These tactics include murder, sex, drama, love, and suspense.  All of the girls are attractive, wear nice clothes, and live in nice homes.  This part pulls in the younger audience as they either relate or fantasize.   

If you have not watched Pretty Little Liars, I invite you to…just be prepared to become “hooked”.