Schumiac

was she a movie star or something?

Finnegan

Tragedy, Schumiac,

I think you're only seeing half the story. In episode 5 of Young Americans, the "parents' weekend" episode in which Jake's mom, Monica Pratt, visits Jake at Rawley Academy, it becomes pretty clear that:
-- Jake has made Monica feel that Jake doesn't wan't her mother in her life.
-- Monica's neglect of Jake is largely a response to that; she'd like to be closer to her daughter.

The interesting question is WHY Jake has pushed her mom out of her life and is rebelling against her. I think the answer is pretty clear: Monica has given up on love being anything more than sex. She has adopted sex-kitten mannerisms (even though she's a highly competent actress) and discusses Jake's love life only by talking about sex, not about emotions.

Jake doesn't really understand her relationship with her mom -- the source of her own problems. What's making Jake behave self-destructively -- switching schools, computer-hacking, cross-dressing, having a poster that glorifies suicide on her dorm room wall -- is the feeling that she can't be "truly loved" for her personality, for more than her body. She gets that from her mom, it's killing her, she hates it, she's rebelling against it. Subconsciously, that's part of why she's cross-dressing: she goes to Rawley in order to pose a Frog-Prince-like "test of true love" to a Rawley guy, hoping against hope for a miracle that will prove that her mom's despair of true love is unfounded.

Hamilton Fleming (Somerhalder) gives Jake that miracle. He passes her test, falling for her despite being straight and thinking she's a boy. There's even a filmed but cut scene (one of the clips in the playlist linked above) in which Hamilton, after Jake's mom leaves, tells Jake that she doesn't understand her mom very well, that her mom's not so bad as she thinks.

Young Americans is way deeper than most teenagers can understand. If you haven't watched it as an adult ... you'll see a lot more in it when you do.

tragedy

Well like I previously stated I felt that Jake's mom was deserving of her daughter's attitude & I stand by that b/c that type of behavior is not one a parent should be presenting to her kid. Jake was acting out due to this. If all the mom wanted was to be close then it was her responsibility as the adult and the parent to try to work things out & find out why her daughter was acting the way she was not to respond w/neglect. Of course I also saw the parent's weekend episode when her mom came to visit & Jake came to understand her mom better.

Schumiac

I like the Frog Prince analogy regarding Hamilton/Jake and agree with it though I'd say I still find Jake's acting out to be more about wanting to get her mother's attention than anything else. All the "little" things she has been doing to rebel till that point have failed to gain her the attention she seeks so she has "upped" her game. I think a point she was trying to make (for she was bound to be caught at some point and I'd say she was smart enough to know that) was that her mother is so oblivious to whatever is really going on in her life that she can "become" a boy, and spend a whole year as one and her mom will just not be any wiser.

I was not saying the mother is a bad person who wants nothing to do with her daughter. Of course she loves her daughter in her own way and wants to connect with her somewhat, but she IS self-centered. She is too lost in her own drama, and has put her own life and wishes and problems before anything which has prevented her from realizing what is really going on with her daughter. She can not really have the relationship she wants with her daughter unless she learns to pay more attention to her (and REALLY pay attention) and show more interest in the things she likes and wants and try to understand her. Showing up once in a while to have a lunch and a few hours with one's child is not enough to do any of that. I remember the impression I had from this show was that Jake was mostly left on her own to do whatever she wanted as her mom was almost always busy with some other stuff and gone.

tragedy

I like your analogy Asena

Schumiac

his eyes there the blur thing made it look like a dream sequence!

tragedy

It's probably just how the screencap was taken

Schumiac

yeah, I think so. I don't remember there being an actual dream sequence in YA.

tragedy

Yeah I don't think there were any.

Schumiac

so it is definitely the vid quality/screeencap.

tragedy

Hamilton was one of the popular kids too right?

Schumiac

They didn't show the other kids's reaction to the rest that much, I think?? He seemed to just hang around with the characters of the cast and especially Jake most of the time, so maybe not so much??

tragedy

Yeah now that I remember it he did just seem to hang in his group of friends & that's it.

Schumiac

so maybe he wasn't that popular?

tragedy

Or they could've been one of those groups who were sort of in between. Not popular or unpopular just sort of in their own world.