A lot of the television shows using fully adult actors in a high school setting could easily change their plot to revolve around a college setting instead of the weird fixation television has on displaying the sex lives of high schoolers

I think a good example of this is the show Riverdale. If you don’t know, it’s a show using the characters of Archie comics in a teen murder drama ish show. In that show their lives are about whatever big mystery is going on, their relationships, and their friends. The characters in the show are high-school age (16 I believe) but a lot of the cast is actor age 20 and up (one character who is 16 is played by a 25 year old actor). <br><br>In the show, or as much as I’ve seen, being an actual high school student occupies very little of the character’s lives and the aspects of highschool we do see the characters do could more or less be translated to a college setting. So why even make them high school students? I know to reach a youth audience and whatever but seeing how a lot of this shows content displays varied sexual relationships between characters, I feel like it’s a bit weird seeing all these high school age relationships so graphically being acted by much older people. <br><br>And I’m realizing now that Riverdale isn’t the *best* example (a plot point of season 1 is an inappropriate teacher student relationship), but there are a lot of shows like this out. I think Hollywood should stop fetishizing high school sexual relationships when they really don’t have to. My issue with it isn’t so much the displays of sex, more that the show creators are leaning so heavily into all the displays of sex of people who are **supposed** to be minors. Gives a weird voyeurism vibe. If the plot allows, just make the setting college, it would even make more sense with the plots sometimes.<br><br>EDIT: Restructured as paragraphs for clarity<br><br>EDIT 2: I understand not all viewers relate to college, this is simply my opinion that a subset of shows would be better suited in a college setting instead of the weirdest parts of the highschool social experience being displayed by much older people. I understand not all shows are like this, simply the ones that would be able to translate their plots over to a college setting easily. I do understand not all people who go to college relate to what’s depicted in television, but if the plot and setting allow, why would the writers *choose* to write in displays of sexual relationships if the characters are **supposed** to be minors. It’s the minors thing that’s the weird part. Obviously not a lot of highschoolers don’t have sex, but the shows I’m talking about are for more mature audiences and it’s the fact that these more mature sexual relationships are being written, directed, shot and acted by older people, but the characters are minors. That’s what I have the problem with. Not college in general or displays of sex in general, just when in context of a high school setting with older actors and more graphic sexual content. I don’t think the subset of shows I’m talking about need to be in a high school setting.<br><br>EDIT 3: I feel like people are moving the goalpost here. I’m not saying ALL highschool sets should be translated to college, I’m saying specified shows that *could* translate their plot over to a college setting easily (or already have) would benefit from making their setting a college setting. I understand all the arguments, I simply disagree and that’s why I posted in unpopular. I don’t think this would be a good idea for ALL high school settings, I think it would be beneficial to translate over to college if possible.