Degrassi is ending and we’re crying, as told by Drake gifs
Well, Degrassi, it’s been a long journey together. Started from The N, and now we’re here, at the end of the road. TeenNick announced that this season will be our last at Degrassi High. The one bright spot in this TV tragedy is that there will be a whole finale event, with new episodes every day for two weeks, culminating in the finale on July 31. To help us grieve, let’s process the news with some sad Drake gifs, since Drake (né Aubrey Graham) is one of our favorite Degrassi alums.
Keith Dawkins, an executive at Nickelodeon, said, “For an incredible 14 seasons, Degrassi has been a groundbreaking show tackling so many important topics that real teens face in their everyday lives.” I’ll say. For a show that promised “it goes there,” Degrassi really WENT. The show wasn’t afraid to take on anything that we all might have faced ourselves, and we loved it for that.
What follows is a partial list of the teen-relevant topics that Degrassi covered in Seasons 1-6, sourced only by my memory: anorexia, getting your first period, online chat room danger, sex bracelets, stalking, domestic abuse, self-harm, cheating on your partner, bipolar disorder, cocaine, coming out, anxiety, bullying, thongs, plus-size modeling, children’s tv shows, rape, difficult parents, abortion, religious persecution, getting boners, racism, comas, getting in to college, cheerleading drama, finding the truth in the music, gang fights, teen pregnancy, being a stripper, cancer, school shootings, “social diseases,” email, wheelchair basketball, prison, and Kevin Smith. Seasons 7-14 covered many, many more.
Degrassi has left an indelible imprint on pop culture in its 14 seasons. It’s only the most recent reboot of the original Degrassi series, which began airing in 1979. Some iteration of the show has been on the air continuously since then, with the exception of a long hiatus from 1991-2000, when we all took a break to watch Are You Afraid of the Dark (which aired from exactly 1991-2000 — coincidence? I think not). Some of the original cast members returned for this Degrassi, playing parents Snake and Spike.
Degrassi has been with us through the ups and downs, while its characters hung out at The Dot, broke up and made up in the Media Immersion Lab, and caught “social diseases” in the ravine. The show graduated alums who are now part of our regular pop culture consumption, like Shenae Grimes on 90210, Nina Dobrev on The Vampire Diaries, and of course, Aubrey Graham, aka Drake. Degrassi has even been spoofed on The Kroll Show with the hilarious sketch Wheels Ontario.
We’ll miss you, Degrassi. Thank you for showing us how to deal with hard things — like your cancellation. As the theme song told us, “whatever it takes; I know I can make it through [the end of Degrassi].”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1_b_tnwSEs
