In 1968, filmmaker Frederick Wiseman produced the documentary “High School,” in which he famously filmed students, as inconspicuously as possible, in the challenging environment of a large, mostly white public high school. The theme then was conformity and the oppressive social structure of the system.
Forty years later comes the cable TV update, a series by single mother and first-time filmmaker Sharon Liese. “High School Confidential,” premiering at 8 p.m. Monday on WE TV (Comcast digital channel 502), probes the difficult emotional challenges of today’s adolescent girls.
Teen pregnancy, drugs, anxiety disorders, grief, medical crises, self-image problems and questions surrounding religion are among the issues a group of 12 girls face as the camera follows them through four years in a large, mostly white and affluent, suburban Overland Park, Kan., high school.
It owes a debt to Wiseman, but it plays more like a TV reality show without the prize money.
Consider it a cautionary tale for tween/teen girls and their parents.
“High School Confidential” will air over eight weeks in hour-long installments.
“One of the overall messages is, while these girls go through so many struggles, they are also incredibly resilient,” creator-producer Liese said by phone. She chose the school because her daughter (not featured in the film) was about to enroll.
“From (ages) 14-18, so much happens. What’s even more remarkable is that most of them make it through. Each episode ends in, I think, a very hopeful way.”
The not-so-confidential confessions of the subjects are signs of the times. “I don’t really drink to the point where I’m drunk and passing out. It’s only happened twice,” says Cappie, an 11th-grader who’s failing her classes as she devotes herself to partying.
“I’ve been doing a lot better and haven’t tried to kill myself. Which is good,” says Jessi, a 12th-grader who has been treated for depression for years.
Along the way, there were three pregnancies, three different outcomes.
The girls are variously jocks, devout churchgoers, over- achievers, perfectionists, partiers and cheerleaders. As they are documented from freshman year through graduation, school pictures morph from younger to older to match the narration. The producer wisely decided not to append statistics (on teen pregnancy, for instance) and let the stories stand on their own.
The emotional lives grow along with their physical maturation. The amount of fear is striking as they discuss sexual, emotional and familial dilemmas.
By now we’re accustomed to seeing people on TV pretending to be unaware of a camera crew. In this case, a teenage girl argues in front of her parents about the appropriateness of oral sex in high school; the cheerful drill team captain, Lauren, is followed from gym to doctor’s office to diagnosis to brain surgery.
“I knew and trusted Sharon. She was always respectful of my privacy,” says Lauren, who is now a freshman at the University of Denver.
We shouldn’t be surprised that “candid” conversations unfold as cameras look on, but there’s still an uneasy contract here: Voyeurism matched by exhibitionism; we meet in the middle and call it a show.
“It was amazing how open they were right from the beginning,” Liese said. “That may have to do with the fact that I established a relationship with them when they were really young, 13 or 14.”
She agrees “the kids are more used to creating their own personas . . . with everyone seeing reality TV, there is a cultural expectation to not be so private.”
Not that affluent, white Overland Park girls aren’t as full of personal demons and as entitled to their pain as anyone else. But the documentary would have been more compelling on more levels had it featured a more diverse cast of characters in a more socio-economically varied setting.
Still, the issues are universal.
Liese is talking to WE TV about the possibility of a follow-up, perhaps with the same young women. “I would love to see a ‘College Confidential,’ ” she said.
Joanne Ostrow’s column appears Tuesday, Friday and Sunday: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
