I had the idea for this post awhile ago, but I didn’t think I would ever get around to making it. I just didn’t feel like I had enough to say. But, there was news that City of Ghosts was being made into a TV show and they were aging Cass up to a college grad. She’s 12 in the books. And I wanted to expand on my original thoughts on the subject. Plus, talk about the representation of teens in the media in general.
I was upset when I first heard about the City of Ghosts news. My feelings were in to no way directed at the author! I know she has very, very minimal control over things like that, if any at all. She also posted on Instagram with a lot of great points that I actually really agree with. I think it’s great to think about it as the book is going to be the book and the show is going to be its own thing. Maybe I’ll even enjoy the show! It is the CW though, so who knows.
My anger comes from the fact that older tweens and teens never see themselves accurately portrayed in movies or TV shows. It’s so common for people in their 20s to be playing a teen. Some of them do actually look like teenagers and that’s great! I’ve personally found that their vibe (?) isn’t the same. There is just an air about them that isn’t the same as actual teenager. I know that sounds weird and it could just be me!
I understand that child labor laws are a thing and I understand how hard it is to make a movie/TV show of any kind. I understand that studios want to make money and they think teenage stories won’t sell since teens are emotional and not perfect. That’s the point! We’re learning and we’re young and we’re awkward and that is so completely fine. We want to see stories about us being awesome and we want to see stories about us being real. We want to see US on the screen. And sometimes that’s going to be imperfect because that is what life is like.
It just sucks that I’ve walked out of movies feeling horrible about myself because I feel like I am nothing like the characters that I just saw. I don’t have a solution for it. I guess I’m just expressing my frustration that teen characters are never really teens.
Am I going to watch the City of Ghosts adaptation? Probably. Do I think it will be good? Ehhh, it’s the CW and they have other issues besides casting haha. And am I going to bummed this isn’t a show my younger sister and I could enjoy together? Yeah.
If you have any other thoughts that I didn’t discuss or you have different opinions, please don’t hesitate to comment! I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank you for reading!
theelvenwarrior.com 
This is such a thoughtful post! It’s understandable for a character and the actor portraying them to have different ages by a few years, but a lot of times the gap is GINORMOUS! Even though I love the show to pieces, The Vampire Diaries was really bad about having full blown late 20’s early 30’s adults playing teenage characters.
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Yeah, I totally get the small age gaps! Sometimes that’s just how it is haha. And I agree with The Vampire Diaries. I watched that show when I was a lot younger, so I didn’t realize it as much as I do now. 😬
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I think one of the biggest examples of this is the Hunger Games. I remember when people were so upset that the cast was older because the whole point of the novels was that they were just kids fighting for their lives. I think casting younger actors would have been a better choice and really showcase the underlying themes like the novel did.
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Oh yes, definitely The Hunger Games. I know in Mockingjay they tried to make Katniss look 17, but it just wasn’t the same as if an actual teen was portraying her.
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