Is Chewing Gum a Fresh Take or Another Teen Cliché?

The Russian series "Chewing Gum" (2024), premiered on the Premier platform, aims to carve a niche in the world of teen cinema with its fresh perspective. The online streaming service touted this project as a springboard for revitalizing its collection of youth-oriented shows. Yet, audience reception and critiques reveal glaring issues: from a predictable plot to questionable thematic development. Let’s delve into what attracts and repels viewers in this new series.

Plot Overview: Love, Stalking, and Tragedy

At the heart of the narrative is Galia Shalamova (played by Daria Balabanova), a girl hailing from a foster home in the suburbs of Moscow, who harbors aspirations of enrolling in VGIK and becoming a screenwriter. Her world is rife with turmoil: abusive relationships with her boyfriend Kirill (Anton Artemyev), the impending release of her mother (Yulia Volkova) from prison, and a crippling absence of genuine support and communication.

Galia stumbles upon a livestream from Romas (Anton Rogachev), a popular vlogger known online as Hans Schmuze. Coming from an affluent family, he embodies everything Galia has never known: freedom, ease, and a carefree spirit. Captivated by Romas, she begins to weave naive fantasies of a blissful future with him.

What begins as a romantic rendezvous swiftly morphs into a one-sided obsession. Galia deceives Romas about her life, striving to impress him, while he approaches their budding relationship with a flippant attitude, viewing it merely as playful flirtation. His outrageous act of faking his own death for a prank serves as a tragic turning point, prompting Galia—believing her beloved has passed away—to embark on a quest to find and punish his supposed "killer."

Key Themes: Relevance or Surface-Level Exploration?

The series tackles several themes that, on the surface, should resonate with today’s youth. However, its exploration leaves much to be desired.

1. Love and Stalking

Galia's transformation from a starry-eyed dreamer into a consuming stalker unfolds rapidly. Her actions reflect not the beauty of attachment but the agony of dependency. Meanwhile, Romas’s lies and manipulations reveal a typical toxicity in modern relationships.

2. Bullying and Toxic Environments

Abuse permeates not only Galia’s interactions with Kirill but also her experiences in the wider world. The torment she faces in the foster home and the derisive behavior from the 'golden youth' creates a suffocating ambiance.

3. Parent-Child Dynamics

Despite their material wealth, Romas’s family is disjointed and emotionally cold. His mother is buried in her own troubles, while his father immerses himself in work, ignoring his ailing sister. Contrarily, Galia lacks parental support altogether: her mother has just been released from prison, and her father is conspicuously absent from the picture.

4. The Influence of Social Media

Romas’s typical influencer persona showcases a fabricated version of life, concealing his actual issues. His circle perpetuates this illusion, engaging in a mock death scenario that should emphasize the social media impact on teens, yet the series merely skims over this significant theme.

Characters: Aiming for Depth but Missing the Mark

The creators aimed to present complex, flawed characters. However, the outcome is met with mixed feelings.

• Galia elicits sympathy and compassion, yet her obsession and actions frequently alienate her. She appears more as a victim of circumstance rather than an empowered individual.
• Romas embodies the archetypical rich kid: detached, unfeeling, and shallow. His actions, particularly the prank involving his "death," render him utterly unsympathetic.
• Kirill comes off as a caricature of a 90s thug, his violent disposition apparent from the first moments he appears on screen.

Direction: Clichés and Mediocrity

Directed by Alexander Tsoi, known for past works like "Difficult Teens" and "The Link," the show falls short of the high bar set by his earlier projects.

1. Music and Visual Ambiance

In keeping with the trend of most domestic teenage dramas, "Chewing Gum" is replete with neon-lit parties, clip-style montages, and unremarkable soundtracks. These elements do little more than serve as a backdrop and fail to lend depth to the storytelling.

2. Dialogue and Script

Despite the involvement of nine screenwriters, the collaborative effort yields lackluster results. The dialogue often feels forced, and the characters’ behaviors can be illogical, detracting from the overall narrative cohesion.

Critique: Why Did the Series Let Viewers Down?

Many viewers and critics expressed disappointment with "Chewing Gum".

• Clichés Over Originality: The plot is heavily laden with tropes—from neon-lit parties to affluent teens without a penny spared.
• Lack of Authenticity: The young actors playing adolescents appear much older than their characters, raising questions around believability.
• Absence of a Clear Narrative: The series attempts to explore too broad a range of topics, resulting in a disjointed plot.

Comparing with Other Projects

Audiences habitually juxtapose "Chewing Gum" with series like "Euphoria" or "Sex Education". However, the level of drama, character exploration, and relativity of issues in those works vastly eclipses what is presented in this latest endeavor.

Finale: Is It Worth Watching?

In summary, "Chewing Gum" represents a quintessential example of an effort to produce something contemporary and engaging for youth audiences, but the execution leaves much to be desired.
Clichés, weak dialogues, and shallow thematic exploration hinder this project from standing out amid its genre peers.
For those in search of a light-hearted teen show with dramatic elements, "Chewing Gum" might spark some intrigue. However, viewers expecting a deeper, more nuanced storytelling experience should certainly look elsewhere.