YOU SAID IT. PREACH.

YOU SAID IT. PREACH.

my problems with deh

okay so we all know deh is Not My Favorite, mainly cuz i’m salty about comet, but there are other reasons why i don’t like it as well.

the music

so the music is actually Relatively Decent, as a rule i don’t hate the soundtrack, it’s Pretty Good, it’s just kind of bland to my taste, but i did enjoy the music to some extent when i listened to it

there are some songs i really like, such as sincerely me and good for you (i actually really love sincerely me), and the others are okay, i don’t hate them but i don’t love them either

basically i don’t have any problems with the music, it’s meh but not terrible, some of the songs are really catchy and i can see why people like it !!!! (for example, sincerely me is a BOP), when it comes to the soundtrack, the music is Good, just a little bit bland to my taste

my main problems are actually with the story and the messages behind it.

the story

so i understand why the story is compelling, and why people relate to it, and i think the whole suicide message is important, i’m not gonna go out and say that the story is bad or anything bc people relate to it and there are important messages and that’s great!!!

however, it’s supposed to be representative of people with social anxiety, and it’s great that they’re trying to include mental illness rep and make it relatable to teens, i completely understand what pasek and paul were trying to do, but as a neurodivergent person, i think they could’ve tried harder, they kind of glossed over and romanticized evan’s mental illness. there are other musicals (next to normal, heathers, great comet, etc.) that talk about mental illness in a better way, without glossing over or romanticizing it

second of all, it doesn’t really do a very good job of raising suicide awareness, as connor’s suicide is really just a platform for evan’s lies, and not as talked about as it should be. if you want a musical that raises suicide awareness, there’s heathers, which, though it has a much darker twist, talks about it in a better and more honest way

let’s talk about evan as a character. i completely understand how he’s relatable, i love that people relate and sympathize with him, that’s great!!! but while he’s relatable in the social anxiety field, the choices he makes are not something we want to be teaching our teens. evan is a pathological liar. when he’s told about connor, his immediate reaction is to lie, and he continues that lie through the end.

this would be wonderful if there was some kind of moral of this, if he learned his lesson, thus teaching teens that lying is bad and that while evan is relatable, he’s not someone to emulate, but the problem is that lying actually works out for him. by having his plan work out in the end, by having him become popular and get the girl and everything he wanted through lying, it teaches the primarily young, teenage fanbase that lying is okay and will get you what you want in life, which is not something we want to be teaching our teens.

so if everything backfired and there was some kind of moral about not lying, evan’s lying problem would be justified. but since everything pretty much works out for him, the message turns negative and teaches teens that lying is okay.

also evan’s mom- i get that she’s trying her best, to stay on the positive side, but trying to force a kid with social anxiety to go out and socialize is actually going to make his anxiety even worse. i understand it’s unintentional, and heidi is trying her best, but really she’s only giving his anxiety a platform.

also evan and zoe’s relationship is completely built on lies and that’s not okay. it’s an extremely unhealthy dynamic, even though they actually liked eachother, as she wouldn’t be into him if he hadn’t lied to her, it’s a very unhealthy relationship and not one that should be encouraged to young teens watching this

the cast

just to clarify, this is not a criticism the cast, they’re all very talented, lovely people, the talent in the cast is wonderful and it’s one of the things i actually like about the show.

the one thing i don’t like is how whitewashed the cast is. there’s only one black principal lead (kristollyn lloyd, who’s amazing and plays alana, i love her), and one black understudy lead (olivia puckett, u/s zoe and alana), and while the people in the cast are all very talented and i love mike and ben and rachel and will and everyone in the cast, it’s very whitewashed and i think that each lead should at least have an understudy who’s a poc (black, asian, latinx, anything)

the cast is amazing i just feel like it could be a little more diverse

anyway those are my opinions on deh, all and all it’s not a bad show, the music is good, the cast is talented, but i don’t like the messages the show is teaching, especially to the primarily young, impressionable teenage fanbase.