Dawson’s Creek: The Postlude

Abstract

Kevin Williamson’s Scream series must be understood as a prime example of the postmodern culture of the simulacrum, where the relationship of its narrative shifts to the spectators themselves in its perpetual “wink-wink,”“nod-nod,” through its referentiality (or intertexuality). Dawson’s Creek (DC) pays homage to a whole host of other teen series: 90210 is often evoked. Episode 201 (“The Kiss”) addresses Luke Perry, while episode 220 (“Reunited”) mentions the Peach Pit diner, and episode 305 (“Indian Summer”) references Sweet Valley High. Most often references are made to the teen “brat pack” movies of the 1980s of John Hughes, who Williamson claims had a big influence on him. Episode 202 (“Crossroads”) refers to Pretty in Pink; episode 508 (“Text, Lies and Videotape”) refers to Sixteen Candles, while episode 100 (“Emotion in Motion”) refers to The Breakfast Club. However, as in the Scream series, his references are meant to be repetitions that evoke the “powers of the false.” Not only is the naïveté of 90210 exposed, but also in episode 106 (“Detention”), a clear reference to The Breakfast Club, the Hughes movie is purposely evoked and discussed among Dawson, Jen, and Joey so as to question its worth as a narrative. While Claire Birchall (2004) has called this nostalgia that extends the viewing pleasure to the “young adult viewer” and the baby boomer, an alternative reading is that DC places stress on nostos—as an idea of “return”—rather than on algos—the pain or emotion of the regret or longing for the conditions of a past age.