Back to school with American Vandal

Back to school with American Vandal

A new Netflix series holds a comedic-critical lens to traditional high-school stereotypes

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Back to school with American Vandal
A scene from American Vandal.

When I first came across American Vandal -- the mockumentary series recently released on Netflix -- my first impression of the show was that it felt like an over-elaborate penis joke.

Told in a docudrama style clearly derived from true-crime shows like Netflix's own Making A Murderer, American Vandal centres on high-school doofus Dylan Maxwell (Jimmy Tatro), who stands accused of spray-painting male genitalia on dozens of cars in his school's staff parking lot. Dylan vehemently insists on his own innocence, prompting Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) -- a fellow member of his school's TV-production club -- to launch an investigation into the many discrepancies in the school board's case against Dylan.

As you may infer from the show's premise, its high-school setting, the fact that it's being produced under the Funny or Die label or even its tagline -- "Who Drew The Dicks?" -- American Vandal has all the trappings of a comedy, one that aims to parody the true-crime genre that clearly inspired it. Of course, given the nature of its premise, there is a healthy amount of funny moments sprinkled throughout. But the real kicker, perhaps American Vandal's single biggest joke, is that the show demands to be taken seriously. We watch Peter and his "production crew" establish timelines and uncover evidence using Instagram videos and subterfuge, which surprisingly lead to genuinely exciting revelations and gripping side conspiracies.

Perhaps even more importantly, American Vandal plays on our expectations of common high school and docudrama tropes to deliver a poignant message on high school and stereotyping. Most of us can probably imagine a classmate who could be named as the class clown, princess, jock, teacher's pet or what have you. Dylan and his fellow students at Hanover High initially seem to adhere to these common caricatures. There's the model-like girl with thousands of Instagram followers, the try-hard who does everything to seem cool, the jerk cool-guy jock and -- of course -- Dylan, who is known for drawing penises on school whiteboards and YouTube videos of him farting on babies and humping trees in a nun costume while stoned on marijuana with his friends. As the show progresses through its eight-episode season, Peter's investigation uncovers many of these characters' nuanced layers, all the while playing with our perceptions of these common stereotypes to deliver sobering discoveries that leave us questioning how much of our initial suspicions were coloured by our own prejudices.

A scene from American Vandal.

In an effort to create a semblance of professionalism, much of American Vandal is narrated by Peter in a straight-faced, emotionally detached way, with Peter himself insisting to audiences that he is not creating this "documentary" to absolve Dylan, but to uncover the truth. As such, Peter bluntly asks personal and probing questions to those around him, sometimes resorting to dubious methods of investigation in the name of uncovering the absolute truth. Of course, as Peter and the audience gradually realise over the course of the season, much of our actions and conclusions are subconsciously driven by our own inherent biases towards certain types of people, no matter how hard we try not to let them.

American Vandal's play on stereotypes also extends to the tropes of true-crime stories, as the web of its mystery extends towards the adults involved. There are the questionable authority-figure types like the dodgy vice-principal and the beloved Spanish teacher, both of whom, it's hinted, possess darker intentions and muddled motivations.

American Vandal itself is treated as an entity in its own world, as Peter uploads his documentary -- the same one the real-world audience is watching -- onto social media. Members of the public weigh in and create movements on social media in support of and opposition to various theories, and we see characters reacting to revelations from previous episodes. This gives the series and its mystery an added sense of realism, as it is all too easy to imagine getting involved in drama on social media over a similar event.

In spite of its outwardly juvenile premise, American Vandal is an intense and ultimately sobering whodunnit, with new suspects and developments steadily unfolding over the course of its first season (with Season 2 possibly in production). It probably won't become as widely known or talked-about as the likes of House Of Cards or Stranger Things, but it's certainly a hidden gem in Netflix's ever-deepening trove of original features, one that anyone should do themselves the favour of binging.

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