All American is a television series involving sports and drama, which features a young All-Star football player, Spencer James. The series lets viewers in on Spencer’s story, which is inspired by true events. Spencer is an African American football player from a small town in California, Crenshaw. He is offered a spot on the Beverly Hills football team, and he accepts the offer because this team allows him to open his profile to big recruiters and top football schools. During the transfer between schools, the viewers are introduced to many characters and close people/friends in Spencer’s life. The TV show does a great job of displaying Spencer’s relationships with many of the characters and expresses the impact that each character has on his life and football career.
All American puts a lot of emphasis on Spencer’s transition from a small-town school in a rough area of California to Beverly Hills. The TV show proved how much of a drastic difference there is between the two cities. When Spencer arrives in Beverly Hills, we immediately see how wealthy the area was. The first thing we see when he arrives is high school students driving expensive cars, wearing nice clothes, and massive houses in the background. All very different from what Spencer was used to.
The series talks about several social issues and in(justices) including race, mental health issues, gang violence, addiction, and poverty. All American gives viewers an inside look at all of these very important and relevant issues today. Throughout the show, we can see how much all of these ideas (race, poverty, addiction, violence) affect people’s mental health. I think the show does a wonderful job of spreading awareness and bringing attention to these important topics. All of the topics mentioned are things that impact people’s everyday lives and after watching the entire series, I felt that I had gained knowledge on a lot of these issues and it made me more aware of how common these things are. It also showed how the characters on the show were able to talk about what was hurting them, making the relationships between the characters so strong. All in all, I just really loved how eye-opening this series was and how much it was able to relate to everyday scenarios.
