This Outer Banks is a 2021 Netflix TV show many are likely familiar with, as it was especially popular during the quarantine days. At first glance, you may only see it as a teen-drama, action and adventure piece. However, analyzing it a little further can reveal classism rooted within any aspects of the show.
The show takes place on the North Carolina coastal town, the Outer Banks, and focuses in on a group of teens and their adventures. There is a distinct social divide in the town; the Pogues are the working class that often struggle to make ends meet, while the Kooks are the wealthy residents of the area. It is one thing to note that they are physically separated at different ends of the town. However, their circumstances, privilege, and treatment by society reveal an even larger disparity between the groups. A demonstration of the injustice is when the hurricane hits the islands. The kooks have generators and regain power within a day or two, while the Pogues go without. This often resembles benefits the wealthy have in real life situations, leaving the lower classes to fend for themselves.
The Kooks also often seem to look down upon and exclude the Pogues. There is a midsummer party and it is a Kook only event. This dynamic between the two classes immediately reminds me of Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” The Pogues resemble the subalterns who struggle to have any type of voice or place in the world of the Kooks. The Pogues also lack all of the benefits the Kooks enjoy, with no power to change the social hierarchy.
One of the Kooks, Kiera, fights the norm of this society and rejects her Kook life. her best friends are Pogues and it often angers her family. Another kook, Sarah Cameron, finds herself breaking the status quo when a Pogue becomes her love interest. In this group of teens where the norm is broken and the classes mix, they seem to be incredibly happy. This is a message that communicates to us your rank socially and economically doesn’t truly matter. You can bond with and form close friendships with those quite different from you; and that’s certainly a lesson that would benefit us all to hear.