The Shows that Shaped Us: Structure & Style in ‘Dawson’s Creek’

Eight years after Beverly Hills, 90210 and twenty-four before The Summer I Turned Pretty, Joey fell in love with Dawson, Dawson became infatuated with Jen…and Pacey slept with his teacher.

It was the era of Lilith Fair and folk pop set the melancholic tone for the Kevin Williamson WB drama, Dawson’s Creek. It featured a fitting soundtrack by a who’s who of ‘90s nostalgic tunes for the angsty group of small-town teens in the height of their growing pains. With Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want To Wait” theme song lyrics hitting the home run about how Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen, and later siblings Jack and Andie, felt. Because what do you do when you’re a kid in small town, Massachusetts? You can’t wait—to grow up. To experience love (and lust). To get out.

Meet Dawson Leery: The perfect son with a perfect family and friend group.

Or so that’s what best friend Joey Potter (Katie Holmes) drills into him over and over in the pilot — after her big opening scene spiel about how things are changing. Are they now, Joey? Are you really blaming that one on Dawson?

Not only Joey’s “feelings” towards Dawson, but his whole world is about to change because the pilot comes full-circle to that opening monologue in which Joey espouses about change —“Things change, Dawson. Evolve.” To show us (and her, by accident) that Dawson’s mom is having an affair. There goes perfection and same old-same old right out the window Joey climbs in every night for the last ten years (according to new girl Jen Lindley’s Grams).

That quintessential “setting the table conversation” in the pilot is a rather meta intro to a show that revels in the tactic.

Based on Williamson’s own childhood in North Carolina when he dreamed of becoming a filmmaker like Steven Spielberg, the character of Dawson Leery is played to wide-eyed perfection by the late James Van Der Beek in his breakthrough role. From there, it was a straight shot to ‘90s Hollywood Heartthrob for Van Der Beek.

For Dawson, life is not as a heartthrob but rather a dreamer who works at the local video rental shop with his best friend Pacey Witter (Joshua Jackson). And he believes everything in life can be learned from, and comes down to, “the right Spielberg movie.” Emphasized by every single movie poster plastering his bedroom walls. As well as the show coming full-circle in the finale in which we learn that Dawson, now a grown-up filmmaker himself, has made an autobiographical TV series called The Creek. And he’s about to meet Spielberg himself. It’s the circle of life, really.

Other fun little meta-nods in the pilot alone are of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it I Know What You Did Last Summer poster of Williamson’s own slasher flick. Also set in a small, seaside town with very different results. Even Pacey meets his older woman when she comes into the video store looking to rent The Graduate… hint hint.

The show is an ode to film nerds everywhere. But with so many other teen shows to choose from…

Buffy the Vampire Slayer debuted just a year before Dawson’s Creek, while One Tree Hill, Gossip Girl, and The O.C. followed closely on its heels. There was literally a teen show for every taste.

While Buffy gave us relevant topics through monster metaphors, Dawson’s was one of the shows least afraid to make waves. There was the taboo teacher-student relationship between Pacey and Tamara. It tackled Andie’s (Meredith Leigh Monroe) mental health storyline. Bessie’s (Nina Repeta) interracial relationship. And then there was Jack’s (Kerr Smith) kiss with Ethan, importantly one of primetime TV’s first in gay representation.

Nothing was glossed over, everything discussed head-on. From the pilot’s condom convo between Dawson and his dad to Jen asking her very religious Grams—the fact that religion was discussed so heavily at all!—to say “penis”.

Even the characters’ diction choices were both lauded and dismissed simultaneously for their age. What teen says “orgasmic” to her brother-in-law to describe his cooking? But the way the Creek kids spoke gave the show its cadence and appeal. It wasn’t how my friends and I spoke at the time, even if what they were dealing with were things we could relate to. That’s why audiences kept tuning in for six seasons, from January 20^th, 1998 to May 14^th, 2003.

Between the eloquent dialogue and killer soundtrack—because “Life’s a Bitch and Then You Die”; thanks for that one, Shooter! There was the very heart of Dawson’s Creek: The love triangle no one saw coming. The lifelong friends, the best friend, the girl in the middle…and the new girl. So was it actually a quaple?! While Jen was Dawson’s love interest for quite some time, it was really about Dawson, Joey, and Pacey—and all the other “distractions” over the course of 128 episodes.

There is arguably nothing quite like a well-done love triangle to keep viewers in their seats. Dawson’s offers all the stolen glances, yearning, heartache, throw-down fights, and heart-pounding beats to educate screenwriters on just how good love triangles are written. It’s no wonder Williamson's second on the series, Julie Plec, went on to craft that other nail-biting triangle on The Vampire Diaries so well.

We had the obvious choice forever-love in Dawson, and the seeming bad boy up for being reformed by the right woman in Pacey. How’s a girl to choose? And choose, Joey eventually did. Thanks to her original rival, Jen—and that’s why closing your story out with notes of how it began really hits home everything you’re trying to say with it. A true masterclass by a master in teen drama! Because Williamson did leave the show for a while there, its creator returned just in time there for the finale.

“All we have is this very moment” sings Paula Cole in the show’s theme…and truer words can’t be uttered. Thank you for being our secret crush, Joshua. The confident girl we wish we could be, Michelle. The girl we always admired, Katie. And our template for what a boy-friend could be, James. Your onscreen dreams inspired ours. Thank you.