The creative team behind the Dare Me adaptation talks about their choice to construct the series as a coming-of-age drama.
The novel of the same name from Megan Abbott explores the themes of friendship, sexuality, competition, murder and power through the world of high school cheerleading. But Abbott and Gina Fattore, have opted to focus on how one relationship can change everything.
“We were always much more interested in the ‘internalities’ of adolescence, rather than the things that technology or social media change. You date yourself so quickly if you focus too much [on the latter], so we really tried to focus on the elements of being a young woman with feelings of yearning, the desire for more experience, that sense of wanting things that are just beyond your reach, and the feeling that you have power but also being thrown into situations where you’re suddenly aware of your powerlessness,” Abbott told Variety.
Fattore added, “I have told coming-of-age stories on so many shows; it’s really my favorite kind of show. I looked at the book in that way and saw instantly the chance to make the first season really a classic coming-of-age story about a relationship with an older person that changes your life. Sometimes that’s a romantic relationship, but sometimes it’s not, and in this case it’s a mentor relationship. That territory felt perfectly applicable to TV.”
Dare Me premiered December 29 on USA.
