My god I hate this show. Almost all Australian schools have uniforms, but the one in this show doesn't, because the producers wanted to create a clone of a US high school. I'm surprised they don't use terms like freshman and sophomore to describe the grades - they might as well.
shareWow I didn't know that.
That's really lame, especially because - and I'm guessing here - the show doesn't look like it has been created for international tv.
Haha I just imagined Dennis in a uniform.
I must say, the series probably wouldn't have been the same if they all had to wear uniforms.
Well, to be fair, the movie The Heartbreak Kid, that the series was based on, had a school that didn't have uniforms. That was set in Melbourne, but the school was mostly lower class/disadvantaged students who couldn't afford it. This isn't the case in the series, I don't think? I don't know if that school actually existed or still exists (I think it was in Footscray) but it's very very rare here.
shareActually, the show was created for international tv. That's why they moved the setting from Melbourne to Sydney because they thought Sydney was more known by international viewers as being "Australian".
The show has been more or less funded by French and English tv because the Australians couldn't afford to keep it going. The show was imensly popular so BBC and France2 payed to keep episodes coming.
I still LOVE this show and think it's a shame it was never finished "properly" although Draz and Anita's wedding was some closure.
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I didn't know that! Heartbreak High was very popular in the Netherlands. As a teenager I loved this show! Everybody in my class watched it. I think it's more appealing to Europeans, unlike these American high school dramas we could relate more with this show.
shareActually, there are some schools in Sydney (& Australia in general) that do not have uniforms. Yeah, they're not all that common, but they definitely exist.
I don't think they were trying to make is a Sydney clone of a US high school - I think the show is uniquely and proudly Australian.
The school is portrayed as a school attended largely by those of lower socio-economic backgrounds, based on the multiculturalism, poor grades and discipline (I'm not saying that's a good or correct thing or whatever have you, but it's just mirroring the trends in schools and society at the time). In these schools, uniforms were often basic, or non-existent - and therefore less expensive for the parents.
And why complain - I think it's fun to look back on all the 90s grunge fashion - if there were uniforms we'd be missing out on that! :)
This is true, but here in Melbourne, there are only a handful of schools which do not require uniforms. A lot of them are either specialist schools, or very small schools (and as such, the school can't afford to design their own uniform). One exception is Swinburne Secondary in Hawthorn which has no uniforms (this is a school which accepts almost anyone, troubled kids etc), but I almost never see students going to and from school in Melbourne without a uniform on. Maybe in other states, the situation is different, because the hot weather in the north makes uniforms less practical. I don't know what state Heartbreak High is set in, but the movie (Heartbreak Kid) was set in Melbourne.
shareHeartbreak High was filmed in Sydney. Some locations were Sydney City, Manly Beach, and Warriewood. So it is in keeping with the nature of Sydney schools at the time.
http://www.heartbreak-high.com/askthewebteam.htm