College Series
“Maxton Hall” and Co: Why teen series are so popular
Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) and James Beaufort (Damian Hardung) in a scene from the Amazon series “Maxton Hall”. photo
© Stephan Rabold/© Prime Video/dpa
“13 Reasons Why”, “Sex Education”, “Young Royals”, currently “Maxton Hall” – viewers often give school series a good rating. Why are teen stories such a hit?
Longing glances in the school corridor, cliques, kisses, intrigues, identity search, bullying, ambition, first love, big feelings: these seem to be the ingredients that What series scripts need today to become a global streaming hit.
This is currently being proven by the German college series “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” with Harriet Herbig-Matten (20) and Damian Hardung (25). In its opening week, the Ufa production achieved “the largest global audience of a non-American title” in the history of Prime Video, reaching number one in the Prime Video charts in more than 120 countries.
“”Maxton Hall” is a romantic fantasy; the series celebrates genre conventions instead of subverting them,” says media scientist Moritz Stock from the University of Siegen. The familiar, consciously unreal and exaggerated is what makes it so attractive.”
Ideally, such series productions would need scenes and moments that work in short clips on platforms like Tiktok, “otherwise they have a hard time getting through to young audiences today.” Series try to create a reciprocal relationship. This was successful here. Individual scenes from “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” were often shared on Tiktok.
Filming locations in Lower Saxony and Oxford
In the series, in which Lower Saxony is partly sold as England (the fictional private school Maxton Hall is Marienburg Castle in Pattensen near Hanover), but which was also filmed in Oxford, viewers quickly know what to expect. But as predictable as the love story of the arrogant millionaire’s son James Beaufort and the down-to-earth, clever Ruby Bell seems to be, the series is lovingly made – good cliffhangers, for example, encourage binge-watching.
Moritz Stock is co-editor of the youth series collection “Teen TV”. The expert for teen and school series explains: “Youth series are character-centered narratives, meaning they are less focused on exciting plot developments and surprising twists.” Ensemble, proximity to characters and actors are more important than complex dramaturgy.
Since the transnational streaming market came into being, target group-oriented series have become more important, as Stock explains. People who are no longer tied to traditional television are particularly important for streaming providers such as Amazon, Disney and Netflix. “Youth series are relatable and quickly familiar to a young audience. Even though they come from different countries, they have universal similarities: being young, friendship, wanting to belong, first romantic and sexual experiences, shaping the future.”
Longing for a lost youth
At the same time, such series also attract older people. “In principle, youth series can always fulfill an adult audience’s longing for lost youth; some series are better suited to this than others,” says Stock. “Stranger Things,” for example, is particularly cleverly coded – on the one hand, the series is based on the iconography and genre conventions of 80s pop culture, but also appeals to a younger audience thanks to the character constellation and retro charm.
At their core, youth series have a lot that connects them, but still have a wide range: the educational series “Sex Education” about realistic youth problems is different from the horror and mystery series “Wednesday” or melodramatically pointed dramas with crime thriller elements like “Élite” and ” Dead girls don’t lie” (original title: “13 Reasons Why”). And they are different from “The Umbrella Academy”, “Euphoria”, “How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)” or “The Summer When I Became Beautiful”. From a historical perspective, the genre combination is often worlds apart from “Beverly Hills, 90210”, “Dawson’s Creek”, “OC, California”, “Gossip Girl”, “Skins” or “Glee”.
But back to “Maxton Hall”, the surprise success based on the novel “Save me” by the German writer Mona Kasten. Amazon’s streaming service ordered a second season shortly after the release of the six-part series. Damian Hardung (“Club of the Red Ribbons”) and Harriet Herbig-Matten (“Bibi & Tina – The Series”) are currently becoming world stars. They join a group of actors who have become the heartthrob of millions worldwide through coming-of-age material on streaming services, including Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”), Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”), Edvin Ryding (“Young Royals”) and Kit Connor (“Heartstopper”).