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P. 17
Pop Tate’s. Burgers. but sometimes weak teenager? It usually
Cheerleaders. seemed like Veronica but sometimes Betty
Riverdale High. The got a shoo-in, only for her and us to be
Blue and the Gold. All disappointed. Was Reggie the villain in the
magical mysteries to story or just one more case of unrequited
us. Even the ads were love like Betty’s? And Jughead, where did
intriguing. Twinkies, he fit in? Big Ethel may have loved him,
X-ray glasses and Sea but he definitely loved food the best! The
Monkeys. What were obvious fit would be a gay Jughead. But
these bizarre things? they never hinted at it and we never took it
It’s odd how the Brits further.
left India but did not Underneath the
really leave behind teenager hi jinks, the
much “soft power”, fun, Archie’s jalopy,
except leftovers of and the rest of the
what they themselves supporting crew,
Pop Tate - Owner of the consumed. America was the other side of
most popular diner in did the soft power Americana. Not all
Riverdale
very well. Hollywood. washing machines
Time, Life and Newsweek magazines. and clean streets.
Archie comics. If my mother’s generation Class differences were
read Woman and Home and Women’s clear and marked out.
Weekly, their daughters read Seventeen. Veronica was rich, the
Is it because of life in an American town rest were middle class
was made so beguiling that so many of Jughead loved food! and lower. It was never
my generation ran to America for further clear if that was the main reason why
education? Veronica’s father, Mr “Gadzooks” Lodge
There was no young adult literature disapproved of Archie – money and social
in our time. We read the “classics” to position.
acquaint ourselves with the ways of the
world. So from Pride and Prejudice to Jane
Eyre to Wuthering Heights, you got an
interestingly skewed perspective on how
to deal with the “opposite sex”. Or girls and
boys, as we called them.
Archie, Betty and
Veronica – the eternal love
triangle Riverdale – the tv series based on the dark side of
And Archie Comics had Archies
it all. The eternal triangle Over the years, Archie Comics have
between Archie, Betty and tried to change with the times, and
Veronica. Who did he love, today they have changed so much to be
this charming, likeable unrecognisable to us Boomers and Gen
SENIORS TODAY | ISSUE #54 | DECEMBER 2023 17
