We just finished watching Daybreak on Netflix. This was a very creative and interesting and mostly normal coming of age story that takes place in an apocalyptic setting. It also offers a little bit of nostalgia to any adults who stumble upon it, since it stars Matthew Broderick, of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and War Games fame. Unfortunately, mixed in with some poignant teenage issues, like romance, figuring oneself out, the agony of high school cliques, feeling like an outcast, and desperate longing for parental love and quality time, Daybreak inserts unnecessary propaganda into the story where it is obviously not natural.

However, now that I have had time to grow up and look back on the movies and other culture I consumed as a child, teen, and college student, I understand that this is nothing new. We were being brainwashed by cartoons, commercials, music, MTV, magazines, and movies from the day they were invented. Think of the pro-abortion themes in Grease and Dirty Dancing and Saturday Night Fever. How about the anti-religion slant in Footloose and Ode to Billy Joe? Those are just a few off the top of my head. You can Google it and find many more message movies.

So what was the propaganda in Daybreak that interfered with an otherwise pretty cool show? After several episodes that were fairly tame, the gay scenes started. Then the main character, who wants to do the right thing but is a bit of a doofus, has sex with his girlfriend for the first time losing his virginity. After that we are subjected to an awful scene of him telling her he loves her and her reacting with a disgusting and unrealistic feminist tirade about how she can have sex with whoever she wants. If that is how girls really are today, I feel so bad for the boys looking for wives. Lastly we are treated to an HPV vaccine commercial from the principal. It’s so blatant that I have hope today’s very savvy Gen Z will see through it.

Anyway, just venting. I would liken this show to an updated version of Ferris Bueller and similar movies where there are few adults and the kids are trying to figure out life. Daybreak is based on a graphic novel. The plot is that a nuclear bomb goes off and the adults all die or become ghoulies. The kids divide up into stereotypical cliques to survive. I liked the positive parts that showed kids working together and working through conflicts and coming up with solutions. It’s actually pretty clever and I enjoyed it, but I hated the propaganda scenes. Thankfully we have a fast forward button.

Have you seen it? Do these blatant attempts to brainwash the viewer bother you? Does the good outweigh the bad in this show?