Season four of Degrassi: The Next Class premiered on the Family Channel in Canada and Netflix in the US at the start of July, and like every Degrassi franchise, this season touched on very emotional but important topics.
Discussing issues such as the Belgian bombing, terrorism and Islamophobia, gender identity, abortion and mental health, there is no story line too heavy for viewers to relate to. This season especially focused on Esme Song’s struggle with mental illness and Yael Baron discovering their proper gender identity.
While Degrassi has had several story lines revolving around mental health, this is the first time they’ve included a storyline about a character being gender fluid.
Throughout season 4, Yael finds themselves uncomfortable in female clothing and realizing that they don’t identify with being neither a boy or girl. After being introduced to the idea of being gender fluid, Yael discovered that that was the label that fit their true identity.
Jamie Bloch plays Yael and as a cis gendered female, she was unaware of the thought process of those going through gender identity struggles and how to relate to the character. She turned to research to ensure that she got all the facts right in her portrayal.
“It just really opened my mind to the fact that gender identity is not really black and white and it’s a very personal, very individual thing,” she says of her research. “As Yael was learning and coming to terms with who they are, I was learning to come to terms with what it means to be gender queer in today’s society as a teenager and it really opened my eyes to the whole world of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Another difficult story line to throughout this season was Esme’s struggle with mental illness. Chelsea Clark, the actress who portrays Esme, has never personally gone through such severe distress as Esme has.
“We went to see a doctor at Sunnybrook Hospital to give me a better understanding of what it’s like to not know what’s going on inside your own head and the steps you have to take to try and get better and to better yourself and better your mental health,” she says about getting into character.
After stepping into the role, Chelsea has found a newfound respect for those struggling with mental illness.
“I think it’s one of the hardest things to do,” she says. “Whether it’s anxiety or depression or other mental illnesses, just knowing that you can’t trust your own mind is really difficult.“
It’s unclear whether Esme will return for another season, Chelsea would love to see the positive side of her mental illness explored. Esme has been portrayed as the “bad guy” the past few seasons, but after getting help, she hopes that viewers can move past the “villain character” and instead see Esme in more of a positive light.
These story lines can get emotional for the actresses to play due to the unfamiliarity of the situations as well as the reality that these situations have happened to those in real life.
“The pressure of having such an intense story line and wanting to do it justice sometimes got to me,” Chelsea says. “But having people around really helped me ground myself and play the character and not get too involved.”
Jamie says that is it the on-set community that really helps comfort each other in between takes in case things get too heavy. Between friends, cast mates and crew members, there’s always someone there to support them if need be.
“We’re very lucky in that regard that there’s a support system in place that we need in case it gets a little much on set,” she says. “Overall though, I think it’s just a super cool experience to have. It’s cool to play characters that are so diverse in their emotions and the situations they experience.”
Catch Chelsea and Jamie on Season 4 of Degrassi: The Next Class, now streaming on the Family Channel App.
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