Tropedia

  • Before making a single edit, Tropedia EXPECTS our site policy and manual of style to be followed. Failure to do so may result in deletion of contributions and blocks of users who refuse to learn to do so. Our policies can be reviewed here.
  • All images MUST now have proper attribution, those who neglect to assign at least the "fair use" licensing to an image may have it deleted. All new pages should use the preloadable templates feature on the edit page to add the appropriate basic page markup. Pages that don't do this will be subject to deletion, with or without explanation.
  • All new trope pages will be made with the "Trope Workshop" found on the "Troper Tools" menu and worked on until they have at least three examples. The Trope workshop specific templates can then be removed and it will be regarded as a regular trope page after being moved to the Main namespace. THIS SHOULD BE WORKING NOW, REPORT ANY ISSUES TO Janna2000, SelfCloak or RRabbit42. DON'T MAKE PAGES MANUALLY UNLESS A TEMPLATE IS BROKEN, AND REPORT IT THAT IS THE CASE. PAGES WILL BE DELETED OTHERWISE IF THEY ARE MISSING BASIC MARKUP.

READ MORE

Tropedia
Register
Advertisement
Farm-Fresh balanceYMMVTransmit blueRadarWikEd fancyquotesQuotes • (Emoticon happyFunnyHeartHeartwarmingSilk award star gold 3Awesome) • RefridgeratorFridgeGroupCharactersScript editFanfic RecsSkull0Nightmare FuelRsz 1rsz 2rsz 1shout-out iconShout OutMagnifierPlotGota iconoTear JerkerBug-silkHeadscratchersHelpTriviaWMGFilmRoll-smallRecapRainbowHo YayPhoto linkImage LinksNyan-Cat-OriginalMemesHaiku-wide-iconHaikuLaconicLibrary science symbol SourceSetting
File:Summer heights high dvd aus.png

An Australian Cringe Comedy series created by Chris Lilley, Summer Heights High is a series is a Mockumentary on the goings-on at the Summer Heights High School. Specifically, it revolves around three characters:

None of these ever meet, which is for a reason — all three are expertly played by Lilley himself.

Most of the show focuses on highly detailed Improv comedy filmed at an actual school, with a large cast of teenagers all participating in the story. Although the show is largely a parody, many real social issues in Australian society are examined, and Lilley's characters get some very genuine moments as the story progresses.

Over the course of eight episodes, Mr G develops a drama production based on the incident of a student dying from a drug overdose, Ja'mie attempts to fit in with her new 'povvo' school and start a Year 11 dance formal, and Jonah flouts the school rules with his gang of friends.

The series very much takes Refuge in Audacity, saying and doing things that most other shows refuse to do. As a result of this, it became extremely popular, but was most popular among school students, who recognised parallels with the show in their own daily lives.

Also, its popularity resulted in Lilley (in the Mr. G persona) releasing a single, Naughty Girl, based off a song from the musical in the show.

Tropes used in Summer Heights High include:
  • Absurdly Powerful Student Council — Ja'mie cons the principal into throwing a Year 11 Dance Formal, despite the fact that Formals have been banned at Summer Heights High for years.
  • Acquired Situational Narcissism — When Mr. G is promoted to interim chair of the Drama department Head of Performing Arts. Though he was a narcissist to begin with, he takes it Up to Eleven within hours.
  • Alpha Bitch — Ja'mie King
  • Attention Whore — Ja'mie and Mr. G
  • Ax Crazy — One of the students' in Jonah's class reads a story about him going on a methodically planned-out school shooting in front of school staff and parents.
  • Bait and Switch
Cquote1

Mr. G: I know a job where I can sing, and I can dance, and I can act every day. And get paid for it. (Beat) And it was drama teaching.

Cquote2
Cquote1

Jonah: People are racist to us, so we can be racist to rangas.

Cquote2


Cquote1

Jonah: I wasn't the only ringleader; these boys were in it too.

Cquote2
  • Pet the Dog — Mr. G's chihuahua is the only thing he loves almost as much as himself so much that after revealing she isn't dead but paralyzed, he manually helps her go the bathroom.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero — All the characters have their prejudices. Ja'mie is classist and racist, especially towards Asians. It's Mr. G versus the mentally handicapped, the only group he's afraid to offend. And Jonah is a bully, who hates redheads.
  • Precision F-Strike — Normally clean-mouthed Mr. G: "Thank God you're here. Where have you been, bitch?"
  • Refuge in Audacity — Aforementioned.
    • Unless you have actually attended an Australian public high school. Then it's par for the course.
      • If you teach at one, it's too depressingly true to watch.
  • Shock Value Relationship — Ja'mie attempts this by asking a lesbian girl to the dance. Said girl is displeased to find out Ja'mie isn't really a lesbian.
  • Shotacon — Ja'mie is initially very attracted to a boy several years younger and several feet shorter then her.
  • Shout-Out — Ja'mie is "the youngest person to be nominated for 'Australian of the Year'", something that Lilley tried to do as a joke.
    • Specifically, it's a Shout-Out to "We Can Be Heroes", Liley's previous mockumentary which introduced Ja'mie.
  • Similarly Named Works — One of Mr. G's early works was called Cats.
  • The Snark Knight — Mr. G.
Cquote1

I'm always joking with the principal. I always say to Margaret, "You've got yourself an entertainment industry professional for the price of a teacher. So where's my pay rise?"

Cquote2
  • Teens Are Monsters
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist — All three.
    • Many found Jonah to be very sympathetic, which makes the last episode very hard to watch.
      • Again, it depends on whether you attend(ed) high school in Australia, especially one with a high Torres Strait/Tongan/Solomon Islands population.
      • The level at which Jonah was portrayed sympathetically varied from episode to episode. Most people can't help feeling bad for him in the last episode, but the episode where he's given a Year 7 buddy really makes him look like a Jerkass.
  • Yandere — Ja'mie becomes very upset when she believes her younger "boyfriend" is cheating talking to someone else and steals his phone.
Advertisement