Usually I just think of him as the most unbelievably Canadian-accented one, but Wheels was also probably one probably one of the most tragic characters ever to attend Degrassi. And oh yes, definitely more tragic than Claude because Claude was a selfish douche who was pretty much reverse engineered for suicide. But Wheels was like an old Greek tragedy where the character somehow isn’t able to be the full protagonist in their own life, they start off with good intentions but then are just kind of beaten down by circumstance. Think of Oedipus, though without the incest and the Freud and all.
Yan Moore, one of the wonderful writers for Degrassi, said that they had originally just imagined Wheels as basically a nice normal kid. A hardworking, down-to-earth guy to balance Joey’s zaniness and… whatever Snake was going for. But then somehow things just slowly unfolded in completely the wrong way for the guy and these things kind of shaped his development until “School’s Out,” which pulled no punches in bringing the grim arc to its heartbreakingly honest conclusion.
Many of the darker issues that were introduced into his storyline were, according to Moore, actually based on Neil Hope’s own life - mainly the death of Neil’s actual dad and his parents’ struggle with alcohol. That’s a bit fucked up on a few levels but it’s also pretty amazing that Neil Hope was willing to publicly portray what must have been some deeply personal stuff. As cheesy and hilarious as Degrassi was, what Neil did with Wheels kind of epitomizes the other side of Degrassi - the side that actually seriously wants to reach out to people, to speak realistically to them, basically to help people. I don’t know very much about Neil Hope but I think that side of Degrassi must have really mattered to him for him to portray the storylines that Wheels had, and even though it’s a hilariously dated, strange, often over-the-top “kid’s show,” that kind of optimism and commitment is pretty commendable. So thanks Neil. RIP.
(via gormayskum)
