Zoe Williams, a Guardian columnist, reflects on how prom night has made her realise she has turned into her mother. She recalls her mother's disdain for Halloween as a 'disgusting Americanisation' of a previously low-key event. Now, with prom becoming a British tradition, Williams finds herself asking the same questions her mother once did: 'Why are we doing this? Is it just because we learned it off the telly?'
The outfits and the drama
Williams describes the elaborate outfits that teenagers wear to prom, likening them to contestants in Mr and Ms Universe pageants. She notes the beauty and shy hopefulness of the teenagers, but also the complaints about nerd-coloured dresses, wrong straps, and square suits. Despite the preparations, the event itself lacks drama. 'Nobody ever even snogs anyone they didn’t arrive with. There’s no drama, there are no home truths,' she writes, quoting a prom attendee who said, 'It’s prom, it’s not Coachella.'
The absence of alcohol
Williams attributes the lack of excitement to the absence of alcohol, another Americanism she finds puzzling. 'No drinking authorised under 21, even though for the rest of the year we’re all still British and they’ve been vomiting in each other’s front gardens since they were in Year 10,' she observes. This contrast between the sober prom and the typical British teenage behaviour highlights the cultural import's inconsistencies.
A personal reflection
Williams concludes by wishing her mother had lived to see her turn into her, but notes that her mother would also have seen the destruction of her belief that 'There will never be a summer hotter than 1976.' She sums up the experience as 'swings and roundabouts.'
