Danielle Fishel Says It’s Okay Topanga Didn’t Go to Yale for Cory Because ‘She Would’ve Been Successful Anywhere’

https://people.com/danielle-fishel-defends-topanga-decision-not-to-go-to-yale-boy-meets-world-8778469

25 comments

  1. > Fishel, 43, explained on the podcast episode that, though it’s controversial, she doesn’t think Topanga made the wrong choice. “She would’ve been successful anywhere,” Fishel said. She explained that the show puts “a lot of importance” on marriage and relationships but it also puts an emphasis on “where you go to school.”

    > “Do we need to?” she asked about the emphasis on Yale specifically. “Topanga was gonna be successful no matter where she went to school.” Viewers’ opinions about the decision were split down the middle, which Fishel was surprised by. “I actually thought more people would’ve said, ‘Why throw a wrench into your entire life?’ ” she said about Topanga’s decision to keep her relationship going.

  8. Didn’t she go to Yale at the end of the show? Her and Cory moved away somewhere at the end.

  9. The only name I recognize in that title is “Yale”

  10. In reality it’s really up to you (being a person IRL and not decided by a script) what is more important. Topanga, at this point, had already put all her eggs into Copanga even after her parents moved her away and Cory had that thing with Lauren.

    She clearly steers from career success and being #1 (most of the time) as her relationship with Cory also progresses and she ends up going to NY anyway to become a lawyer so it always worked out for her — she got the husband and kids + the kickass career. If she truly wanted it the other way (kids much later and becoming a career shark right outta HS), she would’ve chosen that route. It remains to be seen (in script) if that would be the best choice but her interests aligned more with Cory than it ever did to be solely a career shark.

  12. She’s right, same reason I didn’t go to Harvard because I would’ve just wound up a server

  14. Of course she made the wrong choice lol. How is that even a discussion?

  15. She should’ve gone to Yale. Rory Gilmore should’ve gone to some other school for a boy

  16. Boy meets world started out at as a lesson of the week show in the vein of Father Knows Best and Leave it to Beaver. But it transitions to teen melodrama. The issue is that the show continues to present itself as if it was a lesson of the week show, even as those lessons became less coherent and more fucked up. 

    Having Tapanga make certain choices is totally fine for that character. The audiences liked the couple so of course they were never gonna have them permanently break up. The issue is the show would.then turn to the audience and say “nothing matters more than love, and they know they’re soul mates. and that’s why it’s very good that Tapanga did XYZ” and that’s where the show gets iffy. Because Cory and Tapanga are not exactly couple goals. They’re not so dysfunctional that it’s disgusting a network show would air it. But they’re also not something I’d call a role model for young children

    Even as a little kid, I felt like they were dramatic and messy and corys intensity taken outside of the sitcom format was honestly a little creepy at points. Like bro  I know you love her but you need to get a hobby and dial it back. It was pretending it was the greatest love story ever told when it was actually just Ross and Rachel for babies. 

  18. As a former trad wife who gave up a career who later got divorced and left with nothing as a result of said choice… always choose your education and career ladies. Money isn’t about status it’s about choice. Autonomy.

  19. Hot take: topanga was ugly. Looks like that obsessive gf meme

  20. Yes it was dumb, but it was also a TV show where they tried to follow them to college. It was a logical.comercial decision, not a real.world.decision. She was obviously out of his league.

  21. Thanks to Eric Matthews, anytime I see the word Yale, I pronounce it “Yah-lay” in my head. It used to be out loud, but nobody got the reference.

  22. I wonder what mark bluntman father of Liam thinks about this

  24. Why justify an obvious bad choice just to stand by your show. To anyone in a similar situation: Go To Yale! When given opportunities beyond what others receive that can change your life- TAKE THEM!

  25. Oh come on. The “Topanga gets accepted to Yale” story line.. was 100% to drive the soap opera like nature of the show at that point. Not about a young woman feeling pressured to choose between Yale and her high school bf.

    The show was playing to its audience of dramatic teenagers. I mean did we ever see Topanga involved in excessive extra curricular, or…. More likely.. with a wealthy senator parent?

    How was she getting accepted to Yale? I think I remember Muncus coming back and throwing a fit shit had like half a point GPA higher?

    And let’s be honest.. I think at this point shes right. Maybe back in like the 60s or whatever going to Yale would’ve mattered? By even by the late 90s not getting accepted to an Ivy league school wasn’t some death knell

Comments are closed.