Top 10 Times That's So Raven Tackled Serious Issues

A new exchange student called Tendaji gets teased by his classmates for wearing traditional garments from his fictional homeland of Shakobi. Raven immediately comes to his defense and calls them out on their behavior. She then befriends him and invites him to hang out. But in typical Raven fashion, several misunderstandings lead to a marriage proposal. She doesn’t even realize what she’s agreed to until she’s at her own wedding ceremony. Nevertheless, the message of this episode is not to discriminate against other cultures and to respect them. Every culture has its own beauty and the importance of acceptance is prevalent throughout.

When Raven doesn’t land the lead in the school play, she refuses to take it lying down. Then when she has a vision of her dad getting fired, she tries to prevent that from happening too. Of course, it has the opposite result but at least it introduces us to Liz Anya. Her dad then sits her down to explain that rejection isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it opens a door for opportunities you may have never even considered. With a new outlook on dealing with rejection, Raven decides to showcase her talents in the school play in a different way.

Raven has had her fair share of conflicts with other students over the series. However, no matter how big of a jerk the other person might be, Raven usually opts not to sink to their level. We first see it when she has a chance to get back at Nikki after the whole party debacle but chooses not to. She even manages to bond with Alana on a few occasions. Raven teaches us that while sometimes it can be tempting to fight fire with fire, it’s usually not worth it. Instead, when they go low, we should still strive to go high.

Admit it, when they introduced a food court to Bayside, you were a little envious. However, as the episode progressed, you realized that it probably wasn’t the best idea after all. At first everyone, except Chelsea, is excited by the idea of all-you-can-eat junk food. However, the students soon become lethargic and unfit, and Raven sees the future for everyone’s behinds. As the students prepare to vote on whether the food court stays or goes, Raven and Chelsea give them some food for thought - in a way that only they could. Ultimately, the food court is found guilty of promoting an unhealthy diet.

Chelsea Daniels was an eco-warrior long before environmental issues dominated our headlines. From a young age, she always looked out for the environment, as we see following a flashback to her fifth birthday. She was the president of her school’s Greenery Preservation Club and never missed an opportunity to educate others on the importance of conservation. After all, who could forget her opera about acid rain or the song, “On Top of Old Oaky”. And remember that time we met her friend from vegetarian camp? Perhaps we didn’t notice at the time, but for four seasons, the writers often advocated for environmental preservation.

Airing during Black History Month, this episode’s subplot sought to educate audiences on historical and influential Black Americans. Cory needs to choose someone to write a report about but he’s uninspired. Victor tells him that learning about Black History is a privilege that he didn’t have during his school days, but Cory remains hardheaded. However, Frederick Douglass then visits him in a dream and introduces him to several important Black Americans throughout history. After that, he can’t wait to get to work. There is a lot we can learn from this episode. For example, if you love ice cream, you have Sam Jackson to thank.

As Raven’s audience matured, so did the themes and content of the show. In the series finale, Cory reconnects with an old girlfriend. Only he’s horrified to learn that she’s bowed to peer pressure and started smoking. However, thanks to a string of misunderstandings, Raven believes that Cory’s the one smoking and decides to hold an intervention. Sandwiched between the funnier moments of this scene are some real hard-hitting truths about the dangers of smoking. And luckily, Cindy is there to hear them all. Just as Cory is about to take the fall for her actions, she confesses and vows to never smoke again.

Cory starts hanging out with a new group of friends who turn out to be bad news. While at the mall, they teach Cory about the “five finger discount” and convince him that stealing will make him cool. Wanting to impress them, he goes along with it but soon the guilt begins to eat him up. He realizes that being popular simply isn’t worth the cost and stands up for himself. Of course, having a psychic sister, who’s always ready with a disguise doesn’t hurt either. Ultimately, Cory learns that you should always do what’s right, even if you have to do it alone.

Raven is super excited when her dream to model her own dress design is in reach. But she’s left feeling deflated after seeing that the magazine execs digitally altered her body. She’s also told that she’s not runway material because she doesn’t have “the look”. The episode shows how body shaming can affect all of us but fortunately, the body-confident Mimi steers Raven back on the right track. The fashionista decides to follow her dreams after all and has a few choice words for the magazine’s editor-in-chief. There wasn’t a lot of body positivity in the 00s, which is why this episode was so powerful.

This episode was considered groundbreaking for its direct approach to discussing racism in the workplace. When Raven and Chelsea apply for the same job, only Chelsea gets hired despite Raven clearly being the more qualified applicant. But then Raven has a vision that shows why she didn’t get the job. With some encouragement from her parents, Raven and her friends go on a sting operation to expose the racist store manager. The writers don’t sugarcoat this serious subject nor do they talk down to their audience. Rather they expertly balance entertainment and education in a way that only Raven and co. could.