As I flip through my "guilty pleasures" of American Reality T.V., I am struck by the mean-spiritedness evident in all of the shows. From the "Real Housewives", to all of MTV's "teen reality dramas", there is this sense of privileged back-stabbing.(As if this is THE WAY to behave--regardless of one's age. ) Being "popular" is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Gaining popularity through bitchiness (and wealth) is the only road to success.
Whether it be gay, straight, transgender or bi-sexual individuals, there is so much jealousy, name-calling and materialism, rampant in these productions, I wonder if the rest of the world "gets" that much of the footage is NOT spontaneous(or real). Many scenes are "recreated" for dramatic effect--or just outright scripted. (I know because I have met producers, writers and crew members of these shows, over the years in Los Angeles...) The demand for these seedy tales is only exceeded by the poor table manners and lack of conscience most of these shows portray. How did this happen?
If you listen to the arguments between "stars" on these programs, you can't help but notice the paucity of vocabulary employed by the characters. Whether it be "teens", or aging California housewives (from Bev Hills to Orange County), the verbiage is shockingly limited (and unusually mundane). No wonder it is so easy to pick up English. Perhaps the exception is the "countrified" (redneck) reality series, which follows its own set of rules: colorful,ignorant slang, which often becomes the running joke of the series... Makes me wonder if the world sees us as either a.) absolutely selfish or, b.) completely ignorant. (Whereas our "leaders" are sex-crazed and world-domineering, our "people" are just crazed...hmmm.)
We know we are not at the top of the heap when it comes to education. Perhaps we never really were and were just led to believe we ranked highest...statistics are so easily manipulated by those creating the studies. (Or by those PAYING for the studies...) If you watch American "reality" t.v., you can witness the dumbing of America and its resultant mean-ness.What bothers me most is the passive acceptance of this trend. Whereas once I worried about my nieces growing up in the shadow of white, coiffed Barbie dolls (as role models), I now worry that they are in a world of Heathers and Tamaras and sculpted, plastic- fleshed Vickis. Screaming fights between aging women in high-heels and bustiers, with tanned, pinch- faced "professional men" ogling them on. The shriller the voices, the more prosperous the life-style...sigh.
At middle-school and high school levels, across all socio-economic and racial/cultural boundaries, American kids are conditioned to believe that designer clothes (even if they are rip-offs), cars, and plastic surgery are necessary accoutrements to growing up. Forget the older days of shopping for pens, or notebooks. Now, the first day of class may include one's new nose-job...Friendships are based on what kicks one wears to school; the newest electronics; what kind of car one rides in. Forget kindness. Forget true loyalty (except to "the hood"--even if "the hood" is a gated community in "the OC"...)Forget shared experience or bravery.
Even kindergarten kids are begging for "mani-pedis". (If one can't afford a new "tablet" or smart phone, one can at least afford a tiny tattoo...or a tinier weave...) Girls mentioning "Brazilians" aren't discussing exchange students, either...While physical adornment (bling) has been with us throughout civilization, it seems to me a great irony that obesity rates, heart disease and childhood diabetes continue to plague us.(Sucking back "champs" instead of soda, and hoping for a rich spouse to pay for the liposuction, are touted as "miracle cures".) Stress relief comes in the form of behind the scenes nannies or thirty-five dollar designer cocktails after breakfast. This "will come" in adulthood--ask any fifth grader what's in store down the road. Expectations abound when it comes to the material gains in one's future. Spirituality, finesse, culture--those are never listed. (Why should one strive to paint an original piece when one can hire a decorator to procure one to match the settee in the great room?)
In the so-called "redneck America", there is a cartooned life that is held up as "authentic", but is equally charade. "Road-kill" cuisine; moon-shine; farting as family bonding; "skin crust" and "forklift-feet"; or being as loud as possible whenever one is in public: all touted as "more real" than what passes as culture in Beverly Hills. Poverty is simplified; white-washed as Tom Sawyer's fence. (Every redneck comes on t.v. with their own houses, farms, four-wheel vehicles, recreational weapons, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The kids may be unwashed, uncouth and/or uneducated, but Hell, they all have smart phones and get their nails down in a salon.)
In my growing-up period, I remember laughing at the t.v. shows, "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". (Poor people suddenly given the spotlight in situations they were unprepared for...hilarious.) However, these "poor folk" were not real and not really destitute. The humor came from their elaborate solutions to upscale encounters--absurd. (For example: the Three Stooges crashing a black-tie ball.) Nobody confused the escapades with reality. No one wanted to grow up and have a "Stooges lifestyle".
Today's reality shows warp America's truth: the hidden poor; the truly homeless: shoeless and hungry. (I suppose they also warp the super-rich: bound with sleepless nights worrying about Obamacare; estate management; tax loop-holes and their nannies.) In any sense, these shows are filled with a meanness that the t.v. shows of my youth (however inane) didn't push. Nose-jobs were sometimes discussed but rarely seen as "necessary" (or "a rite of passage"). If hissy fits and calling one's best- friend- of- the- month a "bay-itch" happened in those adult realms, it was rarely a story-line.
Passing dysfunctional people off as "the new stars" of America, makes me terribly upset. It robs our kids of the world-wide role models who are changing the planet for the better. (Who are working for the advancement of all people, not just to be "rich and famous".) Outward beauty is to be appreciated. It will always have its place. But standards of beauty should be expanded, not set in silicon. Cultural beauty should be relished--and shared. Not homogenized.
Nature abhors sameness. (If we get addicted to only the "sugar", it will kill us.) Differences are valuable. When was the last time you heard that? (Score: "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo!"--I gotta give props when props are due...) Let's not just mouth the platitudes about "inner beauty", though. Let's show inner-beauty as glorious; worth cultivating. Something as valuable as cut abs or a Beamer.
Let's celebrate friendships that last more than one episode; don't change season- to- season, or get shifted over someone's blog-fight. Let's not ridicule a family's ignorance while turning around and lauding their loyalty--as if giving back-handed compliments are true rewards. Let's teach through our own reactions and become better friends, ourselves.
More than anything else, let's stop calling these scripted shows "real"--confusing our kids AND the rest of the world. Americans aren't any "meaner" than people in other countries. We have just as many real-life problems behind the materialism you see portrayed on our television shows. Our poverty remains(mostly) shoved out of sight. It is grindingly real to the folks trying to survive.
Let's stop stereo-typing cartoons in place of true cultural identity. (We don't all eat "sketti" made from margarine and ketchup, even if we live in the South. Not everyone in OC --or even Beverly Hills, for that matter-- is white. Nor a millionaire --even if they'd like to be). Every girl isn't given a nose-job for her sixth birthday, nor breast implants when she hits puberty. Loyalty isn't limited to the backwoods--nor is wrestling and mud-driving.
While coming to these frightening realizations, I must admit: I'm hooked too.
Just as we all slow down for car wrecks on the freeway, "to see"; watching these shows becomes a compulsion.
No one is immune--which is most insidious of all..
So, be careful, Honey Boo-Boo! The zombies are coming to get ya'll...
Whether it be gay, straight, transgender or bi-sexual individuals, there is so much jealousy, name-calling and materialism, rampant in these productions, I wonder if the rest of the world "gets" that much of the footage is NOT spontaneous(or real). Many scenes are "recreated" for dramatic effect--or just outright scripted. (I know because I have met producers, writers and crew members of these shows, over the years in Los Angeles...) The demand for these seedy tales is only exceeded by the poor table manners and lack of conscience most of these shows portray. How did this happen?
If you listen to the arguments between "stars" on these programs, you can't help but notice the paucity of vocabulary employed by the characters. Whether it be "teens", or aging California housewives (from Bev Hills to Orange County), the verbiage is shockingly limited (and unusually mundane). No wonder it is so easy to pick up English. Perhaps the exception is the "countrified" (redneck) reality series, which follows its own set of rules: colorful,ignorant slang, which often becomes the running joke of the series... Makes me wonder if the world sees us as either a.) absolutely selfish or, b.) completely ignorant. (Whereas our "leaders" are sex-crazed and world-domineering, our "people" are just crazed...hmmm.)
We know we are not at the top of the heap when it comes to education. Perhaps we never really were and were just led to believe we ranked highest...statistics are so easily manipulated by those creating the studies. (Or by those PAYING for the studies...) If you watch American "reality" t.v., you can witness the dumbing of America and its resultant mean-ness.What bothers me most is the passive acceptance of this trend. Whereas once I worried about my nieces growing up in the shadow of white, coiffed Barbie dolls (as role models), I now worry that they are in a world of Heathers and Tamaras and sculpted, plastic- fleshed Vickis. Screaming fights between aging women in high-heels and bustiers, with tanned, pinch- faced "professional men" ogling them on. The shriller the voices, the more prosperous the life-style...sigh.
At middle-school and high school levels, across all socio-economic and racial/cultural boundaries, American kids are conditioned to believe that designer clothes (even if they are rip-offs), cars, and plastic surgery are necessary accoutrements to growing up. Forget the older days of shopping for pens, or notebooks. Now, the first day of class may include one's new nose-job...Friendships are based on what kicks one wears to school; the newest electronics; what kind of car one rides in. Forget kindness. Forget true loyalty (except to "the hood"--even if "the hood" is a gated community in "the OC"...)Forget shared experience or bravery.
Even kindergarten kids are begging for "mani-pedis". (If one can't afford a new "tablet" or smart phone, one can at least afford a tiny tattoo...or a tinier weave...) Girls mentioning "Brazilians" aren't discussing exchange students, either...While physical adornment (bling) has been with us throughout civilization, it seems to me a great irony that obesity rates, heart disease and childhood diabetes continue to plague us.(Sucking back "champs" instead of soda, and hoping for a rich spouse to pay for the liposuction, are touted as "miracle cures".) Stress relief comes in the form of behind the scenes nannies or thirty-five dollar designer cocktails after breakfast. This "will come" in adulthood--ask any fifth grader what's in store down the road. Expectations abound when it comes to the material gains in one's future. Spirituality, finesse, culture--those are never listed. (Why should one strive to paint an original piece when one can hire a decorator to procure one to match the settee in the great room?)
In the so-called "redneck America", there is a cartooned life that is held up as "authentic", but is equally charade. "Road-kill" cuisine; moon-shine; farting as family bonding; "skin crust" and "forklift-feet"; or being as loud as possible whenever one is in public: all touted as "more real" than what passes as culture in Beverly Hills. Poverty is simplified; white-washed as Tom Sawyer's fence. (Every redneck comes on t.v. with their own houses, farms, four-wheel vehicles, recreational weapons, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The kids may be unwashed, uncouth and/or uneducated, but Hell, they all have smart phones and get their nails down in a salon.)
In my growing-up period, I remember laughing at the t.v. shows, "The Beverly Hillbillies" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". (Poor people suddenly given the spotlight in situations they were unprepared for...hilarious.) However, these "poor folk" were not real and not really destitute. The humor came from their elaborate solutions to upscale encounters--absurd. (For example: the Three Stooges crashing a black-tie ball.) Nobody confused the escapades with reality. No one wanted to grow up and have a "Stooges lifestyle".
Today's reality shows warp America's truth: the hidden poor; the truly homeless: shoeless and hungry. (I suppose they also warp the super-rich: bound with sleepless nights worrying about Obamacare; estate management; tax loop-holes and their nannies.) In any sense, these shows are filled with a meanness that the t.v. shows of my youth (however inane) didn't push. Nose-jobs were sometimes discussed but rarely seen as "necessary" (or "a rite of passage"). If hissy fits and calling one's best- friend- of- the- month a "bay-itch" happened in those adult realms, it was rarely a story-line.
Passing dysfunctional people off as "the new stars" of America, makes me terribly upset. It robs our kids of the world-wide role models who are changing the planet for the better. (Who are working for the advancement of all people, not just to be "rich and famous".) Outward beauty is to be appreciated. It will always have its place. But standards of beauty should be expanded, not set in silicon. Cultural beauty should be relished--and shared. Not homogenized.
Nature abhors sameness. (If we get addicted to only the "sugar", it will kill us.) Differences are valuable. When was the last time you heard that? (Score: "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo!"--I gotta give props when props are due...) Let's not just mouth the platitudes about "inner beauty", though. Let's show inner-beauty as glorious; worth cultivating. Something as valuable as cut abs or a Beamer.
Let's celebrate friendships that last more than one episode; don't change season- to- season, or get shifted over someone's blog-fight. Let's not ridicule a family's ignorance while turning around and lauding their loyalty--as if giving back-handed compliments are true rewards. Let's teach through our own reactions and become better friends, ourselves.
More than anything else, let's stop calling these scripted shows "real"--confusing our kids AND the rest of the world. Americans aren't any "meaner" than people in other countries. We have just as many real-life problems behind the materialism you see portrayed on our television shows. Our poverty remains(mostly) shoved out of sight. It is grindingly real to the folks trying to survive.
Let's stop stereo-typing cartoons in place of true cultural identity. (We don't all eat "sketti" made from margarine and ketchup, even if we live in the South. Not everyone in OC --or even Beverly Hills, for that matter-- is white. Nor a millionaire --even if they'd like to be). Every girl isn't given a nose-job for her sixth birthday, nor breast implants when she hits puberty. Loyalty isn't limited to the backwoods--nor is wrestling and mud-driving.
While coming to these frightening realizations, I must admit: I'm hooked too.
Just as we all slow down for car wrecks on the freeway, "to see"; watching these shows becomes a compulsion.
No one is immune--which is most insidious of all..
So, be careful, Honey Boo-Boo! The zombies are coming to get ya'll...
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