Trash T.V

Is trash T.V bad for women? I think it is to an extent. Most T.V shows have the typical back-stabbing bitch that plays the part of the bitch you don’t want to mess with. Or so she seems like a real hard ass on the outside but at some point along the plot she is the one who usually cracks and cries. Then there is the sweet small town girl who gets along with about everyone except the back-stabbing bitch who probably doesn’t like her. The small town girl is relatable to almost everyone and is the girl that all the guys’ want but can’t have since she usually is “saving herself”. Then there is the crazy girl who probably has a drinking problem. She’s the one who gets really drunk at some point or another and makes a fool of herself or sleeps with one of the guys. She is usually liked by everyone until everyone has to clean up her puke from a long night out. Then there is the hot, sexy girl who has class and a nice ass but still holds it all together in the end. She is defiantly liked by all the guys and that is not the case for all the girls who are most likely jealous of her. Why do T.V shows put women into these certain categories? Is it because that is what everyone wants to see, or it’s because that’s what these producers think the audience wants to see? I think it’s a combination of both because in all reality, if producers were to put ordinary women with normal personalities on T.V the show would probably not do as well as others with these stereotypical personalities. This kind of T.V is really not good for women and gives a bad impression on little girls who think that is how most girls act. Will these stereotypical types of women eventually change on T.V? No one really knows.

Disney Princesses

The discussion about a princess culture really had me thinking “are we over analyzing such an innocent concept?” I never would have looked at Disney princesses with such scrutiny and dissection. But once the class began to further discuss the article the princess culture began to make more sense. I understood the difference between Walt’s princesses and Team Disney’s princesses. But there are also similarities between Walt’s princesses and Team Disney’s’. Walt’s princesses were the classic beauty who works hard but yet is oppressed in some way. Snow white is forced to live with her evil step mother after both of her parents die. Her step mother is very jealous of her beauty and fears her beauty will beat her own some day. Then snow white eventually befriends a group of dwarves who are outcasts in woods. Another princess with a similar story is Cinderella. Both of Cinderella’s parents die and she is forced to live with her step-mother and step-sisters that are all jealous of her beauty. Cinderella also befriends a couple of mice who are also outcasts.

Team Disney’s princesses have some of these very same situations as Walt’s princesses had mentioned above. Pocahontas is another Disney princess whose mother is deceased but this time her father is alive and the one raising her. She is also considered the first American princess since all of the previous ones originated from a different country. However, she does not have a character that is jealous of her beauty but befriends outcasts such as a raccoon and a hummingbird as friends. Ariel another Team Disney is also motherless and raised by her father. She doesn’t have anyone who’s jealous of her but has friends such as Flounder the fish and Sebastian the crab as outcast friends. And so when one compares the different Disney princesses there are definite differences but they all have very similar story patterns and characteristics.

RX Nation

A while ago in class we watched a clip of Sarah Haskins in Target Women: Medicine. It described America’s commercials to a T. Every other commercial we see is promoting a drug to help cure some illness or aliment we think we might have. We are so bombarded with prescription drug commercials it’s almost sickening. I feel these commercials are contributing to America’s dependency on prescription pills. Doctors have noted that more and more patients are going in and asking for specific drugs. In the past this would have never have happened and patients would not know of specific drugs to use. I can understand the original idea behind this because it lets patients have more knowledge of what their doctor may prescribe to them. But now it has gotten to the point that every other commercial is about depression or asthma. I feel these commercials are fueling the problem America has with prescription drug use. Our own generation has even been called Generation RX because of the availability of prescription drugs and how people abuse them. My high school was defiantly part of this statistic because so many of my peers abused prescription drugs. With so many young adults that grew up in this generation I feel that most of them will become prescription drug dependent and will forever be reliant on drugs to survive. I also think that if pharmaceutical companies began to stop advertising their drugs I feel that the demand for these drugs would lessen. All of that money spent on drug commercials should go towards something more worthwhile like finding a cure for a disease and not let people believe that they need a pill to cure everything.

Reality Shows

Earlier today in class we were discussing the concept of “trash” T.V. I am not a big fan of reality shows but since they’re mostly what is shown on T.V it is hard not catch myself watching an episode of Jersey Shore. Whenever I am at my parents’ house and I am watching a reality show one of them will say “why do you watch such mindless T.V?” This got me thinking “why do we watch these mindless shows?” I don’t agree with Franklin when he says we watch reality T.V. because “we can distinguish ourselves from them”. I think there are several factors to this question. I think people watch these shows because they believe it’s all true and no one is acting. I think that was the original fascination with the concept of reality T.V. When it first came about people thought it was actually “real”. I can remember the first reality show I began to watch back in the day which was Laguna Beach. This show was centered on a group of friends who were wealthy and lived in Laguna Beach, California. I think this show became popular with high school kids because it was a different lifestyle. The lifestyle appeared glamorous and the drama on the show was not like the drama I had in my Midwest high school. The second factor I feel is the reason people watch these shows is because I think people try to imagine themselves in these reality stars’ shoes. The drama and lifestyle of these reality stars appeal to certain people who I think want to be like them. That is why people become so engrossed with these T.V shows.