Good Morning America had a special running last week called “80s Week” and featured the hit television show Growing Pains. The cast members were reunited and reminisced about the success of the series. Cast members answered questions concerning romantic rumors and the personal problems that some faced. Kirk Cameron (Mike Seaver) explained how he struggled with the attention of fame and Tracy Gold (Carol Seaver) talked about her struggle with anorexia. Television shows in the 80s like Growing Pains, Mr. Belvedere, Who's the Boss, Perfect Strangers, and Family Ties instilled values and moral messages that seems absent from today's programming. Programs today are “reality” based and often have sexual themes to them. Television shows like Jersey Shore, Survivor, Big Brother, The Housewives of New Jersey are all reality shows that is fueled by manipulation and sex. It's quite evident how programming has changed, MTV stands for Music Television and now has more reality or scripted programs than they do music videos. These are the kinds of shows that get ratings and in turn program executives are churning out more and more of these programs. I often think about the sociological concerns of these programs. I would imagine it's teaching the younger generation that you too can be famous, you just have to act like an idiot or set aside your pride. Socialization is learning and internalizing the values and beliefs that is considered the norms of a culture and by doing this develop a sense of self. I feel that people that watch these kind of shows will soon inherit those moral messages of reality programming and instill the wrong values. I'm already starting to see this when out in bars, guys are fist pumping emulating the guys from Jersey Shore and women are using the word “bitches” as a term of endearment. It's amazing how much society is influenced by mass media and in this day and age of the World Wide Web messages spread faster and faster.
A positive side that television programs have had on society is the change in structure and agency, especially between institutions. The typical understanding of family structure used to be father, mother, and children. Nowadays family structure has changed and has come to mean various forms. For example, family structure now could mean single mother, single father, gay parents, and grandparents. MTV has a program called Teen Mom that showcases the life of a teenage mom, the struggles that she must deal with while balancing life at home with her parents. This program addresses the concern of teenage pregnancy and demonstrates the daily hardships. I feel that most people when lectured, without emotional connection to the subject, feel that whatever it is...it won't happen to them. I feel the series Teen Mom allows the audience to emotionally invest with the different cast members and in doing so feel for them and learn value lessons about teenage pregnancy. Show's like Will & Grace and The Ellen Degeneres Show has advanced the gay movement in America. There are more shows within the past 20 years that have openly gay cast members than ever before. This has changed the structure of family in terms of the heterosexual family members and allowed members to better understand and accept homosexual family members.
Although, I feel that the popular television programs in the 80s are far better than the popular shows in the past decade, there are positive aspects of the television shows within the past 20 years. I guess everyone yearns for better times and I can see why people like watching reality shows cause it makes them feel better about their lives but I often think about the values and beliefs these shows are instilling in their viewers.
No comments:
Post a Comment