No matter how you spin it, TV shows do influence those that watch it. This can be a negative influence or a positive influence depending on the show. For guys we have had great male role models and some horrible ones as well, but the balance is towards more good guys than bad. Think every major TV series, most are lead by good standing guys, thus boys grow up looking up to these figures, while understanding the difference between what is success and what is not. When it comes to lead female roles within television we have seen a shift happen, and more lead female inspired shows are coming out, which we think is awesome, but the dark side of the matter is that for every good TV show influence that comes out, there are five bad influences that surface, this is a cause we must begin fighting against.
Let's start with an obvious show, "16 and pregnant", here girls learn that having a baby at 16 might be tough and the guy that you slept with might leave you, but you can do this and it is accomplishable, and that bad guy might just come around and become a good guy, do give it a shot yourself. Ok, maybe we're exaggerating a bit, but this show is not about preventing girls from getting in this situation, at best it is giving an example of someone who is doing it and surviving, so providing someone with the justification to go through doing such a thing. The point here is, that the show should emphasize the reality of the situation, attempting to spread a positive message of abstinence, and encourage teenage girls to have a future, be successful and aim to the heavens, instead of their message right now which is "aim low, you can do it, she just did, so can you :)", it's sickening when you realize the kind of garbage the next generation of women are being influenced by.
Where is the TV show that hosts the successful women in the world, where is the show where we have good messages being sent out? We're not talking about having a reality show with "perfect" people in them, no we're talking about putting a cast together of women who are making a difference in this world and providing the next generation with positive influences, with women they can look up to. No one is perfect, that is truth, so the show would be funny, and there would be drama, and fights, but it would be hosting a series of accomplished women, women who's goal should be encouraging fellow women in the world to succeed and rise to the top.
Think about all the reality shows about wives even, which one of those actually hosts a decent human being? It's sickening, the equivalent for guys is a gladiator match, this is what these shows are, these shows are basically featuring the scum of the earth, the worst type of people, the people you don't want to be but enjoy watching, fighting against one another to determine who is the worst of them all (i.e. gladiator match). We love watching people self-destruct on television, every year there is a celebrity we follow that does so, and every year we all watch it with eyes open, be it Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, or Charlie Sheen, we love it all. This in a sense is another conversation for another time, but the point here is that for every bad guy role model there are five good guy role models pushed upon us by television, but when it comes to women those numbers are reversed, and that is a disgusting fact.
There is so much that could be going on there, from TV networks trying to manipulate girls into becoming the people they are watching in order to continue the cycle that the TV networks originally initiated, to men being scared of a female take over and therefore trying to pass on the false message of "non-success" in order to encourage the next generation of women to accept defeat and not strive to reach the heavens. God knows what is going on behind the scenes, no one does really, but one thing is for sure, we need to start fighting for more shows displaying successful women, in order to encourage young girls to succeed in the word. A good example of a strong female character in a mostly men show is the character of Joan Holloway in "Mad Men" played by Christina Hendricks, here is a successful woman who holds real power in the office and over most of the men she comes in contact with, there are many other examples we could site here, specially if you take "The Closer" into account.
This goes both ways of course, the next generation of boys also needs those good influences, the argument here is that they have them, and have them in abundance, but the girls do not. Think with us for a second about every movie that is coming out this year, for every 10 guy lead role based movies there is one girl lead role based movie to counter it, this is the reality we live in today, one we must fight against. Isn't it about time that we started to get closer to equality? Isn't about time that we at least start hoping for it and fighting for it? We believe so, we believe that we must constantly be thinking about the future and striving to bring one forth that all of us can be proud of.
There are many ways that we can all fight this, one of the most important things you can do is raise awareness of the problem, talk with your friends, spread the word, and maybe soon we'll see change occur. We need to start thinking about the future and we need to start fighting to bring about one that we are all proud of.
We hope you have been having a fantastic week, and pray that it may end well,
Love from your humble blogger,
No comments:
Post a Comment