[University of Michigan, 2006]
MTV. Music Television. Or is it? Recently I’ve embarked upon a pop cultural
musical mission: What is being aired on
MTV, and what kinds of morals might these shows be depicting to its young
viewers? The results I came up with were
astounding. On Wednesday, November 27,
2006, less than 10% of the airtime between 3 pm, when teenagers usually get
home from school, and 2 am, when many teenagers drift off to sleep, is
music-related. The other 90% consists of
shows such as Parental Control, Beauty
and the Geek, My Super Sweet 16, Real World, and Rob &Big. What are these
shows, and what do they have to do with music?
Well, nothing. Many of these
shows are categorized as “reality television,” which claims to portray
unscripted situations of people in their every-day lives. MTV is watched by 73% boys and 78% girls that
are between 12-19 years old (Rich).
Adolescents are especially susceptible to emulating what they see on
television, and MTV provides a solid model of negative behavior. A survey conducted by the Parents TV Council
followed 171 hours of MTV Programming.
They found 1,548 sexual scenes containing 3,056 depictions of sex or nudity,
and 2,881 verbal sexual references (West).
I’ve closely followed three specific shows on MTV, and how they instill
negative morals into its young viewers.
These shows are Laguna Beach,
Parental Control, and Next.
In the reality show Laguna Beach, a show that follows the
lives of wealthy high schoolers, Raquel and Tessa are planning for an annual
Christmas party. Kyndra, who is to host
a party the next night, and her friend Cami decide to crash Raquel’s party,
offended that they weren’t invited. When
the party begins, drama immediately ensues when Cami spreads rumors that
Raquel’s friend had called her “dirty,” though the two had never met. Confrontation occurs, tears flow, and an
apology is demanded. Finally matters are
at peace, and after declaring the party to be the “lamest” she’d ever been to,
Kyndra leaves. The remainder of the show
consists of clips from Kendra’s party and girls gossiping. Parents had a minimal role in the show,
alcoholic beverages were being consumed throughout, and the dialogue was spotted
with “like” in a high abundance. The
vocabulary was no higher than a sixth grade level. Words such as “amped,”
(excited) “gnarly,” (cool) “butthurt,” (being upset over something that was not
a big deal) “creeping,” (when a boy inappropriately makes moves on a girl) and
“raging” (out of control fun) were used, and the word “erroneous” was used
improperly (to mean unnecessary or irrelevant). Not only are young viewers
learning made-up, slang words that have no use in life, but they are actually
becoming dumber by learning the wrong
definition of words that actually may be applicable to education, possibly even
an SAT test. Teenagers watching Laguna Beach might get the impression that the
only important matters in life are parties, skim boarding, and boys, and that
being dumb is cool. These high-schoolers
are throwing house parties with alcohol, the parents are nowhere to be found
during the parties, and senseless drama is the focus of the show. There are no morals, no educational values,
and no lessons learned. The only lesson
that could be extracted from this episode of Laguna Beach is that if someone isn’t invited to a party, he or she
should show up anyway and start drama as an act of vengeance. The show had absolutely nothing to do with
music. All of the characters had
perfectly trimmed, tan bodies and were extremely good looking—almost too good
looking—so that viewers don’t even get a sense that they are watching ordinary,
real people, as reality television claims to strive for. Life in Laguna Beach is nothing but parties,
drinking, and the pursuit of boys. There
are no real issues in the show;
conflict is limited to two girls squabbling about a name-calling, at best. Furthermore, the kind of ideal “cool” that
MTV depicts for its young viewers is not, by any means, ideal. If kids are looking up to the characters on Laguna Beach, they may strive to use a
limited vocabulary, chase boys, drink alcohol, and do whatever it takes to be
skinny.
On the show Parental Control, two parents unhappy with their child’s boyfriend
or girlfriend has the opportunity to select a date for their son or
daughter. From their home, they sit down
with the current boyfriend or girlfriend and watch their teenager go on a date
with their selections. At the end of the
show, the son or daughter chooses between the father’s choice, the mother’s
choice, or may opt to stay with their current boyfriend or girlfriend. On a certain episode of Parental Control, Danielle’s parents are unhappy with her
boyfriend, John: “He is a disrespectful
jerk,” says Danielle’s dad. “If he
clicks his pen one more time, I’m going to shove it up his ass,” adds
Danielle’s mom. So they both select
Danielle alternative boys, and sit down with John to watch the video footage of
her dates. Dad’s pick, Alex, takes
Danielle to their “date,” where the two dress up in Sherriff’s uniforms with
pretend guns. They are confronted with a
variety of situations by hired actors in which they must determine whether to shoot
or not shoot the citizen. Meanwhile, at
home, John makes extremely crude sexual references to agitate Danielle’s
parents, insisting that he “got on” their daughter the previous night, and that
“The only thing she likes to ride is me.”
The father responds by saying, “I’m a doctor. I’ve had my finger in a lot of assholes, but
none of them are as big as you.” The
parents and John are continuously cursing at one another, and the daughter’s
dialogue consists of little more than “sooo cool!” “sooo awesome!” “totally
cool” and “totally awesome.” When Alex
gets rejected toward the end of the show, nothing but bleeps comes out of his
mouth. When teenagers watch this show,
they are exposed to not only young people speaking inappropriately, but
parents—authoritative figures—speaking in a manner that is completely repulsive
and immature. Young people may get the
idea that talking to elders in a disrespectful manner is acceptable. The “date” that Alex took Danielle on promotes
violence. When kids see guns being used
on television, whether it is real or not, it makes violence seem more ordinary
and acceptable. The comments that John
made to Danielle’s parents encourage premarital sex. He openly admitted that he and Danielle are
sexually active, and kids watching the show may get the idea that because the
teenagers on MTV are having sex, it must be the cool thing to do. The language that came out of every
character’s mouth promotes crudeness and foul-mouth behavior. When even parents
are making comments such as the ones made on this show, kids will have the
absolute worst conception of what is appropriate to say. Once again, the reality show had absolutely
nothing to do with music.
Even the commercials on MTV are
appalling. An advertisement for “Real
World Denver” featured three young girls making out and a voice insisting that
“three is better than two.” Then,
anti-drug and pro-abstinence commercials appear on the screen, completely
contradicting the messages that every show on MTV sends.
The show Next promotes many negative morals, including prostitution and
shallowness. In this show, contestants
are paid one dollar for every minute they can last on a date with someone
without being “nexted,” or rejected.
Likewise, prostitutes are paid by the hour to perform requested sexual
services. Girls watching the show may
get the idea that getting paid to be with someone and carrying out his demands
is acceptable. In one episode of Next, titled “Doggie Style,” implying a
sexual position and encouraging sexual behavior to its viewers, Trent is looking for a “California
surfer with a smooth stomach.” Any young girls watching this show may assume
that because Trent likes flat stomachs, all boys prefer skinny girls. This may encourage girls to become anorexic and
extremely weight-conscious, which often leads to more serious issues such as
depression. The contestants are
introduced at the beginning of the show, and one girl, Arielle, insists that
“if any of these girls make a Little Mermaid joke I’m gonna’ fucking slap
them.” This kind of language should not be used on MTV, as it encourages
young people to use foul language as the characters they see on TV do. Amanda, another contestant, has a different
strategy for winning over Trent. “My
strategy is to tell this guy that all the other girls on the bus have herpes,”
she says, giggling. This statement
displays dishonesty and maliciousness, and encourages people to lie to get what
they want. The dates begin. Trent, along with his dog, takes Arielle on a
date to the park. He insists that she
pick up his dog’s residue, claiming that owning a dog comes with responsibility
and that he wants her to practice. Not
only is this completely disgusting and unconventional, but it is degrading to
women. Trent simply watches Arielle
labor and does nothing but demand that she move faster and pick up more. Arielle is eliminated after about thirteen
minutes (because she couldn’t pick up residue with enough enthusiasm), giving
her a total of thirteen dollars. “Fuck
you,” was Arielle’s response to her elimination, again encouraging foul
language. The next contestant,
Alexandra, was nexted in only eleven seconds.
Trent made no attempt to converse with her, and based his decision
solely on Alexandra’s looks (she wasn’t as skinny or pretty as the other
girls). Clearly, Trent is a shallow
person and judges people based entirely on outward appearance. Shallowness is a horrible moral to be
instilling into young people that watch MTV.
Girls that aren’t beautiful and skinny will develop extremely low
self-esteem because Trent didn’t even give Alexandra a chance. Furthermore, boys might think that it’s okay
to judge a girl solely on looks, and may come to belief that only skinny and
beautiful girls are acceptable to date.
Again, Alexandra’s response was not pleasant: two middle fingers were immediately raised
upon her rejection, implying a double “fuck you.” The next potential date, Amanda,
characterizes herself as a virgin that loves to “burp and fart on her sister.”
Disgusting. Will this kind of behavior
be emulated in households across the country?
The date seems to go smoothly, until Amanda admits that one of the other
girls on the bus resembles Jessica Simpson.
Anxious to meet the celebrity look-alike, the word “next” immediately
escapes from Trent’s mouth, eliminating Amanda based on looks once again. The next girl is immediately rejected, once
again by the same mind-set that was used for Alexandra: looks and looks alone. Although this girl is thin and pretty, she doesn’t look enough like
Jessica Simpson for Trent’s liking.
Finally, Marissa wins Trent’s heart.
After forty-two minutes and two open-mouth kisses, he asks her on a
second date. Marissa, however, chooses
the money over the date, and leaves Trent with his dog. Because Marissa kisses Trent after only
seconds of meeting him, girls watching the show may be more inclined to exert
sexual behavior more quickly when spending time with boys. And Marissa’s choice of the forty two dollars
over a second date with Trent shows that she cares more about money than people,
another value that young people may take to heart. While waiting for their turns, the girls make
fun of each other behind one another’s backs.
This encourages girls to gossip about each other, and is a horrible
model for friendship. They also have
unintelligent inconsistencies in their trains of thought. At first they all giddily agree to “next
through him” and split the money at the end, yet when Arielle leaves for her
date, she haughtily insists that she’s not coming back.
While pop culture has always been
considered controversial by some, MTV has gone above and beyond the
cutting-edge of what ought to be considered “cool.” From Elvis Presley and Rock N’ Roll to
Britney Spears and her too-sexy videos, history has shown that new trends will
always be developing and that kids will always adhere to what is presented to
them through the media. But half-naked,
drunk, uneducated, spoiled teenagers, rambling about parties and boys? MTV has gone too far.
Works
Cited
Dick Jones Communications. “Anchor Stores in Malls a Turnoff for Teenage
Girls.”
Newswise.
17 May 2004. < http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/505032/>
Greeson, Larry. “Social implications of music videos on
youth: An analysis of the
content and effects of MTV.” Youth and Society, 18, 177-189.
West, Marsha. “From Sesame Street to MTV to
Immortality.” News With Views. 23
April
Williams, Casey. “MTV Smut Peddlers: Targeting Kids with Sex, Drugs, and
Alcohol.”
A Report on MTV. 27 March 2004.
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