So I\u2019ve gotten caught up in watching TV lately. Not just any TV, mind you, but the TV that I suspect many of my students have seen. That TV of the omnipresent and ominous \u201cM\u201d. And what things do I see on said MTV? Well\u2026 that\u2019s just the problem. There\u2019s this polarizing interest I\u2019ve noticed on the channel.<\/p>\n
On one hand, you\u2019ve got your \u201cMy Super Sweet Sixteen,\u201d which is the most fascinating and repulsive show I\u2019ve ever willingly subjected myself to (and yes, I\u2019m eventually planning on seeing the movie adaptation as well). The beyond spoiled brats that will one day employ my students as service level workers cry their eyes out because their luxury SUV was ordered in the wrong custom color (\u201cThis Be The Verse,\u201d anyone?). Last Sunday I got caught up watching a marathon of this show \u2013 MTV counted down to the most expensive parties thrown on the show. Parties two through five all reached well above the $300,000.00 range. And party #1, taking place in Jay-Z\u2019s New York Club, featuring Kanye West, and with MP3 players acting as official invitations (there\u2019s a quick $24,000 gone) was more than a million dollars. I honestly cannot stop watching this show. I honestly hate every moment of it that I watch. It\u2019s like stopping on the road next to a car wreck\u2026except that the car wreck is someone\u2019s disaster of a childhood and it went on for three hours on Sunday.<\/p>\n
On the other hand you\u2019ve got \u201cEngaged and Underage\u201d a show that takes two love struck young \u2018uns and watches them fight and make up and nuzzle and eventually tie the knot together. However, no longer are you seeing the Escalades or the Jaguars or the Bentzs or the Porsches. You\u2019ve got teenage moms and high school dropouts and uncomfortable confrontations between future in-laws. Sure, it\u2019s just as trashy as \u201cSuper Sweet Sixteen,\u201d but this is an embrace of a different class of individuals.<\/p>\n
\u201cSweet Sixteen\u201d flaunts the excessively rich exploits of America\u2019s wealthiest brats while \u201cEnagaged\u201d is the ol\u2019 working class\u2019 ridiculous flirting with an outdated convention (more on my animosity toward marriage in the future, I\u2019m sure). Neither of these shows does anything great for the classes they speak of nor do they offer any values that I\u2019d hope for my students to endorse. If anything these shows highlight the universal nature of smuttiness and prima donna behavior (and based on these shows, it\u2019s not gender specific). I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll keep watching (believe me, I don\u2019t want to either\u2026), but I\u2019m fascinated by this unifying and splitting dichotomy conundrum that is being inundated on our teens.<\/p>\n