A new crop of underage moms was unveiled last week in a two-minute trailer for the upcoming season of "16 and Pregnant" -- and the previews promise more violence.
Oh joy! Nothing like a bunch of 16 year old pregnant girls fighting on TV.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Remember when MTV used to show music?
A new crop of underage moms was unveiled last week in a two-minute trailer for the upcoming season of "16 and Pregnant" -- and the previews promise more violence.
Oh joy! Nothing like a bunch of 16 year old pregnant girls fighting on TV.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Both "Teen Mom" and "16 and Pregnant" are ridiculous. I remember not too long ago when one of the girls beat her babies’ daddy so bad that it made a lot of news coverage. Literally the only reason I even know this is because it was ALL over the news! The girl ended up losing custody of her child. (Now there’s a good example: get pregnant at 16, get rewarded with a TV show, then beat your baby’s daddy, then get more famous, and lose your kid—AMERICA!). It is ridiculous that we live in a society where this makes national news. It is even more ridiculous the amount of news coverage this story got. It is bad enough MTV have a bunch of irresponsible girls their own TV show, but after they gained so much profit from one girl’s violent outburst, the next season now promises MORE VIOLENCE! Ridiculous!
ReplyDeleteIf you pick up any magazine now you will be sure to see at least one of these girls on the cover. It is amazing to me that MTV has made teen pregnancy a cool thing. I have seen the show before and it is a look into the lives of "everyday" teens who get knocked up. It is suppose to show the struggles of the life of a teen mom. It does show these things, but it also makes it almost seem okay. Not every teen mom on the show is a bad person, but there are a few that take the cake. In the first season Amber was shown beating her "baby's daddy" numerous times. It made national news every where and the scene was shown over and over. The new season Teen Mom 2 doesn't miss a beat with their new mom Jenelle. Not only is she a dead beat mother who doesn't even have custody of her child but she is arrested several times. She was arrested for marijuana, breaking and entering, and now the new arrest for assault. It was not shown in the past season but some how Nancy Grace got a hold of the new video of her violently attacking another girl:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tmz.com/2011/03/25/teen-mom-2-jenelle-evans-catfight-video-footage-britany-truett-fist-brawl/
This show is not a good example for young girls anywhere. It makes it seem okay almost to get knocked up at that young and makes it acceptable to more people since its being played out on national television. "Get pregnant, Get Famous" should be the new title.
"It is said that showing the stories of the pregnant teens and the teen moms, glamorizes teen pregnancy. Statistics also show that more teenagers have been getting pregnant since 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom have aired" (http://hubpages.com/hub/16-and-Pregnant-and-Teen-Mom-and-the-Controversy). Whether or not this is a true direct correlation, it is still very alarming. Other sources have said that teenagers are getting pregnant just for the shot of getting chosen for the show (http://www.popeater.com/2010/12/07/teen-mom-pregnant-auditions/). This is what reality TV is doing to our teenage population. I have watched the show because it can be entertaining. I feel like younger girls might not be able to understand that it isn't the "cool" thing to do; they mimic what they watch.
ReplyDeleteWith the violence issue, this season of Teen Mom was filled with a lot of drama (to be expected of course). Jenelle (like bandurragase was saying) was the worst in terms of being a good mother. You could tell she had underlying issues that she needed to deal with, but instead she came across as very cold and unemotional. It is sad to me that camera crews were on her for that whole season and no one suggested to get her help? I suppose she wouldn't have taken the advice anyway. I do not like the messages that the show sends to young girls and it seems teen shows are only getting worse (ex. Skins).
While I agree with the above comments, I don't think the shows on MTV are as big a disgrace as we make them out to be or in comparison to other shows that are on tv. My parents didn't ever let me watch MTV when it actually played music & still grumble when I tell them about Jershey Shore or some other stupid show I watched. As Americans, we have grown up with the most nonsensical cartoon characters, sappy Lifetime movies, and competitive cooking shows. Also, as Americans, we enjoy watching people make trainwrecks out of themselves...Britney Spears, Charlie Sheen, and stars of Teen Mom 2. I don't think that any responsible parent would allow their child to watch this material until they are of a certain age to distinguish what is reality and what is not & the girls themselves have said they hope that the show shows girls how "not cool" it is to be 16 & Pregnant (whether that is true or not) Obviously, our sense of "reality" has been warped by the shows on our tv's, but I don't think it has necessarily made us a nation completely deprived of intelligence either. Any teenage girl that gets knocked up in the hopes they'll be on the show obviously is being negatively influenced by much more than the show, such as violent video games only making children with violent tendencies more violent...only stupid people will be greatly influenced by stupid shows. I don't necessarily agree with the statement that you are what you watch because I feel like sometimes you're just in the mood...just as we don't always feel like watching analytical, mind game movies. Sometimes we just like to be entertained. As we have learned in class, there are many news sources that are devoid of any fact or significance to our lives. However, as much as I enjoy reading the Washington Post or listening to NPR, I reading People magazine as well. In those terms, we should think of Teen Mom 2 as more of a distraction, and not of this brainwashing mechanism that is forcing our teens to get pregnant. While the show may not be a mitigating factor, it is not the reason for the increase in teenage pregancy across the United States. The media, as they do in many cases, just pounced on a hot topic they knew people would be interested in & obviously it has worked.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with the above statement and I understand where the other two are coming from; however I would have to disagree. The reasons that MTV produces shows like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom is not at all to glamorize teen pregnancy. Of course there are going to be teenagers out there that think this is cool and maybe that if they get pregnant they can have a show, but like countsca said there are more factors involved than just watching these shows. I have watched last season's 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom and have also followed this season's shows. I don't think anyone has the right to say these shows are ridiculous and actually promote teen pregnancy until they have watched them. Even Amy Kramer who is the director of media relations for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy says that "anyone who makes that argument obviously hasn't watched either series." These series actually began after Britney Spears' sixteen year old sister came out to the media that she was pregnant followed by Bristol Palin's pregnancy announcement. MTV wanted to create a show to really emphasize the dangers and hardships of teen pregnancy so kids wouldn't follow in these celebrities' footsteps. MTV has received calls from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of America, academicians and even the White House — where the president is on a personal mission to emphasize the importance of young men taking responsibility for their children, which includes waiting to have them.
ReplyDeleteThey're all interested in using 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom as a teaching tool. After seeing these teen moms (usually they are single moms) get up in the middle of the night six times to feed their child, struggle with paying bills, fighting with their baby's daddy, and trying to find a place to live, I don't think it appears as glamorous as one may have originally thought.
To see more facts click on this link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128626258