How do you enjoy this?
So I was flipping channels tonight and I happened to catch a few minutes of a show on MTV, My Sweet Sixteen (I think that’s what it’s called). This girl threw a temper tantrum (told her mom to SHUT UP! Shut up! I can’t even believe it) because her mom bought centerpieces for the table which the girl did not like. The mom explained that it saved them three thousand dollars (!!) and the girl told her that the mom was going to have to pay her the difference.
Then she went crying to her dad and her dad GAVE IT TO HER.
I know that people exist in the world who are like this. I know that our culture is based on capitalism, the mighty dollar, materialism, whatever. But the few minutes I saw of this show appalled me so much that it drove me to shut off the television and write this post. How on earth does this family live? I mean, I understand they’re rich, I’m not talking about being able to afford thousand dollar lanterns (or whatever the hell they were). I can’t believe that this mother let her daughter talk to her that way (first) and the dad basically threw his wife under the bus and gave the whiney brat whatever she wanted (second)! And this is considered entertainment.
Look, I understand guilty pleasures, I understand taking some small glee in people acting like jackasses on national television. But this didn’t seem funny or amusing to me, this felt like glorifying obnoxious behavior. Maybe because it was a snapshot of this family’s real life, or maybe because our protaganist was a teenager, whatever it was it was too much for me.
ksc said,
August 31, 2006 at 11:54 am
“Then she went crying to her dad and her dad GAVE IT TO HER.”
When first I read that, I was thinking, “and they showed this on MTV?” Then I realized you meant the money.
I think the problem is twofold. First of all, you were watching television. Secondly, you were watching MTV. I don’t watch much TV (only two current shows, Adult Swim, certain re-runs, and hockey) nor do I ever watch music television these days, and the small snippets I *have* caught here and there make me think that it’s a genre that isn’t evolving with its audience. In 1980 teenagers were its target audience and in 2020 this will still be the case.
*psst* Did you email me yet?
mike said,
August 31, 2006 at 12:13 pm
Drop the fuckers in the middle of Africa wearing nothing but sneakers and a sweatsuit. Sell their shit to pay for public education. Repeat process with other whiney rich kids *and* the parents who made them that way until the world stops sucking.