I just finished watching Life Unexpected on Netflix. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1442109/
It’s a TV series with two seasons that aired in 2010 and 2011. It’s about a
girl, Lux Cassidy, who grew up in the foster care system and then found her biological
parents when she was 16. They had always assumed she was adopted, and when they
found out she had bounced around from place to place in the foster care system,
they decided to parent her. Of course, drama ensues.
This show explores the topics of the foster care system, adoption,
forgiveness, and identity, but it’s also a TV drama. It is all about who is
sleeping with who and will Lux's parents end up together and can Lux and her
boyfriend stay together when her life has changed so drastically and now she's
a "normal kid" with a family and he still isn't. Television can’t accurately
reflect the foster care system in its one-hour episodes, and the main point of these
types of television shows is to entertain, not educate. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/25/arts/television/movies-and-tv-shows-examine-issues-in-foster-care.html?_r=0
I am drawn to shows like this but I feel guilty when I watch them. When my
husband asks me what I’m watching on my Ipad, I make a joke about me and my
dumb soap operas. Why is that? Why am I embarrassed that I enjoy getting
wrapped up in a drama? I often feel as though I should be doing something “more
productive” with my time, or that I should be watching something more
educational. I also feel guilty about watching it because it reflects a lifestyle I don't want for myself. The adults get drunk every time they have a problem and cheat on their spouses and they allow 16 year old Lux to drink as well.
Should I feel guilty about watching these types of shows? Where does this feeling come from? Is it something I place on
myself or did I get that from society? Probably a mixture of both.
What do you think? Do you watch/play/read things and feel guilty about it
but do it anyway?
Nice reflection and good questions at the end. I personally don't feel this way with any media I consume, but I definitely have friends who talk about their "guilty pleasures." It sounds like this show causes you to think about the foster system and representations of foster kids or "thrown-away" kids (or maybe it was the blog assignment for the show), but that seems a valuable outcome. Flip your questions and ask yourself what are the positives of watching the show. Instead of classifying shows as "dumb soaps," what if you think of them as "perspectives on culture/inequality/etc."
ReplyDeleteNice reflection and good questions at the end. I personally don't feel this way with any media I consume, but I definitely have friends who talk about their "guilty pleasures." It sounds like this show causes you to think about the foster system and representations of foster kids or "thrown-away" kids (or maybe it was the blog assignment for the show), but that seems a valuable outcome. Flip your questions and ask yourself what are the positives of watching the show. Instead of classifying shows as "dumb soaps," what if you think of them as "perspectives on culture/inequality/etc."
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