Macho, Macho, Macho Men?

Hey guys it is Sean again! To help me figure out a topic for my blog I, once again, joined my fiancée while she was flipping through some of her favorite shows. It just so happens that she likes your typical teenage shows. So I decided to use two that she watched this past week, Happy Days and The Secret Life of the American Teenager, to use as my examples. (Didn’t wait till the last minute this time).

As I was watching these shows I chose to compare a main theme in these shows to something that our book touched on. Our book had used an example of Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and I will elaborate more to refresh your memory. Carlton excelled in school and he was more respectful to girls than his cousin. Will Smith acted like a typical jock with no brains and treated girls as objects, and as a result the girls flocked to him. The media portrayed Carlton’s traits as nerdy and undesirable. Teenagers, both girls and boys, watch this show and think it is natural. I chose Happy Days and The Secret Life of the American Teenager to help elaborate on my point because they seemed to make a significant impact on teenage culture.

First off, Happy Days was an American sitcom that aired in the 70s, but portrayed life in the 50s and 60s. The good teenage guy characters were Richie Cunningham, Potsie Weber, and Ralph Malph. These guys were good guys, who did well in school, but never got the ladies. The girls overlooked them unless they were with The Fonz. The Fonz just happened to be the epitome of cool. He had THE leather jacket, THE perfect hair, and powerful demeanor. [He was capable of parting a crowd of people so he could make his way through] All of this AND he had girls falling over for him. Does he show that cares about these girls? No. He dumps them by the next show. The only girl he ever held a semi-serious relationship with was Pinky Tuscadero, because she challenged him. All the other girls were just another notch in his belt.

My fiancee loves the show The Secret Life of the American Teenager, so of course I am forced to watch it. Even though teen pregnancy isn’t rare these days, this show caught a lot of flack for it being based around a pregnant 15 year old. In this show there are a few main characters, but we will focus on Amy, Ricky, and Ben. Amy is the pregnant 15 year old who was wooed at band camp by Ricky. Ricky is the macho guy, who of course, gets all the girls. Then there is Ben; Ben is the smart, do-good boyfriend of Amy who supports her in almost every decision she makes. In the show Ben initially had a difficult time finding a girlfriend, but Ricky seems to be able to find, sleep with, and have multiple girls at his disposal.

So here we are in 2009 and from 1970 nothing has changed. It is the same situations, just different faces. Good guys like Carlton, Richie, and Ben never get the girls until they have been hurt by the macho types and are rebounding. The media has engrained in the minds of teenage boys everywhere that if they expect to have their feelings for a girl reciprocated, that they have to treat them bad and act macho. Teenage girls watch these shows and walk away with the notion that the only way a guy will ever want them is if they are sleeping with them. When teenage boys watch these shows they see The Fonz, Ricky with their macho personalities and the way they use these girls. So we have generations of guys using girls. The worst part is that these teenagers think it’s acceptable because it is what is portrayed on through the media.