The Voice

Most GC&SU students are between 18 and 24-years-old, an audience highly targeted by Viacomm’s brainchild, MTV-at least it used to be.

With more shows geared toward high school teenagers, we’re left wondering: are we already getting too old for MTV?

Sometimes it seems that MTV is gearing it’s programming toward high school kids, more and more so every season. What started out as high school week has turned into an all-out fight for young teenagers’ attention.

Long gone are the days of real music video countdowns, VJs and Spring Break debauchery. Reality television has taken its toll and moved from groundbreaking entertainment television, a la real music videos, to ridiculous.

For those who don’t remember, there was once a time when MTV broadcasted programming for people who weren’t fascinated by celebrity, pop culture or mindless shout-outs on TRL.

There was 120 Minutes, a hard rock interview/music video show played late on Sunday nights to an audience of die-hard metal heads; Sex in the 90s, a series of documentaries about 20-something sexuality; and of course, there were videos-lots of videos.

MTV has replaced this programming, and other programming geared, to a degree, at a counter culture of young adults, with mindless programs that teach teenagers that people are objects and money is a plant that grows on trees. There is no lesson of value. There is no lesson of worth.

My Super Sweet 16, for example, is the exploitation of teenagers who throw Sweet 16 (and actually, Sweet 15) parties-dramatic scenes of selfish kids screaming for the perfect outfit or demanding the party be held at the location of THEIR choosing. There is no reference to value.

Don’t think for one moment there aren’t kids that admire those selfish kids. If a woman can sue McDonald’s for hot coffee, we should be able to sue MTV for creating snotty brats.

On Room Raiders, teenagers as young as high school choose “dates” based on the appearance of their rooms. While there is no judgment based on looks, which in itself would be a crime, there is no reference to personality or self-worth.

Every network has it’s own reality television shows, but it seems MTV’s idea of reality television is actually an alternate reality where moronic teens beg for attention-and get it.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 25 2005. Filed under Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry