Pushing the envelope (9021-oh!)

I am a big fan of crappy teen dramas. It started way back with the original “90210” and continues today with the new “90210.” When I was in the midst of my “Dawson’s Creek” phase, I wondered how these television producers could keep coming up with new teen drama plotlines. Every teenager in America goes through the same struggles. I don’t wanna lessen their trauma, but how different is the “Dawson” version of teen drinking compared to “One Tree Hill?” It’s hard to tell a story that’s already been told–at least hard to do and make it seem fresh and interesting.

Back in the original “90210” I remember losing one’s virginity was a major plotline. This theme eventually gets explored in every teen drama and to this 31-year old adult, it’s a little played out. I know I’m not the target audience of these shows, but I’m sure I’m not the only 30-something watching (and if I am, I really need to rethink my life). The shock value of teen sex is completely gone. I remember how controversial a 1991 episode of “Roseanne” was because 17-year old Becky wanted to go on birth control. Unfortunately, that sorta “shock” isn’t shocking anymore and doesn’t do much for the television ratings…so producers need to push the envelope.

In the new “90210,” it’s assumed no one is a virgin because losing one’s virginity isn’t controversial enough anymore. So to push the envelope, the producers are going one step further: pregnant teenagers. It’s kinda like the writer’s way of saying, ‘we know teenagers are boinking already–that’s boring–let’s do something else.’

I don’t wanna be a stiffly stifferson, but something about this doesn’t feel right with me. I hate to be one of those prudes who wants to censor television, but I think maybe television is going too far. Not about the teen pregnancy thing–I’m okay with that: I’m bothered by the assumption everyone is schtupping. By introducing characters who are already having sex, it creates an image that…everyone is already having sex.

Television is not the real world and we all know it. Nevertheless, the boob tube has a tremendous impact on everyone–even those who swear it doesn’t. TV is easiest, fastest, and most thorough source of information to things outside our life. I’ve never been to Chicago, but I know they sell pizzas two-inches thick that you hafta eat with a knife and fork. I know this because of television. I know my Miranda rights, what they mean, where they come from, and how to say ’em word-for-word. I know this not because of numerous arrests, but because of television. Good or bad; right or wrong, television is a tool of information.

If television tells us that teenagers are already screwing without covering the emotional impact of making the decision to screw, what is that teaching teenagers who watch the show? Even though Donna gave it up, at least “90210” showed the consequences and factors leading up to her decision. The original “90210” made it an event because humping for the first time is an event.

I don’t think by showing sex on TV more kids are going to do it. Let’s face it–kids are going to do it. But by making it so nonchalant, I think television portrays the image that EVERYONE is doing it. This waters down the significance of sex and kids would be more inclined to do it because it’s no big deal. If television makes it seem like sex is no big deal; kids are going to grow up thinking sex is no big deal.

Of course, I’m one who believes the society makes way too big of a deal about sex in the first place. Sex shouldn’t be as important to 20-year olds as the media wants you to believe (there are plenty of other, more interesting things out there). However, to teenagers it is a big deal. If you don’t know what you’re doing or how to handle the emotional ramifications, sex can be a life-altering decision. And by glazing over that decision, I think television is portraying a very unreal perspective of life–and it’s doing so all in the name of ratings.

I’m not a prude. I’m not demanding to “get that stuff off television.” I’m just sharing a perspective that crossed my mind when young Adrianna discovered she’s too far along to get an abortion and has to bring her bastard child to term. Teenagers on television didn’t use to hafta face those kinda struggles (at least not when I was a teenager). I don’t know if it’s a bad thing or a good thing…the world is a very different place from when I was a kid. I just thought it was interesting to compare the one generation’s controversies to another.

Man, I feel old.