Than wondering why the show Secret Life of an American Teenager exists. I swear the moment I saw the commercial for the new season, I was almost tempted to kill my TV. I can't believe it's still running after four years.
If no one knows what it is, consider yourself lucky. It starts off with the main girl (I don't even care to learn her name) finds herself in trouble when she finds out she's pregnant. Actually you know what? If you just watch the commercials, you can pick up what the show's about and what happens in the episodes. To make a long story short, she keeps the baby and deals with a crap ton of drama with raising a child and managing high school, a relationship and friends who are going through their own crap as well. And it is just terrible.
Like any other drama TV show about teens, it's exaggerated. Not like Degrassi exaggerated, but still pretty bad. While I haven't watched the show itself, the commercials give too much away that I can predict what's going on by myself. And it's pretty accurate. And all it is is the main girl just acting happy one second and the next whining because her life sucks. What was your first clue, honey? The fact you're taking care of an infant when it's obvious you can't even take care of yourself? How did your parents let you keep the kid?!
Oh and when I saw the commercial, not only is it more whining from the cast from their preventable drama, but I can already guess the "big shocker" for the next season; she's pregnant again. For God's sake producers of this crappy show, you're not even trying anymore. It's bad enough when you copy MTV and create a show glamorizing teenage pregnancy, but now you're interpreting teens as unintelligent and incapable of making decisions based off common sense. I know I've encountered people who aren't the brightest crayons in the shed, but come on! Not every teen on this planet is truly THAT stupid.
If there are some things I hate about television, it's shows that exaggerate the lives of teenagers and shows that glamorize teen pregnancy. God knows how much I regret ever watching some of the crap I've seen in my years.
The Pregnancy Pact: Believe it or not, this is based of real events in Gloucester High School in Massachusetts where 18 girls were reported pregnant within two months. The principal claimed that all these girls created a 'pact' to get pregnant together, but that was never an intention of them at all. Thanks to media controversy, I actually have no clue what the real story is but God I pray it's NOTHING like the film.
The girls in the movie are just dimwits. They think their lives are gonna be better having babies but (obviously) it turns for the worse and their lives turn to crap. Big freaking surprise.... What really shocked me most was this one part where one of the pregnant girls passed out from drinking and when her parents were told, guess what they did? Ask if the baby was okay and thought nothing else of it.
Okay, if you're underage, pregnant AND drinking, and your parents think nothing of it, they don't love you or they're just idiots. Hypothetically if I was in that situation, I would be grounded until the age of 30 and give the kid up for adoption. I'd do the same with my kids. Honestly, if someone is THAT incapable of taking care of themselves like that, then I would NEVER trust them with a baby in their hands. The reality of it is that children are a big handful in your lives and won't always make everything better. I can't believe the actresses agreed to be in a movie where they had to be delusional morons. I kinda give props for them somewhat de-glamorizing teen pregnancy but it's extremely little.
Teen Mom/16 and Pregnant: If I haven't stewed in my own rage because of these shows, I'll do it now. MTV created these programs and followed the lives of teen girls becoming mothers, and like all MTV shows, it's scripted and fake. If people really think these girls are really happy being teen moms, you need a CAT scan. I'm sure without the cameras they're crying their eyes out because their lives suck from raising a child when they're still children themselves. Ugh.. what's wrong with people?
Juno: This is a better movie of teen pregnancy but it still has some bad qualities about it. I do like that it presents the option of giving the baby up for adoption as opposed to keeping it, abortion or just abandoning it at the nearest hospital. My problem is that Juno didn't experience the social outcast issues that came from being a pregnant teen. She had some but they were very rare and she's way stronger than other pregnant teens displayed. Not to mention she has little troubles giving up the baby and living a normal life again after giving birth. But I digress.
Degrassi: Degrassi is basically just the lives of teens and the issues they face going through high school and their early years of college. What are the issues? Well, freaking everything! I mean every other episode, someone has sex/is raped, someone gets pregnant, someone's on drugs, someone has a gun, someone commits suicide and just all this crazy stuff! For God's sake, is anyone's life that problematic every single day?? In the recent spin-off, The Next Generation, it's just issues every single episode that are blown completely out of proportion and these people are entirely incapable of solving their problems in any way possible.
And I mean if people in just one area are having so many problems and issues, where are the police?? Where are the adults helping these teens from living crappy lives?? Do the adults not exist or are they oblivious and retarded?
I guess this show had some good intentions with displaying some problems teens face but this is overly exaggerated and unrealistic to the lives of teens; even to the ones who could have some of these issues! I'd be scared if everyone I knew had those problems and carried guns with them. I mean, my God! If you wanna make a show that displays teen issues, how about showing how to solve these problems so they won't happen again?! That'd be a good show! But with Degrassi as it is now, just horrid.
Okay so glad I got that off my chest. Just wish something existed that de-glamorized teen pregnancy in a realistic way.
