Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Labels.

Accompanying me to study is Gossip Girl :)

I'd have to say, amongst all characters in tv shows to date, Jenny Humphrey takes the cake for being the most unappealing character, with Annie (I can't seem to remember the last name) from 90210 following closely behind. Need I say why?

For those who are unfamiliar with these characters, Jenny Humphrey is a very stubborn, spoilt, incorrigible 16 year old you can possibly meet (or see, in this case). Annie, too offers the same characteristics, but slightly less intense than Jenny as she is well, always a confused kid. Jenny is more, ungrateful. Annoyingly ungrateful.

Both of them possess the most horrible characters for 16/17 year olds and these are what TV is posioning people with? I may sound like an old-fashioned twerp but mind you, would you want your sister or kid even, to grow up, adopting these characters as role models? And don't even let me start on the whole 'It's okay to lose your virginity once puberty hits, and your hormones are raging like fire and to hell with rules or principles, just follow your heart' attitude? They're 16, what could they possibly know about the responsibility that follows after sex?

And what annoys me most about these tv shows is how the parents tend to be so adaptive to their child's messed-up lifestyle and believe in talking nicely to them instead of punishing them, even if they walk all over your head. And then ten years ahead, they asked themselves why did their children turn out to be so rude and so disrespectful. In this case, I am so thankful my parents used to punished my brother and I when we were out of line.

Okay so back to Jenny and Annie. In one of the episodes, Jenny's dad made waffles for breakfast (which I would so be happy if my dad EVER made anything for breakfast) and Jenny retorts saying "Oh, waffles, what a shocker" O.M.G. Can I slap this bitch, please? And Annie, she went through this 'difficult time' when her friends weren't talking to her and she ended up alone all the time in school. So, being in the 'difficult position that she was in, it was perfectly okay for her to talk back to her parents, slam her door shut whenever she was pissed and constantly rolled her eyes to an extent that it might just be permanent. Honestly sweety, and you wonder why you don't have friends again?

And this whole "my child is going through a difficult time right now", and then defend them to the ultimate core, is utter bullshit. When there is something wrong with your kid, you snap them back to reality, NOT giving them all the time in the world to figure things out on their own, and give them space. Hey, if you want to give them so much space, kick them out.

I know it's easy for me to say as I've yet to deal with having a kid on my own, but honestly, I'd rather be the bitch whom my daughter hates for trying to help her do the right thing, than be loved in vain, for giving her all the freedom she wants. InsyaAllah, I will keep this true to my words. And there is no way I will be 'fine' when my daughter/son comes back home drunk as a horse at 3am in the morning, and just let them experience life.

These TV shows, no matter how entertaining they are, are becoming a big influence in shaping a child's mentality. Sooner or later, they would think they 'deserve' a Chanel handbag, just because their 12 year old classmate has two. And when they don't get what they want, they threaten to run away from home. So to bribe them back, you get them a Coach handbag instead. It's not about the price. It's about tainting their perfectly innocent lives with labels instead of love.



2 comments:

  1. I like this post Inaaz. (actually I commented much longer before, tapi tak appear2 jugak...so I replace with a shorter one) sebab dah penat nak type hehehhe. I agree with all you wrote.

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  2. Hey Matt! awh, thank you! I was kinda 'in the zone' when i wrote that, but glad you liked it :)

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