Deviance on Television

Reality shows that are based on teen pregnancy like 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom sheds light about the troubles on becoming a teen parent, finishing high school and struggling to buy the baby’s need and wants. Lately, these shows are stirring a debate if they are trying to support or avoid teen pregnancy. And this topic is important to the public, because it relates to the young community’s future. Young girls and boys can watch these shows and have different outlooks about having a child. Sometimes, glamorizing teen pregnancy on television might confuse the young community, because they can be fickle at times. They might think it is acceptable to be pregnant so young and others will consider waiting until marriage. Reality shows can either encourage or discourage teen pregnancy based on the individual’s mentality.

Deviance is described as any violation to the norms present in a culture. Since these norms are culture specific, deviance is viewed as a relative concept. Chapter 8 in the textbook introduces us to deviance by showing the reaction of Napoleon Chagnon to seeing the Yanomamo Indians of Brazil, in what they would view as regular attire. These Indigenous people glared at Chagnon and his group, while being nude and having drug colored mucus running from their noses. They were covered in filth and would clean their hands by spitting tobacco filled saliva in them. This is disturbed Chagnon greatly, due to it deviating so greatly from the customary norms he is familiar with. Norms pertaining to greeting other, dress, and hygiene. To these Natives, their behavior was completely normal, while to foreigners, it deviated from the subjective norms they embody.

Modern day television in household has become its own culture. Television holds a constant presence in American households and is forever changing, and visually keeps our attention. Television can be beneficial in the aspect that it has given viewers different attitudes by viewing different cultural backgrounds that can be presented on televisions. For example, this paper will be addressing the sitcom American Dad, American Dad is an adult animated sitcom, which focuses on a modern American family. The main character Stan Smith and his family who face at times core issues of a family. The comedy and farce overshadow the serious messages being conveyed. The stereotypical messages are often relatable in family households in an absurd way. American Dad is fantasying to watch because the visual elements and the real-world issues that are being addressed can heavily impact American society. American Dad depicts American family culture, because traditional families see norms being depicted on the show, it incorporates current trends, and society often depicts aspects from the

There are countless television shows in today’s media. The content of some shows is extremely poor and low in value it is arduous to find congenial content. Television shows are filled with violence, sex, or drugs, making it arduous to find a clean show that families can enjoy. A television show that has commendable moral values and overall positive content value is “Boy Meets World”. Corey Matthews (the main character) from “Boy meets World” serves as a positive role model for Millennials due to the fact that the show tackles real day to day issues such as drugs, that teenagers face and he is always able to do the ethical solution.

* The main focus of many teen dramas is sex, with each episode containing countless verbal and visual references to sexual activity. These highly sexualized portrayals of relationships bear little resemblance to the real lives of teens—and are generally not balanced by clear messages about safe and healthy attitudes towards sex.

Deviance is defined as the fact or state of departing from usual or accepted standards, especially in social or sexual behavior. There are many different forms of deviance in today 's society. Something that is viewed as being deviant in one culture might be seen as normal in another. There are many different types and theories in which define deviance, however their are 3 broad categories, these 3 categories are positivist, relativist, and critical conceptions of deviance. These 3 categories are important in defining deviance because they break down deviance as a whole and better help understand the different acts in which we label as being deviant. Deviance as a whole is important to study especially in today 's society with their

Some of the most popular television shows in today’s society are The Biggest Looser, Jersey Shore, and Big Brother. These programs and many others are classified as reality television. Reality television’s main purpose is to attempt to portray ordinary people in unscripted situations. Recently, however, many of these shows have achieved in creating the complete opposite, and have earned an immense amount of criticism as a result. Reality television programs are detrimental to society because they influence bad behavior among teenagers, do not produce authentic real life situations, and they humiliate many of the characters.

First of all, a number of audience didn’t agree or approve the family show for the differences of racism and sexualities. This family show could be a bad influence on teens or it can encourage them on discovering different experiences.

The average American teenager watches three hours of television a day. Scientist Rebecca Collins conducted a study to see if watching sexual behavior on TV influenced teenagers’ own behavior. In her results, she found that watching shows with sexual content has a considerable

The American people are the ones who can decide what they and their children are viewing on that screen. And because, no one finds indecent material offensive anymore, television show creators have been running rampant with violence and sexual content. This, in turn, influences the morality of the United States, as a whole. Americans are the ones who decide what is acceptable and unacceptable to be aired on television based on what they do or do not want to view. What is shown on many popular television shows in this present time, suggests that American morality is on a downward slope and has been for 50

Sara Magee’s article, “High School is Hell: The TV Legacy of Beverly Hills, 90210, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (2014), argues that both television shows positively changed and impacted teen-based programs during and after their air time. Magee supports this claim by providing descriptions of how teens were depicted in teen-based dramas prior to the 1990’s and how these two shows introduced controversial topics that made teens think about their actions. Magee’s purpose is to point out how these two shows broke the norms of traditional teen dramas that focused on the ideal teen lifestyle in order to show that Beverly Hills, 90210 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are the predecessors of controversial teen dramas of the 21st century. Based on the

I chose the television series American Horror Stories to do my analysis on breaking the norm in television. I chose this series because it breaks all of the norms due to its graphic content. The show is geared for a more mature audience and is rated TV-MA. Programs rated MA are unsuitable for children under seventeen.

Sexuality and sex in America is a complicated subject in that there is little consensus on the topic of sex in, and the American media sends many mixed messages regarding sex and sexuality to everyone, not just to adolescents. Americans are aware of sex primarily through advertising (print media, commercials, etc.) as sex is used to sell anything and everything. The media also bombards Americans with sexuality and sex on television and in films. The sexuality of teenagers is not a straightforward issue in America either. Many parents do not discuss sex or sexuality with their children. There have been ongoing debates as to whether sexuality should be taught as part of school curricula because there are such a great deal of adolescents participating in reckless and/or dangerous sexual behaviors, largely because they are grossly uneducated about sex. The paper will reference the film Juno and other texts as a meditation on the relationship between adolescent sexuality and the media.

Does “sixteen and pregnant” promote, or discourage teen pregnancy? Although, “sixteen and pregnant shows some of the struggles of being a teenage parent, it doesn’t show all. MTV has given a show to children, for having children. They have put a glorification on getting pregnant at a young age. Instead of teaching and telling them what the outcome of their life could be if they are to have children while there still a child themselves. On the show they give false hope of still being able to be a regular teen. Going out with friends partying, drinking, and smoking. After dropping there kid off with a relative or parent. They don’t show children as being a responsibility. There are younger viewers who watch

In the United States of America, societal deviance changes nearly on a daily basis. Depending on the current culture, deviance is modified to make societal heroes like celebrities, political figures, and sport players look less deviant and more like role models for the public. The change in what is considered “normal” is customarily a result of society in general. By using a reference group of people, individuals tend to identify with those who are in the lime light. Then when that role model does something appalling, the public becomes desensitized to this behavior and its abnormality and becomes less distinct thus adding to the change in social deviances.