I didn't think the dog eating a heart right before a heart transplant story line on One Tree Hill could be topped, but while flipping through through cable channels, I've stumbled upon a show that takes ridiculousness to a whole new level.I wasn't even aware that a show called The Secret Life of the American Teenager existed until a couple of weeks ago, but now I'm really tempted to watch the whole series. It airs on ABC Family, so even when the show tackles a risque issue, it is followed by a heavy-handed moralistic message. Apparently, in the first season, a character had sex, so to reinforce the idea that people shouldn't have sex, she got pregnant. Fair enough, at least pregnancy is a potential consequence of sex. Evidently, however, that message wasn't strong enough - teenagers are still having sex, after all - so the show decided to up the ante. What if they had another character have sex... but this time, it would kill her father?!
In short, there's this girl who wants to have sex, but her dad tells her no. Then he leaves to fly away on a business trip and the girl disobeys. While she has sex, her dad's plane crashes and he dies. The girl then makes the only logical conclusion:
I love that not only does the girl accept the blame, but she also unnecessarily mentions how great the sex was twice to her mom.
But have they really made sure that kids get the message that having sex will kill their parents, yet? What if they toted out the character with Down's Syndrome to tug at the heart strings and reiterate the point? From what I can tell, despite his intellectual disability, this character, the slutty killer's brother, is generally the voice of wisdom on the show. It's one of those "clever" plot twists where the character you might assume would be the dumb one is actually the only one with any sense. Accordingly, he sensibly knows who killed his dad:
So anyway, three cheers for The Secret Life of the American Teenager and its inappropriate way of handling the issue of teen sex. I still fear the writers' message might be too subtle; next time a character has sex, I think terrorists should bomb the high school.
Extra: While searching for the above clips, I also came across this montage showing how the dad's funeral is thee social event of the year. It's fairly amusing, but more importantly, it's hosted by Topanga (yes, that Topanga!)
So that last girl had a baby and now can't do fun things like go to funerals. Shouldn't have had sex, you whore!
1 comment:
The writers don't take the same position as the Grace character in that scene with her mother. The writers in fact take the exact opposite position. They are arguing that it's Dangerous for Christians to think that having premarital sex is the end of the world. This girl, Grace, is supposed to represent the "misguided" group of Christians who think this way. The writers were attempting to show the faults of her position through that scene.
For the most part, the show is pretty pro-sex. It preaches using contraception, having responsible sex, etc. but it doesn't take an "abstinence only" position. At all. And it certainly doesn't take a "having sex kills your father" position. In many ways, the show is really attempting to undermine the "abstinence only" position and trying to make Christianity culturally relevant and "with it."
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