Trashy Tel vision

by Brani Cohen

Turn on any television and you will inevitably see shows filled with sex and violence. Teen shows are no exception. Popular shows with teens and pre-teens such as “Gossip Girl,” “The Hills” and “One Tree Hill” are filled with sexual promiscuity, drug use and underage drinking. Do these shows exert a bad influence on their viewers or are they simply a source of harmless entertainment?

“On one hand teen shows may enable adolescents to identify with different challenges and life experiences,” said Gila Sandler, director of high school guidance at the Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn. “However the problem is that TV characters become idealized and idolized when they are in fact not real.”
Many people think these shows are harmful to their viewers. Viewers see the characters as rich, popular and fashionable and want to be just like them. Teenagers can become so amazed by the plots and characters of these shows that they tend to look up to the characters and try to emulate their actions. Instead of teenagers looking to imitate people that have accomplished things and have overcome obstacles, they are looking to imitate television characters who drink, do drugs and abuse alcohol. The viewers live vicariously through the characters subsequently giving the fictional characters a great deal of influence over a real teen’s life.

“These shows make people think that a lot of people’s lives are like the characters’ and the viewers think they need to be like the characters in order to be liked by everyone,” said Susie Senders, a junior at Fuchs Mizrahi School in Cleveland.

These shows disillusion viewers into looking at life in a convoluted way. The characters on the shows are always doing something exciting and fresh. On “The Hills,” the characters are always going to great parties or hanging out until late. When viewers watch the actors’ fictional lives, they begin to think of their own lives as dull and boring in comparison.

What viewers fail to take into account is that the characters are not real and their lives do not accurately represent an average person’s life. Many times the character’s behavior is unrealistic. The underage characters have no problem getting served alcohol in bars or smoking marijuana while taking a stroll in the park. In addition, when producers cast so many pretty, skinny characters that behave immorally, it sends the message to viewers that looking and acting like these characters is necessary and normal.
“From the Torah point of view there is a pasuk [sentence] that says, ‘The eye sees, the heart desires and the legs run.’ Even if one is strong and allows themselves to be exposed to negative outside influences, the influences will have an effect on them,” said Rabbi Eliezer Miller, a teacher at Yeshivah of Flatbush. “A clever person watches television like eating a pomegranate — eat the fruit and throw away the peel.”
Television is a perfect example of something you watch that later influences you in a particular way, according to Rabbi Miller. If a viewer sees something tempting on television, he or she will act on his or her desires and do whatever seems attractive. It can be very hard to fight these bad influences. Viewers should simply watch the show for entertainment and not try and emulate the bad things they see.
“Many teen shows give the viewer an impression of how teenagers should act like in ‘The Hills’ with the drinking, smoking and drugs,” said Sara Shabtai, a junior at Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, Fla. “We need to remember that such shows are made for entertainment, however they are very effective in influencing adolescents.”

Conversely, it can be argued that television shows are helpful to teens. Teenagers will soon be entering the real world and will face some of the problems they see in the shows. When teenagers watch common high school pressures dealt with on television they begin formulating views of their own and preparing themselves for the real world.

“It’s real, that’s what happens all the time to teenagers everywhere,” said Ora Katz, a junior at the Yeshivah of Flatbush. “It might be kind of a bad influence, but I think it’s honest.”

It can also be argued that teenagers learn from the characters’ bad choices and mistakes. For example, viewers of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” watch Amy, the main character, go through high school pregnant. The viewers watch the hardships Amy faces and they learn about one of the consequences of being sexually active.

Some say that teen shows do not really influence teenagers at all. “Viewers are smart enough to understand the difference between reality and make believe,” said Sara Cygler, a junior at the Yeshivah of Flatbush. “Television shows are more of an inspiration for fashion trends and entertainment.”
For example, Free People is a company that sells very casual, laid back clothing. “I never realized how nice Free People’s clothing was until I saw it all over ‘Gossip Girl.’ It influenced a lot of girls in my grade to buy their stuff,” said Ruchie Twersky, a senior at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia.
I think these shows are fun to watch and are also fun to talk about at school the next day. Honestly, I feel I gain nothing from most of the shows I watch, but I enjoy them as a diversion from schoolwork and other pressures.

Brani Cohen is a junior at the Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn.

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