Reply #81: entertainment industry does not care about women [View All]

[abelenkpe]

I can tell you that much from experience. The networks gear all their programming to males between 14-28 and figure that women will watch what the men in their life watch. (Just as politicians believe that women will vote the way the men in their life vote.) Truly. Every movie, every TV show. Each network will have a few token shows that they claim are marketed towards women, but they will demean them simultaneously calling them 'chick flicks' or putting them on during notoriously bad time slots and such in an effort to maintain the numbers that support the attitude of the status quo: that success is always aimed toward a young male audience. I'm confused how anyone would consider a show like 'the Bachelor' for a female audience. All that show is designed to do is to reinforce the attitude that women are all money grubbing back stabbing superficial dependents ready to humiliate themselves for a man. That the more beautiful a woman is the more duplicitous they are. That for all their success and education all they truly want is to be married. Not that marriage is a bad thing. The truth is that women and men get and stay married for far different reasons, usually things like mutual respect and shared goals along with a healthy dose of passion. Those shows are designed to make men mistrust and objectify women. They demean women on a large scale. Personally I find the very concept disgusting and insulting. But maybe that's just me.

You may feel that TV is not geared towards men because more and more shows feature males who appear to be harmless buffoons or powerless in their life situation. This is a very PC trend right now in the entertainment business. The fact is that writers have their hands tied by marketing interests and therefore find it difficult to write a male character that is anything between Archie Bunker and Homer Simpson. It's difficult to write a male character that is not in some way powerless in his life situation (unless he is a superhero) because drama imitates life and the majority of people do not have control over their life. Men and women must work to feed and clothe themselves and frequently work demeaning and unsatisfying jobs in order to survive and to care for their families. So the thinking is that they receive enjoyment watching others suffer as they do. That is why TV sucks right now...because for most life kinda sucks right now. You are correct to feel that TV shows demean men (the same way that I feel the Bachelor demeans women.) It does. By portraying men as powerless it is easier to manipulate and market products to the target audience: men ages 14-28. As each show is punctuated by ads that declare you will rule the road by owning such and such car, or you will be powerful in your daily life by taking such and such pill the television simultaneously puts you down and offers you a product to cure what ails you.

The real cure is to turn the TV off.