Midterm Blog #1

As a young woman, I am proud of everything my forerunning feminists have fought for and the progress they trail-blazed. However, I can't help but observe that pop culture seems to be spoon feeding girls shallowness and perpetuating inferior stereotypes from a young age. 

Pretty Little Liars, which at its best has brought in 4.2 million viewers, is a popular television show among teen girls. The show is dark, gritty, and, on the surface, different. Four female protagonists join forces to find who murdered their best friend, and along the way, get into some really gripping situations. Their clever tactics and strong relationships with one another manage to keep them alive, but why can't they ever seem to catch their terrorizer, A? Could it be because they spend considerable time putting together elaborate outfits and immaculate makeup and hair for school? I mean, come on, even the most fashionable wear sweatpants occasionally. And why are all of their terrorizers, who they never seem to be able to foil on their own, older men? Why do men always seem to have the one-up on our young, female sleuths? 

This show not only provides girls with the latest fashion trends and the newest Pantene products for their hair, but also promotes shallowness and sheer stupidity. Even the smartest and most revered girl of the group, Spencer, loses her mind and must be committed after she finds out her boyfriend betrayed her. And every time one of our female heroines turns around to check her phone, she ends up locked in a coffin, a telephone booth, or drugged and abandoned in a warehouse without struggle. 

Sure, romance and fashion are popular among teen girls, but so are social issues, intelligence, having common sense, and just about any other life skill anyone else possesses. I'd like to think that if someone were shoving me into a coffin to push me off a train to my death that I'd put up some sort of struggle. Can’t we ever have a female protagonist who can sense something is wrong? Or at least know not to go into the woods at night by herself when someone is trying to kill her?

ABC Family does boast some really culturally diverse shows that cover socially relevant topics, yet their most popular is Pretty Little Liars, or Girls Who After Four Seasons Can’t Seem To Catch Their Killer In-between Shopping Sprees. Does ABC Family really think that their audience is that shallow to enjoy such frivolous entertainment, their audience being young girls, or rather are they just as clever as A in accessorizing stereotypical gender roles, male-dependent female heroines, and lack of depth or intelligence with a never ending plot and cute outfits?