I watch too much tv. This is a fact that has been verified by assorted experts and documented in peer-reviewed journals. In my defense, it's my parents' fault. I'm a child of the 80's, and we got our tv when I was 4 or 5. A formative age. I got to watch such awesome shows as Voltron, Thunder Cats, Snorks, Smurfs, Doctor Who, and (when I was EXTRA lucky and my parents let me stay up past my bedtime) MacGyver. This childhood bliss lasted until I was 7 or 8, when our tv broke. And my parents decided not to get it fixed. Or buy a new one. Ever again. That's right friends - at this tender age, the joyous bond between a girl and her tv was heartlessly torn asunder. I never developed the ennui that most people of my generation have towards television due to the decade or so of shows like Blossom and Full House. I love tv and could watch it all day every day. This is my burden, which I shoulder happily.
One thing I often read or hear about is the glamorization of crime on tv. I agree that this is indeed a problem, and one of the major misrepresentations of the lives of criminals is in television depictions of strip clubs. Not that I *want* to see the reality of those places when I watch tv, but here's the deal: if you DON'T want kids to grow up and become meth-dealing motorcycle gangsters, then spit the truth. A strip club in a backwater town that is run by drug-running bikers is NOT going to have Vegas-quality ass dancing the poles. An honest glimpse of these venues may just be enough to scare a few kids straight. The entertainers will not have cellulite-free tushies on ballet-dancer legs, topped by perky breasts and a pretty face. There will be cellulite, and droopage. If the legs aren't stick-straight, they'll be triangular, with the apex at the bottom. And the dental situation shouldn't even be pondered in the broad light of day.
Just North of my hometown is a lime-green building that clearly was once a house, probably a farmhouse. It isn't *quite* dilapidated, but it verges on being so, and has ever since I can remember. Attached to this is a U-shaped group of buildings, clearly added on years after the house was built, with no attempt to blend the architecture (or color even – it's white) with the original construction. The addition is also not-quite-ramshackle and has been so for ages. Together, this conglomeration is known as Fairways Inn, and attached to the green building is this sign, which pretty much says it all:
I've never been there, but my husband (in his misspent youth) has, as have several of my girlfriends (on a lark, with male friends). Putting it as delicately as possible, the one-eyed dancer was one of the prettier ones. I wish I was making this up.
My point is, THESE are the places that should be shown on tv! Don't show the biker ringleader with a hot blond on one side and brunette on the other, both with tight bodies and well-coiffed hair. Put Toothless Tawny and Cellulite Cindy on the screen. Give those wayward kids something to think about.
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2 comments:
Good lord, you are so right. I had friends who were/are strippers, and they have to be the most interestingly depressing places ever. Despite the loud music and fake desperate attempts at glamor and sexiness, the entire atmosphere is one of unbelievable and very strange sadness.
C - I agree completely! I had a male friend try to argue with me that some of those girls *want* to do that for a living. His example was a girl he knows who's "smart and funny and attractive" who strips. I asked him WHY she started doing it, and whaddya know? She was a single mom trying to take care of her kid and educate herself! Yeah - I'm SO sure that's where she wanted to be in life. Needless to say, he conceded that argument (a real accomplishment if you ever met him).
K - you're absolutely right. Those places are sad and desperate and ultimately lonely.
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