What's so funny bout'
ABC has apologized for it's sexy Desperate Housewives Monday Night Football intro. Forgive me but I must rant on this at least one more time. Why do we hate the human body and human sexuality so much in this country? What exactly are we afraid of? Violence is not a problem, but the nude body provided it's still alive and not covered in blood offends so many people. Each week during the show Survivor (ostensibly a family program) we see ads for CSI that often feature fairy graphic scenes. Last week had quick cuts of masked gunmen, a face wrapped in plastic and the voice over was talking about a child's murder, or maybe that was Cold Case, the point is for some reason we don't mind violence.
Don't know about you but I'd rather have people naked or having sex on my block than masked gunmen, and I feel the same way about my TV programming.
I suspect the turning point for me came in the second grade. Someone had torn the cover off a paperback copy of Jaws. If you recall the cover had a woman who appeared to be nude (though it wasn't entirely clear) swimming with the famous shark menacing underneath. Well this cover starts getting passed around the class, and at some point it was cut down to just the woman. So we have a little 2" x 1/2" printed copy of a nude painting that just happened to be the biggest movie/book in the country at the time.
As the scrap gets to me, the teacher predictably looks up. A couple guys immediately start calling me out "Robbie has a picture of a naked lady" The teacher (I wish I could recall her name) came over to my desk and sees the offending image and shocked the class with the following statement "there is nothing to be ashamed of, the human body is a beautiful thing" and gave me a pat on the back.
I didn't have time to explain that it wasn't mine, or that I was about the last person in the room to see it etc. None of that mattered. I remember thinking about that for days after, and the fact that I can remember it now proves it made an impression on me. What a wonderful impact this woman made on my life with that simple statement. We forget how much our responses shape the perception and attitudes of children. We must try and remember this in these trying times.
To this day I still believe the human body is a beautiful thing and infinitely less offensive than gun violence.
As for the interview? Well I don't want to jinx it but it went very well in my estimation. The interviewer even went so far as to say that I had "made quite an impression on him" which I think is a good sign. He is a seemingly very nice man with a thick Texas accent, I'm talking Coen brothers style.
As for Denton? it feels awfully small town up there for my taste, but the drive was easy and I'm sure I can get used to it. Since they have a large university I'm sure there are some pockets of Blue State resistance around there somewhere. Give me a bookstore, or indie record shop etc, and I'll be fine.
Thank you for your support and kind words, I'm not there yet, but it looks a bit more promising than my recent dalliances into same.
Music-Leonard Cohen Dear Heather, and of course the Kings
Netflix-Heartworn Highways
R
Don't know about you but I'd rather have people naked or having sex on my block than masked gunmen, and I feel the same way about my TV programming.
I suspect the turning point for me came in the second grade. Someone had torn the cover off a paperback copy of Jaws. If you recall the cover had a woman who appeared to be nude (though it wasn't entirely clear) swimming with the famous shark menacing underneath. Well this cover starts getting passed around the class, and at some point it was cut down to just the woman. So we have a little 2" x 1/2" printed copy of a nude painting that just happened to be the biggest movie/book in the country at the time.
As the scrap gets to me, the teacher predictably looks up. A couple guys immediately start calling me out "Robbie has a picture of a naked lady" The teacher (I wish I could recall her name) came over to my desk and sees the offending image and shocked the class with the following statement "there is nothing to be ashamed of, the human body is a beautiful thing" and gave me a pat on the back.
I didn't have time to explain that it wasn't mine, or that I was about the last person in the room to see it etc. None of that mattered. I remember thinking about that for days after, and the fact that I can remember it now proves it made an impression on me. What a wonderful impact this woman made on my life with that simple statement. We forget how much our responses shape the perception and attitudes of children. We must try and remember this in these trying times.
To this day I still believe the human body is a beautiful thing and infinitely less offensive than gun violence.
As for the interview? Well I don't want to jinx it but it went very well in my estimation. The interviewer even went so far as to say that I had "made quite an impression on him" which I think is a good sign. He is a seemingly very nice man with a thick Texas accent, I'm talking Coen brothers style.
As for Denton? it feels awfully small town up there for my taste, but the drive was easy and I'm sure I can get used to it. Since they have a large university I'm sure there are some pockets of Blue State resistance around there somewhere. Give me a bookstore, or indie record shop etc, and I'll be fine.
Thank you for your support and kind words, I'm not there yet, but it looks a bit more promising than my recent dalliances into same.
Music-Leonard Cohen Dear Heather, and of course the Kings
Netflix-Heartworn Highways
R
posted by Robert_M at 8:33 AM
2 Comments:
I launched into rant about the Monday Night Football intro yesterday to anybody who'd listen, hitting the same points as you, but not nearly as well.
The folks that are deathly afraid of sexuality always use their children as cover for this argument --- "My kids might be watching that show!!" But I think it's really deeper than that. There's a deep shame about sexuality in our country. We're taught from an early age that sex is naughty and dirty. And the second grade teacher you had is a really rare commidity these days. Think about what the world would be like if everybody had a second grade teacher like yours? I doubt we'd be hurtling straight towards a Taliban-like existence like we are now.
I did not see this football intro you speak of, but I feel compelled to comment nonetheless. Of course there is nothing wrong with sex or the human body. However, the problem I have with such things on TV is the casual-ness with which it is presented. I don't really think pre-teen girls ought to be thinking they should dress like Christina Agulara, or sleep around like the kids on 90210 or Dawson's Creek, or whatever new WB show kids are watching. I also don't like shows that seem to imply that sleeping with lots of different people and cheating on your spouse is good normal safe behavior. That is not what sex is supposed to be. I haven't seen this "Desparate Housewives" but I doubt it is presenting sex in a very "beautiful" way.
I'm right there with you on the violence.
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