Values of White Trash
Coming home from an exhausting day at work, you sit in your recliner to relax asyou hear foul shouting blurting from your child's bedroom. Curiously you walk towards the room to find the shouting coming from the guests on the Jerry Springer Show. Youthink to yourself, "why is my child watching daytime talk shows," or as the majority referto it, "Trash TV." The storm clouds have been gathering for quite some time now. Is theend near for Trash TV? Concerned viewers, legislators, and press are worried abouttelevision show content in general, however, some of our trashy Talk Shows havereceived more than their fair share of attention in the last few years. What I'm concernedwith is, "What are these shows teaching our children and how does this affect our Many of the guests on TV daytime talk shows are portrayed differently accordingto the topic; however, the guests seem to all have something in common: their backgroundand behavior. Watching a variety of these TV daytime talk shows recently, I've observedthat the bulk of these guests all appear to be whites, Hispanics, or African Americans ofthe lower or middle class. They all come from the same type of living condi
One topic, "My Daughter is a Tramp," on Jenny Jones, was so extremelyprovocative that some of the children were crying by the end of the show. People may even mention the words "white trash," referring of course tothe Caucasian guests. Yet, our cultureviews the exploitation and perversion of these children entertaining while we would neverwant our children to do drugs and sleep with twenty people before the age of fifteen. My point is young viewers may beinfluenced by the teens or even the older guests on these daytime TV talkshows. Maybethe entertainment comes from the extra emotions that some guests may have, or the"staging" may come into play also for our amusement. Poussaint believes that a child, unprepared and emotionally vulnerable, couldcome "completely unraveled" (qtd. Current viewerscould stop watching, but the chances of that happening are slim to none. What has our world come to when wefind people being hurt or taunted as amusement? These guests are also treated and represented differently at each show through thehosts. However, that confrontation may be damaging to the guests'emotions, and somehow we view that as entertainment. While reading Gaines', Herbert's, Bennett's, and Willis'essays, I agreed with each of them in one aspect. For example, Jerry will call transsexual guests "it," or hewill simply make rude comments about his guests under his breath, which keeps theaudience and viewers' entertained. However,people who don't watch can continue to rebel against daytime talkshows and possibly getrates down forcing the programs to no longer exist. I believe in the future these showswill affect how culture is modified, although not how we as people are change becausethat lies upon the individual and not what he or she watches. Viewers are entertained by the mockery of people whom theyaren't familiar with because there is no connection to the viewers' lives.
Common topics in this essay:
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Acceptance Essays
