Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Cranky Pants

At the risk of sounding like a total cranky pants, I'm feeling slightly alienated from a lot of the shows and artists I loved only a year or two ago.  While I'm not some old woman who sits on her front porch lamenting the downfall of my generation, it does seem as though there's a glorification of irresponsibility and bad choices in both tv and radio (probably also movies, but with a 14-month-old and pregnancy bladder, we don't get to the theaters much these days).
A friend and I had a recent discussion about The New Girl premiere episode, in which a bunch of late 20-somethings are frustrated because their friends are getting married and they keep being invited to weddings.  Because...people shouldn't grow up and make lifelong choices?  Because celebrating love in any shape is a bad thing?  Because I'm supposed to appreciate that they're 'taking back their fridge' by throwing away the many wedding invitations covering it?  The vast, vast majority of my friends in their late 20s are married (a lot with kids, but I digress), or in longterm committed relationships.  In my, admittedly suburban, worldview, it's the norm to have a fridge full of first birthday invitations and birth announcements, along with the wedding mail.  This is what people do: they grow up and mark the milestones in their life because, without those things, how else do we make those moments stand out from the mundanities?  By the end of the episode, I was totally turned off by and flabbergasted that we're supposed to be cheering a group of grown-ups who were 'taking a stand' by ripping up wedding invites from people they are supposedly friends of.
I had to stop watching Modern Family a couple seasons ago because, seriously, do these people even like each other? And how am I, a married and pregnant mother-of-one with a mortgage, supposed to applaud Katy Perry's latest single, in which she respects kids using their rent money for bottle service?  I probably am not the target demographic for her song, but I can't help but wonder what attitude we're promoting here.
The bottom line is that I should probably back off and find other shows to watch and/or artists to listen to.  I've been watching The Mindy Project and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the first of which showcases a successful woman of color who isn't afraid to speak her mind and have flaws, and the second of which highlights a team who is good at what they do and isn't constantly belittling each other. My current iTunes playlist includes more of The Okee Dokee Brothers (for August) and Jenny Lewis (for me), whom I don't hate myself for listening to.  Are there any other suggestions out there? And am I the only person who feels so disconnected to the current onslaught of entertainment?

2 comments:

  1. I feel you! I completely agree about The New Girl - at some point last season, I just found myself so frustrated about these people who just refused to get their lives together! I also agree with your Modern Family comments; I simply do not enjoy watching shows (or movies) where everyone is making each other miserable, because I don't feel like I can relate!

    We have been watching Blue Bloods (which I'm not sure you'll enjoy completely, but they are a strong family who actually acts like they love each other!), and I always HIGHLY recommend Orphan Black - very realistic sci-fi, but also very focused on relationships between all of the characters. And, of course, we can always look forward to Parks and Recreation!

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  2. No TV faves for me at the moment (except "The Roosevelts"). Just patiently waiting for "Mad Men" and "Downton Abbey".

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