Teen Mom Evaluation

Rachel Lee
Prof. Goode
English 190
October 24, 2012
Teen Mom: An Evaluation
Don’t worry, everything is going to be fine. You’re just going to have to change the rest of your life. Many people think teen pregnancy is highly unlikely, until, well, your stomach starts to keep growing outward. The MTV show, Teen Mom, takes us into the lives of four pregnant teenage women who face the challenges and the struggles of having a child early in life. Many people might oppose my view and say that this show is completely worthless and just shows couples who have no idea what they’re doing, but for me, I believe that the show is an entertaining yet positive influence that brings out a visual reality of teenage pregnancy, a pregnancy that can change the rest of your life.
One day back when I was around sixteen years old, I was flipping through the channels and stumbled upon MTV’s Teen Mom. The first thing that I realize about the show is that it is a reality t.v. show, which is the type of show I can usually get into. There may be some parts that are scripted, but honestly what reality t.v. show these days isn’t somewhat a little scripted? At first, the show had no effect on me. It was something I would only watch for around ten minutes then I would change to another channel, but before I knew it I had already watched all the seasons of it. Now Teen Mom is a guilty pleasure of mine.
So what makes this show so easy for me to watch, and why do I like it so much now? First off, it’s not a show where you have to watch the very first episode and the next one picks off where the pervious one left off. You could watch any episode and understand what was going on. Another reason is that the show is so relatable since it is happening to girls who are around my age. I think back to my group of friends when watching the show and just think about what it would be like to have one of them on it. Also, the point of the show is very straight-forward. A girl gets pregnant while she a teen, she loses friendships, she loses her education, she loses money, and she gains disappointment from her family. Then you try to see how she copes with what happened, and how she continues to live her life, but this time with a child. Another thing that draws me to it is that I am a sucker for cute toddlers, and the show focuses not only on the lives of the couples but also on the child and how they develop through the parents’ struggles. I believe that the show scares teens with the reality of having a child.
I think this show could be very practical for people who are in the same situation as the people on the show. I think this show was made to bring about peoples’ awareness of the issue on teenage pregnancy. To me, I think this was the purpose of the show, so the show has practicality.
I think the show does a good job of being aesthetically pleasing. Instead of just focusing on one couple who undergoes the struggle of teen pregnancy, they show the lives of four couples from around the world so you get a difference sense of how different people deal with this. The couples range from being well rounded and proper southern teenagers to teenagers who have no filter on their mouths and no discipline in their lives, which is a reason the show is entertaining for me. Each episode is never the same. There is always some new event going on in the lives of these teenagers, whether it’s a positive event or a negative event. The life of these teens seems to be an up and down rollercoaster that never stops. There is meaning to this show which is to inform people about teenage pregnancy so they will avoid it, and through the episodes you see that these teens learned that lesson, but learned it too late.
Ethically, I believe that the show does bring about morally wrong decisions. One of the main women, Amber, is seen as an abusive wife to her husband, Gary. Throughout the season she is seen hitting, slapping, pushing, and verbally abusing him. When things go downhill, she seems to take it out on him in front of their child, Leah. Also another woman, Farrah is seen in countless fights with her mother, some involving punches to the face resulting in black eyes, so domestic violence and abuse seem to be an issue with the show. Also, another woman on the show has a father who is seen in and out of rehab and prison due to drugs. The father has also been said to have abused his wife throughout the show. With this being said, there are some obscene events that do go on throughout the show that could offend some viewers.
If you’re looking for a show that goes into the glamorous lifestyle of a famous family or couple, this probably would not be the show for you, but if you’re looking for a show that provides an entertaining look into the lives of your average teenage couple who deal with an everyday struggle, I would highly recommend this show. Some people may see the show as a comedy, but underneath it all it gives them the hard and scary truth about what it would be like to be a teen mom.