Hollywood plays an important role in shaping our lives. In a way, it evolves us into the society we are - good, bad, or indifferent. How many times have you quoted lines from your favorite movie, sitcom, or dramatic series? I have a friend who quotes Dr. Phil and Oprah. I, in turn, make jokes using "yada yada yada" from Seinfeld and quote what the friends on Friends would say. I always find myself in a situation that George, Jerry, Kramer, and Elaine were once involved in. Then there is the HBO drama, Sex and The City. I own all the seasons and can watch them over and over again . You can buy a shirt that says, "I'm a Carrie" or "I'm a Samantha." I know who I am - I am a cross between Charlotte and Miranda. Countless men and women throughout the world characterize themselves as their favorite character. Hollywood: helpful or harmful? Do we see characters in our favorite sitcoms or movies, and then emulate them? Do we seek out parterns in real life who would meet the expectations of our fantasy heroes, only to be disappointed when they do not come close? Are we so enamored with our favorite characters and/or celebrities that we are forgetting to be ourselves?
Media portrays life in a pretty skewed way. For example, my favorite show is HBO's Sex and the City. In this show, we see an attractive, single woman in her 30s who writes a sex column and still manages to buy $400 shoes, $10 cosmopolitans, fancy dinners, and maintain a rent-controlled apartment in Manhattan. In her column, she analyzes relationships, the sexual revolution, and so many other topics near and dear to a woman's heart. We learn that being single and promiscuous in your mid 30's to late 30's is okay. We also witness single parenting, divorce, and how to deal with situations true to life. Four complete opposites with different personalities become soul mates. However, none of them ever appear to cook, do real work, or take on the stressors of life that most of us experience daily. But women and men alike who watch this show become disillusioned. We start becoming the characters and quoting them. One guy I dated during Season Four went as far as to call himself "Richard" from the show - ya know, the romantic, rich guy Samantha works for who tells her he loves her, romances her, buys her nice gifts, and then is caught eating another woman's "sushi"? Is this what we are coming to? We can not be ourselves so we tell people we are characters from shows to make ourselves feel more important. Well, true to life; watch which character your guy picks, ladies. My "Richard" was not so nice to me either.
The season finale of my other favorite show, "Seinfeld" concluded with our favorite characters on trial for failure to save a man from being robbed. Four uncaring, self-absorbed friends undergo a trial for not caring about society. We can quote the season episodes of Seinfeld we loved so much - man hands, the low talker, the close talker, master of your domain, the maestro, and more. In the end, do we become the uncaring, self-absorbed, mean, and yet hilarious characters we love so much? Or, do most people know when to draw the line - fact/reality v. fiction/fantasy.
What happened to the days of reading novels for fun, reading the works of Shakespeare, or reading poetry and emulating the characters in Jane Austen's works? What happened to the days of pacifying a crying, intolerable child with a pack of crayons and a coloring book? In the world of portable DVD players and watching TV on your laptop, how can we separate fact from fiction? What is the difference between good TV and bad TV? The key is in the eye of beholder - do we believe everything we see? Do we live our lives as ourselves and try to be better people because of something in our moral fiber, or do we become the characters we love - good, bad, indifferent?
In the ever changing digital world of media - TV and movies, we need to be mindful of what is good, bad and know the difference between a movie character and reality - after all, our favorite characters are wearing the mask of good editing, and speaking the words of great writing. We have to write our own stories and act them out according to our own moral compass.
