Big Love: Exploitation for drama? or fair representation?

This is another post about one of my favorite shows on television: Big Love. For those of you who are not familiar with the show, it is about the joys and struggles of a fictional polygamist family in Utah. I became addicted to the show during its second season and have been following it since. As a minor critique, the quality of writing has definitely taken a turn for the worst in its current season. This is because they set up several great story lines in the second season and now they are all being revealed. I think the writers either got too excited or ingested too much caffeine because the story has become overwhelming. Every two to three minutes, the story and scene switches and a new secret is revealed. However, the unfortunate quality of the third season has allowed me to view this show objectively because I am not as invested. I found myself questioning if all of this drama could even be possible.

So, I decided to do some research. Is HBO's depiction of the polygamist lifestyle accurate? Semi-accurate? I had a hard time finding up-to-date articles. Most of the criticism from the Church of Latter Day Saints and polygamist Mormons seemed to occur before the first season even premiered. Most of it came from the wary LDS because they understandibly do not want old stereotypes about their religion to be reinforced in the public's mind. Although, Big Love does successfully state in their plot line that LDS does not support polygamy what-so-ever. Point 1 for Big Love. But what about now? I did find one article that talked about the hard facts of polygamist life seen on Big Love vs. the real world.

The article is from Entertainment Weekly's "Expert's Corner: How real is 'Big Love' season 2?"
EW representative Shirley Halperin interviews Salt Lake Tribune reporter Brooke Adams. Adams tasks include covering the trail of Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs, interviewing Polygamist families, and updating the paper's polygamy blog. To sum up the interview, Adams is answers specific questions about whether the plots and character portrayals in season 2 are accurate. After reading the interview it seems that overall, Big Love is fairly accurate (with a few exceptions of course).

But what bothered me the most is that the writers of the shows copied real situations that occured in the polygamist world (i.e. Ronda seeking spilling her story on a talk show. This actually happened with two runaway girls from a polygamist compound). Are the writers getting lazy? Or did their reaseach make them realize that polygamy is entertaining in itself so why not just retell reality? So why did they even make the show? I suppose its hard to please an audience because people want accurate representation but not actual copy-cat stories. I can sympathize with this difficulty. I still haven't answered my own question (it appears in the title). To be quite honest, I'm not sure if HBO's aim is to just make money by exploiting this group of unique people or if they're interesting in representing humanity. Perhaps I'll have an answer by the third season's final episode (just a few weeks away).

Stupid, fat, male catastrophes

I finally found a good, solid male stereotype! The stupid, fat, American father! Nobody tops Homer of The Simpsons and Peter of Family Guy. This blog maybe hard for me to write objectively because these are my two favorite television shows of all time.

Here is a list of all of his inherent flaws just because he is overweight.

1. Lazy
2. Stupid
3. Funny because of his stupidity
4. Bad father
5. Alcoholic
6. Somehow marries a hot, smart wife. But why does she fall for him if she's so smart?
7. Because they are SO lovable!
8. And they're always lower middle class.

In The State of the United States, a blog geared toward understanding American culture from a foreigner's perspective, The Simpsons is cited as the OVERALL classic example of the American stereotype. Meanwhile, Annalee Newitz makes an interesting comparison between Roseanne and The Simpsons in his blog Why I Hate The Simpsons.

So why do I still love these shows so much? I'm not exactly sure. My boyfriend thinks the bright colors really help because they make viewers happy. I suppose these shows also remind me of my childhood. I feel like a hypocrite admitting that these are my favorite shows on my blog devoted to revealing negative stereotypes in Hollywood. Perhaps it's because none of these stereotypes apply to me. I guess its natural for people not to be offended by things that do not affect them. It's difficult to find humor that does not hurt some group of people. Maybe that will be my next mission- to find the perfect humor for everyone.