I will be looking at how the media represents pregnant teens. I will take a look at the TV series on ABC family, the secret life of the American teenager, and the TV series on MTV,16 and pregnant. I want to take a look at how teen moms are represented on TV. I feel that the representations on 16 and pregnant and teen mom are correct but the representation on the secret life are not. I want to look at a situation where all teen moms could have their baby, stay in school, and still live a normal teen life, much like in secret life. but as we see in 16 and pregnant, this isn't always possible.
The audience for the paper is young people who watch and enjoy these shows. People that may be interested in my information are people who watch these shows, or possibly young pregnant girls wondering what their life will realistically be like with a baby. I want my readers to understand which representation is correct. to do this is will need to gather real life statistics about teen pregnancies and compare them to the shows.
I will have to draw from many sources on the Internet about the shows as well as from the things we have read in class.
I will need to have all of my research collected by the middle of week 10 in order to compile and create my essay by the thursday of exam week.
I hope to discover some new information of the shows i enjoys to give me some more insight into the real life context they contain.
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I think this is a really timely topic, because I know a ton of people who are watching these shows right now, especially 16 and Pregnant. Your audience would be interested in the topic, because a lot of people watch these shows, or at least have heard of them. I think you're right that this show and Teen Mom are pretty accurate representations of reality. One of my friends' sisters, who just had a baby at a very young age, watches these shows religiously because she can relate. I also think it's a good idea to gather statistics about teen pregnancies, and compare them to the shows. This way you will be better able to compare and contrast the reality of shows like 16 and Pregnant, and the not-so-accurate representation of The Secret Life of the American Teenager. I think you'll be able to find a lot of information about this topic.
ReplyDeleteHi Rachel,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kelly that this is a timely topic. One thing you do need to include is a rewrite - and you can do a rewrite of the genre. For example, as you research how television presents teen pregnancy, what do you see emerging as major themes? How do we need to perhaps re-imagine representations of teen pregnancy on television to help present not only a more accurate portrait of teen pregnancy, but also a more informed message?
I just read an article about Bristol Palin's upcoming appearance on Secret Life from The Huffington Post, and I found the comments interesting with regards to how she represents teen preganancy: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/akmuckraker/the-not-so-secret-life-of_b_474279.html)
Overall, I will be curious to see how your research develops and the essay plays out. Just remember that you do need to offer a revision of at least the genre, if not a particular show, in some way. ~Megan