Is Bad Behavior Good To Talk About?
If they didn't have brand names they'd be forgotten.
A 25 year old mother of two having a depressive breakdown.
A 20 year old partying too hard with friends who aren't good for her.
A 25 year old who has dropped a dramatic amount of weight.
A 26 year old rich kid who thinks she is above the law.
None of these scenarios are anything to write home about. They occur in our hometowns and college campuses all the time. But when you have the world's cameras pointed your way, capturing in every detail your failures and foibles, it becomes something else.
But Britney, Lindsay, Nicole, and Paris are higlighted lately as examples of 'bad girls' in Hollywood. I think they've made poor decisions (especially driving while intoxicated) but I don't necessarily think we can deem them 'bad people'. I certainly wouldn't want to be judged on my actions when I was struggling as a 20 something. And I have no idea what it would be like to be the primary bread winner in my family at age 11 and having no real boundaries with my parents. Nor could we know what it's like to hear your bodies and boyfriends being gossiped about on a daily basis.
What we can do right now is really look within our own families and relationships and see where we can relate or where we can use these current examples as openers to have those tricky conversations about eating disorders, drug and alcohol addictions and personal consequences.
I'll be on CNN again tonight discussing how parents can use the crazy media circus around Paris, Lindsay, Nicole, and Britney's breakdowns/meltdowns/rehab trips - as opportunities to create conversations with their children.
I am determined to illuminate the teachable moments in what we are all watching or reading about online. The coverage will be there. The media scrutiny and madness isn't going anywhere -- so how do we navigate through the muck and gossip we are absorbing.
If wonderful people hadn't intervened in my life at the right time -- I wouldn't be where I am today. I was one poor choice away from being like Paris or Nicole. And that's scary to think about!
A 25 year old mother of two having a depressive breakdown.
A 20 year old partying too hard with friends who aren't good for her.
A 25 year old who has dropped a dramatic amount of weight.
A 26 year old rich kid who thinks she is above the law.
None of these scenarios are anything to write home about. They occur in our hometowns and college campuses all the time. But when you have the world's cameras pointed your way, capturing in every detail your failures and foibles, it becomes something else.
But Britney, Lindsay, Nicole, and Paris are higlighted lately as examples of 'bad girls' in Hollywood. I think they've made poor decisions (especially driving while intoxicated) but I don't necessarily think we can deem them 'bad people'. I certainly wouldn't want to be judged on my actions when I was struggling as a 20 something. And I have no idea what it would be like to be the primary bread winner in my family at age 11 and having no real boundaries with my parents. Nor could we know what it's like to hear your bodies and boyfriends being gossiped about on a daily basis.
What we can do right now is really look within our own families and relationships and see where we can relate or where we can use these current examples as openers to have those tricky conversations about eating disorders, drug and alcohol addictions and personal consequences.
I'll be on CNN again tonight discussing how parents can use the crazy media circus around Paris, Lindsay, Nicole, and Britney's breakdowns/meltdowns/rehab trips - as opportunities to create conversations with their children.
I am determined to illuminate the teachable moments in what we are all watching or reading about online. The coverage will be there. The media scrutiny and madness isn't going anywhere -- so how do we navigate through the muck and gossip we are absorbing.
If wonderful people hadn't intervened in my life at the right time -- I wouldn't be where I am today. I was one poor choice away from being like Paris or Nicole. And that's scary to think about!
posted by Jess at 9:36 AM
1 Comments:
Ah, but which really came first: the bad behavior on a consistent basis, or the "bad girl" reputation?
The way I see it is that one bad decision doesn't make anyone a bad person - nor does a series of bad decisions. But when the media becomes so desperate to talk about someone that they watch every movement every minute of every day, that one bad choice makes a great hook.
The problem is, with writing in general and entertainment writing in particular, you need to have a hook.
What's more eye-grabbing: "A-lister makes a bad call" or "A-lister party girl seen. . ." fill in the action.
People make bad choices; bad choices in and of themselves aren't all that interesting. Without the hook, without the spin, people wouldn't buy the tabloids and gossip magazines.
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