My discussion group sent the link below that we discussed tonight.
What do you all think of these kinds of TV shows?
My mom and sister love to watch American pickers, pawn stars, and several other shows about collecting and selling cool old stuff.
At Thanksgiving my niece and nephew got us excited about a fun but weird show called Punkin’chunkin. It is an annual contest where people compete to chunk pumpkins the farthest via catapult or rocket. I think the programs do show a part of the country that some viewers never see. I hate that viewers are presented with any stereo types that may cause them to judge and condemn an entire region of the country.
I love garage sales and estate sales and have found over hundreds of Saturdays in the last 20 years that the south (where I live) is filled with people that are open friendly and warm.
I think especially with some shows like Hoarders, viewers feel superior, less crazy, smarter, more hip, less prejudice and much better off than the people on TV. Watching Hoarders just makes me want to get up off the couch and organize my closets.I don’t do it, but it makes me WANT to.
I use to watch Andy Griffin as a kid and dream of living in a small town and sitting on a front porch with my family. Perhaps there is a hint of that in some of these shows where families work together in a small business. Dads and sons side by side, nature as something to honor and tame. It’s not all a ya’ll put down.
What do you think?
Here is the link to the article on Stereotypes of Southerners on TV.
Disappointing Redneck TV Shortchanges the American South
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2011/12/07/142861568/disappointing-redneck-tv-shortchanges-the-american-south?sc=emaf
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at http://PattiWood.net. Also check out the body language quiz on her YouTube Channel at http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.