“The Real World” Essay, Research Paper
MTV has been putting seven strangers into a mansion for years, but none of the previous episodes have been so intoxicated and as sexually charged as ?The Real World—New Orleans?. There is Jamie, the typical good-looking frat-boy, Julie, the cute-yet sheltered Morman, Melissa, the confused and neurotic barbie doll, David, your typical (yet pumped up) pimp, Danny, the very hot, but very gay, sweetheart, Kelly, your sexy sorority sister, and Matt, the adorable hippy. By putting seven gorgeous people in one house, every roommate is attracted to everyone else. This is what the creators edit to show the public audiences, because sex sells. The MTV series ?The Real World-New Orleans? encourages promiscuous behavior and alcohol abuse by putting seven beautiful people in a mansion with unlimited funds and no rules—suggesting to young adults that this is the way to live. Every episode is about the roommates going to a club, having a party, or who?s doing who. Displaying to young adults and teens that this is how college kids act and that it?s always a fun time, being that when your on TV, your a icon.
The show displays that casual sex is ok in our society. In one episode, Danny cheats on his long time boyfriend while he is drunk, claiming that it didn?t mean anything, therefor, his boyfriend can?t be mad at him. Meanwhile, on the same episode, David is sleeping with some girl who?s name he doesn?t even know, that he met at the club, while Matt is in the room, and the girls? friend is downstairs waiting for her. Kelly, is also being a hoe, by dating a doctor from New Orleans that already has a girlfriend. Kelly knows about the girlfriend, but does the girlfriend know about Kelly? On a recent episode, the roommates go out to a restaurant and decide to set Julie up with one of the waiters, because she needs to ?hook-up? with someone. Later on she makes plans with the waiter, but ditches him for another guy that she met at a club. Poor, innocent, Morman, Julie has now become a casualty of ?The Real World- New Orleans?.
In real life, sane people know not to go out and have sex with people they don?t know. There are sexual transmitted diseases, pregnancy, angry girlfriends that are ready to kick some ass, and most of all AIDS. By putting this on TV, it infers that celebrities don?t really worry
Drinking all night, every night, is always fun in ?The Real World?. In many episodes the cast members drink until they are out of control. Melissa, on her birthday, drank so much that she was stripping on the bar, flashing all the customers, and hurt her ex-boyfriends feelings by going around and flirting with everyone. Danny is out of control most of the time as well. Kissing everyone he comes in contact with, until one day he went too far and ended up cheating on his boyfriend. This implies to young audiences that drinking is all fun and games, regardless of who you end up hurting.
In real life, when you have a party and drink a little too much, you regret it while you are puking all over the place, while the room is spinning, the next morning when you are having the worse hang over in your life, when you find out you cheated on your boyfriend, besides the mess you have to clean up after the party is gone. While the people in ?The Real World-New Orleans? have a house handed to them and don?t care if someone breaks the antique coffee table while they are doing a strip dance on it, or puts a hole in the drywall the size of a Buick, in the real, real world, people have to pay for that.
Yet, why do so many people watch ?The Real World?? The answer is because it?s entertainment. Things are always funny or entertaining to our society as long as its not actually happening to them. Its a real life soap opera that people can sit down and relate to. We all have a story, or know a story, about your best friend being pregnant at 16 and her sister dated your ex-boyfriend before you, but she dumped him because she was just using him for sex and now she?s a slut, but then you had to dumped him because he was still in love with her. Most of this material that is on the show is in our real lives, MTV just happens to magnify and glorify it. By putting this sexually charged and partying environment on television, it displays to future generations of college kids that casual sex, drinking, and partying all the time is accepted in our society and is always a fun time, making these kids want to go out and do the same. But, in the real, real world, people have to go to work, pay rent, and pay the consequences as a result of there actions, maybe we should be putting that on TV instead.