Video Killed the Radio Star

"We can't rewind; we've come too far."

A Closer Look to MTV Generation

There was once a time when people could not live alone idly at home, and they built their social life through active interaction outdoors. Today, the story is completely different where people sit on their couch with greasy food on their hands and watch television most of the time. This is how the kids are trained to socialize and learn the values of our culture. When it comes to talking about television shows, we can hardly think of any teenager who would not know the shows on MTV.

For today’s teenagers and young adults, MTV does not only constitute a part of their leisure, but it has become an indispensable part of their lives। The role that MTV plays in the lives of these youngsters is evidently increasing, while the impact it has on them seems to be a growing concern and an issue that needs to be immediately dealt with. This is because teenagers are the ones who would be searching for their role models and would easily get convinced by the punk culture our society has to offer. The portrayal of romanticism, sex and seemingly elegant lifestyles not only prevents the viewers from socialization in their real lives but also draws them towards the superficial world where real life issues hardly have any space.

To talk about the popularity of MTV shows and what kinds of movies fill the box-office, we cannot leave out Jackass: Number Two. If movies like Jackass continue to haunt the television sets and movie theatres, we will be compelled to witness the unproductive, sadistic and deteriorated generation in the near future. The movie portrays masochistic people who are resistant to pain and have earned an expertise in reaping fun out of people’s sufferings. They fortify their well being by demonstrating daredevil attitudes and performing strange behaviors that would make them ‘different’ from the rest of the society. Jackass is different because it has no protagonist, antagonist or narration like other movies have. The movie does not have any message for the viewers except for the ‘do not try this at home’ thing and that being different or hip is ‘cool’. Jackass, that represents the end of a civilized human society, had initially been part of the MTV series and had been connected to daredevil subculture and punk rock, in some ways (Devore). The movie did a good job at gaining the attention of youngsters by incorporating humor with indecent portrayal of sexuality and presenting the extremities of destructive behaviors. With a movie like this lingering in the society, we can hardly expect teenagers to be secluded from its influence.
Besides deteriorating the western societies by ruining the teenagers, the MTV has also been successful in creating a deep impact on eastern societies. Even in the traditional and culture-oriented places like Japan and India, the popularity of the MTV shows does not seem to be decreasing. The content of TV shows in these countries has changed drastically over the years. The eastern counterpart is not very different than the MTV shows showed in the western society. The MTV trend and its influence have been spreading like anything. MTV has not only been changing the way the people dress, but also the social values and norms. For instance, in India where collectivism is considered as one of the significant facets of the society, recently individualism is a growing trend among teenagers. Family patterns have changed from a joint family system to nuclear family, co-habilitation, single parenting, etc. In addition, pre-marital sex, divorce rate adultery pranks among college students and crime have been more prevalent than they were a decade ago. Thus, the infiltration of the societies caused by shows on MTV continues to grow as the MTV shows have almost been the trendsetters in those places.

The producers of the MTV shows should realize how deeply they have been impacting their young viewers’ mentality and their lives. As adolescence is the most stressful phase of human development in context of physical, mental and social aspects, MTV creators should readily accept the fact that they have been deteriorating the future of the western world. As responsible adults of the society, they should comprehend that adolescence is the time to understand the realities of life and make constructive efforts to secure their future by developing the required confidence, strength and abilities in them. The hip culture that has laden us with irresponsibility through its “I don’t care” attitude will only lead us nowhere but to a chasm of malignity. By targeting the adolescent they are targeting the most vulnerable constituents of the society and eventually affecting the future of the nation. With issues like global warming and decreasing self-sustainability, the teenagers of the western society definitely needs a different guidance line other than MTV; unless the contemporary MTV culture decides to bring about a drastic change.