Emma Trapp
Round Table reporter
“Juno” was the start of the teen pregnancy movie phenomenon. The movie came out in 2007 and won an Academy Award and three Oscars. The movie was about a teen girl who got pregnant in her senior year in high school. Though she gave up the baby for adoption, Juno and her boyfriend wound up together in the end, which is unfortunately, not the happily-ever-after that most teen moms experience.
Since then, other hit shows about teen moms have appeared on TV such as “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” and “Teen Mom.” The teen pregnancy rate increased by three percent in 2007. One in every six teenagers will become moms in high school but majority of the moms who keep the babies drop out of school.
In these TV shows or movies, money is rarely a conversation topic. The conversations usually consists of what they are going to wear the next day to school. The teenagers of today don’t realize how much money a baby costs these days.
A person can easily spend nine thousand to eleven thousand dollars, and that’s just the first year. The money is spent on things such as diapers, baby formula, baby furniture, baby gear, etc. The movies and TV shows don’t show problems such as these, but they never fail to show relationship problems between the mother and the father.
The producers of these movies and shows want the audience to think that a baby is a miracle to anyone of any age. TV shows such as “16 and Pregnant” claim to show the ups and downs of having a baby, even though the good always seems to outweigh the bad.
They show the mothers in their “natural” environments but no one can really act natural when they have a camera shoved in their face. The mothers put on their make- up and they have their cute little outfits on.
In all reality, no mother has time to do all of those things when they have a screaming and crying baby in the background that needs a bottle, diaper changing, or burping. The producers cut out all the late nights and the crying and all the hard work that is required to raise a baby.
In movies such as “The Pregnancy Pact,” the mothers who go to high school get to continue with their education and somehow manage to bring their babies to school. The mothers all go baby shopping together and have baby showers together. Even their loving boyfriends, who are absolutely committed and can’t wait to see their smiling babies, join in on the baby fun; in reality, the stress of having a baby seems to be too much for the baby daddies and the mothers soon realize that they have to raise the baby by themselves.
The teenagers who are influenced by these movies and TV shows get a rude awakening when they realize that, instead of getting popularity in high school, all they get is a bad reputation. The hit TV show, “The Secret Life of American Teenager,” is a bad example of what young mothers’ lives would be like.
The word “sex” is used up to forty times in the show. Amy, the young mother on the TV show, has become friends with the popular girls and even though she has a baby she still makes time to date. A real mother today would drop out of school and have no time to talk to any of her friends and they would have no time to even go a date.
Young teenage girls of today who watch these shows see the main girl and the young boy brought closer together by their little bundle of joy, when it actually has the opposite effect. In the TV show “Teen Mom,” the immature boyfriend magically grows up and realizes that he loves the girl, whom he has already knocked up, and he wants to marry her and have a family. In real life, the majority of girls who have a baby end up being single mothers.
Instead of the boys realizing how much they love the mother and their baby, they leave before the baby is even born. The young dads of today want to live their lives, go to college, get jobs, and at this age having a family isn’t in the picture. More girls watch these TV shows and movies than boys. The boys understand that having a baby isn’t glamorous and they don’t see the idea of having a baby at such a young age as a good thing.
TV shows like “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and movies such as “Juno” are making teen pregnancies in high school more of a fad than a concern. The producers of movies and TV shows don’t care about what idea they are putting into teens’ heads as long as they get their money. Today the movies and TV shows are putting a false reality into the heads of teenagers.
Amber • Jul 22, 2010 at 6:09 pm
I disagree. 16 and Pregnant makes me NOT want to be a teen mom. Some of those guys are so horrible, and most of the relationships have fallen apart.
It seems to me that the bad outweighs the good, so I’m not certain what television show you’re watching. For one thing, Macy’s boyfriend is hardly involved in her son’s life, and she seems mostly miserable for it. Amber isn’t with her man anymore and seems particularly unhappy. The only one who seems to have any true happiness is Catelynn because she has a loving boyfriend, and gave her baby up for adoption, even if she misses the baby like crazy–but she knows it’s best.
Fern Burford on May 25, 2010 • May 26, 2010 at 2:04 pm
As a teenager herself, I can’t think of a better critic of these shows that do, as she states, glorify the fun side of being a mommy with this real- live baby doll. Emma obviously understands the other side – the crying, teetheing, colicky, no money, etc. etc. We should be grateful that we have talented young teenagers who are willling to speak out on a contraversial subject. Congratulations,Emma. You truly deserve this award.
Jo Rowe • May 24, 2010 at 5:12 pm
As a mother of four and a grandmother of four, I have nothing but high praise for Emma Trapp. She is willing to stick out her neck and go against the popular idea that sex is a spectator sport and that the resulting pregnancy is just another fun thing to happen to you. The fun part wears off very quickly and the responsibility part rears its ugly head very soon – and then where is the father? I say shame, shame on the media industry for promulgating such bad choices for our vulnerable teenagers. You go girl.
barney • Apr 1, 2010 at 11:07 am
And you disagree because you think its the producers job to play mommy? And yes it’s right on target with the young female Audience who would blame anything but themselves.
baby bop • Mar 31, 2010 at 5:41 pm
barney, i disagree.
ms. trapp; your story is right on target.
barney • Mar 31, 2010 at 11:25 am
Alright, first of all it is not the Producers job to put a realistic image of teen pregnancy in the minds of young adults. It’s not their job too strive to create a good influence on the audience and their decisions, and they especially shouldn’t be criticized for not doing so.
A producer of a movie, or television series is not any of the above, but it’s to tell a story and entertain the audience as well as make them think and explore the depths of what they just saw. Storytelling is an art, whether in movies, paintings or books. If you bash one you might as well start researching every work of literature to attack as well.
To target these productions and say they are the cause of teenage pregnancy rising is ridiculous, the sole causes, and the only causes is the lack of good judgment in teenagers, and the extreme lack of parenting ability. For one to say these shows are wrong for the image to portray is like telling a painter hes not portraying his work the way he should.
No matter the type of story, content or influence a movie or show has, it has the full right to be as creative and artistic with it’s ideas as you do with your opinionated stories, which by the way, are extremely naive. The only person who has complete control over the situation is the individual committing the act. To say otherwise is a lazy excuse to criticize and blame something else that has no fault involved whatsoever. So blame the source, stupidity.