Buffy Bad: So say parents.

POSTED BY: Novagrass
UPDATED: Saturday, September 7, 2002 18:06
VIEWED: 11738
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NOVAGRASS

Thursday, August 22, 2002 6:49 PM

"The Parents Television Council rated UPN's Buffy the Vampire Slayer the worst show in prime time for graphic violence and sex and an element of the occult, the Associated Press reported."

(orginally found at http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/ )

Don't you just love parents?

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

ZICSOFT

Thursday, August 22, 2002 10:14 PM

The call themselves parents, but what they really are is a bunch of social ostriches who want to dictate what everybody else can watch. They don't just criticize shows they don't like -- they pressure networks and advertisers to drop them. It doesn't seem to occur to "Parents TV" that parents have the option of watching with their kids or turning the damn thing off.

Here's what they don't like about Buffy

Quote:
Offensive language has included uses of “bitch,” “bastard,” “hell,” “damn,” “ass,” and “piss.” Violence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer is not only frequent, but also very graphic. In past seasons, episodes included vampires being aroused by biting their victims, Buffy being stabbed, and Dawn’s wrists being slit. In the 2001 season finale, Buffy committed suicide, jumping to her death to save the world. The 2001 – 2002 season premiere showed her decayed corpse regenerated and resurrected through witchcraft.

Concepts of fantasy and metaphor also seem beyond them. They much prefer uplifting shows like Sabrina:

Quote:
Sabrina focuses on the daily struggles of a cheerful teenager who just happens to be a witch as she adjusts to collegiate life and learns to balance family, new friends, and studies. Parents will appreciate that although Sabrina is now in college, she has maintained strong relationships with her aunts, who offer her sound advice and assistance when appropriate. Episodes last season emphasized the importance of fulfilling one’s academic potential, loyalty in friendship, social responsibility, and “clean fun” as being the most fun.

In short, the only TV that should be allowed is bland stuff with a pureply positive message, that pretends that a host of social problems simply don't exist.

More at http://www.parentstv.org/

HAKEN

Thursday, August 22, 2002 10:29 PM

I wonder what they think of the Evening News or the latest edition of Dateline?

NOVAGRASS

Thursday, August 22, 2002 10:39 PM

Quote:
Other shows, such as Will and Grace and Friends, continue to deluge their young viewing audiences with adult themes including explicit sexual references or adult sexual situations. These programs routinely make references to promiscuous lifestyles, masturbation and oral sex.

*heavy sigh*

Edited to add:

Quote:
Felicity has received a red light for its sexual content. Episodes last season featured Felicity too drunk to remember whether she had sex with a stranger; Felicity being asked to donate an egg by her homosexual boss Javier; Meghan working as a phone sex operator; Sean finding out about Meghan’s romantic night with another female; Tracy’s losing his virginity to Elena; and Richard’s losing his virginity. In addition, episodes included implied nudity and references to impotence, orgasms, pornography, STDs, sexual harassment, and transvestites.

What I find particulaly odd is that they consider egg donation sexual content. Hmm...

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

ZICSOFT

Friday, August 23, 2002 1:18 AM

What's really scary is their belief that ignorance is bliss. I never watch Felicity, but I assume they made it clear that alcoholic blackouts and sex with total strangers is scary and dangerous. This is not something they're going to learn from watching the insipid stories on Sabrina. The theory seems to be that the only reason teenagers abuse chemical or have unsafe sex is because they see it on TV.

GUANTES

Friday, August 23, 2002 1:43 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Novagrass:
What I find particulaly odd is that they consider egg donation sexual content. Hmm...

What I find particularly odd is that they are talking about the negaitive issues with sex as much as anything else.... STD's and impotence don't make me want to go out and have sex!

Oh and implied nudity.... What?! Sabrina has implied nudity! She desn't wear the same clothes all the time! Plus I'm sure there has been an episode where she has had some spell go wrong to make her embarrashingly nude!

Phil
"I'm not ashamed. It's the computer age. Nerds are in. They're still in, right?" -Willow

ZICSOFT

Friday, August 23, 2002 4:00 PM

I just noticed a particularly weird inconsistency: no mention at all of gay characters. There are three shows I watch where a central character is gay (Buffy, ER, The Shield) and all three have show said characters groping their partners. Not one word on this on their site.

In theory, the Parents TV site is primarily informational -- it helps parents identify material they do and do not want their kids to see. And I'm forced to agree that parents have a right to do this, even if their filters are based on short-sighted and naive assumptions.

But then why nothing about portrayals of gay characters? If parents have issues with people saying "piss" in front of the kids, they must surely have issues with their kids seeing two guys kissing.

But if they made an issue of this, Parents TV would be accused of homophobia. Which would interfere with their main goal -- forcing shows they don't like off the air. Pretty appalling.

NOVAGRASS

Friday, August 23, 2002 4:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:
What's really scary is their belief that ignorance is bliss. I never watch Felicity, but I assume they made it clear that alcoholic blackouts and sex with total strangers is scary and dangerous. This is not something they're going to learn from watching the insipid stories on Sabrina. The theory seems to be that the only reason teenagers abuse chemical or have unsafe sex is because they see it on TV.

Well, that's always been the assupmtion by these radical parent groups, that's not what surprises me.

In Fort Lauderdale this week, a 17 year old male babysitter was discovered raping an 18 month old baby. Here, parent groups are searching furiously for a way to blame this on the media... a parent interviewed said something along the lines of how media had somehow forced the boy to do this.

First of all: Where the hell has it *ever* been portrayed that raping babies is ok? In television, movies, music? It just proves how far these goddamn parent groups will go to find a scapegoat. Can they not accept that their children are monsters? Oh wait, no, that would mean admitting that their parenting style had been flawed.

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

BOBKNAPTOR

Friday, August 23, 2002 6:36 PM

I certainly don't agree with their choice of "best" shows... Doc? Number 1? now, in all fairness, I've never watched the show. But I have seen enough previews to know that I never want to. Billy Ray Cyrus? Come on, people... you can do better than that! there also seems to be a rather Christian theme to their best list. (7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel)

The fact is that most of the shows that they have on their "worst" list are not meant for children. (I'm surprised we didn't find South Park on the list...) I don't see anything wrong with parents choosing what shows their children can and can't watch. In fact, I see it as one of the responsibilities of a good parent. I have an 8 year old nephew. I wouldn't want him watching Buffy (there was some pretty graphic sex scenes... in particular Buffy's first trist with Spike. Also, he has a tendency to copy what he sees on TV. After watching Power Rangers once he ran around trying to punch and kick his brother and sisters yelling "power rangers!!!") I am perfectly content to have him watch Spongebob Square Pants (although for some reason spongebob does frequently feel the need to take off his pants and walk around in his tighty whiteys).

But what does bother me is that this website doesn't expect (or even give room for) the parents to be able to think for themselves. Other than a few paragraphs about all 20 shows combined, it doesn't even really give you a breakdown of what the shows are about! yes, buffy is violent... but she's saving the world from terrible demons and vampires... not exactly a documentary. Will & Grace is a show about 2 gay men and their 2 best female buddies.... OF COURSE the show will have sexual themes and occassionally mention things like (GASP) promiscuity and oral sex. The least they could do is give you links to the shows sites so that you could form your own opinion.

______________
For God's sake, man, she's eighteen. And you have the emotional maturity of a blueberry scone. Just have at it, would you? And stop fluttering about!

ZICSOFT

Friday, August 23, 2002 9:09 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by bobknaptor:
there also seems to be a rather Christian theme to their best list. (7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel)...
...
But what does bother me is that this website doesn't expect (or even give room for) the parents to be able to think for themselves. Other than a few paragraphs about all 20 shows combined, it doesn't even really give you a breakdown of what the shows are about!

Yeah, as I said, this group is mainly about getting "bad" shows cancelled. Defined as any show that has anything they don't want people to see.

You're probably right about the Christian mind set, although Parents TV seems careful to avoid religious labels. I guess "Christian" has joined "Liberal" as a label that gets you pegged and ignored. Which, speaking as a non-Christian with a lot of respect for serious Christianity, I find pretty sad.

As for parents not thinking for themselves -- there are, alas, a lot of Dittoheads out there.

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