| Young Adult Literature and Multimedia--Resources |
MTV's True Life--An Educational Opportunity
by Katherine Adams
UW-Stout: Young Adult Literature
Since its birth in 1981, MTV (Music Television Network) has taken teenagers and teenage culture by storm (Heaton, 2004). MTV’s Executive Editor, Robert Pittman, researched what teenagers “want” in any form of entertainment. Through this research, he developed the following list of what teens seek in entertainment: “Irreverence, zaniness, instability, chaos, a frenetic pace, disjointed thoughts, and in-depth info about music.” Although the network has slowly transitioned away from its origins based solely on music and music videos that appeal to teenagers, MTV still is perhaps one of the strongest cultural icons available. “…if you are a young person in western culture, these programs meet your informational needs about growing up and living life. No lectures. No lessons. No right or wrong way. They simply express, through the life experiences of others, what life is or can be like…” (Heaton, 2004). Whether an educator agrees or disagrees with MTV’s programming or core-values is not the issue; teenagers thrive off the network and the network’s information. Can it all be bad? Of course not; as a true educator, locate the positives of MTV’s programming and work with the network to better reach today’s teenage culture and population. Tapping into their familiar culture tends to motivate even the lowest-interest/skill students
One of MTV’s highest-regarded “reality” shows is “True Life.” This show features a group of teenagers from throughout the country who all share one issue, disorder, or problem. True Life is shot in documentary style, where the individuals are portrayed without comment, storyline, or bias; however, it seems as if the show makes sure to—through the choice of highlighted people— feature as many sides of the issue as possible Some True Life shows that best resonated with high school students were Surviving High School, I Don’t Fit In, I Have OCD, I’m Jealous, I’m on a Diet, I Need Anger Management, I’m the Black Sheep, and I Stutter. Are these shows reputable or even worth watching? Do they actually help teenagers deal with these topics? The National Stuttering Association seems to think so; on their webpage, www.nastutter.org, which is developed in order to “give useful facts about stuttering and stuttering therapy, ideas to use to help with speech, and some things to think about regarding help,” they featured a page prompting viewers with stuttering problems to apply for the MTV True Life show. Then, upon the airing of the show, the association opened a discussion forum based on the documentary (Stuttering, 2007).
According to Edward Wyatt, reporter for The New York Times, True Life is a reality show that is actually real: “One of the ways MTV maintains both an intimacy with and a distance from its subjects is to spend hours and hours with them. The network will shoot up to 150 hours of video over a period of months to get the 43 minutes of material that makes it into the final program” (Wyatt, 2006). Wyatt goes on to discuss how the show gains validity by including people who, sometimes, utterly fail in instances such as rehab or drug use, people who attempt suicide, and people who end up in prison by the end of the show. Most “reality” shows fail to include these realistic failures in their final edits, where True Life avoids sugar-coating people and their lives like the plague.
One of my students turned me—meaning, me, the educator— on to the True Life show last year. I was aware that she had really been struggling with OCD; her rituals and the like were actually making it almost impossible for her to function as a student within the classroom. While having a conversation with her, she mentioned that her specialist for OCD gave her a burned DVD of the True Life I Have OCD show. She told me that he felt like, by seeing other high school kids who are also dealing with OCD, she would feel less alone with the disorder. Also, according to her specialist, the show gives resources—including webpages, foundations, and phone numbers— for further help and alternatives in the ending credits. The student commented with something close to: “Every bit of help everyone tried giving me before this was stupid. No kid wants to read a book about adults with OCD, but all kids watch MTV. The people on the show are my age.” This really got me thinking that an educator can actually utilize parts of pop-culture such as MTV. Since then, I’ve recommended the True Life show to kids when they are researching and presenting on many topics—unbelievably, most of the research topics the kids choose or have interest in choosing, have been covered by True Life—that just goes to show that MTV really is tapped into the teenage pop-culture vein in America.
Educators can utilize a source like True Life in many different ways—the show can be viewed as a source for excellent research topics; the show itself can even be analyzed for its validity and honestly; students can analyze the documentary style of the show; students can use True Life as a basis for creating a documentary of their own. What is so unique about True Life, is that it can be viewed from a psychological viewpoint, a journalistic viewpoint, or even a film/documentary viewpoint. I’ve found that some of my more un-motivated students really latch onto anything television related—this seems to be the genre they are comfortable in. It almost seems as if many teens look forward to and thrive off the opportunity to be the “expert” in the situation—to be able to teach the teacher something. True Life can also be an awesome discussion starter with your students—I frequently watch the show myself, then, when I go into my classroom and bring up the episode, the kids jump right into debate and discussion. Many of highest participation and passionate discussions have started due to comments made about the show.
Suggested Student Reading:
Teen media--news and opportunities. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from Reel Action Web site: http://www.proscenia.net/reelaction/production.htm
Annotation: This webpage provides current information geared toward middle and high school students about the media world. Resources about making films, documentaries, cinematography, youth media conferences, and media-oriented novels and guides are included on this webpage.Teenage disorders (2004, November 29). Retrieved February 14, 2008, from National Center for Health and Wellness Web site: http://www.anxiety-and-depression-solutions.com/directory/links26.html
Annotation: This webpage is a credible resource on teenage disorders and health issues. Page provides links to national organizations for a wide-variety of teenage disorders and mental/physical health issues. A physician monitored “blog” center is also available for teens dealing with disorders or health issues to talk and share experiences and stories.
References:
Stuttering documentary. (2007, November 3). Retrieved February 14, 2008, from National Stuttering Association Web site: http://nsagso.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html
Wyatt, Edward (2006, October 3). Unsimple lives of an mtv reality show. Retrieved February 14, 2008, from The New York Times Web site: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/arts/television/03true.html?pagewanted=1
True life. (2008). Retrieved February 14, 2008, from MTV Web site: http://www.mtv.com/ontv/dyn/truelife/series.jhtml#bio
Heaton, T. L. (2004, November 14). TV news in a postmodern world part II, the case for MTV. Retrieved February 5, 2008, from http://www.donatacom.com/papers/pomo2.htm
These lesson plans, guides, and other resource materials for young adult literature topics were created by participants in a professional development course in young adult Literature. Each resource is copyrighted by the individual educator who developed the material. The present course being taught is titled: Teaching Young Adult Literature in the Classroom from the University of Wisconsin-Stout (Sharron L. McElmeel, instructor)