Episode one of season one of Reba begins at a court mandated
therapist session dealing with life changes that have recently happened in Reba’s
family. During the therapy session it is revealed that, Cheyenne (Reba’s
daughter) who is a senior in high school is pregnant with her boyfriend’s child.
The conversation about Van (Cheyenne’s boyfriend) emphasizes his position on
the football team and his skill introducing him to the viewers as a high school
athlete/star player.
Now, Reba
is a television show that appeals to a middle aged crowd perhaps around their
twenties and it is important to keep that in mind for context sake. In the
episode the portion that I am honing in on in this blog is subtle and
background noise in comparison to the major appeals/themes of the show, but it
is my goal to observe the athlete and his reputation.
In
taking a closer look at Van, the athlete in the show, I notice the argument
that he is an athlete so he is expected to not
be a rule follower. In later conversation about Cheyenne and Van becoming
pregnant the point is brought up that it was both of their first time to have
sex that resulted in the pregnancy. Van shook his head and made a face in
denial of the fact that it was also his first time, obviously embarrassed by
the statement but revealed to be a true statement. Why? Is it because him
getting his girlfriend pregnant furthered his “bad boy” persona BUT it being
his first time to have sex wasn’t furthering that persona? Otherwise the fact
that it was his first time to have sex would be a fact that in this situation
would be in his favor to enhance his reputation to Cheyenne’s parents. It seems
that the bad boy reputation is something in the show that the athlete desires
to be known as.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBtiL0-OSt4
This is such a good point! It's sad that sex has been manipulated over the past short years and can help someones "image." I'm just gonna link the bad boy persona to how I feel about college athletes. In my opinion, the image of "bad boy" today at our age (20-24) isn't very attractive. In fact if I hear that a college athlete sleeps around, I automatically have a negative perception of them! Then again, maybe the guys admire him. I believe that even athletes who watch these types of shows get ideas on how they can boost their popularity. They need to realize they should just make more touchdowns and score on the field instead of with multiple girls.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you have said about the "bad boy" image. It is sad that boys use sex and pregnancies as a way to make them feel better about themselves and "cool" the their peers. The concept of athletes not being rule followers is also an important one. Although I believe this is not always true, it is very common for athletes or other celebrities to find pleasure in breaking the rules and breaking laws, drawing more attention to themselves and building a negative image.
ReplyDeleteI think you've made a really good connection by choosing this show and the way Van is portrayed in these early episodes as taking pride in getting Cheyenne pregnant on the first time either one of them had sex. To continue your point, I think the show continues to portray him as the "bad boy" through the dumb jock stereotype. He's seen as a football player who get Reba's daughter pregnant and not much more. By him not being good at school but still needing to somehow make the grades so he can play he's being shown as someone who doesn't follow the rules and isn't a "goody goody" because the academic part of school isn't something that is a priority to him.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to say that I love Reba and I think you made a really good point about an athlete's bad boy persona. Something else that I noticed from watching this episode is that, after Cheyenne's pregnancy is announced, Cheyenne's father tells Van "the only reason you're alive is because you can play football." I found this statement particularly interesting because this shows that an athlete, especially a football player, is usually associated with the game he plays and may be given more leniencies because he is a good player.
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