'16 and Pregnant' is a reality MTV tv series that follows the life of a different girl each week. She is in high school and typically anywhere between 6-8 months pregnant. They follow her up till the baby is a few months old.
What was most shocking to me in this series was whether or not MTV truly valued the message they were sending to its millions of viewers. MTV is a multi millionaire company more concerned with making money and their ratings as opposed to the educational content they provide.
Under Hall, we learned about the unidirectional model. The unidirectional model began with the producer and all of the people necessary to produce a show including all the important messages and ideologies required. The next part in this model is the viewer portion. More specifically it is how the viewer reacts and interprets the messages of the show. There are 3 different ways to decode the message according to Hall. Interpret using the dominant hegemonic approach, the oppositional approach, or the negotiated reading. And the final loop in this circuit is the reception of the consumer which then affects what the producer then does. So we learn that power is very influential in this model.
By applying Hall's unidirectional approach to '16 and Pregnant', we can understand how there can be so many different responses to one episode. Even with the material wealth and being one of the most popular channels amongst teenage girls, it is almost hard to believe how society has accepted this fate for future generations.
Having read various responses by teenagers, it was very interesting to see the difference in opinion about this show. There was certainly an abundance of teen girls in favor of this show and how courageous it was to have been 16 years old and deal with real life grown up situations. For instance, having to deal with financials, education, whether to get married or not, and many more. While there are other girls who completely disagreed with this show's ideals and even went as far as banning this show from being viewed by younger siblings.
What's important to see here is Hall's approach in work. The show began in June 2009 and completed its first season. I do not know if it plans on a second season or not, but I do hope that they complete the final loop in the unidirectional method. I hope, even a multimillionaire company such as MTV has the decency to respond to its viewers.
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