I love Morgan Spurlock's show 30 Days, which can be seen on the FX on Tuesday evenings at 10pm. This is the 3rd season of the show. This thought provoking show has explored everything from being in jail, to working in a coalmine, to living with same-sex parents. However, what they all explore is the transformation one goes through once you have lived in their shoes for 30 Days.
It's about learning to understand the lives of people who are different from you and try to understand what their lives are like and how they live it day-to-day. This 3rd season has been very good, and for the first time in watching the show, I actually felt sad - not hopeful. This was the same-sex parenting show, where they got a woman to live with a gay family for 30-days. Maybe the issue is too close to my heart, but I felt that the person coming in the lives of the same-sex couple was guarded the entire time she was on the show and never opened up to the possibility that this couple, The Patrick's, were good parents, good people and equals to their heterosexual counterparts. Instead, she kept bringing up her own moral values and never opening up to the moral values of this couple.
The thing that really made me upset is how she kept saying that the people she was meeting was attacking her for her beliefs, but never stopped for one moment to say, "hey, maybe I am also attacking their beliefs" which she did quite frequently. What even irked me even more was one scene where she met two women working to protect gay families. One of the women, a lesbian, was explaining her story about being with her partner, having a kid through artificial insemination, and than breaking up. She stated that she could no longer see her kid because she was not the biological parent and felt as though her kid was being abandoned by her. Well this Kati woman looked her in the eye and said, "As a lesbian, why would you want to bring a kid into this world anyway?" Well she did not stop to think that "straight" people bring kids into this world all the time, give them up for adoption, abandon them because they got pregnant at an early age, or neglect them all together. Look at the number of kids in the foster care system.
At any rate, I felt that this episode was just so disheartening, maybe that is what Morgan wanted, because as a gay man...there is no way I can change the ideals people hold and I don't expect to. Nevertheless, I see how gays and lesbians are still thought of as not being equals to our straight counterparts, because of stereotypes that conservative religious organizations have placed on this group of people.
I still love the show and hope that all of you will watch it, because as hard as it was for me to watch this particular episode...the premise of the show is to hold people to their own truths, in hopes that those open enough to accept the lives of others and respect their lives without any judgment can learn from them. What I hope people get with this show is that no matter what you might think of people who are different from you...is to maybe open up a bit and be compassionate to them for living the best lives they know possible.
The thing that really made me upset is how she kept saying that the people she was meeting was attacking her for her beliefs, but never stopped for one moment to say, "hey, maybe I am also attacking their beliefs" which she did quite frequently. What even irked me even more was one scene where she met two women working to protect gay families. One of the women, a lesbian, was explaining her story about being with her partner, having a kid through artificial insemination, and than breaking up. She stated that she could no longer see her kid because she was not the biological parent and felt as though her kid was being abandoned by her. Well this Kati woman looked her in the eye and said, "As a lesbian, why would you want to bring a kid into this world anyway?" Well she did not stop to think that "straight" people bring kids into this world all the time, give them up for adoption, abandon them because they got pregnant at an early age, or neglect them all together. Look at the number of kids in the foster care system.
At any rate, I felt that this episode was just so disheartening, maybe that is what Morgan wanted, because as a gay man...there is no way I can change the ideals people hold and I don't expect to. Nevertheless, I see how gays and lesbians are still thought of as not being equals to our straight counterparts, because of stereotypes that conservative religious organizations have placed on this group of people.
I still love the show and hope that all of you will watch it, because as hard as it was for me to watch this particular episode...the premise of the show is to hold people to their own truths, in hopes that those open enough to accept the lives of others and respect their lives without any judgment can learn from them. What I hope people get with this show is that no matter what you might think of people who are different from you...is to maybe open up a bit and be compassionate to them for living the best lives they know possible.
This blog really does not relate to any events, but I guess if I had to tie it in...OPEN YOUR MINDS TO ALL THE POSSIBILITIES. You may amaze yourself of what you can see when you do.
-Percy
Photo from 30 Days
1 comment:
I saw the episode too and felt that she could have put down her guard as well. To each their own I guess.
Post a Comment