MTV's Parental Control

There are few programs on MTV that I feel are worth even wasting my time watching. I rarely feel MTV worthy of society's fascination. Regardless, MTV's Parental Control is well worth exploring in the world of dating ethic.

The show begins with a woman or man's relationship with their significant other. The two are together for whatever reason. Tension surfaces when the parents become a valuable part of the equation. Mom and Dad don't like the woman or man's significant other, and are concerned about their son or daughter's future given this relationship.

Where lesser friends have failed to point out the obvious, MTV carries its moral responsibility to succeed. MTV gives the parents an opportunity to be in their kids' lives by setting up interviews of potential blind dates for their child. Brilliant.

After the interviews are completed and the dates have been selected, the "fun" part begins. I had a socio/spiritual/ethical field day with this part. The parents sit down with their child's awful boy or girlfriend and watch together (like a family would back in the good old days) as the two embark on a blind date. Here, all the true colors come into focus quite clearly.

Several minutes follow, filled with a progressing date that is cut again and again between the actual date and the parents watching. On the date side of the camera: attempt after attempt to impress the child in question, venting on frustration with the given relationship in question, and the obligatory pushing of the physical limits in light of the relationship already established. On the eavesdropping and watching side of the camera: arguments filled with poorly scripted insults, comeback lines, and taunting both on part of the parents and the poor boy or girlfriend.

Emotional reaction and facial expression, however, simply cannot be scripted. The true colors come out, to an extent. I'd like to take a moment to pause and reflect on what kinds of issues are most weighty on my psyche when considering this situation. The situation:

Two parents sitting with their kid's significant other, whom they don't so much like. This trio is rollin' comfy on a couch, and watching someone they all have some kind of emotional attachment to go out on a date. A lot is on the line here. First with the parents, then with the bad significant other.

The parents face a pretty harsh measuring of how well they know their kids. Are they so concerned about their kids that they would be involved enough to know what kinds of things their kids like in a significant other? Are they strong enough to see what their child might not as far as what they need in a relationship? Did the person they had chosen measure up to their initial impression? What kind of parents are they, really?

Yet the parents' influence is strangely drawn into question with this paradigm. Disciplining one's child is in no way the same with dating as disciplining the same child when it comes to studying, sharing, and playing nice with others. Sure, what the parents have to say weighs in heavily on how the child acts. Yet in spite of that, the parents do not have the same absolute sovereignty as they would in regards to making their child eat their peas before desert.

This is where the significant other comes in. First of all, MTV scripts how the significant other in question acts. They would have to. If not, the cameras bring a fair amount of pressure to react to what is being watched.

If I were the significant other in question, I'd be on the verge of wetting my pants. To begin with, for a dating relationship to be worthwhile (in my opinion) takes into account what is important to the other person. If the girl is doing this show, she is obviously concerned about what her parents have to say. If her parents are saying things like "your boyfriend is rude," or "your boyfriend doesn't treat you the way you deserve to be treated," it would be of utmost importance to me. I would want to change that and impress them. That the significant other tries to defend any of these habits is abrasively repulsive to me.

Yet the real test is that of the one who is being watched. The son or daughter in question. How far will he or she go both emotionally and physically with the other comparing date? How committed is this person to the pre-existing relationship? And why the hell does it take a television show to get people to consider the effects of how they act?!?!

All that said, I've always thought it would be fun to be a dater on the show. If I were on the show, my intentions would be to highlight the strengths of the person in general, and do what I could to serve the needs of the situation. A pretty admirable intent, if you ask me;

...intent never makes a sound.