I just read a promotion for a cable series called The Starter Wife starring Debra Messing. A great leggy picture of her, seated on a stack of expensive luggage. (I'll have to ruminate a bit to figure out what that means marketing-wise.)
Anyhow, a few years back there was a book called Starter Marriage. The author's definition of a starter marriage if memory serves, meant when twenty somethings have a marriage that lasts less than 5 years, usually 2-3 years, and had no children. Kind of like a "starter home", that small "fixer upper" you can afford, that jump starts you into your first home ownership experience, until you find the home, or spouse, of your dreams I suppose.
Starter marriages? Really? Well I guess if Network Television can make finding a husband or a wife a reality show, and keep doing it season after season, it must be lucrative entertainment. Or produce a show that pays a couple for their dream wedding if the couple allows their wedding and preparation to be televised to America. One show required the bride and groom to agree to play scams/jokes on their loved ones and guests to add drama to their wedding, all for primetime television.
I'd be curious if TV viewers, especially our teens, think of marriage more as an entertaining gameshow than a "sacred" institution, or spiritual partnership. Is marriage less important to people now, less of a deal to get right the first time, or any time? Perhaps finding a mate is thought of by many young people now as a well produced reality show with a stretch limo, fantasy dates, and a competition for the last rose? Starter wife would then make a lot of sense in this kind of expectation. Or do we each get our sense of mate and marital values/beliefs from our family and those around us, and not TV? I wonder.
How much do these kind of reality shows impact our idea and expectations about weddings, marriages and, yes, even being single?
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