Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site pucc-h Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!CS-Mordred!Pucc-H:aeq From: aeq@pucc-h (Jeff Sargent) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: Hollywood Message-ID: <1677@pucc-h> Date: Tue, 15-Jan-85 15:47:21 EST Article-I.D.: pucc-h.1677 Posted: Tue Jan 15 15:47:21 1985 Date-Received: Thu, 17-Jan-85 12:51:38 EST References: <4166@ucbvax.ARPA> Organization: the PIRATE ship Lines: 40 From Allyn Hardyck (ucbvax!allynh): > Is the media effective in negatively reinforcing "bad" relationships? > I feel this ties in directly with the topic of "pornography - good or bad?". I quote (without permission) from "The Tenth Man", by Paddy Chayefsky (written in the late 1950's, but still quite relevant). A young man (the character I'm playing) says to a girl who has just said that he loves her [sic] -- which is true, though he doesn't want to believe it: "I don't know what you mean by love! All it means to me is I shall buy you a dinner, take you to the theatre, and then straight to our tryst where I shall reach under your blouse for the sake of tradition while you breathe hotly in my ear in a pretense of passion. We will mutter automatic endearments, nibbling at the sweat on each other's earlobes, all the while gracelessly fumbling with buttons and zippers, cursing under our breath the knots in our shoelaces, and telling ourselves that this whole comical business of stripping off our trousers is an act of nature like the pollination of weeds. Even in that one brief moment when our senses finally obliterate our individual alonenesses, we will hear ringing in our ears the reluctant creaking of mattress springs.... At your age, I suppose, one still finds theatrical charm in this ultimate of fantasies, but when you have been backstage as often as I have, you will discover love to be an altogether shabby business of cold creams and costumes." Considering how much casual sex went on even on otherwise fairly high-toned shows such as "Star Trek", I'd say that the media definitely reinforces the idea of the stereotypical empty relationship as described above. On the other hand, the media also reinforces (via a certain abysmal show set aboard a cruise ship) the idea that one can instantly find a life's mate with whom one will live ecstatically for the remainder of one's days. It would be amusing to revive the old show "Divorce Court" and have it feature couples who met on "Love Boat". -- -- Jeff Sargent {decvax|harpo|ihnp4|inuxc|ucbvax}!pur-ee!pucc-h:aeq Proud owner of two Control Data doorstops.