The Perfect Wedding

I am very interested in the way the media portrays stereotypes and “rights” and “wrongs” in society. For instance, on one of the web links on our Blackboard page, I clicked on an article called Lifetime's royal made-for-TV fairy tale: "William and Kate.” The caption underneath it reads, “Everybody wants a piece of the royal action. Lifetime makes a movie. Murdoch considers airing the wedding in 3-D.” I think from just reading these last two sentences, you can probably guess what I am going to say next: This is pretty ridiculous. I mean the movie could be cute and sweet, but a wedding in 3-D?! This seems a little much; these producers and Amy Steinberg (author of the article) seem like they are trying to lure people in and believe that weddings are amazing and perfect for everyone. In reality, this is not true at all. A few weeks ago I remember I asked a question in class that involved the question of, “How many of you want to get married? If you don’t want to, how many of you want to have children?” The number of people who still raised their hand to my second question was surprising. Contemporary thoughts and feelings on the topic are obviously changing, but why isn’t the media reflecting this change in thought? Why are movies like this one trying to convince people to get married through their luxurious 3-D images of beautiful and flawless bridal dresses and weddings cakes and decorations galore? Again, it’s as if we didn’t already get the point of the movie the first time. WE GET IT. We don’t need 3-D images to changes our minds if we’re not totally fans of the traditional, classic wedding picture. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to get married someday, but this is just a bit silly in my opinion. It’s sad that other people unlike myself and probably unlike you (who is a well-educated student engaged in a Women’s Studies class at the moment) would fall into the media’s traps and actually believe that a wedding is just full of utmost and pure joy, beauty, and happiness. It’s sad that still so many girls even our age already have their dress picked out or at least have elaborate ideas of the perfect dress. If marriage isn’t always about glamor and perfection, why do we as a society try to portray it that way? Why can’t there be movies of people who get married, but choose not to have extravagant weddings, or of those who don’t get married, but are happy with their children? Let’s go back to this question from before: Why can’t these ideas be more prevalent in the media if our thoughts are changing anyway? What do you think?

I'll leave you with a final quote from the article, "If you don't make the royal guest list and you miss the Lifetime original movie -- which will no doubt air at least 50 times between now and the nuptials -- you still may be able to catch a 3-D broadcast of the wedding  from your very own living room. According to one report, Robert Murdoch is considering airing the April 29 event in 3-D, "a medium usually reserved for premium soccer, ATP tennis finals and avatars."

On that note, you better not miss out on this life-changing premier! :P