Reflection upon middle school issues

I was inspired to write this because of some news headline about the ex-boyfriend (1) of this one celebrity saw her at the same club or social function he was attending and send out some "tweet" about how she was fat, when, in fact, she would be considered very slender for anyone outside Hollywood.

Well this "one celebrity" turned out to be Mischa Barton, a teen idol and star on the hit FOX show "The O.C." Back in middle school (7th/8th grade), all the girls would stay talking about that particular television program nonstop, including during class. I was unfortunate enough to be in the same Spanish (Spanish 1.5???? That's how I spoke of it back then...) as many of these annoying girls who held these conversations, so of course I had an earful of it back then.

I'm not going to mention how certain people clowned me and singled me out for laughter at a time when that meant something to me during these years, because it might stir up some unnecessarily hostile words on my part and because it's off topic. But I feel that this relates to what I'm talking about because if it hadn't been for my desire to feel like I was part of the "cool crowd," I would not have given two shits about who Mischa Barton was and what she meant to these impressionable girls who were my classmates. I would not have been able to recognize something important that I will discuss now.

Starting.... now.

Yeah. Now.

If it hadn't been for me wanting to fit in so badly (and if it hadn't been for teacher, whose brain did not wake up in time for class), I would not have been able to, first of all, listen in and and actually participate occasionally (in my unconventional manner) in these discussions back when I was a kid. Also, I would not have been able to finally make sense about some of the issues facing young adolescents today. I need not delve into how delicate a stage this can be for some youth with regard to the formation of these notions of what it is that makes a woman, according to a particular society. I am obviously waxing on about the U.S. here, hence the emphasis on the word "woman"; there is no need to get testy.

Anyways, the popular girls, who had come to the conclusion that Mischa Barton was the epitome of all things sexy about a woman, projected her as an idol to which any "cool", much less reasonable boy of that age would find themselves physically attracted. They would accomplish this by asking certain questions of the male students who participated in the conversations that were held during the Spanish class (and ostensibly outside of class as well). They would do things like transition from the topic of celebrities to which celebrities a certain male student found attractive. Speaking from experience, I had NO IDEA who any of these celebrities were. I couldn't put a name to Ms. Barton's face to save my dog's life. And I'm pretty sure the male students didn't know who these people were either. But the popular cliquish girls would always end up asking the question, "What about Mischa Barton?" and then start singing the praises of how great she looked in some bullshit magazine that they were reading during the Spanish class under the table and whatnot. I distinctly remember the magazines being a big part of the Spanish class, and our teacher did nothing to stop this behavior; in fact, she seemed more interested in celebrities than teaching the damn class. She would turn most classes into chit-chat about "bullshit, balloons, and Looney Tunes" to quote my e-pal DoNotGod Gary. This behavior of identifying Mischa Barton, among other celebrities who were clones of her, happened so frequently that I'm sure that the male students had to have been influenced somewhat by what happened during that year of Spanish. Being constantly inundated by peers who purportedly have style and fashion sense (not to mention teachers) about which celebrities are hot and which are not would seem like it would make a lasting impression upon someone just forming an idea of what sexuality is supposed to be about. Obviously my view is that stick-women are distorted-looking and many suffer from the whole throwing-up thing and the not eating thing. So obviously I don't want to put too much blame on any individual actor/actress for being some kind of example about this because I might be speculating about someone who might have a legitimate condition where they magically see themselves as fat (2). But I do want to point out that it's not healthy for both men and women to desire that image and idolize people who manage to pull it off (but only temporarily of course, beauty only lasts so long!)

I believe that this shaped much of the daily chit-chat discussed by the "cool" crowd in the halls and/or the locker room. I want to specifically point out that many of the male students in the grade came to be known as people who were specifically attracted to the celebrity known as Mischa Barton to the extent that other girls in the grade were not even on their radars. It was almost as if this notion that mischaB.equals("sex god") was inadvertently given too much credibility by the same girls who manufactured it in the first place, whilst chit-chatting about it during Spanish.

I'm not going to say that this show is any more responsible for how our youth is being told that it is okay for women to act sluttily compared to other shows I've seen out there. People are being misled by the bling and the shiny things and the "beautiful" things when these are just washed-up norms created by our society, which is probably a notoriously poor judge of what it means to be in a meaningful relationship, seeing as how more than 50% of marriages in CA end in divorce. So society must have people trippin' about what love and commitment is really all about. People discover after much undue pain and heartache (and even then, some still don't discover) that getting along with someone and having a meaningful exchange is more than this skin-deep fraud that is being perpetuated by many elements of the "entertainment" business.

Notes

(1) Brandon F**king Davis

(2) I'm not trying to belittle bulimia or anorexia, that's just how I see it... feel free to correct me if you think I'm messing up here.