Cougar Town is purely guilty pleasure. The show teaches no lessons and teaches no morals. In fact, it’s the opposite of moral—it advocates having meaningless sex with anyone (especially those who are younger than you) in order to make you feel better about yourself.
The show not only has a weak message, it has a weak plot and weak acting. In the pilot episode, the plot is essentially that Jules Cobb is unhappy about her recent divorce, and so she becomes a cougar. And outside of Courtney Cox, the acting in the show is not strong at all, and seems to exist only to support Cox’s character, rather than their own.
But the acting is nothing compared to the message the show sends to viewers.
What happened to having a relationship before the sex? The show is obviously based off of a recurring issue in the American lifestyle—pretty much everyone knows the Urban Dictionary definition of a cougar—but why has this behavior become so acceptable?
One might say that since relationships in which the man is significantly older than the woman have long been socially acceptable, why shouldn’t the converse (older woman with a younger man) be acceptable as well?
Others might say that it offers an adventure for both people who are involved—the woman can live vicariously through a younger person, and the man gets a “good time” by being with a more experienced partner.
Whatever the reasoning, I still feel that cougar-type relationships are a little strange. For this reason, Cougar Town just doesn’t appeal that much to me, except for something to laugh at. Think about it yourself, and chew it over.
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Thank You and Goodbye
2 months ago
I must admit, the first thing I thought of when I read this post was OU Mom's weekend. No offense meant to the neverending stream of OU moms that stumble in and out of bars that particular weekend, but I have to wonder what exactly they're getting out of puking alongside their kids and hitting on younger men. I have a friend that actually made out with a mom two years ago, meaning he was nineteen. Good lord.
ReplyDeleteI meant to watch Cougar Town, but never did. But without even seeing it I know I can fully agree with what you say about the show being weak morally as well as weak in terms of plot and acting...i'm quite sure the show just exists so Courtney Cox has something to act in now that Friends is over. But just to play devil's advocate, I will play against your viewpoint. One clip I HAVE seen from the show is one where Cox's character says, "All the guys our age are broken, gay or dating...well, younger women." I think a lot of these things are true of older men, so really, who is an older woman supposed to go for? And maybe after many years of a marriage that didn't work out, they deserve a few meaningless hookups? Doesn't sound so harmful (or even off base) to me. The stereotype that only the man can be powerful and confident in dating should have been erased a long time ago.
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