7th Heaven

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7th Heaven: supporting Christian values or just a refuge for the superficial?

If anyone reading this is anything like my friends and I, 7th Heaven is a bit of a joke. A family of moral crusaders, who never get into any real trouble themselves (with the exception of Mary) but regularly encounter troubled teens, who, of course, they never judge. (She's what we call a cutterrrrrr....)

But tonight, while watching the show (before the fabulous 2 hours of Britney Spears, woohoo!), I found myself becoming increasingly annoyed with the characters - particularly Matt (oh, how I despise Matt), Simon, and Lucy's new boyfriend (who knows if he'll be her boyfriend next week).

For reference, it was the episode in which Simon goes out with the Olsen twins.

Now, maybe I'm from the Dawson's Creek school of teen overanalysis (otherwise known as 'all talk, no romance') but I was astounded by the sheer stupidity and shallowness of these characters.

Matt fell 'in love' with a blonde girl in a wedding dress because she was 'the most beautiful girl he's ever seen'. I actually applauded his room mate when he dismissed Matt with: You go to class, you fall in love. You got out for lunch, for fall in love. You walk down the street, you fall in love. You're like the boy who cried wolf, only you're the boy who cried love!

This was shortlived. Once the room mate saw the girl, he told Matt he knew what he'd been raving about and said "This one's a keeper." All this for a girl who, despite having pretty hair and a good body, kinda lacked in the face department.

The girl told Matt she was leaving town the next day, Matt asked her out for lunch so they could talk; she declined. Instead they decided to make out furiously in his room for the next few hours. Forget making any discoveries about one another's personalities! Forget any emotional or intellectual connection!

Matt just wants some booty.

Murphy girls, played by the frighteningly archetypally Californian Olsen twins.

Despite the fact that the Murphy girls led Simon on, cajoled him into compromising his personal moral beliefs, and got him arrested, Simon asked them (well, whichever one he'd been assigned) out again, on the basis that they were: "The most beautiful girls [he'd] ever dated."

Last, and probably least, was Lucy's date to the school dance, who told her that what made him happiest was that he was there with "the most beautiful girl in the senior year." (Watch me laugh!)

Now, is it just me, or is this overemphasis on appearance and apparent 'beauty' more than a little disconcerting? For all its contrived heralding of 'family values', 7th Heaven continually encourages people not only to judge themselves and others on the basis of appearance, but to determine love on the basis of how good looking someone is.

Compare to the supposedly 'damaging' Dawson's Creek, derided by critics upon first screening for being "all about sex". Consider for a moment the relationships on Dawson's Creek. Dawson and Pacey both love Joey, but it's not because she's the hottest piece of ass in the creek, or the most beautiful girl they've ever seen, even though she probably is. It's because of the emotional connection they feel with her - they may love Joey's body, but they also love her soul. No romantic relationship on Dawson's Creek has ever been based purely on physical attraction, with the possible exception of Dawson's relationship with Jen. Dawson's Creek attempts to portray love as best it can.

7th Heaven on the other hand... well, has there ever been a relationship on that show that wasn't based purely on appearance? And aren't relationships based purely on appearance purely about sex?

Could this mean that 7th Heaven encourages teenagers to have purely sexual (and by this I'm not referring to intercourse, but to sexual activity of any kind) relationships while Dawson's Creek encourages rounded relationships that happen to include sex?

In any case, I find it hard to think of such a shallow program as encouraging positive values in society. 7th Heaven may be presented as a show that supports 'family values' - it's anti drugs, underage sex, whatever else the right-wing family values mob are into... But at the same time it doesn't seem to be able to support the very simplest values - actually thinking about your life. It's hypocrisy.

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