MTV and Mindless Narratives

In Terri L. Russ’ examination of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16 narrative theory serves as the basis of her theoretical foundation. According to Russ, narrative theory is a way to consider the importance of stories and the roles they play in shaping and defining our lives. In her study, Is Daddy’s Little Girl a Bitch or a Princess? Narratives of Female Identity on my Super Sweet 16, Russ examines the role of the each girl from three perspectives: gender roles, behavior, and existence limitations.

What I found of most interest in this study was Russ’ explanation of the eternal child requirement for girls. She explains, “In order to be Daddy’s Little Girl, the girl must stay little. She may age and mature physically, but as demonstrated repeatedly throughout the various My Super Sweet 16 narratives, her mental and emotional maturation seems to be stunted. The built-in limitation of the Daddy’s Little Girl narrative then becomes a limitation on her complete existence” (p. 217).

This struck a chord with me as it reminded me of the contradicting roles women are constantly placed in. In this situation, she is literally celebrating a coming of age, yet she is required to maintain a sense of childlike vulnerability. In a similar scenario, women are encouraged to be both sexy and virginal, once again the contradiction is clear, slutty virgins just don’t exist.

In addition to this aspect, I was also interested in this study for the potential it offered for further research. I think the use of expectancy theory in conjunction with viewer focus groups could yield some interesting results. Further, this series also showcased young men and their sweet 16 parties, so it would be interesting to conduct a type of comparative analysis on how the boys and girls are treated and portrayed and if those two elements are different.