Comedy
Dead Boy Detectives
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
Maci. Amber. Farrah. Catelynn.
For better or worse, this quartet of young mothers has become a fixture on the television landscape—first as the crux of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, and then by way of its sequel, Teen Mom. They’ve become celebrities in the process—their faces plastered on magazine covers, their steps followed by reality-show cameras.
So which is it? Are we better off for Teen Mom? Or worse?
Its makers, naturally, believe they’ve done the world a service, and many viewers would agree. About 77% of teens say that Teen Mom and other such reality shows help them “better understand the challenges of pregnancy and parenting,” according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. Maci has made a mini-career of speaking to high schools about the perils of teenage pregnancy (though, as her ex-boyfriend points out, that hasn’t stopped her from shacking up with her newest beau). Some pundits even suggest that teen birth rates are at record lows in part because of the Teen Mom television genre.
And that’s great—if true. Also a positive: For all the hardships we see these moms deal with, it’s pretty clear that they all love their unexpected kiddos—even as it’s sometimes painfully obvious by what they say and do that they’re still children themselves. Catelynn and her eventual fiancé Tyler were “grown up” enough to understand that the best thing they could do for their baby was put her up for adoption. We can see the decision was hard, but they—and we—know daughter Carly is being raised by a loving mother and father, and that they made the right decision.
It should also go without saying that Maci, Amber, Farrah and Catelynn are to be honored for choosing to give their babies the gift of life. It was wise, moral and responsible of them. They are all going through some tough times that they most certainly were told at some point they could avoid through abortion.
But there’s a paradox here. While I believe Teen Mom’s makers have tried to bring its viewers the harsh realities of teen pregnancy and parenthood, they’ve also strangely glamorized it. The series has made celebrities out of a handful of girls for no other reason than they got pregnant when they were very young. That very celebrity brings to bear another set of pressures most teen mothers don’t deal with and another set of temptations most don’t face. And I have to wonder whether participating in a reality show is conducive to properly forming a new family.
And then there’s the tawdry, icky, voyeuristic aspect of the series. We see the fights, the tears, the breakups and the bickering all played out for the cameras. It can be horrific—and exactly the reason so many people watch week after week.
Which brings us to Season 4, where we already know we’ll see one of the stars utterly unravel before our eyes.
In past seasons, cameras caught Amber beating on her boyfriend in front of their child—assaults that eventually landed her in front of a judge. Now Amber’s troubles get worse. In June 2011, she attempted suicide—the details of which are chronicled in a June 2012 episode. Then, in December 2011, she was arrested for drug possession and subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. (Charges would’ve been dropped had she completed a mandatory treatment program and submitted to testing, but she didn’t.) On June 5, 2012, she began serving her time—leaving her daughter, Leah, to be raised for the next several years by her father.
It’s impossible to say whether MTV’s cameras exacerbated or tempered Amber’s obviously serious issues. It’s questionable that they should have been there for her private counseling sessions. And it’s somewhat doubtful that even when they disappear, seeking out the next big thing, that Amber and her fellow teen moms will be allowed to raise their children in full privacy.
All of which points to the darker side of for better or worse.
“Letting Go”
In the wake of Amber’s suicide attempt (we hear her ex-boyfriend’s 911 call), she lands in a rehab clinic to treat an addiction to painkillers. Farrah prepares to leave for college, taking (much to her mother’s chagrin) her young daughter with her. Maci and Kyle get into a fight after he calls her an “idiot.” Catelynn and Tyler fly to New York to celebrate their biological daughter’s second birthday with her adoptive parents.
Catelynn and Tyler’s story arc still feels the healthiest of the bunch. “I’m just glad Carly’s not being raised by children,” she says. And, refreshingly, the birthday party itself isn’t filmed—only still pictures document the event. Even afterward, when Catelynn and Tyler sit on a stoop, sobbing (“Even though I was young, I still could’ve been a really good mom,” Catelynn says), they end up reaffirming to each other that they did the right thing.
Elsewhere, things are not so positive. As a rule, the toddlers we see here are being raised by parents who seem more wrapped up in their own dramas than their children’s well-being. Farrah snipes with her parents, belittling her mom’s attachment to her granddaughter. Maci and beau Kyle scrap like crazy. Amber’s in a panic that her daughter won’t recognize her when she gets out of rehab.
More than a dozen f- and s-words are partially bleeped. We hear “h‑‑‑,” “p‑‑‑ed” and “a‑‑.” God’s name is abused a half-dozen times.
“Moving On”
The once overachieving student Maci wistfully watches her high school friends go off to college without her. She spends one just-like-old-times day with them, but then must go home to her son, Bentley. Farrah, a former cheerleader and apparently permanent boy chaser, goes to a doctor to get birth control. When her father confronts her about the birth control, she says to the camera, “I don’t care what my dad says. I’m going to do what I want to do.”
After Amber literally comes to blows with her fiancé, Gary, in a previous episode, she leaves him and goes to a motel for a week to try to figure out her next step. (She’s the one who hits at him; he keeps his hands to himself.) Meanwhile, Catelynn and her boyfriend, Tyler, are dealing with the familial fallout from giving up their baby in an open adoption.
Angst, anger, frustration, pity parties, crass language and bleeped profanity are what being young parents is all about on MTV. These cherry-picked teens see only their own myopic perspective, broken dreams and loads of heartache.
Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.
Dead Boy Detectives targets teens in style and story. But it comes with very adult, problematic content.
An elf mage contemplates on connection and regret as she watches her human friends grow old and pass away.
