1993_12 Insight December 1993

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Insight/California State University, Fresno
December 8,1993
Page(
Beavis and Butthead—harmless idiots or child hazard?
By Nick Giannandrea and
Erik Loyd	
Staff Writers
Kids mimic them. Parents loathe
them.
Love them or hate them, it's hard lo
ignore the controversy surrounding
MTV's Beavis and Butt-Head.
The delinquent duo who've been
known for such phrases as"Huh-huh,
huh. Huh-huh, huh. Yeah, that would
be cool" have been blamed for everything from encouraging kids to blow
up cats, to causing deadly fires, to the
decay of popular culture in general.
Rolling Stone magazine puts ihem
on the cover and writes the definitive
Beavis and Butt-Head story. The
Deiriot-based Americans for Responsible Television chastise them.
uaviu Lciu.ii.iaii H"uiw uicin uu
the Late Show. Congressmen debating the television violence issue can't
even remember their names.
Bul the one certainty is that Beavis
and Bull-Head have had an impact on
popularcullurcover the lastsix months
becoming MTV's top rated program.
"I can't abide by them, I find them
astoundingly dim," said John Scalzi,
movie critic of The Fresno Bee.
"Frankly, I'd rather kiss a razor
blade."
Scalzi isn't the only one not
amused. Remember Terry Rakolta?
She's the director of Americans for
Responsible Television who pushed
to have "Married... With Children"
taken off the air.
Rakolta said: "Beavis and Butt-
Hcad is a dirty little secret ihat kids
are hiding from their parents. If you
don't watch it, you don't know how
bad it really is."
Beavis and Butt-Head routinely
use coarse language. They hurl insults like "ass-wipe" and "fan
knocker" and refer io masturbation
in many colorful terms. There arc
plenty of sexual overtones lo almost
any episode.
Dick z.immerman, a tormcr
broadcast journalist, is using his S10
million in California Lottery winnings to finance a Beavis and Buli-
Hcad hot line for concerned parents.
Beavis and Bull-Head arc prc-
dominantiy watched by males. Females arc often offended by ihc non-
Reprinted from The Fresno Bee
politically correct language used by
the moronic duo. but men aren't precluded from disliking them.
"I think they arc really entertaining," said 23-ycar-old English major
James rTcston. incy say a lot 01
stupid stuff, bul if you don't take them
seriously, they can be very interesting
idiots."
"I don'i watch it, bul from what
I've seen of it, I find it disgusting,"
said Dcbra Winger, a CSUF student
working on a master's degree in special education. "It's very base humor.
If I was a white male, I would be
very offended."
"It represents adolescent rebellion against the current establishment^" said William Monson of the
CSUF Mass Communications and
Journalism department. "Because
of new, looser standards of TV,
particularly cable, they're able to
say and do things that were not seen
before."
Parents arc worried that the show
will influence impressionable kids.
Beavis likes fire. Buti-Hcad likes
violence and semi-nude women.
A 5-ycar-old in Ohio recendy
started a fire ihat killed his younger
sister. The youngster said he did it
because Bcavisand Butt-Head light
fires.
"The media docs impact especially young minds," Winger said.
American television i.,i.i.-.flu.M...fr.
1 find ii very violent. I don't want
my one-year old to watch Beavis
and Bun-Head."
"I think they definitely have a
negative influence on kids," said
Many Mills, a 36-ycar-old English
major. "What amazes me is all the
popular shows on television por
tray losers."
MTV has been ripped by many
media watchdogs forairing"irrespon-
sible" programming.
MTV defends Beavis and Butt-
Head by claiming it is simply a cartoon, like Bugs Bunny or any other
animated show, and reasonable people
know nol to imiiaie cartoons.
"I understand why people like
them," Scalzi said. "It's appealing,
like going to a freak show. But after
five minutes, they start to bore me. I
like it aboul as much as I like pornography. After five minutes, you want to
do somcihing else."
Other CSUF students don't understand why people like them.
"Beavis and Butt-Head arc total
idiots," said 22-ycar-old English major Susan Mcehan. "They arc really
ignorant. It would be scary if peopic
•■vmeht IikCThat."
"I don't like them, they remind me
of my little brother," said 23-year-old
senior Kathleen Gallagher. "They
aren't as offensive as they arc stupid.
Some of the stuff is really funny, but
most of it is really stupid. There arc
two things that will be funny for every
1,000 things they show."
Some believe MTV and the creators of Beavis and Butt-Head should
not be held responsible for incidents
like the one in Ohio.
"As far as I can tell, ihat kid had
more problems lhan simply watching
Beavis and Butt-Head," said Scalzi.
"Bul, kids are impressionable. If I
were a parent with kids under 13 or
14,1 wouldn't allow them to watch it
Il's a parents' responsibility."
"I think that the parents gave them
the matches so they would bum something and sue," Mcehan said.
In response. MTV moved the show
to 10:30 p.m. weeknights and promised todclctc references to fire. Beavis
nolongcr screeches "FircIFire! Fire!"
at the sight or ihoughi of flames.
Monson said watching ihc cartoon
could provide opportunities for parents and kids to interact.
"IutimM i«i ihnm watch it if I were
ihcrc iodiseuss it wiih them," Monson
said. "I could be good at opening the
wedge between parents and pretcens.
I don'i ihink young kids (5-9) should
be watching it alone without input
from parents, but it could be very
valuable for parents to find out what
their kids are watching."
MTV's 'Real World' offers a
real-life view of young adults
By Chris Branam
StaffWriter
"This is ihc story of seven people
brought together to live in a house...."
And so is the phrase that has been
heard on Music Television (MTV)
almost as often this past year as Beavis
and Butt-Head's patented, "I don't
like things that suck. Huh-huh, huh."
The former is the opening narration of "The Real World," the popular
reality-based show that aired at 10
p.m. Thursday nights on MTV this
fall.
"The Real World," which siarted
as a brain-child of executive producers Mary Ellis-Bunim and Jonathan
Murray, is based on ihc premise of
bringing seven strangers together to
live in one house for five months.
Their lives arc raped by a camera
crew, and the thousands of hours of
video arc trimmed to 30-minuic
weekly segments.
Although a spokesperson for MTV
said the network wouldn't give out
ratings for individual shows, he said,
"it started as a one-year experiment.
and now it's starting its third season
[scheduled to start production in San
Francisco next month]. You can pretty
much guess it's been successful for
us."
Bui why do peopic yearn io watch
strangers' lives portrayed on TV?
"It's always interesting to watch
characters that are like us," said Dr.
Robert Levine, chair of the psychology department "The characters arc
meant to be reflections of the audience they are targeting."
Hence, the main reason MTV
brought together people who were
outgoing and articulate was dependent on college students wanting to
watch them.
The oldest cast member from last
season, which was filmed in Venice
Beach, was 25 while ihc youngest
was 18.
"I didn't waich it when it first
started," said Katy Kinney, a junior
liberal studies major "But I've gotten
hooked on it and have watched fvcry
re-run."
Kinney, 20. said she liked the show
because il was similar to the situation
she faced in the dorms, when she was
thrown into an environment in which
she had to mcci and relate wiih peopic.
"[The show] deals with people facing similar situations to college students," said Jim Wilson,a Mass Communications and Journalism professor "It's about adjusting your
lifestyle."
A sampling ofthe people who were
brought together last season were nol
unlike personalities one would meet
in the first year on a college campus.
•Dominic, a 24-ycar-old Dublincr,
combined humor with liberalism and
was never shy to admil he was a
drinker and addicted to'nicotine.
•Tamian, AIDS carc worker, combined sass and attitude wiih intelligence. She was the resident altitude-
•Glen, a 23-ycar-old aspiring
grunge singer, said at one point that
God was his best friend and then
proceeded to call a housemate "stupid" on camera.
•Aaron, a 23-ycar-old senior at
UCLA, was a Reagan republican who
also surfed and had previously posed
for a beefcake calendar.
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•John, an 18-ycar-old fundamentalist Christian and an aspiring country singer from Kentucky.
K inncy said her favorite cast member was John.
"He was closer to my age, and at
ihe beginning he was so far from
reality, I think he grew the most," she
said. "Now he can go home and take
what he learned wiih him."
Levine said the main appeal of the
show is it gives its viewers a snapshot
into ihcir own lives.
"It is flattering to sec ourselves in a
larger-than-life format." he said. "It's
a way of examining our fives and
people who may be close to us in a
way thaioihcrwisc would not be available."
Wilson, who said he ha* seen the
show two or three times, said die
show's hook is its reliance on character development
"You can'i just watch it once,"
Wilson said. "You have to find oul
who the people are, and to leam who
ihcy arc."
Bunim and Murray both formerly
worked as writers for soap operas,
which the show has been compared to
in die media.
"Like good drama, we're fascinated by ihc twists life can take,"
Levine said.
But Wilson said il adds one clement lhal a soapopera is lacking: The
people and situations being portrayed
arc real.
"Reality programming is replacing fictional programming," he said.
"It's a new technology craze."
The cast members are chosen by
MTV after a scries of interviews, video
presentations, and a 10-page questionnaire. Levine said the way MTV
selects the cast lends itself to creating
confronia lions.
"It isn't a random sample," he said.
"If you get a bunch of strong personalities in a house forsix months, there's
bound to be confrontations."
CSUF music instructor
flaunts flamenco flare
By Adrianne Go	
StaffWriter
Andalusian gypsy music flows
from the fingers of Juan Serrano.
The CSUF music instructor also
happens to be the world-renowned
"King of ihc Flamenco Guitar."
On weekends, he plucks away at his
guitar in packed concert halls, sometimes as far away as Paraguay.
His newest CD, "Flamenco Festival," was rcccnUy released by BMG
Records.
"Flamenco Festival" is a collection
of songs featuring tunes from the past.
Serrano.. 57. is as lively and energetic as his music.
Music runs in his blood.
Bom in Cordoba, Spain, he was
reared by his grandmother until the age
of three, when his musician parents
returned to take him wiih them on ihcir
„    i       .
Yueh-PIng Feng, 25, a CSUF senior, choreographs
a group piece for the University Dance Theatre's
concert Dec. 9,10 and 11 at Lab School 101.
Serrano's father, Antonio played professional flame ncoguitar and hismotherCccilia
was a flamenco singer.
At the age of nine, Serrano began formal
guitar lessons with his father. He made his
professional debut at 13 in Cordoba.
"I was very nervous but at the same time.
I was very happy," said Serrano. "You feel
likeakingbecauseevcryonc is with you. Il's
a kind of emotion thai only people on stage
can feel."
One year after his debut, Serrano made
his first recording. "Cclos dc Espuma."
In 1962, Ed Sullivan would lure Serrano
to the United States for a performance on his
television show.
During a trip to Detroit in 1970, Serrano
mci and later married his wife Kathy, who
"lakes care of the business side" of performing.
"Hike the artistic part of life," said Serrano.
"She takes care of the traveling arrangements."
Serrano's traveling schedule made it difficult lo spend time wnh his young family.
Sometimes his profession required him
io be away from home four to five months al
a time.
In 1979. he and his family moved io
Fresno.
"I never liked Detroit. There is snow and
il iscold." said Serrano. "I like to visit, but to
live there, 1 hale it. I like California because
the weather is similar to my hometown."
Shortly after arriving in Fresno, Serrano
accepted a position ai CSUF.
"This was a good opportunity lo teach
and grow with the family," said Serrano,
who has two ilaughicrs, Nancy, 17, and Ana
Maria, 15.
Both daughters attend Clovis West High
School, where they arc involved in music.
Although both arc musically inclined.
See FLAMENCO, Page 7
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