Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Modern Polygyny in the Media

I have never really been one to watch an excessive amount of television, so it’s not surprising that I have never heard of the popular HBO series BIG LOVE. This show explores the life of a modern day polygenic family in Utah. The husband/ father – Bill Hendrickson – is married to three women and has seven children. The show explores issues of the average American middle class family, but from an atypical kind of point of view.

Personally I think that it portrays polygyny in a very favorable light. The wives are close friends and have an interestingly “normal” relationship with their shared husband. At this point my only experience of this show is through clips posted on the HBO website, but hopefully I will be able to explore this presentation of the modern polygenic family to a greater extent as I watch the series.

I am interested in how this show has changed society’s view of polygyny, from all perspectives. Just watching the short clips taken from the series I find that I can accept the culture further, but more than that – I am better able to see it in a positive light. Something about seeing this culture portrayed by mainstream American media makes it more acceptable and even somewhat “normal”.



http://www.hbo.com/biglove/index.html

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