What Does Hollywood Teach?

The last few weeks the media has been filled with discussions about "assaults on women". Its always easier to simply blame and dismiss than it is to study where attitudes potentially come from. Since I personally have had a hard time watching anything for the last year except the Hallmark channels, I took note this Thanksgiving week of the Lifetime Network offerings, just a channel away from my standard location in the directory. I frankly was appalled at what the daily fare on a channel purportedly managed by women for women had as its content. Is this what trendsetting Hollywood women think is a good example and fare for an audience of potentially young women to watch? What message do they display and endorse? One is left wondering what the rationale is for this content. I know for me it is depressing and distressing to think someone considers this the norm or something to celebrate.

From their website their "broad focus" statement is:

Lifetime's Broad Focus is a major initiative designed to provide women with more opportunities to write, develop, produce and direct content for the network. Lifetime is proud to claim 52% of our writers and 29% of our directors on all movies last year were women. For scripted series, 59% of our writers and 55% of our directors were women. 

So one would think that this would be an endorsement for what they feel should be good behavior and appropriate messages to both women and men who watch the channel. But a quick scan of the titles and synopsis shows something that I both cringe at and avoid completely.

This is the complete 6am to midnight schedule for November 22, 2017.
http://www.mylifetime.com/lifetime-movies/schedule?month=11&day=22&year=2017

The Other Man	After his wife Lisa disappears on a business trip, Peter finds evidence that she has been having an affair with Ralph. He flies to Milan and enters into a complicated charade by befriending Ralph and slowly teasing information about Lisa out of him.
Another Woman's Husband	A shared detail threatens to snap the tight bond between two female friends (Lisa Rinna, Gail O'Grady).
Love Thy Neighbor	A family moves into a seemingly idyllic community but starts to receive threats from an unknown source.
When Husbands Cheat	A woman (Patricia Kalember) becomes a detective, then uses her skills to check her policeman husband's (Tom Irwin) fidelity.
Her Best Friend's Husband	A woman faces a moral dilemma when she tries to save her friend's marriage but falls in love with the woman's husband.
Nightmare Nurse	After a bad accident, Brooke's boyfriend Lance requires at-home care during his recovery. His attractive nurse seems perfect until her troubled past comes to light, making it apparent to the happy couple that someone is trying to destroy their lives.
A Deadly Affair	A woman who suspects her contractor husband of having an affair trails him to a house and finds him dead.
A Perfect Murder	A commodities trader (Michael Douglas) takes action when his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) has an affair with a bohemian painter (Viggo Mortensen).
Love to Kill	A man (Rick Ravanello) learns that his seductive wife (Blanchard Ryan) is responsible for the deaths of her previous husbands.
A Perfect Murder	A commodities trader (Michael Douglas) takes action when his wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) has an affair with a bohemian painter (Viggo Mortensen).

We as a society may be hesitant to claim that movies and television affect moral attitudes, but constant bombardment of negative stereotyping eventually takes a toll, conditioning us to the content. I know its one I cannot stand to watch in the entertainment I will partake of!

See:
http://changingminds.org/principles/repetition.htm
http://mediasmarts.ca/blog/media-and-morality
http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/media-childrens-social-moral-development/
http://humanevents.com/2007/06/13/does-watching-tv-damage-character/