How TV Shows Are Keeping Hot Topics Trending

There are a slew of TV shows on various networks that have opened a much needed line of communication regarding todays’s social topics.

Whether it’s a discussion on suicide, transgender issues, or mental health, today’s TV shows are not afraid to dive deep into discussion, and most importantly, keep the discussion going.

Regardless of political change, social change and progress is essential for a country that is as huge of a melting pot as the US is.

Perhaps many people forget that the US was built by immigrants. People settled here after fleeing religious persecution from the monarchy in England, and the goal was to build a country that was for the people by the people.

There was no religious doctrine engrained in the founding fathers’ constitution, and a separation of church and state was instilled to help ensure people were able to live with their own beliefs peacefully.

Yet it seems as though, for how far we’ve come, there are still many growing pains this baby country needs to go through.

So how, you ask, are TV shows helping move change along? By simply being daring enough to go there, to discuss topics that still make people uncomfortable, and by blowing the blinders clear off of society.

The simple fact is this; just because a topic of discussion makes some of the population uncomfortable does not mean the topic has to magically go away.

Not when there is a large part of the population who are crying out for conversation, help, acceptance, and to be treated as an equal.

The fact is just because the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ mentality is used on various topics does not mean the topics disappear. Instead, they stay stagnant and fester as people learn to hide in the shadows and conform to a life that certainly does not run aligned with pursuing happiness.

Shows like Orange is the New Black helps shed light on issues surrounding gay and transgender rights, abuse of power from political institutions, the privatization of prisons, and social injustice.

Sure there are threads of comedy strategically woven into the script, but the subtle hints are hard to miss for anyone who is current on today’s events.

Or Hulu’s screen adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, which is set in a dystopian world run by the political patriarchy following fundamentalist Christian beliefs after a terrorist attack on Washington, D.C.

It might seem like a long shot, but perhaps the notion of a strictly ran patriarchal society isn’t that far off into the future considering women are still having to fight for the right to access affordable healthcare and birth control.

Anti-abortion laws are still being passed, and a woman’s right to choose continues to be crushed under men who write the laws and feel they know what’s best, considering they know what it’s like to be a victim of rape that results in pregnancy, or to have to terminate a pregnancy due to health risks.

Yes, perhaps these topics are uncomfortable to talk about. But what should make people even more uncomfortable is what direction the country would go in if people didn’t use their voice and speak up.

Make others uncomfortable, make them listen and learn. And if it’s TV shows on today’s popular networks or streaming sites at the forefront of it all, then I say lead they way.

It’s only a matter of time before others follow.