Parks and Recreation

For the next few months I'm going to blog about media I have been exposed to and the effects I see it has on myself. Please feel free to comment or share your opinion! Firstly, I should have blogged last week, and so I'll start there... Just a few weeks before school started my oldest brother introduced me to the world of "Parks & Recreation"-- an Amy Poehler's television series. Previously, I had always thought that it was a 2nd to the television series "The Office." However, after watching a few episodes I absolutely fell in love with Leslie Knope and her crew of friends and rec employees. In fact, I became so obsessed with that show that I watched all 5 seasons on Netflix within a matter of only a few weeks. It's my guilty pleasure, my comic relief and at times, I even feel that it's my best friend. I wasn't sure how to describe this phenomenon until my professor in my Media, Family, and Human Development course explained to us a thing called, "Parasocial Relationships," which is when we create an illusion that we are friends with a fictional character. It's also important to recognize that we more often than not create parasocial relationships in order to fulfill our need to belong, be accepted and identify with another person.

Once I learned about this, I realized that Leslie Knope was my parasocial friend. I enjoyed watching the T.V. show, because she inspired me to be positive and believe in myself. Like a friend, she was honest about my weaknesses and buoyed me up to have dreams and rise up to be a better version of myself. When I reflect on the feelings I'm experiencing as I write this, it's amazing how a fictional character could have such an effect on me. At first, it's silly that this could happen as the whole show is a mockumentary and the characters are over-simplified--it's not reality. However, then I think about Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series, Jane Eyre, Tris Prior from Divergent and other sources of media and realize that we create parasocial relationships with everything! It's not surprising that we would turn to fictional friends for strength, learning and understanding. In a way, our parasocial friend can be one of our best listeners. Also, because most characters are shown to have incredible characteristics like courage, strength, forgiveness, positivity, etc... we can also hear them speak to us and show us how we would like to be. They are our best outlets and voices of inspiration. So for now, I would say this effect has been a positive one in my life, although all media can be a double-edge sword. I won't get into that today, but I guess I want to end with saying that I'm glad that I can always find the good in a world that is gradually becoming darker.