Lately, Lifetime has been trending films about women and kidnapping. What I want to know is why is this a trend, and why would the network choose to focus on this genre? What is the writer’s opinion of the choice to air these films? Do the films really empower women, or are they sending a degrading message to the viewers?
Another interesting factor to look at might be how these films tell us to think of men: that they should not be trusted, or that one should do anything in order to attain a husband.
I found a couple articles that might be interesting to look at:
http://www.avclub.com/article/how-navigate-weepy-world-lifetime-movies-218180
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/29/middlebrow-lifetime_n_6555732.html – Nicole Wethington9 years ago
You might also consider the financial reason lifetime chooses their topics. – LaurenCarr9 years ago
Lifetime is a network targeted towards woman. Specific types of women. Do these lifetime dramas function as a sort of "women level" horror film? I know people of minority demographics who can't take many horror films seriously because as it is often said "No [minority] person would do that? Why are they doing that" in which cases these tropes become part of their story about the majority community. You can relate this so writings by feminist writer bell hooks who wrote an article "Representing Whiteness in the Black Imagination". You can consider the differences between traditional American horror movies and Japanese horror movies as an example. The tropes in Japanese horror movies are different the terrifying little girls for one. How different would horror movies be if they were targeted towards people who don't enjoy horror. People who were stereo typically housewives who took care of their families. I think you can make the argument that Lifetime's women and kidnapping films fill that role for these women. Or at least Lifetime would like them to. – wolfkin9 years ago