Shameless Honey Boo Boo Fan

I'm one of the few who will shamelessly announce that I am a fan and frequent viewer of Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. I watch pretty much every show on TLC and this one is without a doubt one of my favorites. Honey Boo Boo has brought my family together as it is one of the few shows every one of my family members can agree to watch together. While many criticize the vulgarity or grossness of the family, it's hard to ignore the verbal gems that Alana (Honey Boo Boo) spills out every show. But is this concept really all that new? I think back to one of my family's favorite shows during my childhood, Kids Say the Darndest Things. It seems that our society has always looked to kids for comedic relief and Honey Boo Boo is no exception. There's a few other reasons I like the show, and all have to do with content we have discussed in class.

1. Beauty
The Honey Boo Boo family is far from anything considered classic beauty in society's eyes. And you know what, they're quite alright with that. In the Instagram age where all it takes is a good filter to up our beauty levels, it's a breath of fresh air to see realness portrayed on TV. In fact, due to some serious editing, a reverse filter so to speak has been applied to this family. All we see is the grossest of the gross. We only see clips of bodily functions and fat jiggling around. In other "real" shows such as the Real Housewives or The Real World that include interviews as a part of the show, if a cast member sneezes or stutters, they surely reshoot the interview and edit out the old one. Honey Boo Boo is the opposite. We see all kinds of mishaps. These are real people who have been edited to look as foul as we see them portrayed. But I appreciate their acceptance of being beautiful as they were created, despite their seemingly never ending sneeze fests and body fat jiggle-jangling all over the place.

2. Sexuality

There's a really interesting spin on sexuality in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo through the portrayal of Alana's uncle Lee, better known as Uncle Poodle. Uncle Poodle is a gay redneck, loud and clear. This is a lot different than what we see from a lot of other TV shows representing homosexuality. We live in somewhat of a queen society where gays are often fashionably flamboyant city slickers or full blown drag queens. Honey Boo Boo shows that homosexuality also exists in small town USA and doesn't always have clean, dirtless fingernails. And like beauty, it's quite alright to be gay.

3. Socioeconomic Status

We usually turn to the rich and the famous for our pieces of entertainment. But the fact of the matter is that most of Americans are not Real Housewives or the Kardashians. We don't live in beautiful mansions. We don't live luxurious lives. But that certainly doesn't mean we're not happy. I think happiness is widely displayed in Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. The family is obviously in a much lower socioeconomic than most of their TV star counterparts, but this strengthens their happiness as a family by finding joy in the simpler things of life. While my own family isn't quite as wild as Honey Boo Boo's family is portrayed, we could certainly be neighbors. There isn't a whole lot separating us class wise, as is the case for many of the show's viewers. As hard as it can be to admit, we've all had a moment where we relate to Honey Boo Boo's family.