"Girl Code" speaks volumes by picking topics relevant to young people (online dating, haircuts, makeup, driving) and using prominent comedians to both roast the issue and give genuine advice to women.
MTV began with "Guy Code" on MTV2 and garnered about 440,000 viewers. "Girl Code," on the other hand, delivered 1.4 million viewers eagerly rapt with attention for the advice and comedy mashup.
The parenting site commonsensemedia.org reviews the show and gives an honest criticism: "It also offers some insight into the way men allegedly understand and/or misinterpret the unwritten rules by which women should live by..."
Culturally, women grasp at straws to find out what they should be doing —– not just within their own gender identity, but how they should relate to men.
This creates a dangerous prism through which a cultural authority can dictate what people should feel and how they should feel about others.
Luckily, they poke fun at their cultural authority using one-liners accompanied by the hashtag "#isthatweird."
The comedians, as portrayed in many interviews, seem down to earth and approachable. The truth of it is that they can't be down to earth because they're comedians and paid to make us laugh.
I understand the notion of laughter being the best medicine and the need for some programming to teach, but this situation makes me uncomfortable. We can't keep giving our trust to higher authorities all the time because they might be wrong. It's best, honestly, to just figure out life yourself.
"Girl Code" should encourage women to make mistakes! It would be a strange life to go out and have all the knowledge already there to make the best decisions all the time.
Ironically, the title sequence references "living life" and "making mistakes;" impossibilities considering the advice delivered through the sterile screen.
Although the women give biting and humorous critiques of women's roles, their advice is bland. When not making fun of the tropes encountered by women, they simply say "be yourself."
That advice just doesn't hold up anymore in the complex social settings that women and men must face on a daily basis.
On the same strand, the men in the show are absolute fools. They don't offer any real viewpoints except the tired and true stereotypes that the show should try to debase.
Another valid criticism comes from PolicyMic. Its article calls out that "the show frequently refers to girls who don't conform to the 'code' as bitches, bimbos, thirsty hoes and anorexic skanks."
These types of judgements are absolutely not what society needs. It really goes against the idea that feminists have been pushing for years: that women should have strong social relationships for other women to form strong social bonds.
These bonds must hold together even through the toughest times, because women have enough to fight for without also fighting themselves.
By making this show, MTV has tapped into and reflected the very social norms that we hold dear. There's something that resonates in each episode, and you can't knock the humor of the show.
I hope that "Girl Code" can be more of a time to learn than to laugh, because the lessons now cannot and should not be applied squarely to real life.
Give Peter a play-by-play of your favorite "Girl Code" episode at Peter.Northfelt@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @peternorthfelt
