Cold Case cold-cocks the Amish
I’m not a big television watcher but caught wind of the latest appearance of our friends the Amish in the media, this time propping up the plot of a CBS show called Cold Case.
Admittedly, being involved in another task at the time I could spare just one ear and one eye on the show, but what I saw and heard seemed pretty dodgy…
…from nitpicky stuff like the hairstyles being wrong to an undertone of ‘these Amish are pretty far out there’–ie, one Amish girl commenting early on that pulling teeth is how ‘our dentist’ deals with cavities, to the obligatory ’18th century kids in a 21st century world’ comment, to the smug cop asking the Rumspringa-age Amish boy if he even knew where Cuba was, as if he were just a backwater hick with no education whatsoever, or at least not the ‘right type’ of education as the show’s perpetrators may see it…
The Amish as a repressed, backwards people makes for a pretty weary storyline, but what the heck! Let’s wheel it out once again. Should get the viewers, since we’ve cleverly timed it for the same week as the Nickel Mines massacre anniversary. Throw in a dash of Rumspringa for good measure and we can’t lose.
Well, a bit of a rant, but what should I expect from Les Moonves and Viacom, the folks that brought us Amish in the City?
Coming one week after the abstinence club hypocrites storyline I’m getting pretty disgusted. I noticed three different head coverings, two different bonnets, a couple of different styles of dress. Not to mention the hairstyles which you addressed. If the costume designer spent even one day researching, it surely didn’t show. And why did the Amish teen have to be the killer, while the “bad boy” was innocent (of the murder, anyway)?
Sounds to me like good reason to ditch the TV. Lets hope shows like this are shortlived. “Sin” used to be something we were ashamed of. Now it is something that is glorified and worshipped.
Well, the Chicago/Green Bay game was pretty close last night – so I only flipped over to ‘Cold Case during some commercials. I saw enough of the show to realize it was way off the mark from the syles of dress to the pathetic portrayal of the Amish as primitive and cold.
I was pretty upset about this. I did watch it just to see if I was being over sensitive or not. well, I wasn’t! They totally, totally had it all wrong. The way they made the amish look really was upsetting. They made it look like they are cold and backwards, almost like they are some kind of evil cult! Not to mention the manner of dress as someone else mentioned. I agree to with missymess comment about the bad boy! Yes, sin is not such a bad thing anymore. It seems bad is only bad if you get caught and then it really isn’t THAT bad! What happened to being moral, putting others before yourself and not wanting to do wrong. Now today everyone is wanting to see what they can get away with and they are out for self. okay, okay I will get off my soapbox!
Styles of Amish women's head coverings
Good points all…I don’t think anyone was too excited about what we saw…and missymess that is interesting about the coverings, as I glanced up from what I was doing, they all just seemed a bit dumpy and baggy, not like the heart-shaped coverings that they wear in Lancaster.
Anyone have any guesses on how they are going to ‘do the Amish’ next? Maybe a reality show on an Amish farm? I’m sure someone has thought of that one already.