Viva La Trend: the Social Learning Experience

The MTV series "Viva La Bam" is an interesting example of a negative media image that can lead to the effect of imitation by it's viewers, or incorporation of the shows values into the lives of it's audience. This is an example of the Social Learning Theory. This theory deals with the public's behavior after seeing media images. According to this theory, after being exposed to the same media images of a certain value or behavior consistently, it can lead to the incorporation of these values or behaviors into the viewers life in the form of imitation. When a certain behavior is linked to a reward on TV or some other media outlet, people are more likely to "model" that behavior than is the behavior is seen as negative within the same context. This theory is not completely foolproof because most people do not go out and imitate every thing they see or hear in the media. But on a subconscious level, it is hard to escape thing that all media outlets except as social norms. Further more, certain media is aimed at people who are more impressionable to the images than others. 

This is where the show "Viva La Bam" comes in. The show, a "documentation" of life at the Margera household, follows professional skateboarder Bam Margera as he literally does nothing but spend time with his friends wreaking havoc among the town they live in, the parents he lives with, and any all things that get in his way. Bam Margera is so rich that he can afford to do nothing, and even afford things like wrecking cars, destroying property, throwing private concerts, and building useless projects, all on a regular basis. His "whatever the f*** I want" attitude" (he literally says that in the opening credtis) is undeniably aimed at the audience of teenage boys, probably between the ages of 12-19 or so. Bam Margera gives nothing to society and treats everything and everyone around him as things to be used at his own disposal, and he often does it in a comedic way as well. But the effects of such behavior on young men at such an impressionable age can of course be negative, especially for people who aren't as lucky as Margera financially. Although I don't think all kids who watch "Viva La Bam" are going to go out and wreak havoc on their own parents to quite the extent he does, if people are consistently exposed to the attitudes he projects, the incorporation of those attitudes within their own lives can be expected eventually. This is already palpable in the fact that Margera's name is a brand on so many things, whether it is clothing, music, or the TV show he made possible, all which are immensely popular.