Television and Adoption

Now, I'm not a media studies major, nor do I have anything to do with media production, but the regular blogger that I am has noticed by watching television that the American public has a huge fascination for adoption.  I've seen in on nearly all of my favorite shows and I can't get over how many plot lines are used that have adoption in some form as the main focus.  What is it about adoption that makes it such a good plot line? 

Is it the drama of it all?  I don't think anyone could deny that adoption brings a lot of drama to the table.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, my life is like a movie with all the drama that comes from my adoption.  Seriously.  How can there not be drama when issues of identity, background, love, rejection, and pain all come into play?

Is it because adoption is painful and therefore fun to watch?  What I mean by this is that we like to watch other people's pain on television.  Look at the show Wipeout if you disagree.  We like to watch other people in pain because it distracts us from our own.  Pain is very real when it comes to adoption.

Is it because adoption is romanticised in the media?  I certainly think that there is a lot of what we "bitter" adoptees call "rainbow farting" on television.  These shows rarely show the painful side of adoption and make it seem like adoption is always the best option and that there is nearly always a happy ending.  Or the adoptee is portrayed as the murderer because adoptees are not understood and therefore must be crazy (though there are studies that show that adoptees are more likely to become murderers than non-adopted people - huh).  Adoption "saves" our favorite characters from infertility.  It's one of those stock story lines like cancer or betrayal.

At this point, I can see an adoption storyline coming from a mile away.  I've had to stop watching several of my favorite shows because they don't show the painful side of adoption, only the happy side.  There are two sides to every story, and only one is represented on television.  Why is it that you don't see a "birthmother" story on TV?  They use adoption to take in a new character, but they don't show the mother that gives the baby away and how she is handling things a few years down the line.  They don't show adoptees all grown up and wondering where they come from.  They don't show these things, only the adoptive parents' journey and how happy these TV families are to get another member.

Lately, I can't seem to find a show that isn't using an adoption story line.  It never used to be this bad before, or at least not that I remember.  On Castle, a murder victim was an adoptee and a suspect was her "birthmother".  On Army Wives, Joan and Roland learn they can't have another child and talk about adopting.  Joan doesn't want to because she doesn't feel she can love someone else's child the way she loves her own.  She gets over it (barf).  On Brothers and Sisters, Kevin and Scotty have to fight their daughter's brother for custody.  Plus, then the end up with a baby (long story) who's a donor baby.  On Parenthood, Julia and Joel decide to adopt.  On Grey's Anatomy, you can smell an adoption story line coming from a mile away.  Even The Voice had a contestant on that was clearly adopted.  They didn't show his face because they wanted the audience to be surprised and showed his white parents.  Clearly this guy was adopted with his afro.  I'm afraid to turn on my TV.

I think that for society to change it's views on adoption and for serious reform to take place, the media needs to step it up and start showing the whole story.  There's plenty of drama all around, I can promise you that!