Toddlers and Tiaras, the popular TLC show, is the show that everyone loves to hate. Its premise is based on tiny kids tottering around in rhinestone-bedecked tutus that could cover rent in a New York apartment for several months and crazy stage moms who pay to dress their children up; it’s almost too easy to mock. Despite their intent, millions of viewers tune in every week.
Although its Nielsen ratings are not comparable to Toddlers and Tiaras, prom is equally popular. “I’ve always stalked other people’s prom pictures,” MHS senior Lainie Rowland notes. “It’s kind of a rite of passage,” she adds. It shows; on prom night, Facebook is buzzing with juniors and underclassmen, commenting and liking photos of the seniors in long dresses or black tuxes. Clicking through the countless albums named “prom” seems like perusing a flipbook, as each tiny movement has been captured. It’s almost like you – whoever you are – are on that verdant, well-manicured lawn observing the scene.
Ten or twelve years later, we still care about those tiaras, and the teenagers who’ve grown up to wear them. Those who don’t attend prom watch those that do, living vicariously through the seniors and few juniors and underclassmen. However Toddlers and Tiaras may be scorned in the MHS hallways, we play it out on prom night, where dresses cost hundreds and everyone is watching.