trigger warning for mention of domestic violence and sexual assault.
1. Men are terrible and you can never trust them.
One of the major themes of Lifetime movies in of the boyfriend/fiance/husband/one night stand trying to kill the female protagonist. These movies almost always involve a different man coming to save the female protagonist from her bloodthirsty beau. Leading to...
2. Sure, men will try to kill you, but they will also save you and you will always love them.
That nice, young, attractive sheriff man that saved the female protagonist is also conveniently a love interest. Funny how that works.
3. Lesbians do not exist.
4. Neither do bisexuals.
Unless the female protagonist references experimenting in college or decides to give her beau a threesome for his birthday.
5. Sexually liberated women (or sluts) are all evil and out to kill you and steal your husband.
But that can all change if the pure hearted female protagonist befriends her and the slut learns the error of her ways.
6. Abuse survivors are never to blame.
This one I actually like. In my experience of Lifetime movies, they have dealt with abuse survivors in an amazing way. They show cycles of abuse and frame the story in a way to affirm that the survivor is not to blame for her situation. They also do really well with sexual assault and showing PTSD and social stigma. Of course, they also only ever show female survivors and male perpetrators so that is definitely not the most enlightened.
7. Never trust the step-mother.
She is out to steal a trust fund.
8. Only white people exist.
Unless there's a sexy pool boy/tour guide/receptionist. Thanks, Racism.
9. Only rich people exist, and if poor people do exist they are out to pull a con.
Thanks, Classism.
10. No matter how much you love an actress, sometimes her career takes a hit and she ends up doing a made for TV movie.
And so are the facts of life.
You are probably now asking yourself why I continue to watch Lifetime movies with my mom. Well, it's still bonding time with my mom. And it's really nice to watch movies/TV with a mostly female cast in more complex roles than the one-dimensional female character from a male driven comedy. Sometimes there are even some empowering messages hidden within these ridiculous, cheesy, and problematic movies. Women deserve better entertainment and representation than Lifetime.
