Honey Boo Boo: More than just roadkill and Mountain Dew

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a lot of things: child exploitation, caffeine science experiment, and the funniest thing on television. But, if you can crack through the exterior of caked makeup and glitter, there is much  to be learned from Honey Boo Boo Child and her famly.

The show itself is a spinoff of the much-maligned Toddlers & Tiaras focusing on Alana Thompson, a seven-year-old pageant queen and viral video sensation. Alana, also known as Honey Boo Boo, has three sisters who go by the nicknames Chubbs, Pumpkin, and Chickadee. They live with Mama, their biological mother, and Sugar Bear, Alana’s biological father. The Thompsons hail from McIntyre, Ga. and are emblematic of the stereotypical redneck family. They like to drive around in ATVs, eat road kill, and—poetically—attend “The Redneck Games.” Although Alana’s entire family is featured, the focus of Honey Boo Boo is on Alana’s preparations for her “biggest pageant yet”.

While the above synopsis may not allude to an intelligent, insightful television show able to draw in mass audiences, Honey Boo Boo had more viewers than the Republican National Convention and tied with the Democratic National Convention. Questions about the state of the American electorate aside, clearly Honey Boo Boo is doing something right. In fact, there’s actually a lot to learn from Alana. (No, that’s not a misprint.) This seven-year-old “hick” can teach us urbanite, East Coast residents a thing or two.

Alana’s entire family is overweight, and the pint-sized pageant princess is no exception. Despite this, Alana has a positive self-image. “Pretty comes in all different sizes. My size is cute,” boasted Alana in a recent episode. In a country where eight year-olds are on diets, it is refreshing to see a young girl who thinks she is “beautimous” no matter what. This is in no small part due to her mother’s affirmations that all of her girls are beautiful.

The support Alana receives from her family has taught her to believe in herself, which is no small feat.

The girl thinks herself capable of doing anything, and doesn’t let anything, from her little belly to her inability to hit certain dance steps, prevent her from reaching for her goal of winning Grand Supreme Queen in a pageant.  Her response to what she wants to be in the future is, “Whatever I choose.” That level of confidence at such a young age serves as an inspiration for the 2.2 million viewers that tune in.

While some may mistake Alana’s self-image for delusion, she is decently self-aware. Honey Boo Boo and her family are not afraid to tell each other how it is, leaving the sugar coating for their donuts and not their words. Mama doesn’t shy away from constructive criticism on Alana’s pageant performances. Because of this, Honey Boo Boo is well aware that she isn’t the cutest or most petite contestant at these pageants, but that does not prevent her from competing and going after what she wants in life.

In fact, Honey’s greatest strength may be her resilience. When she loses a pageant she has a little cry and pouts a bit, but she quickly jumps back and begins preparing for the next one. Nothing can deter her from her dreams. This is especially important to take to heart as midterms approach and the semester really begins to ramp up; if being third runner-up doesn’t deter Honey Boo Boo, a B-minus shouldn’t faze us.

Despite how they may appear, Honey Boo Boo does not have a dysfunctional family. The Thompsons care about one another and support each other in all situations. When Mama wants to go extreme couponing, everyone gets involved and helps out. Both Sugar Bear and Mama make sure to have plenty of family time, and that all the girls are receiving individual attention. Frankly, they are not that different from any functioning, nuclear family. Perhaps Leo Tolstoy was correct in saying that “happy families are all alike.”

Ultimately, just because Honey Boo Boo and her family need to have their drawls’ subtitled and introduced the term “vajiggle jaggle” into the American lexicon, does not mean that the Thompson clan doesn’t have anything valuable to contribute to television and society as a whole. They are refreshingly real in a land full of “reality” television. Mocking Alana and company is easy, but it isn’t that much of a stretch to find something worthwhile amidst the hairspray and Mountain Dew. At least tell yourself that next time you’re watching Honey instead of doing your reading.