Americans are becoming more accustomed to marijuana usage due to the increasing frequency of displays in pop culture, a growing availability, and it being a serious political issue. The film and TV industry have played a vital role in how marijuana is seen by America. The first instance of the drug use in pop culture is the 1936 film Reefer Madness by Arthur Hoerl. The film takes two ordinary teenagers, who are pressured into using marijuana, through an over-the-top journey that includes a hit-and-run accident, suicide, manslaughter, and even an attempted rape. However, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), which was established in 1970, used the movie satirically to aid in the reform of marijuana policy.
Some people say that the movie Pineapple Express seems to be along the lines of teenage humor or just mere immaturity. I on the other hand, I believe otherwise. When you take a look at all the drugs portrayed in the film (mainly marijuana) it reflects on a vast group of people in today’s general population. When I say that, I mean you do not see a movie based on people getting raped because it is not accepted in society or by the law. The film was viewed by many because in the days we live in now, drugs are becoming more and more socially accepted by the public in general, as shown in how many people enjoyed the movie.
Twenge states, “To many older people, it’s funny. But too many younger people the main consumers of the reality shows on, say, MTV it shapes their views of the world” (pg 7). Narcissism is shown often, and without hesitation on reality TV younger viewers are being conditioned by the depiction of narcissism. Slowly, the excess amount of narcissism seems normal. For instance, on “America’s Next Top Model” young viewers wish to be thin, tall, and overall a model, but go about it in the wrong ways.
People compete with each other trying to be the next superstar. I disagree that Americans watch reality shows to get famous. Most people watch these shows mainly for entertainment. Sometimes, contestants from the shows influence the youth. Many children are watching a show named jersey shore on an everyday basis.
This one is greatly affected by the media. A majority of musicians have problems with drugs, alcohol, public disorder and infidelity. Most come from broken families with toxic environments. They reflect their emotions in the songs they write which greatly influence listeners. The media likes to capture rock musicians using drugs at wild parties and acting irresponsible to get attention from people and increase magazine sales and ratings.
Many alcohol advertisements are placed in different types of media that are popular among adolescent.” They spend billions of dollars in developing an advertisement to capture the publics’ eye, especially the young adolescents. The alcohol industry target a specific group mainly teenagers, but they don’t realize is that all of the colorful effects, the music, and the atmosphere of fun and excitement makes the teenagers want to take a shot or two. At John Hopkins University made a estimate, “the likely effects of several alcohol policies on youth drinking behavior in the U.S. population concluded that a complete ban on alcohol advertising would be the most effective, resulting in 7,609 fewer deaths from harmful drinking and a 16.4% drop in alcohol-related life-years lost.” Banning alcohol commercials can affect the life of young adolescents and adults by not having the influence or the temptation in front of you will decrease the amount of drinking in teens. Commercials have a lot of power over a person’s judgment persuading them to act like different
These words and phrases were commonly used during the 60s and 70s to describe certain aspects of the heroin trade. “American pop culture historians place a direct link between… pop stars and celebrities… and heroin” (Mark 1). Another way the music industry has been greatly affected by heroin was the deaths of many famous music stars like Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobaine. Both were very popular in the 70s and made heroin look glamorous to many young fans. Other artists such as Ray Charles, Van Morrison, and Robert Downy Jr. have had their careers greatly affected by the use of heroin.
The teens often get involved in many kinds of drinking games such as beer pong, flip cup and kings cup to name a few. As the night goes on, teens begin to get drunk and bad decisions are being made. Young teens could get very drunk because of excessive drinking and begin to get sick, which could lead to alcohol poisoning. Worst of all, others may get behind the wheel of a car and attempt to drive themselves or others home. These are just a few of the problems that happen today to our teens.
Binging: Headed for Devastation? Alcoholism has been considered to be something of a mass epidemic and is inevitable because of the rigid grip it holds on Americans today, especially teenagers. While various teens experience the urge to binge drink because of circumstances, others feel the need simply for potential new friends or popularity. It is no contest when comparing high school drinkers to that of collegiate binge drinkers because with age and freedom comes rash decisions made only by those mentally weak and insecure. Binge drinking among college students is indeed a colossal crisis which in itself asks for serious attention on all aspects.
Moreover, people have been using crack cocaine for several years as a means of dealing with problems they have in life. Crack cocaine is a drug with widespread availability that makes a person from any part of the world addicted and as a result, that person takes unbelievable changes with his or her life to feed the dependency affecting the lives of many people. The