When I was younger, I too was very sheltered from most
things. I was oblivious to the drug use in my high school until I learned that
many of my peers I graduated with would do some crazy drugs in the bathroom.
They would even fill their water bottles with vodka and drink it throughout the
day. It was crazy what I learned AFTER high school. Another thing I was
oblivious to was when I was watching Pineapple Express. I was probably 14 or 15
years old when I watched that movie with my little sister (who was probably 10
years old at the time) in a hotel room of a casino while my parents were on the
main floor gambling (the irony of talking about glorifying drugs when my
parents were in the midst of something that people are also addicted to).
The
movie showed the dangers of a drug addiction (witnessing the murder of a drug
lord is pretty dangerous), but also made it look like an adventure. Our society
has a way of glorifying drugs, then contradicting ourselves when the drug
problem has become out of hand. The movies and media makes drug use look fun
with crazy outcomes, when reality means possible overdose and death. I would
say I’m one of these hypocrites because I love stoner movies just as much as
the next guy, but I’m against drug use (I guess it’s not completely
hypocritical since marijuana isn’t a hard drug compared to cocaine and heroin
for example). However, in stoner movies or raunchy party college/high school
movies, you sometimes find someone doing a line in the bathroom and having a
good time, which leaves a bad message for young people. For the gullible mind,
it looks really cool on the movie screen when people are having fun, but the
reality is that trying and experimenting could lead to addiction. People would
just want to feel good all the time and if they feel good about shooting up,
they’re going to want to continue. If they feel good after smoking marijuana,
they’re going to keep doing it. If they feel happy and confident after a few
shots and some beers, they’re going to want to keep drinking so the fun never
ends. Addiction is in the eye of the beholder, the person who is doing drugs or
drinking or gambling or binge eating (because eating is addicting too!) don’t
realize they have a problem until someone they love points out what their
habits are doing to them. So, the terms “addiction” and “addict” are placed
onto a person from other people, in which the “addict” would deny such accusations.
Also, a standout line from the movie from the famous stoner himself, Seth Rogen, "I use a bong, it filters out all the addictive sh*t!" I thought it was fitting for our topic.
Hi Selena,
ReplyDeleteI too was a sheltered child to drugs. It wasn't until the 8th grade that I knew what a blunt was, and the reason I learned was because I said I knew what it was and was asked to say what it was but did not know the answer (yes it was embarrassing and funny). In high school, I would see students during my freshman year, use apples for smoking marijuana in the bathrooms. How this worked, I had no clue and still don't.
You are right about how movies love to show how drugs can be fun and lead to a good time without focusing on the negative effects they bring to an individual, a family, or a community. It is advertising like this that leaves many innocent teens with the curiosity of finding out whether or not they too could have a good time like the protagonists of the movie. Perhaps if more movies focused on the addiction and not just the "high" of the first or second time, we could possibly have less people attempting to do dangerous drugs and prevent them from getting addicted to a certain substance.
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI agree completely with both of you guys. I also was a very sheltered child. My parents tried (and still try) to keep me away from the bad things in today's world. I wasn't able to watch "stoner" or other inappropriate movies until I was in high school. Did this help me from avoiding the bad crowd at school? Yes I believe so. I had made friends with other sheltered kids too.
The pop culture industry definitely makes our youths view drugs and alcohol as things the cool kids do and gives it a positive light. This is a terrible thing. Our culture shouldn't be promoting this,but rather taking about the dangerous scary side to drugs that people don't want to hear about. I would be lying if I said drugs didn't scare me to death, and I think this is how other youths need to be responding too.
I really enjoyed reading your post, and I specifically like how you said that addiction is in the eye of the beholder. I can relate to this so much because what one person may consider as just having some "chronic but harmless good fun," another would say it already constitutes an addiction. Take a roommate of mine, for example. She would drink very often, mostly on the weekends, but I would see it and think, "it's not big deal...she's young, going through this phase of drinking." I didn't want to think her habits were that bad because I saw her as a friend and couldn't believe it would get this far, especially because it became such a way very gradually. But in reality, she was addicted, and it was a problem. And though I was only seeing the "harmless" side of it (e.g. the fun she seemed to be having), it was indeed harmful to her because it turned out that it was affecting other aspects of her life. So, very good point in saying how "addiction" can be a subjective diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteDuring my last year of high school, I began to feel left out of my friend group because I was not invited to their hotbox hangouts. I too grew up sheltered from drugs which is why I was hesitant to try it. I decided to try it. It is surprisingly easy to smoke out of an apple. But I agree with what you said about drugs being glamorized. My friends became very into hip hop and EDM which probably made us more inclined to smoke weed. They've moved on to harder drugs and I picked up this habit for three weeks.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The representation of drugs in media is seen more as something "cool" then being dangerous. For example, some movies showcase a lot drug use and addiction, especially when it comes to movies that involve college life and the like. The media has created a narrative for a typical college student -- they party and go out a lot, they drink a lot of alcohol and smoke. The media is basically showing college student as "addicts" because of the way they live their college life, referring to the ones that part every weekend.
ReplyDeleteSuddenly we're in English class asking (rightly) about how fictions make reality. Selena says she loves stoner movies but doesn't do drugs. We can start there...
ReplyDelete