Preview

Addiction and the media

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1047 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Addiction and the media
Addiction and the media

Do you think that the media plays a role in substance abuse in adolescents and in adults?
The attitude towards drug and alcohol abuse has changed dramatically throughout history. Stefan
Hall analyzes the way addiction has been dramatized and how the attitude towards drugs have gradually changed from stark warnings about the dangers to satire and slapstick. (Hall) Fade in,
Fade out: addiction Recovery, in American film. The media has used countless advertising dollars to promote drugs and alcohol to young America. Today’s day and age of the 21st century movies and television shows have become more out right raunchy vulgar and profound. Drugs sex and fun have become the new craze of our time. The way the media portrays substance abuse is almost in an adoring point of view.
Children and young adults that view these films are exposed to so much adult behavior as if this is what they should be doing to look cool or make they seem all grown up. The way that drugs and alcohol are exposed in the media are in such an exaggerated way, it is almost unreal to what will actually happen. Not all film depict drugs and alcohol in this way some do shed light upon the pitfalls of people on drugs or the lifestyle, but mostly it is done in a glorified manner to make it seem like this behavior is acceptable. The media uses drug and alcohol to portray a life style of the high life, glamor and fame and fun. Although parents, schools, and the government are trying to get children and teenagers to
“just say no” to drugs, the media is telling them something completely different that blur the lines. Advertising companies spend more than $25 billion dollars on cigarette, alcohol, and prescription drugs advertising. The power of advertising and the influence it has on children is indescribable. Many ads use celebrity endorsers, humor, music, or attractive young models to attract young people to their products.



Cited: Stefan Hall “Fade in, Fade out: Addiction recovery, in American film, “Mirror on America: Eds. Joan T. Mims and Elizabeth M. Nollen. 4th ed., pag. 335. Victor C. Strasburger, MD, “Children, Adolescents, Substance Abuse and the Media.” Pediatrics.appublications.org Oct, 1, 2010 pp.791 www.nih.gov/about/budget.htm. 2010 Gilbert L. Fuld, MD Gina Ley Steiner “Us department of health and human services. The Surgeons General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduc

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    stories on the news about people being killed on the street every day over drugs.…

    • 2512 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    It is apparent to some that drug, alcohol, and tobacco use is glamorized on the big screen. This causes officials of the federal government to question where the downside to substance abuse is. There is an unglamorous side to substance abuse. People have slurred speech, hangovers, and getting into trouble with the police is a big problem with substance abuse (Riechmann 19A). If movies are going to portray drug use, they should also show the bad side to substance abuse. If they were to do so, the romance with drug use on the big screen might very well become diminished.…

    • 2805 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Recreational drug abuse is becoming a huge problem in our society, and the parallels drawn within Brave New World act uncannily well as a foresight into the future, if drug abuse becomes the norm. In Brave New World, the people use the drug soma as an escape. Soma acts as the perfect drug--giving a perfect high, or holiday, with no real repercussions or hangovers. Characters within the book use soma to escape their negative emotions. As humans, we need to experience bad things in order to feel better. As a certain character, Linda, John the Savage’s mother, consumes obscene amounts of soma to satiate her addiction. She lies in bed, completely useless and unable to even control herself. Over time, she has to keep taking soma to get a similar holiday, until “Linda stirred uneasily, opened her eyes for a moment, looked vaguely around, and then once more dropped off to sleep. ‘Popé’, she murmured, and closed her eyes… ‘But Linda! … don’t you know me?’”(203-204) This exchange between Linda and John shows the pain that drug abusers push onto their family. They don’t get rid of their negative emotions--they push them onto close friends and family. John is left in anguish as his mother’s lungs collapse, and he watches her die while no one makes a remote attempt to help her. In the same way, drug abuse destroys our world. Especially when it comes foster children, more often than not, foster care workers find children who are abused, coming in with broken bones, malnourished, or left in neglect. The most common denominator was clear: all of the children had parents who were addicted to and abused opiates to the point of it taking away their lives and ability to make proper judgements for their own children. (Quinton) Savannah, a previous addict said she “lost a lot of family and more friends than [she] can count to this disease of addiction.” Drugs took more than just the parents’ lives away from…

    • 1361 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    America has always had an underlying culture of drug use with even many of the harder drugs, like cocaine and heroin, being legal up into the early 1900’s, and drugs like methamphetamine and MDMA, or ecstasy, being legal well into the 20th century. Even one of the most invasive drugs of our culture, alcohol, is widely advertised and taken to be a norm of American culture, and prescription drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin are used by millions legally every day (Brecher, E. M., n.d.). However, while alcohol as been able to enjoy its place as an accepted part of the American lifestyle, drug use of the illicit kind has been steadily demonized, criminalized, and used as a means to incarcerate an ever growing number of people, most often minorities and the poor who are unable to afford outside representation.…

    • 2479 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are many valid arguments stating that the movie glorifies heroin and other drug usage. Take, for example, during the opening scenes of the movie, Renton (the main character) tells the audience that he wouldn’t choose life, and that he has no reason for this and continues - “who needs reasons when you’ve got heroin?”.…

    • 661 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    perceive the term drug as an illegal substance. In fact, most drugs are over-the-counter and prescribed…

    • 2670 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    American culture is unique and well-known throughout the world. The freedom with endless possibilities is a blessing and privilege that not many countries gets to have the same treatment as many Americans. As a result, American’s culture encourages drug use because of media and the concept of individuality. There is no denying that drugs are part of our lives, whether it is directly or indirectly. Teenagers and young adults stepping out into the real world where they will make choices, and experimenting new customs. Discovering the broadness of our culture that keeps evolving throughout many generations. While European countries’ culture have traced back for thousands of years, American’s culture is new and alive since its birth that influences…

    • 132 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Basketball Diaries

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Within Hollywood’s movies depiction of drug addiction, many have failed to represent all true aspects that come along with such lifestyles. The movie, The Basketball Diaries, is based off a novel Jim Carroll wrote from his own diary entries. As a teenager growing up in the sixties, Carroll reveals his progression of drug abuse which eventually leads him addicted to heroin.Heroin is a white powder derived from morphine found in opium. It is commonly prescribed as a painkiller, but is also a popular street drug.The director casted Leonardo DiCaprio as Jimmy, and concentrates on creating the character as a stereotypical drug abuser. DiCaprio’s most captivating scene is when he is going through heroin withdrawals. The viewer also get an accurate depiction of heroin when Jimmy is describing his first time using heroin.Overall the movie is probably one of the best at revealing the realities of drug abuse by not glamorizing it but by showing the downward spiral it can cause on ones life. By analyzing Jimmy’s first time using and eventual dependence of heroin it is easy to see there are realistic and unrealistic scenes to The Basketball Diaries.…

    • 1013 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    We all know there is a huge drug epidemic in this country and there are several issues surrounding…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Drug and alcohol abuse has been around as long as humans have been around. People have always had the desire to use substances to make them feel relaxed or stimulated. So because drugs and alcohol have always been existent, they have always been a part of our American culture through politics, media and advertising, and other American concepts. The time period of 1950-2000 was exceptionally active for American culture, and there were many turning points in research and knowledge, legislature, media, and how the general public viewed drug and alcohol use.…

    • 1402 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Soma - Brave New World

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the real world, in our reality, drugs are seen as extremely dangerous and the consumers are excluded from the moral society, seen as outcasts that go in the wrong path or that will never achive real happiness and a right life. However, drugs, in the last few years have been much more integrated in society or at least now, people that do drugs are less ashamed of it, and less afraid to say it aloud. People seem to be more open minded about drugs or perhaps they have resigned to the fact that they should be forbidden because that doesnt stop people from consuming them. What Aldous Huxley did in part of his book was to predict many of the future changed and advances, and this issue of drugs so normally incorporated in the society might also be a well-done prediction. With the passing of the years drugs are becoming more accepted and who know if they end up being not only legalized but also recommended.…

    • 485 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    think drugs are acceptable in any way possible, this might be confusing for young people which…

    • 2070 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    According to the alcohol and smoking, it’s everywhere. People on the Internet, actors in movies and glamorous models in magazines are often shown smoking and drinking. Even every day people on the street can be seen lighting up a cigarette or ordering cocktails with their meals. Most people know that bad things happen when you do drugs. But actually tobacco and alcohol are classified as types of drugs because they are highly addictive. Unfortunately, a lot of children see their parents smoking and it never…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Causeandeffectessay

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Reality television also glorifies the consumption of alcoholic drinks. People in the shows usually drinks without moderation causes them to be completely drunk and act in insane ways,Children who view these shows…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nightlife Pleasure

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages

    What many may know is the substance abuse that enhances people going out, but they have no idea as to the extent of how serious it is consumed. “If I don’t drink there is no party, so whenever I’m out at night people better pour out a little liquor” a Junior comments. “It’s not about drinking, that’s for kids, these days we look forward to stronger drugs to make us feel good” whispers a 23 year old. In general everyone consumes alcohol, but for those that don’t enjoy it, they find other methods to feel good.…

    • 810 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics