Sex and drugs in teen film : An intelligent marketing ploy?
American Pie. Fast Times at Ridgemont HIgh, Grease... all of these films have fast paced adolescents , with a sex drive on hyperdrive , conducting reckless behavior, undermining authorities and thinking they rule the earth. That's what we all think of youth but is it a carefully conducted marketing scheme?
This is going to be a bit controversial but bear with me. I have stated before that marketers and movie companies found that teenagers had more expendible income to spend on tickets, merchandising, and general consumerism.
Teenagers were taught, over generations , that their very identity relies on externalizing their identity in consumer society. Somehow, their external appearance, how great their car is, their cell phone was detrimental to their self worth. The " cool kids" were superficial, mean and materialistic but somehow everyone wished to emulate them.
Marketers found that over time, this message would sink in when they saw examples of this in films, commercials and television show. Teenagers psychologically are the most vulnerable to this thought process because they no longer base their identity in the family but among their peers. What does this mean? They want to fit in. Badly.
Even those people who think they are being " rebellious" by following a certain trend Punk, Emo, Goth, Eco chic...are all carefully marketed clics which cause people to consume and for groups to follow a mass homogenization of our society. This means , those who wanted to be individuals? Are all the same.
Sexuality is both repressed and overexposed. Women are flaunted as sex objects , things to be made on a bet ( American Pie, She's all that , among others). Women are expected to be both viriginal and overly sexual. This severely mixed message causese confusion among teens and how they are expected to be.
Why promote over sexuality? Marketers have also proven that those who are sexually more active, tend to consume more. They tend to want to impress, to improve, to constantly become better to top the competition.
Teens, according to films are also prone to drugs, violence and abusive behaviour without any real consequences except a funny slap in the wrist. If we teach teens that there are no consequences, then we basically give them free rein to take unnecessary risks.
Films have also sublime product placement which sends subliminal messages in film. If someone is extremely sad in one scene, cut to the next scene where he is drinking a red can which is clearly coca cola. Try doing this various times, and believe me it seeps into your psyche.
( there are actual people who are hired on the streets to slip in conversations about product placements to passerbys on the street...)
This isn't to say we shouldn't watch films, or enjoy them. Or to kid ourselves that these things aren't a reality. The question is , why do we assume that this is the only thing that makes a teenager?
I love teen films, don't get me wrong, but a lot of these things happen because we are made to be unaware of how much of a hold consumerism has in our society. Let's just keep one eye open.
Maybe I will post a review of a really good documentary called " The Corporation" soon..
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