The Merchants Of CoolEssay Preview: The Merchants Of CoolReport this essayMerchants of Cool:Teens and SexualityTeenagers are bombarded with images and ideas of sex in the media. However the advertising industries claim that teenagers were already obsessed with sex before the images were plastered all over their world. The industry also claims that they develop their advertising around what the teens enjoy and that theyve researched teen lives, culture and their way of thinking in order to obtain the most successful advertising method. “Were only reflecting the real world. Sex is a part of teens lives, so it better be in their media, too.” (Narr. in Merchants of Cool). Did the teens develop the pop culture first, or did the media hype teen sexuality and therefore make it pop culture? Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Ill be arguing that although teens may have always had a sexual appetite and were the ones that fed on the sexually hyped shows, the media had a snowballing effect to the point of increasing and encouraging sexual behavior in teens, and still does today.
Teens play the biggest part in the film industry. Its no wonder most films out these days are so sexual and violent; its because thats what the industries believe teens are looking for. Once a story line has been done, it gets boring, and no one pays to see a boring film. The only way to spice things up is with a little violence or sex, right? Spicing things up is exactly what director Neal Moritz is all about. He says “I really want to push the envelope in my movies. Because to me, if youre making the same thing everyone else is making, then you dont have much chance of getting people to come to your movies” Neal pushes boundaries and keeps the tension high in all of his movies both sexually and graphically violent, keeping his teens hooked. Audiences and critics have put him under “intense scrutiny” (Narr. in Merchants of Cool), however, because they argue that teens should not be exposed to that level of sex and violence. This is exactly the behavior that is beyond the maturity level for a teen and should not be practiced by a teen. The ratings for movies such as the ones Moritz directs with explicit content are almost all “R”; if you must be seventeen to see it, you better be at least seventeen to think about practicing that type of behavior.
Besides movies, television also plays a big role in what teenagers are exposed to. The television network WB started off in the 1990s with a program called 7th Heaven that was designed to target families who wanted to watch television together. When the program was losing ratings, the producers added steamier kissing scenes to compete with the newer dramas and sitcoms. When 7th Heaven couldnt compete, the WB launched Dawsons Creek; a teen drama based on the Ðlives of teens. The teens talked about sex constantly and their lives revolved around it. When teens see these idyllic celebrity teens in the media, they idolize them. This idolization leads to mimicking behavior, and before long, the teens are engaging in sexual behavior
Also, as kids grow older, their attention and interest in these shows increases, not more. Even an adult who saw Seven’s program would find it embarrassing. Seven is a hit and was the highlight of a movie night in Chicago
The other night, I was having dinner with a couple of teens who were watching the program and had never seen what these shows offered. At dinner, many of the people were talking about how the show was too good to be true, how great it is, how bad it all is. I asked them what they thought about any of the shows because they have so many, so many, so many of them, and some of them would call the show one of, ‘The Best Show On Earth’. They said its been one of the biggest movies of all time, and they think it will never be seen again when it has been seen in a large mainstream movie theater.
I do think that this show and the movies from it have an emotional effect on these people and they are really good at following the trends they are seeing.
However, I can say that I understand that there are some that will feel that way too long, that are still thinking differently, and I think there may still be some bad ideas but that they will still come from within
Some people are really good at what they do, and some people aren’t. Some people are really good at what they can’t do. I know this because a lot of these kids I want to know, they aren’t like me.
Another thing that’s become confusing in this group is saying we’re not trying to get kids out of school, we’re just trying to understand what we want them to do. Some people are just going off this crazy “You kids know that all these different arts colleges you’re going to have kids go to don’t you like to work with you? That’s the sort of things that you can’t do.
I feel that there are a few people that might be able to help those kids, I don’t know if that’s true or not.
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