Introduction
Pop culture in the United States has significantly grown over the ages. Currently, pop culture is concentrated in high school students, who have grown deep roots into it. The media, on the other hand, continues to be creative to come up with new stuff, which continues to attract the attention of the youths. The media industry has a lot of fantasy materials, which have managed to gain the attention of the youths (Kerley, p. 96). This paper comprehensively covers pop culture and the media in comparison to Dolby’s research and opinion.
Denby’s View on Teen Movies
Denby covers teen movies in a perfect way. He targets high school students. Denby says that high school students should open their eyes and realize that teen movies are full of fantasy. Teens should consider life the way it is; they should face reality. Most teen movies portray geeks as losers. Denby believes that pop culture has many effects in the society. This means that pop culture has a strong influence on the community through teens and youths in general. However, he argues that pop culture has undergone several changes throughout the years.
Right from the start, pop culture involves everyone in the society; however, in the recent days, it has changed to focus on high school students. He systematically compares pop culture from the very first days of its existence to the recent days. Teen movies have a lot of fantasy. Some movies try to prove that the nerds never turn out to be successful in the society because people hate them while the small and average brained people turn out to be supremely successful. These movies convey wrong messages to teens. Most teens will tend to relax and work lazily in school because they believe that working hard will not support them in any way (Bondeson, p. 163).
Teen movies usually involve a lot of ideas beyond fixed polarities. They also include everything about high school fantasy. Teens that follow such movies get influenced by the fantasy portrayed in them. Thus, they start changing their behavior towards certain ideas, which they found in movies. Teen movies are highly influential. By influencing teens at a tender age, they get hold of the whole generation (Bondeson, p. 178).
Buried Alive
In Buried Alive, Denby talks on how today’s children have been buried in an avalance of crud, in the name of the media. Modern youth live and survive by the mercies of the global and local media. Buried Alive is about the start of political economy, which involves children literature in the publishing and film industry. There is a sudden change in the number of socioeconomic politics as well as government institutions. This provides a platform for a heavy discussion about the effects of publishing and film production, especially under the management of a giant media industry.
Children literature is ever expanding as new players hit into the market daily with new products. On the other hand, children continue watching movies, listening to talk shows and reading media material. These give them a false impression of life and lead them to the wrong direction. Parents, who should be on the forefront of advising and guiding their children, always warn children against watching some media. They tell their children not to watch a lot of movies yet they do not take any step towards regulating how their kids relate to the media.
Parents can only not allow their children not to watch or read certain materials, claiming that they are adult stuff. However, they do not tell these children any negative implications of watching those movies or reading adult material. Without this knowledge, children may not stop looking for adult stuff because they believe they are able to understand them. In the today’s world, children have access to materials that expose them to sex and violence at a remarkably tender age. They grow up with the notion that the world is a dark and dirty place. They believe that they can also involve themselves in these activities once they are old enough and ready to handle any situation. This is one of the ways in which today’s generation is getting buried.
Children who do not get a chance to learn about the negative effects of the media continue watching, listening and reading all the sorts of materials without any knowledge about their harmful effects. Such children keep looking for more materials while they get deeper into the habit. Denby thinks that today, the media is the leading killer of today’s generation in the United States. It is getting hold of a whole generation through high school students; this will have a negative effect on the lives of Americans if it is not corrected.
Personal Example
Pop culture has a particularly detrimental effect on the lives of the youths and teenagers in the U.S. Most of my friends have a strong passion for pop culture. They grew up watching movies and reading all the sorts of published materials without parental control. This influenced me into loving pop culture, thus I found myself starting to read articles about crimes and violence. Most of my friends are used to watch movies about drugs and sex. As their friend, I had to sit along with them as they watched their movies. I started developing an interest in criminal content.
My best friend, Tom, was also getting deep into the habit of popular culture. With time, he got so deep into it that his character had changed. He drastically dropped in his academics as he started to lead a different life from what was meant for him. Luckily, I did not go so deep into that culture; however, I found it extremely difficult to withdraw myself from what I had already started. At this time, I also began dropping in my academics.
It was extremely difficult to get out of the habit. I had to seek for a peer counselor to help me to get onto the right track. After a long series of counseling, I was able to recover from pop culture. Parents should learn to guide their children through whatever media they use, so that they can take full charge of their futures. My parents play a significant role in my life. They gave me good guidance. I realized that it was hard to get rid of the media negative influence. Their manufacturers and designers are always coming up with new, unique products.
Conclusion
Many teens in the United States of America take the wrong route in their lives because of the world surrounding them and their generation as well. Parents should hence take the responsibility of guiding their children effectively. Good parents should give their children a compelling reason for restricting them from certain actions, so that they would not repeat the same mistakes. It is also essential for the government to regulate the media industry in the US.
Works Cited
- Bondeson, Jan. Buried Alive: The Terrifying History of Our Most Primal Fear. New York: W. W. Norton, 2002. Print.
- Kerley, Jack. Buried Alive. New York: HarperCollins Publishers Limited, 2010. Print.