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Youth
culture's sexy image must change
It
seems Hollywood's culture industry has run
out of fresh ideas. Creative media are hard
to come by amidst the barrage of remakes,
true stories, and sequels. Hollywood needs
to get its act together and come up with
something decent rather than remaking an
old film or song by adding scantily clad
actresses and evolved swearing. Ratings
on movies and songs must step up to the
challenge of creating a decent youth culture.
The
industry should get some credit, since throughout
the years pretty much everything has been
done in one way or another. But for the
sake of the audience, something new must
happen soon.
Perhaps
the rating system has been changed to entice
a younger crowd into more inappropriate
movies for the sake of profit. After all,
little kids always want to see ‘R'
films simply because they are forbidden.
But is it really moral to allow sexual scenes
and crude language into PG-13 rated films?
By doing so, the culture changes to allow
for behaviors children imitate. Life becomes
an imitation of the entertainment media.
Some
interesting expletives are heard when walking
past the local middle school. These 13-year-old
kids use words that until recently would
have gotten an 18-year-olds mouth washed
out with soap. And they say these words
on campus at lunch and breaks. Parents really
should teach their children which words
are appropriate and which aren't.†
Now,
the entertainment industry is not completely
to blame. It is the adults in America who
let the situation go so far. We let our
youth play dress up in music video clothes
and portray an image of the young girl as
sexy.
If
men found it attractive, the image was delivered.
Take, for example, the magazine covers that
featured Britney Spears dressed up in a
schoolgirl costume against the background
of a young girl's room. This exploitation
fulfilled the fantasy of every pedophile
in America without a second thought as to
the moral idea being sent to unstable teenagers
or child porn watchers.
The
songs on popular radio intensify the sexual
image. Perhaps the younger listeners do
not realize what they are singing along
to, but those who do should know better.
Music is another form of identification.
It portrays youth culture through the type
of music and song lyrics. If local youth
is relating to songs about sex, drugs and
rape, it is time someone changed that.
Youth
controls the purse strings of America, so
if their ideas of what is ‘cool' change,
the media will be forced to change as well.
People
imitate the celebrities they identify with,
which is why there are so many celebrity-endorsed
products on the market. And not all movie
stars or pop stars are bad, there are some
who are great role models. But, if children
are running around in the latest Britney
Spears outfit and showing off their non-existent
cleavage asking if they are sexy, something
is wrong.
According
the University of Michigan Health Systems
Web site, the average American child spends
more time watching T.V. than sitting in
school. The average person watches 7-10
years worth of T.V. by the time they reach
70. We receive media through television,
internet, radio and billboards. Some schools
even have advertised television programs
each week played in the classroom.
The
problem is not simply the movies and the
songs; it is that young children eat this
up while they are still scratching out a
character for themselves. The ratings on
these movies and songs need to step up to
change the way America's youth consider
themselves. Children should be worried about
school and friendship, not attracting pedophiles.
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