College. It’s perhaps the most important decision you’ll make as a teenager. So many variables, so many things to consider, so many uncertainties; these days, the college process couldn’t get any tougher. And the college applicant pool is the most competitive in history. High school students spend countless hours studying, participating in extracurricular activities, playing sports, and dedicating themselves to any other cause they believe may improve their chances of getting into a particular school. A recent nationwide survey found that over 50% of high school students report getting less than 7 hours of sleep each school night. High school is no easy task.
Unfortunately, at many times, high school is something to be endured, rather than enjoyed, and many students are able to cope with the anxiety and tremendous workload of high school due to the prospect of an amazing college experience on the horizon. They’ve heard great things about college from a young age. Many adults cite their college years as being one of the most enjoyable periods in their lives, a time when they are free from total responsibility, yet to have a full time job or family, and not yet responsible for paying back mounting college debt. In high school, college is the most glorious finish line, the ultimate reward for the hard years of high school. If a student can withstand and outlast the pressure and workload, they are bound to reach the Promised Land.
But what is this Eden called college? What happens there? What makes it so special? The reality is, most high school students don’t have a clue. In order to construct a vision of what college life should look like, high school students turn to stories, movies, videos, and any other forms of media that may provide an insight. Dangerously, rather than portray college as a time of personal freedom, personal invention, and newfound responsibility, these forms of media choose to depict college as a 4 year long, outrageously drunken party. And students are often too naïve to see through the ludicrousness.
You need look no further than the titles of recent popular movies and television shows about college life to realize the dangerous trickery: 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, 21 and Over, Spring Breakers, Project X, Neighbors, Blue Mountain State, the list goes on, and the names speak for themselves. Each of these movies depicts individuals performing ridiculous acts of nonsense while under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. The overindulgence fuels poor judgment, lack of inhibition, dangerous stunts, encounters with police, public nudity, vandalism, extreme hazing, trespassing, and a list of other heinous behaviors. Even Instagram is being utilized to join in on the act, with accounts such as Total Frat Move, Barstool Sports, and others perpetuating the college drinking stereotype through the posting of actual college videos of kids doing just about any stupid thing one can think of (blowing up toilets with firecrackers, and drunk jousting with golf carts and pool sticks are not out of the question). Yet out of all these movies and video clips, not one individual is ever shown in serious trouble with the law, or even shown facing the consequences for their actions. Instead, the video clips are meant to be funny and entertaining (and frankly many of them succeed greatly), and the movies are almost always listed in the “comedy” section. Such movies always have a happy or laughable ending, and the Instagram videos only ever catch the act of stupidity, never the “what happens next.” The manner in which the videos and movies are labeled is perhaps the only thing more stupid than their content.
Take, for example, the movie 21 and Over. In this 2013 movie, Jeff Chang is convinced by two of his friends to go out drinking on the night of his 21st birthday, despite the fact that he has an important med-school interview the next morning. After drinking a few too many, the friends commit a string of illegal acts including public intoxication, driving while under the influence, public nudity, hazing, vandalism, sexual assault, and assault with a deadly weapon (a loaded gun is fired, narrowly missing some bystanders, and prompting a nearby Buffalo (!) to maul a crowd of people). The cover photo for the movie is a picture of Chang standing on top of a cop car in the middle of the street, wearing nothing but a teddy bear to cover his private parts. Written below, the poster is subtitled “blackout the date!” In the end, Jeff is able to return home in time to sober up, and makes it on time to the interview, without his strict father ever knowing about the previous night’s happenings. The whole thing sounds ridiculous, and one might assume that plots such as the one described are too ridiculous to be harmful, right?
Wrong. Researchers estimate that each year, 1,825 college students between the ages of 18-24 die in alcohol-related car crashes. Approximately 700,000 students annually are violently assaulted by another student under the influence, and about 97,000 students are sexually assaulted from a partner under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 20% of college students now meet the criteria for AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder). According to NY Times contributor Beth McMurtrie, “Despite decades of research, hundreds of campus task forces, and millions invested in bold experiments, college drinking in the United States remains as much of a problem as ever… The binge-drinking rate among college students has hovered above 40 percent for two decades, and signs are that partying is getting even harder. More students now drink to get drunk, choose hard liquor over beer and drink in advance of social events. For many the goal is to blackout.”
So how has the situation gotten so out of control? There is no doubt that Hollywood and the media has had something to do with it. Like anything, media are what shapes public perception. It certainly does not help quell the issue when almost every year, Hollywood releases a new “summer blockbuster,” with a plot similar in outrageous content to the one described above. Although most of these movies are quite rightfully given an “R” rating, it’s almost laughable how easy it is to sneak into a theater, and there’s nothing stopping kids from watching such movies and TV shows from the computer or TV screens at home. Personally, I watched the aforementioned movie, 21 and Over, in sixth grade. I am sure I’m not the only one. The media and Hollywood epitomize hypocrisy; while appearing to be at the forefront of every social issue, injustice, health threat, national problem, etc., they have also helped directly escalate the college drinking and recklessness issue into an epidemic. Shame on them.
In this election year, especially in a campaign where college students and other youth voters play the most prominent position they have in history, it seems incredible that such little concern is given to this important issue. In order to solve the problem, this nation must first acknowledge the issue. Unfortunately, by portraying the college scene in such an irresponsible and dangerous manner, Hollywood and the media have opportunistically made the issue hard to recognize, instead disguising the epidemic simply as light hearted comedy. But don’t expect Hollywood to act any more responsibly than the kids they depict in their movies.
College. It’s perhaps the most important decision you’ll make as a teenager. So many variables, so many things to consider, so many uncertainties; these days, the college process couldn’t get any tougher. And the college applicant pool is the most competitive in history. High school students spend countless hours studying, participating in extracurricular activities, playing sports, and dedicating themselves to any other cause they believe may improve their chances of getting into a particular school. A recent nationwide survey found that over 50% of high school students report getting less than 7 hours of sleep each school night. High school is no easy task.
Unfortunately, at many times, high school is something to be endured, rather than enjoyed, and many students are able to cope with the anxiety and tremendous workload of high school due to the prospect of an amazing college experience on the horizon. They’ve heard great things about college from a young age. Many adults cite their college years as being one of the most enjoyable periods in their lives, a time when they are free from total responsibility, yet to have a full time job or family, and not yet responsible for paying back mounting college debt. In high school, college is the most glorious finish line, the ultimate reward for the hard years of high school. If a student can withstand and outlast the pressure and workload, they are bound to reach the Promised Land.
But what is this Eden called college? What happens there? What makes it so special? The reality is, most high school students don’t have a clue. In order to construct a vision of what college life should look like, high school students turn to stories, movies, videos, and any other forms of media that may provide an insight. Dangerously, rather than portray college as a time of personal freedom, personal invention, and newfound responsibility, these forms of media choose to depict college as a 4 year long, outrageously drunken party. And students are often too naïve to see through the ludicrousness.
You need look no further than the titles of recent popular movies and television shows about college life to realize the dangerous trickery: 21 Jump Street, 22 Jump Street, 21 and Over, Spring Breakers, Project X, Neighbors, Blue Mountain State, the list goes on, and the names speak for themselves. Each of these movies depicts individuals performing ridiculous acts of nonsense while under the influence of either drugs or alcohol. The overindulgence fuels poor judgment, lack of inhibition, dangerous stunts, encounters with police, public nudity, vandalism, extreme hazing, trespassing, and a list of other heinous behaviors. Even Instagram is being utilized to join in on the act, with accounts such as Total Frat Move, Barstool Sports, and others perpetuating the college drinking stereotype through the posting of actual college videos of kids doing just about any stupid thing one can think of (blowing up toilets with firecrackers, and drunk jousting with golf carts and pool sticks are not out of the question). Yet out of all these movies and video clips, not one individual is ever shown in serious trouble with the law, or even shown facing the consequences for their actions. Instead, the video clips are meant to be funny and entertaining (and frankly many of them succeed greatly), and the movies are almost always listed in the “comedy” section. Such movies always have a happy or laughable ending, and the Instagram videos only ever catch the act of stupidity, never the “what happens next.” The manner in which the videos and movies are labeled is perhaps the only thing more stupid than their content.
Take, for example, the movie 21 and Over. In this 2013 movie, Jeff Chang is convinced by two of his friends to go out drinking on the night of his 21st birthday, despite the fact that he has an important med-school interview the next morning. After drinking a few too many, the friends commit a string of illegal acts including public intoxication, driving while under the influence, public nudity, hazing, vandalism, sexual assault, and assault with a deadly weapon (a loaded gun is fired, narrowly missing some bystanders, and prompting a nearby Buffalo (!) to maul a crowd of people). The cover photo for the movie is a picture of Chang standing on top of a cop car in the middle of the street, wearing nothing but a teddy bear to cover his private parts. Written below, the poster is subtitled “blackout the date!” In the end, Jeff is able to return home in time to sober up, and makes it on time to the interview, without his strict father ever knowing about the previous night’s happenings. The whole thing sounds ridiculous, and one might assume that plots such as the one described are too ridiculous to be harmful, right?
Wrong. Researchers estimate that each year, 1,825 college students between the ages of 18-24 die in alcohol-related car crashes. Approximately 700,000 students annually are violently assaulted by another student under the influence, and about 97,000 students are sexually assaulted from a partner under the influence of drugs or alcohol. 20% of college students now meet the criteria for AUD (Alcohol Use Disorder). According to NY Times contributor Beth McMurtrie, “Despite decades of research, hundreds of campus task forces, and millions invested in bold experiments, college drinking in the United States remains as much of a problem as ever… The binge-drinking rate among college students has hovered above 40 percent for two decades, and signs are that partying is getting even harder. More students now drink to get drunk, choose hard liquor over beer and drink in advance of social events. For many the goal is to blackout.”
So how has the situation gotten so out of control? There is no doubt that Hollywood and the media has had something to do with it. Like anything, media are what shapes public perception. It certainly does not help quell the issue when almost every year, Hollywood releases a new “summer blockbuster,” with a plot similar in outrageous content to the one described above. Although most of these movies are quite rightfully given an “R” rating, it’s almost laughable how easy it is to sneak into a theater, and there’s nothing stopping kids from watching such movies and TV shows from the computer or TV screens at home. Personally, I watched the aforementioned movie, 21 and Over, in sixth grade. I am sure I’m not the only one. The media and Hollywood epitomize hypocrisy; while appearing to be at the forefront of every social issue, injustice, health threat, national problem, etc., they have also helped directly escalate the college drinking and recklessness issue into an epidemic. Shame on them.
In this election year, especially in a campaign where college students and other youth voters play the most prominent position they have in history, it seems incredible that such little concern is given to this important issue. In order to solve the problem, this nation must first acknowledge the issue. Unfortunately, by portraying the college scene in such an irresponsible and dangerous manner, Hollywood and the media have opportunistically made the issue hard to recognize, instead disguising the epidemic simply as light hearted comedy. But don’t expect Hollywood to act any more responsibly than the kids they depict in their movies.
