E-E-E-E-Ecstasy
By Stephanie Walker
How would you feel if you came to school one day and found out your friend had died overnight of a drug overdose? Then imagine the entire school were forced to relive this experience and perform it for the whole school community. This situation, excluding the performance, occurs all too often in Australian high schools and is an issue that Chris Lilley explores through his controversial, satirical comedy, ‘Summer Heights High’.
Chris Lilley as Jonah, Ja’mie and Mr. G in ‘Summer Heights High’
‘Summer Heights High’, first came to life on Australian TV on ABC in September of 2007 (IMDb, 2014) and portrays three very different aspects of Australian high school life, the school boy, the school girl and the performing arts teacher. The negative representation of drug users and crime in the media is a stereotype Lilley works to emphasise in ‘Summer Heights High’, through satire, to demonstrate the negative effects of drug use has on Australian high schools.
Lilley’s objective approach applied to the representation of high school stereotypes in ‘Summer Heights High’ disregards common ideologies associated with drug and instead explores implications that are more realistic. Lilley demonstrates the impacts related to drug and substance abuse, through a musical directed by Mr. G, exposing Australian youth to the realities of drug use through a satirical medium.
Chris Lilley’s successful application of the satirical device, parody, undoubtedly emphasises the effect drug abuse had on a particular student’s life. The musical, “Mr. G: The Musical”, is very loosely based around a student at Summer Heights High who abused drugs, in particular ecstasy, and incorporates the apparent role Mr. G played i...
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...er Heights High’ to empower the target audience, Australian youth. Lilley relates to Australian youth through the exaggeration of stereotypical language in Australian high schools, for example the word ‘root’ in Mr. G’s song. The empowerment that is established is solely grounded by Lilley’s successful exploitation of the satirical device, hyperbole.
Lilley exploits satirical devices, in particular The stereotypes associated with drug users, are that every person who uses drugs is a bad, or ‘naughty’ person. Most statistics revealed to the Australian public unfortunately uniformly support this stereotype with 72% of women having committed a crime had a drug dependency issue and had used an illicit substance in the last 12 months; this is compared to 66% of Australian men (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2009). These stereotypes are emphasised through
The Cocaine Kids and Dorm Room Dealers are two very different, but yet similar books. Cocaine Kids are about a group of kids, primarily of Hispanic race, with one kid of the Black race. The kids were raised in the inner city of New York. Dorm Room Dealers are about White, middle to upper-middle class college students, who was selling drugs for their status. The purpose of this paper is to prove that there are racial disparities among drug users. There will be examples from the texts that show the different takes on the drug markets and how race plays a factor. There also will be how these experiences shape the kids drug dealing and using. The paper will conclude how all the kids either remained in the drug career or left the drug career.
The film that interested me for this assignment was “Boyz n the Hood”. The movie was about a Los Angeles neighborhood expanding of drug and gang culture, with increasingly tragic results. It was about how one teen had family support to guide him on the right path in life regarding the social problems around him. The other two teens in the film wasn’t as fortunate and fell into the social problems of drugs, violence, and gangs; where one ended up dead.
“My crimey here think the way to go is more drugs. But I know better. I think making money is okay, but not making it just by dealing. You gotta go legit, at least for a minute. You gotta go state fresh, all the way live, if you wanna do anything worthwhile out here. Everybody thinks they can make crazy dollars, but they confused. It aint like that. I’ve seen co-caine bust many a head – they get fucked up and be clocking out after they find out they cannot find the key to understanding that mystery skied. But you know what? But-but0but you know what? They don’t have a clue. Word.” (Williams, 1989)
One of the main themes in That 70’s show is that the show addresses many of the social issues of the 1970’s. These issues include the following prejudice, sexual attitudes, generational issues, the money-making hardships of the 1970’s downturn, suspicion of the American government by blue-collar workers, and the main one that will be focused on in this paper teenage drug use and the use of alcohol. Throughout the series of That 70’s show the main characters are often seen either smoking marijuana or doing other types of drugs. They do not show the characters doing these things directly however, an audience member can tell that they are using these drugs or smoking. Throughout the paper famous examples from the show will be mentioned especially how the characters don’t actually show the audience they are either smoking or taking drugs.
Crofts, Nick. “This Country’s Biggest Drug Problem is Alcohol.” www. theaustralian.com.au. 24 Feb. 2007. Web
Drugs have been influencing the ideas, culture, and music of America for ages. Illicit narcotics have left the Union in a state of immense debt. Anti-drug policies have been dumping billions upon billions of dollars in prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation. From the roaring twenties, to the prohibition, drugs have always been fought (Bailey). Most times, the drugs start off as medicines and end up being harmful (Morris). Perhaps, the most prominent and influential eras of drug use in America are the two decades of the 60’s and twenty years later, the 80’s. It may very well be that these two decades molded America into what it is now.
I waited in line for nearly an hour and a half. I finally reached the entrance and I was asked to raise my arms, while I was patted down and my pockets, socks and cigarettes were checked. I felt like I was about to meet the President, with the intense security. As I finally entered the club, the suspense began to rise. This was my first time at a rave party. I looked around and saw people dressed in colorful, bright clothing, holding glow sticks and bottles of water. The music was incredible: loud, energetic and throbbing with bass. The party was called "Adrenaline," and lasted until 8:00 a.m. People were dancing all around and the place was packed. It was extremely difficult to make a trip to the bathroom or attempt to buy a drink. My friends and I decided to check out the place before began our journey into the rave scene. Every room had a different D.J., which made this party particularly diverse. As we are walking through, at least ten different people, all males, asked me if I was looking for any pills. My answer was no, for all of the above, but to my amazement these people never gave up. I couldn't believe the risk the "ravers" were taking to make some cash. My curiosity began to get the best of me…. I am looking around and everyone is completely happy, smiling, hugging, kissing- it was unbelievable the amount of content in a club filled with about 5,000 plus people. I wanted to be apart of this trend and know the happiness that they knew. At one point a girl approached me, wearing a pink wig, bunny ears, tons of creative makeup and an outfit that was colorful and bright. I asked her if she was on "E" and she nodded without hesitation. I asked her, " How do you feel?...
Drugs are not only a problem for older generations, but often times those in younger generations become involved in the drug trade as well. According to Anderson (1990), “Children who become deeply engaged in t...
MDMA, also known as Ecstasy, beans, rolls, or just plain X. This drug has a long history, which began almost 90 years ago. In 1912 Merck, a German pharmaceutical company, first synthesized MDMA (Erowid). MDMA was then patented in 1913 or maybe 1914 (patent #274.350) by the same German company supposedly to be sold as a diet pill (The Invention). The patent has no mention of any intended uses of the drug. There are other urban legends associated with Ecstasy, such as in 1953 the US Army tested MDMA as a possible truth serum, but there is no evidence for this (Saunders).
This essay will look at the different ways in which young people are portrayed in the media. It will focus on how the idea of childhood innocence has been challenged by the media and rather than ‘little angels’ children are now seen as ‘little devils’ in the public eye. By looking at ‘The Bulger Case of 1993’ we can see where the idea of ‘little devils’ and children as evil beings began. It will examine why media stories of young people are focused much more on negative aspects such as crime and gang culture rather than positive ones. It will also look at how television programmes such as ‘Teen Mom’ and ‘Skins’ portray the youth of today and whether these programmes come across as a positive or negative portrayal of teenagers. The idea of a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’ will also be examined and whether the way the media portrays children can be harmful to the construction of their identities and possibly lead to alienation.
Thomas, Janet Y. Educating Drug Exposed Children: The Aftermath of the Crack Baby Crisis. Ed. Routledge. 2004. University of Phoenix. 3 April 2008 .
David Sheff starts the story of his family with Nic’s birth and goes all the way long to the present days when his son had survived several years of drug abuse, rehabilitations and relapses. Sheff confesses that his son started to use different kinds of drugs when he was very young. At the age of 11 he would try alcohol and some pot. “In early May, I pick Nic up after school one day …When he climbs into a car I smell cigarette smoke. I lecture him and he promises not to do it again. Next Friday after school…I am packing an overnight bag for him and look for a sweater in his backpack. I do not find a sweater, but instead discover a small bag of marijuana.” (Sheff, 200...
The first criminological theory, that explains behavior of the drug sellers, is the theory of Differential Association. Differential Association, termed by Edwin Sutherland, argued that persons engage in delinquent behavior because they learn it from society and they engage in it when it benefits them. By this, he is saying that an individual will be a criminal if they experience an excess of criminal definitions over conventional definitions. Sutherland discovered that Differential Association is developed through various stages and he explains such development with the use of nine propositions. (Lily et al. 2011, 48) Such propositions are as follows: (1) criminal behavior is learned, (2) it...
(Greg Mottola, 2009). This film shows us two social issues from that era as, the sex before marriage, drug and alcohol addiction. At the same time explains us why the teens are attracted by these issues for example; the drugs. Basically, this film reveals us, the main causes of why some teens are influenced and get involved in these social problems. The main characters from this film James Brenna (Jesse Eisenberg) and Emely (Kristen Stewart); they are a young couple whom fall in love each other, both have similar objectives (attend to college), and they try to pursue their dream after their graduation from High School.
No cigarettes.” (Green 10 pdf) Miles’ father warned him very heavily about not doing drugs, however, he did drugs in high school before. When Miles goes to high school, he gets lost in the world of peer pressure and he ends up doing drugs, drinking alcohol and smoking. In the real world, many high school students tend to fall into the traps of peer pressure and end up drinking and doing drugs illegally. This story captures the real life perspective of high school with peer pressure, stress and troubles, instead of the fake, “all smiles” perspective of high school that some movies, such as High School Musical, portray.