Film Analysis: Pump Up The Volume

Pump up the Volume at first glance seems to be a movie about an angry teenager, who doesn’t fit in at school, and is in need of therapy. However, the more I watched the more it garnered my interest. There aren’t too many movies, especially in the 90s when this came out, that were so bold and fervidly straightforward about living life as a teenager. The movie’s an interesting parable, in one aspect, it’s a nerdy kid’s attempt to not only keep himself entertained, but to reach out to others and along the way, ends up becoming an unintentional revolutionary figure to the other kids at his school. In another aspect, it’s all about the commonalities that unify us when we’re at that age. Where everyone is confused and personally lost, in where nobody

There are many provocations for this and while censorship is never a good thing, it is understandable in the context of the film why it was wanted. To begin to explain this, the suicide of one of the students’ needs to be discussed. Malcom one of the listeners calls into the Harry’s station and ultimately commits suicide, despite Harry’s attempts to reason with him. The suicide causes an out lash by the parental community, who holds the Harry responsible for young Malcom’s death. It’s here where it’s easy to see how censoring the broadcasts make sense. Even as I watched the film, I couldn’t help but feel that Harry was somewhat responsible. As individuals we are accountable for our actions, this rule applies to all of us whether we agree or not. To this rule Malcolm is no exception, but given that he was a young and impressionable kid, it seems unfair to expect that kid to make appropriate choices and have the maturity needed to not end his life prematurely. Hard Harry didn’t intend to be the cause of the suicide, but his message helped promote Malcom’s actions. It’s a hard and complicated line to tow. How does one measure the importance of their message against the possibility of it being misused or misunderstood? The guilt plagued Harry, so much that he almost quit broadcasting