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Effects of peer pressure on teenagers
Effects of peer pressure on teenagers
Culture influences on adolescents
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Have you ever wanted to make your own decisions without your mum telling you what to do? I know I have. Have you ever wanted more freedom? Of course! Have you ever felt that you had to belong in a specific group? Or feel like you don’t belong in a certain group? Well, that’s completely normal. We’re all going through adolescence now. Through the time between childhood and adulthood, from ages 12 to 18, where we become more rebellious and we grow emotionally and physically. This change is adolescence. Now, ‘Guitar Highway Rose’, written by Brigid Lowry explores belonging and rebellion, perfect examples of adolescent issues. ‘Mean Girls’ directed by Mark Waters also conveys the same themes, showing the importance of truth, respect and trust.
One of the most prevalent themes in ‘Guitar Highway Rose’ is belonging. What do you think of when I say belonging? Like someone’s property? Not in this case. The feeling of being accepted, fitting in and existence are all feelings of belonging. Fifteen year old Rosie Moon was immediately attracted to Asher Fielding, the new kid at school. Both protagonists deals with adolescent issues- fighting parents, conflict with family, and problems at school. Asher wants to run away again, but this time Rosie says,” I want to come with you.” They hitch hike up the
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coasts and they meet hippies Leo and Star, and their daughter Angel. The feeling of belonging is clearly presented with their free spirit and laid back nature. Asher says, “It’s good that they haven’t asked us where we were going or anything.” Leo asks Star, “Are they runaways, do you reckon?” Star and Leo understood them because he said, “Give them a bit of sanctuary. Life’s tough when you’re that age.” Asher and Rosie went to tell them voluntarily without being forced or pressured. In ‘Mean Girls’, Cady Heron is the one that demonstrates belonging. As a new student just starting school for the first time in her entire life, is a daunting experience. The need to fit in and be fashionable is dominant. Cady meets Janis and Damian, who convinces her to try and fit in with “the plastics” – teen royalty at Northshore High. But to be part of the plastics, there were a lot of rules. “You can't wear a tank top two days in a row and you can only wear your hair in a ponytail once a week. Cady feels like she belongs with Janis and Damian. They dress the same, act the same and have the same sense of humour, except Damian, who’s “too gay to function.” Doing the complete opposite of what you mum says? Well, you’re not the only one. Rebellion is the most significant theme displayed in ‘Guitar Highway Rose’. Asher continuously was out of uniform after given more than three uniform passes and Rosie says “I am fifteen and desperate. My mother would not let me get a nose ring.” But at the end, Rosie secretly did it behind her mother’s back. Asher and Rosie both want their independence and freedom and to do that, they just rebel against everything and soon later they just runaway. Rebelling seems to always be the easy solution out of life but, just talking to your parents and understanding their perspective can really help. Similarly in ‘Mean Girls’ after Cady hangs out with “the plastics”, she begins to dress, talk and act like them.
When she ditches Janis’s art show and throws a party of her own later, she uses the excuse that she couldn’t invite them because she “had to pretend to be plastic.” But Janis spills the truth. “You’re not faking it anymore. You’re cold hard shiny plastic.” So Cady Heron transforms from being a “home school jungle freak to a cold hard shiny plastic to an actual human being.” After that, Cady apologises to everyone she hurt. She says, “When you get bit by a snake, you’re supposed to suck the poison out. That’s what I had to do. Suck all the poison out of my
life.” Essentially, it can be seen that belonging and rebellion is depicted through the novel ‘Guitar Highway Rose’ written by Brigid Lowry and the film ‘Mean Girls’ directed by Mark Waters. Rosie and Asher persistently disobeyed their parents and challenged the school rules. Cady Heron betrayed her friends to fit in with “the plastics.” Likewise, Rosie and Asher ran away together because Asher didn’t feel a sense of belonging, but he felt more accepted when he met a family of hippies. Just like Cady, she belonged with Janis and Damian but stayed with “the plastics” for popularity and revenge. Adolescence is a difficult time but who said growing up was easy? Just like Cady said, ”All you can do in life is try to solve the problem in front of you.” So, just because adolescence is a hard time, doesn’t mean it’s a hard life.
The world of young adults is a complicated landscape, with cliques and a desire to fit in. This push for conformity stretches not only through behavior, but more noticeably through the apparel worn by youths. At the beginning of the story, the narrator states that she and her friends are in “trouble,” but they “do not know what [they did], and [they are] sure [they] did not mean to do it” (103). This fear of the unknown continues throughout the entirety of the story, and readers can infer that the crime the girls have committed was simply dressing out of the norm for their age. The narrator also mentions that she is “white-skinned, ebony-haired, red-lipped, and ethereal,” far different than the expectation for her being “suntanned, golden-haired, peach-lipped, and earthbound” like her mother had been (103). As time repeats itself, so too do the fashion trends popular among the masses, and the look that the narrator’s mother portrayed was the same as the look her daughter is expected to adhere to. This is not the case, though, and because of her and her band’s choices in clothes, the narrator feels ostracized by not only her peers but her father as well, who “looks at [them] without moving his mouth or turning his head” as they leave the house (104). This reaction, or lack thereof, indicates that the father disapproves of the choices his daughter has made about how she dresses, but feels as though it is not his place to criticize her. The ending line does an excellent job at summarizing the angst felt by most teens as the narrator and her band feel as though “[they] are right to turn [themselves] in” to the pressures exerted by their peers to comply to what is expected of them (104). Just as women’s individuality is torn down by the pressures
Teenage rebellion is typically portrayed in stories, films, and other genres as a testosterone-based phenomenon. There is an overplayed need for one to acknowledge a boy’s rebellion against his father, his life direction, the “system,” in an effort to become a man, or rather an adult. However, rarely is the female addressed in such a scenario. What happens when little girls grow up? Do they rebel? Do they, in a sudden overpowering rush of estrogen, deny what has been taught to them from birth and shed their former youthful façades? Do they turn on their mothers? In Sharon Olds’ poem, “The Possessive,” the reader is finally introduced to the female version of the popular coming-of-age theme as a simple haircut becomes a symbol for the growing breach between mother and daughter through the use of striking images and specific word choice.
This film contains some classic examples of the kinds of real life issues adolescents deal with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with identity are all addressed in this ninety-minute film.
Throughout a lifetime, one can run through many different personalities that transform constantly due to experience and growing maturity, whether he or she becomes the quiet, brooding type, or tries out being the wild, party maniac. Richard Yates examines acting and role-playing—recurring themes throughout the ages—in his fictional novel Revolutionary Road. Frank and April Wheeler, a young couple living miserably in suburbia, experience relationship difficulties as their desire to escape grows. Despite their search for something different, the couple’s lack of communication causes their planned move to Europe to fall through. Frank and April Wheeler play roles not only in their individual searches for identity, but also in their search for a healthy couple identity; however, the more the Wheelers hide behind their desired roles, the more they lose sense of their true selves as individuals and as a pair.
Queer. Exile. Class (Clare 31).” When Clare writes about losing home, he is writing about the parts of his identity that pulled him away from the place that he raised, as well as the parts of his identity that prevent him from finding home in other places (Clare 41). These words, queer, exile, and class, are both driving forces behind why Clare can’t find a place where he feels fully comfortable settling, but also these words give him a place where he feels at home. Clare explains his trouble finding home best when he describes, “I was a rural, mixed-class, queer child in a straight, rural, working-class town. Afterwards, I was an urban-transplanted, mixed-class, dyke activist in an urban, mostly middle-class, queer community. Occasionally I simply feel as if I’ve traded one displacement for another and lost home to boot (Clare 46).” This telling of Clare’s displacement highlights how his queer identity drove him from his childhood home, but his rural, mixed-class background prevents him from feeling content in the city (Clare 46). His queer identity, and his desire to escape his class situation, is part of what forced Clare into the exile that he experiences. However, these identities don’t only serve as a point of alienation for Clare but also as a place where he can belong. When talking
Coming-of-age stories commonly record the transitions—sometimes abrupt, or even violent—from youth to maturity, from innocence to experience of its protagonist, whether male or female. Greasy Lake by T.Coraghessan Boyle and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? by Joyce Carol Oates are great examples of traditional coming-of-age stories. The roots of the coming-of-age narrative theme are tracked in the male protagonist’s perspective for Boyle’s short story, while the Oates’ story captures the coming-of-age theme from Connie; a female protagonist’s perspective. In both short stories, the authors fulfill the expectations of a coming-of-age genre when they take us through the journey of rebellion and self realization, as the
To belong is an inanimate desire to be respected and to respect those whom you want to be with through association of similar values. To feel a sense of belonging is to feel loved for our entirety or to be loved due to and aspect of your person that is common with those you who belong as one. An individual has the capacity to belong to people, physical places or ideas. Baz Buhrmann’s film “Strictly Ballroom” explores the concept of belonging, to the subculture of Ballroom dancing, through the non-conformist antagonist Scott Hastings and his inexperienced partner, the daughter of a Spanish migrant family. The Picture Book “The Rabbits” by John Marsden and Shaun Tan, confronts belonging through clashing cultures, disrespect of different beliefs and loss of identity.
During the teenage years they no longer want to be labeled the “child; matter of fact, they have a strong desire to rebel against the family norms and move quickly into adulthood. This transition and want for freedom can be a very powerful and frightening thing as there are evils in this world that cannot be explained. Most parents try to understand and give their teens certain freedoms, but at what expense? Joyce Oates gives us a chilly story about a teenager that wanted and craved this freedom of adulthood called “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”. This is a haunting story of a young girl by the name of Connie who gives us a glimpse of teenager transitioning from childhood with the need for freedom and the consequences of her actions. Connie is described as a very attractive girl who did not like her role in the family unit. She was the daughter who could not compare to her older sister and she felt her Mom showed favoritism towards her sister. Connie is your average teen who loves music, going out with friends, and she likes the attention she receives from boys. During this time, Connie is also growing into her sexuality and is obsessing with her looks as she wants and likes to be noticed by the opposite sex. Her sexual persona and need to be free will be what is fatal to her character’s life and well-being.
Howl is a representation of a very stereotypical ‘drugs, philosophy, music and sex’ driven young adult, college life that is so often accused of pretentiousness – and maybe in this era that is true. We have rights and liberties that the youth of the 50s didn’t enjoy – so what are we fighting for? Our reasons may not be as great as those of the decades gone by, but we have our battles nevertheless. Our society’s not perfect, but we are heading towards a brighter future – at least in the minds of young, creative idealists we are. For many reasons, Howl remains the voice of every generation at some point in time – it is a reflection of the impulsive drive of the youth of every era, itching to make a
In the narrative “Doughnut Shops and Doormen” a woman named Amy develops her life around a repetitive ideal. The story begins, “I have to have him. Have to have [Chris Cornell, former lead singer of Soundgarden] for real someday, not just in my fantasies” (288). Amy has convinced herself of this because Chris Cornell has been her only concern “for the past ten years” (288). Because of the dedication she has put into her “relationship” with Chris, she has created a bond with...
Teenagers in this generation have started finding the voice that Holden had not found to speak out for their different opinion and their viewpoints. Holden’s feelings of isolation and lack of understanding of death and mortality makes him vulnerable to the overall theme of mental instability and how society’s rules are meant to broken and questioned instead of being followed through
To be a teenaged girl means many things in this modern society. There are numerous expectations set for the average sixteen year old female: she must be pretty, popular, thin, preferably intelligent, but not too intelligent, and she must subjugate her will to the group. This world has a tendency to shun females who are too independent, who seek too much power, and who attempt to break from the stereotypical female mold. I have personally experienced this spurning, especially from my peers. There exists a dichotomy somewhere in my own soul, a rift between that which I am expected to be and who I really am. Harry Haller, in Hermann Hesse's novel Steppenwolf, experienced a similar predicament. He was torn between the life of a socially acceptable, "decent" man, and the primal, lupine nature of the Steppenwolf. I find myself caught between wanting to be a socially acceptable, "popular" girl, and being the independent, intellectual, and strong person that I actually am. There are a number of parallels between Haller and I, each further proving that the dichotomy of the Steppenwolf and the division within myself, the teenaged girl, are of the same essence.
The speaker’s complete yield of self to a potentially abusive lover is deleterious for teens still forming an identity, especially those seeking guidance and advice about sexual relationships. The effects of Spears’ song remain to be seen; yet this critic feels that the message sent is a harrowing one. The speaker’s recognition of self-worth cannot eventuate too quickly.
Since the war in Britain the most recurrent types of moral panic has been associated with the emergence of various form of youth (originally almost exclusively working class, but often recently middle class or student based) whose behaviour is deviant or delinquent. To a greater or lesser degree, these cultures have been associated with violence. The Teddy Boys, the Mods and Rockers, the Hells Angels, the skinheads and the hippies have all been phenomena of this kind (Cohen, 2002). Youth appeared as an emergent category in post-war Britain, on one of the most striking and visible manifestations of social changes in the period. Youth...
The main characters in both The Way Way Back and Six Impossible Things are forced to mature because their adult role models are unable to provide them with the support that they need. Dan and Duncan, both teenage boys, find themselves forced to mature beyond their years as a result of the lack of support from the people who are supposed to have the greatest influence in their lives. Because of this, the themes of maturity and the impact of role models on young people’s lives are a major component of the two texts. These are explored through both the main characters and their adult role models and the support that the boys require versus the support they are receiving or lack of. The idea that maturity develops as a result of the influences