In coming of age films, or just media featuring teenagers in general, teenagers are portrayed in a way in which it seems as if the only thing on their mind was, sex, drugs, parties, alcohol etc. When really really a lot of us genuinely care about important issues.
"A lot of us want to do more than just party, study and be pretty."
This is yet another flaw in the media's representation of teenagers. People are impressionable beings; you show them this way of living and they’ll mimic it. People learn things, teenagers wouldn’t become alcoholics at 14 if nobody showed them this example. And this is why the media needs to change. We need to start criticizing and stop supporting media which promote these behaviours. I’ve always valued when people enjoy learning outside of what they’re forced to learn. People who read books about stuff like people who study their passions and create stuff.
We need people who care. And I know it’s impossible to get everyone to do so but really everything would be so much better if people genuinely cared. I used to prioritise being seen as cool by others. The people I looked up to in school were barely alone, they had so many friends and were never with their families. And I tried following their example. Being with a large crowd is cool, being alone or with any family member isn’t. Or at least that’s what I thought at age 11-14/15.
But recently I’ve started realising you just have to do whatever makes you happy. If you enjoy hanging out with your aunt or brother or mother, why is that bad ? Why is that lame ? If you’d rather be with 1 person or be alone than in a big group then why is that bad ? Not everyone enjoys the same thing.And you just have to learn do do whatever the fuck you want. Teenage girls often see female characters ( mostly written by men) wearing revealing clothes, exposed skin and are seen as attractive or desirable. It affects these young girl’s body image and self esteem and they learn what to wear, how to act in order to be loved or desired by others. Because well, everyone likes being appreciated.
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