TV drama shows often use addiction and drugs to spice up the
story lines and improve ratings. They seldom address the huge impact that drugs
can have on a person’s life and the extreme danger that a person might be in
from using drugs. In our society, addiction has become commonplace. It is no
longer a surprise or necessarily a bad thing. We have become immune to
addiction, just as we have become immune to acts of violence and sexual
exploitation on television. Drugs and addiction have creeped into many popular
TV shows. Too often, they are not dealt with in a serious way, but as something
that will introduce humor into the show. This is a compilation of popular TV
shows, many of which I have watched, that use drug and addiction in their
storylines.
·
The first TV show that came
to mind when thinking about addiction was “House.” This medical drama focused
on Dr. Gregory House, who is addicted to pain medication. I think this is a
good example that addiction can affect any type of person, even a respected, educated,
and wealthy doctor. Although “House” did a decent job of revealing the negative
impacts of addiction, House’s addiction is often used as a humorous plug. The
following videos show the large quantity of pills that House consumes. They
also reveal the negative impact they would have had on his life, but also how
the show used his addiction as a humor outlet.
·
Another popular TV show was
“Gossip Girl.” “Gossip Girl” shared the stories of elite Upper East Siders in
New York City. The show had many scandalous moments, including affairs, racy
sex scenes, underage drinking and illegal financial situations. However, a huge
component of the show was made up with scenes of drug use. Serena, the show’s “bad
girl,” was often featured in questionable situations with drugs and alcohol. This
started when Serena was in high school and continued into her college years.
This show accurately portrayed the fact that children are using drugs at a
young age. It also showed that drugs and alcohol often go hand in hand. Serena
had many problems with drugs throughout the series, but this clip depicts her
worst experience with drugs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Reg47R-uNE
·
One Tree Hill is another
teen drama focusing on the tumultuous lives of 5 teenagers. Peyton was the show’s
angry artist. Peyton had been through a lot in her life. When she was 12, she
lost her adoptive mother in a car accident. Her father was often away from home
for work and Peyton was left to raise herself. Later on, she meets her birth
mother and discovers that her birth mother is a former addict. Peyton also struggled
with a drug problem in one of the seasons. I believe that this show and their
depiction of drug use showed that hard life circumstances often leads people to
drugs as a coping mechanism. In this clip, Peyton is wearing her mother’s old
dress, one of the last things that she owns that reminds Peyton of her mother.
It gets ruined and Peyton breaks down. Later on the show also addresses that drug use is in fact a hereditary development and that Peyton could have been attracted to drugs in the first place because of the genes she received from her birth mother. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M57Iz9MNPoE
These are just a few shows that depict drug use during their
air time. As I mentioned before, society has become immune to this. Drug use is
often featured in a positive, cool way, especially for young or teenaged
children that are exposed to this material. Even though the positives are the
main highlights, the negativity of drug use creeps into the shows. Hopefully,
it will be enough to deter people from using drugs, instead of convincing them
that drugs are the cool things to be doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment