Hollywood and It's Negative Impact on Teens Today!

Talking Points 6

There is a song on the radio “Hollywood is not America” by the band Ferras that I hear often and it reminds me of Fast Forward: Growing Up In The Shadow of Hollywood by Lauren Greenfield.

The lyrics are as follows.

“Born Helena Jane, with a restless soul,
She moved west to California,
Became a centerfold.

But once you change your name,
Well the pieces fall
Now she hardly recognizes herself at all.

And there’s never any rain, when you want it
A hollow little game, and you’ve won it
Lookin’ for a thrill, but you’ve done it all

So long, put your blue jeans back on girl
Go home, remember
Hollywood is not America

So long, put your blue jeans back on girl
Go home, remember
Hollywood is not America

And everybody here’s from somewhere else
You can make a million dollars
But you might lose yourself

And you can take the heat; will your heart grow cold?
They say acting’s just pretending
But even that gets oldAnd there’s never any rain when you want it
A hollow little game and you’ve won it
Lookin’ for a thrill, but you‘ve done it all.”
http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858706768.

This song relays the same message that Laura Greenfield states about teens, their influence by the media and the “the early loss of innocence” (Greenfield, 1). Greenfield remarks, “[growing up] in L.A. it seems like everyone is in a rush to be an adult. It’s not cool to be a kid” (Greenfield, 1). Her message through her photographs encourages teens everywhere to separate “the reality from fantasy” (Greenfield, 1). Each of her photographs tells the viewer a story about the youth and “[forming] their identities” (Greenfield, 3). Greenfield’s message is that teen’s today want to bypass their youth in order to fill their lives a fake Hollywood image. She states, “Whether it is the desire to be an adult when one is a child, to be gangster when one is privileged, to be famous when one is unknown, or to look like a model when one does not, young people are preoccupied with becoming other than they are” (Greenfield, 3). The environment of L.A. has done the youth an injustice and “bequeathed the quest for the dream to her children” (Greenfield, 3). In the end the children miss out on being their own person developing a dark character that “[costs] them their innocence” (Greenfield, 3). If Greenfield, the band Ferras, Christensen and Hines would all come together they would agree that children are growing up too fast. Teenager’s today want to become these fake images of what they ‘think’ is good.

I found this article to be a wonderful read. I did not find it confusing in any way. Overall, I was able to connect Greenfield’s ideas with that of authors we have read in the past about the media’s heavy influence on our youth. I believe that the message of each writer and especially Greenfield is ‘to be your own person and the journey that takes you to who you really are is a gift which you give yourself.’ A journey of self-exploration is what life is all about! I wish I could meet Laura Greenfield!