A Final Blog Post Of My Best to Worst

7. The Art of Racing in the Rain 
6. Orphan Train 
5. The Road 
4. The Hunger Games 
3. Gone Girl 
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
1. The Goon Squad 

An Instantaneous Youth With Instantaneously Horrible Television

In a society where everything is instant, rushed, fast-paced, and never-ceasing, much of the meaning often found in life experiences is lost. The same can be said for contemporary television. Nowadays, producers are so much more obsessed with cranking out new episodes, or yet another unnecessary season in order to make money, that good plot lines become the sacrifice. After the first few seasons (if it survives that long) the storyline of a show quickly becomes tired, overdone, drawn out, or just ridiculous. But because money is the driving component behind the vast majority of contemporary television, the cameras keep on rolling, filming whatever idea the screenwriter can whip up in the allotted time to ensure a continuous cash influx. This is the case with so many popular television shows of today geared for teens, and is also why young adult television shows tend to not last for long (or for far too long). Take Pretty Little Liars, or The Vampire Diaries for example. Both of these shows, though immensely popular, probably should have ended several seasons ago, and have lost viewers because off their producers'  incessant need to draw out a nonexistent plot. In an attempt to hold the captivation of the viewers, instead of taking longer amounts of time and producing fewer episodes and seasons to ensure that each one is the best it can possibly be, directors hastily fling together a series of cliche plot twists dotted with unnecessary drama. This technique is particularly utilized by the producers of Pretty Little Liars, who ensure that each time the characters, and viewers, take one step closer to finding out who "A" is, or feeling some kind of peace and closure in their lives, the characters take three step backwards, trying to make room for yet another transformative discovery.  The demand of today's youth to have instantaneous access to what comes next, has lowered the bar for what "good television" signifies. If the high-speed world took a moment to pause, to slow down, to stop wanting everything in excesses, maybe teen television would play a more meaningful and inspirational role in the lives of today's youth, rather than just another blank abyss for teens to immerse themselves in.

The O.C. O.D.ing With Teen Drinking?

When watching The O.C., you are, at almost any point in time, guaranteed to see alcohol or hear implications of it, particularly in association with the teens. While I don't believe that the show necessarily glamorizes teen drinking as opposed to simply presenting it as a normal part of high school life, it did act as a catalyst for a whole generation of glorified teen drinking, all the way up to shows such as Gossip Girl. Though I agree with the article's view that it inspired a slue of wildly popular television shows jam-packed with the glamorization of teen drinking, I disagree with the article lessening the impact on viewers in regards to seeing teens drink with the fact that the adult characters were actually seen to be drinking more than the teens. Though the character of Kirsten Cohen, mother of one of the teens, is actually the character who engages in the most drinking, these scenes due not affect teen viewers as much as the less frequent ones of the actual teen characters consuming alcohol. This is because the majority of viewers will compare, if not associate, themselves with the teen characters, so even though their drinking is not as recurrent as with the adults, it definitely resonates more when Seth, Ryan, or Marissa picks up a bottle. 

No doubt should be placed on the extent to which television can impact the youth culture. Television wields tremendous psychological effects on the young viewers because teens are at an age where they are seeking role models, while simultaneously trying to figure out who they are as a person. This means they can very easily be molded and will follow by example, and since most teen agers exist within kind of their own social bubble, there is not a vast range of influence they can pursue, and seeing as television today occupies a major portion of time in the average teen's life, often times their sources of inspiration stem from there. Watching shows such as The O.C. can absolutely have huge effects on how a teen decides to life his or her life, or the kind of person they decide to emulate, and eventually become. 

The Hunger Games: Hungry For More

I am here simply to conTRIBUTE a list of 6 reasons why The Hunger Games movie is On Fire: 

1. Physically seeing the love between sisters Katniss and Prim is so moving, it might even top the epic Anna and Elsa. 

2. The incredible special effects make Katniss's fiery outfits look even more awesome than they did in my mind, which is really saying something. 

3. There is much more of him. 

4. The Capitol and its inhabitants are visually portrayed perfectly. 

5. It is so incredibly realistic  it's almost scary. (Okay not almost, it is scary)

6. The movie helps the audience to fall even more in love with certain characters, despite the horrific circumstances. 

The Hero's Journey: Katniss Everdeen

The character of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is often thought of by today's youth as one of the most innovative, unique, and simultaneously relatable characters. However, she, like the heroes and heroines that have come before her, is based on a tried-and-true formula equating to the perfect Hero's Journey. It all begins with Katniss living her normal, everyday life, when she then receives her call to action, when the tides of the story make their first turn. This is when Primrose Everdeen, Katniss's sister, is selected as the tribute for the Hunger Games. Katniss volunteers in her place, setting in stone the journey to come. She departs from her ordinary world to the new and unpredictable one of the Capitol. Like any good hero, Katniss finds help throughout the story, in characters such as Haymitch, Cinna, and even Effie. She faces several trials and tribulations in her relationship with Peeta, and later on in the games with figuring out how to survive. She has her first successes when she outsmarts the Careers, one time dropping a tracker jacker nest on them, and the other time blowing up their supplies. Katniss faces many near-death experiences throughout the games, ultimately culminating into the final battle with Cato. Her ultimate success comes with his defeat, and with she and Peeta being crowned victors of the Games. They bring the Hero's Journey by returning home to their very ordinary life, only as very different people who can now live under very different circumstances, but slight alterations indicate the major struggles to come.

We are the Capitol, and We Approve this Message

Starving for Another Taste of "The Hunger Games"

        Reading The Hunger Games for a second time around has been quite a different experience from what I expected it to be. In all honesty, I regarded the rereading as mildly interesting, an easy and mindless read, and not much else. However, Suzanne Collins has managed to recapture my interest even more strikingly than the first time I read it as a mere seventh grader. The story now holds so much more depth and meaning now that I myself am a sixteen year old girl, not all that much different from Katniss Everdeen in that I am simply trying to stay true to myself and my beliefs, while also trying to survive and prosper under the weight of an all-too-common societal oppression. Where Katniss is rough around the edges, and uses her harsh personality to mask any vulnerabilities, I, much like many other teenage girls, hide my true self under layers of makeup, attitudes of not caring, and an abundance of teen angst. The parallels between Katniss and many of adolescent female America are remarkable, making her even more of an inspiration idol, especially the second time around.

The Road to A Great Movie

The movie The Road, based on the book by 

Cormac McCarthy, was shocking even though

I knew what would happen next, and disturbing 

even after having read each event in vivid detail.

This is because the filmmaking was executed

perfectly. Dark, gloomy, and filled with ash (as 

much as the beginning of the book emphasized), 

the hopeless wreckage of the man and the boy's

lives were perfectly depicted. The casting was

phenomenally done as well. Viggo Mortensen

and Kodi Smitt-McPhee captured the desperation

and fear of McCarthy's post-apocolyptic world. I could see 

the hunger in their eyes, feel the dust of burnt out dreams on their 

fingertips, hear the sound of their hollow emotions with every footstep. 

The Road established this beautifully tragic sense of disaster; tragic in the raw and 

brutal world of ruins that lay around them, but beautiful in the improbable hope 

and light found in the character of the boy. Yes, McCarthy was the creator 

of this character, but it was the creators of the film that truly brought 

the boy to life, as well as McPhee himself, who was able to endow

in the boy the kind of crushing fear and sense of lost that makes

the audience almost taste it. The underlying current beneath 

the fear, however, is a glimmer in the boy's eyes, some 

telling way that he speaks, moves, and reacts that 

somehow communicates that he will survive. It is as

if he and the man are sacred, like they are carrying the 

fire but it is more than a torch, it is an eternal flame. There 

is only so much that can be communicated in unspoken words 

and unused punctuation in McCarthy's writing. The movie, however, speaks volumes for the little humanity that remains in the world of the man and the boy. This sense of goodness, contrasted with the horrifyingly vivid images of burned corpses, or, even worse, the half eaten

And very much alive people found in the basement of a cellar. This imagery, 

unable to be truly captured in the pages of the book, make the movie so 

much more real. From the eerie quiet, to the uncensored filth of the 

human body, the filmography of The Road  makes it one of the

most frightfully honest  and  accurately depicted movies, 

both as a book adaption, as well as on it's own,

of today's dystopian-obsessed youth era.

PS. The Road reminds me of the lyrics to that Justin Timberlake song...

"I turn my head to the East,

I don't see nobody by my side,

I turn my head to the West,

Still nobody in sight

So I turn my head to the North 

Swallow that pill that they call pride

That old me is  dead and gone 

But that new me will be alright

Oh, Ive been travelin' on this road too long

Just tryna find my way back home 

The old me is dead and gone 

Dead and gone" 

Preppy to Prepper

According to National Geographic Channels quiz, "How Prepped Are You?" the answer in my situation is not at all. This quiz is based off the popular reality show "Doomsday Preppers", which centers on different people across the U.S. who all share in an obsession of being prepared for when the apocalypse arrives. I scored a mere 11 on the quiz, estimating my survival time to be about 1-2 weeks, and meanwhile the top scorer featured on the show received a 95 with an estimated survival time of 24 months. This quiz brought to light many factors of survival that never even crossed my mind, such as what kind of items I have available to barter, but also made me realize how paranoid some people are to actually obtain some of the items mentioned in the quiz, such as stocked bunkers, or getaway cars. Most importantly, I have learned that being a prepare is not for me, and I would prefer to live out the remainder of my days in the case of an apocalypse by mooching off the supplies of others.

"The 100" Reasons Why Post-Apocolyptic Television is Awesome

So the title may have been a bit of an over exaggeration. Though I can't list 100 reasons, I can list a solid three:

1. As interesting as the end of the world is, seeing how people rebuild society in the aftermath is even more interesting.

2. Even creepier than bad things happening is what the silent world looks like after it has already happened, and seeing the product of disaster.

3. It encompasses both hope and inspiration, as well as eeriness and suspense, the former of which is not usually found in other forms of dystopia.

After watching just the first episode of "The 100" I can already tell it contains all of my favorite elements of post-apolocolyptic TV. The show opens with the brief explanation that a nuclear war destroyed Earth' s surface and made the air toxic with radiation, supposedly killing all life forms. There used to be twelve nations with spaceships full of survivors, but now only one, a presumably American ship called "The Ark" remains. The journey that ensues begins by following 100 juveniles who are sent back to the Earth 97 years after the destruction, to see if the Earth is livable. The story centers around a 17-year-old girl sent to the "Ground" named Clarke, who's mother is a prominent doctor and engineer in space. She and four others embark on a quest to reach Mount Weather, a place believed to contain food and supplies. "The 100" is a great example for teens of post-apocolyptic society on television, and how this specific group of youth chooses to build their own society without the influence of law, but more importantly, adults.

Whether they arrived by boat in the sixteenth century, train in the 1920s, or on foot yesterday, the immigrants and the helpless on American soil have been taken advantage of for centuries.

 One parallel in American history that can be drawn based on Vivian's personal story in Orphan Train by Kristina Baker Kline, is indentured servitude. Dating back as early as 1607, poor Europeans were able to take the journey to America through a well-off American settler, usually a farmer, who would pay for the passage and supply a home and food in exchange for a certain amount of years of unpaid work. This is similar to Vivian's story of being "adopted" by the Byrnes and later the Grotes for the sole purpose of serving as an extra hand, with a home, clothes, an education in return, not to be treated as one of their children. And similar to indentured servants, when her time was served (when she became an adult) she would be free to live on her own. 

Another group that can relate to Vivian's strife is today's illegal immigrants. After coming to America undocumented, the immigrants must find some form of "under the table" work to sustain themselves, and usually a family. This desperation to make money often  results in immigrants taking a much lower pay than the average American worker would, and many employers take advantage of that opportunity. Like Vivian as an orphan child, immigrants face prejudice and are sometimes deemed unwanted or useless. And similar to orphans, illegal immigrants are in a sense nomads, wandering until they find somewhere they are accepted, and where they can make a suitable life for themselves. 

History has a habit of repeating itself. Though Vivian's story in Orphan Train is fiction, it is based in the reality that oppression awaited the Europeans being brought into indentured servitude, the city orphans forced to board a train to an unknown destination, and today, for illegal immigrants who cross the border, unsure of what lies on the other side.