Rachael Albert, Senior, Assistant Editor
Teen dramas are, by nature, histrionic, and often criticized for their romanticization of unsafe behaviors such as drug use and partner abuse. Their premises, however, are not unfounded. We all know that teenagers across America drive unsafely, drink, do drugs, etc., but these choices are made by the individual and not supported by a system that indirectly idolizes them for their destructive behavior.
There is the cliche of the star athlete who is too good for the tiny suburb he comes from and gets recruited by some Division 1 Ivy League university. The girlfriend he treats horribly is so proud of him and excited to attend all the big school games. This trope is often in modern media, from “Euphoria” to “Gossip Girl.” This athlete does not belong at an Ivy League. This industry insists on selecting students with only the highest moral and academic character despite the universities, themselves, not having these traits. Again, teen dramas are an exaggeration of this phenomenon, but one easily sees where the rhetoric derives from. When this happens in your town or your school, it is not life imitating art; it is an example of what artists try to bring into the limelight.
The warnings of these shows are not muted by their romantic overtones. They clearly articulate the issue with marquee high school sports, and whether the viewer understands the blatant criticism or not is a good indicator of character. The target audience of these shows are high school students, and, unfortunately, many of them turn a blind eye when they see the behavior that is condemned on-screen in their own lives. They refuse to believe their friends and peers are abusing the system designed to educate and nurture them, and, furthermore, that the abuse will continue. These athletes that are prioritized by their schools and idolized by their towns do not change when they enter college. Their tuition is waived because universities would rather have good athletes than good academics. They are praised on a national scale as all their supporters disregard morality. Allowing an abuser to continue abuse will never end the cycle. These students don’t magically become better people because they attend Princeton or Harvard. No, they extend their destructive habits from their personal to professional lives, and nobody stops them. America loves football and hates to admit their hypocrisy.
Can one blame these students for seeking public validation? They entered into a world that they can take advantage of with their talents, and if they see a way out of the tedious life that consumes modern society, why wouldn’t they pursue it? Everyone has character flaws, some worse than others, but it is up to a person’s environment to either fuel or criticize these flaws. A child being praised for poor behavior will not understand that their behavior is malicious; we know this, yet when it suits the narrative of a town being known for its athletes, we feed the beast. If the system was different, if there was another way to be successful in a small town, these athletes would hopefully take it, but they do not have that flexibility. Because of their success the system does not change, and these people continue to be adored by their town but silently hated by those who understand that their meritable qualities are superficial.