Sweeet 16...

Try to think of all the things $200,000 can buy. $200,000 can buy a house, multiple cars, food for the homeless, a four year college education, or a birthday party for teenage girls like Sophie Mitchell, star of MTV's hit reality show My Super Sweet 16.

Sophie and other girls are showcased on MTV’s hit series. Their parties are filled with extravagant things like $2,000 cakes, concert type entertainment, and venues, such as New York City Clubs. As Lola Ogunnaike, a writer for the New York Times writes in her article, MTV's 'Super Sweet 16' Gives a Sour Pleasure, “The show follows a simple but wildly successful formula: (1) kid makes a series of high-priced demands (a fireworks display, a helicopter ride, perhaps a harem of belly dancers); (2) parents capitulate and cough up the cash; (3) kid gleefully humiliates the uninvited; (4) something goes awry; (5) kid has a meltdown and repeatedly refers to self in the third person; (6) party miraculously comes together, and kid is presented with an automobile before his salivating, less fortunate peers.”

The show draws a large audience because the lives these teenage girls and boys lead are so different from everyday life. Most 16 year olds have a birthday cake and a few friends over for their 16th birthday party. These teens on the other hand have grand entrances on elephants, $1,000 bracelets are party favors, and limonene service for all of the party guests.

When asked about her party, which cost around $180,000, Sophie replied, “Unless they were crazy or hated their child, any parent who was financially able would do it,.”



Article Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/26/arts/television/26swee.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2&oref=slogin

Image source: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2006/04/26/arts/26swee190.jpg

"An Illicit Fag Behind the Toilets"

Allen Newton writes in his blog "Over the Fence,"

"I was a bit of a goody-two-shoes at school when it came to sex, drugs and booze (although I may have made up for it in latter years), but I wonder how different it is for kids at school these days than it was in the late 1960s and early 1970s when I was at school. I finished my high school years at Governor Stirling in Midland, renowned, certainly then, as one of the Metropolitan area’s rougher schools, but even then I can’t recall being exposed to drugs. And as for sex parties! I surely would have remembered them.

No, the worst I can recall of my circle of friends, was an illicit fag behind the toilets, a sly tipple of mum and dad’s sherry and skipping school classes down by the Swan River. It wasn’t actually a life of debauchery. Reading this stuff about booze-fuelled sex romps, drug binges and boys hiring strippers makes me wonder if school life has changed or was I just living in some naive world of my own"

This is a question many of the current "teenage generation's" parents are asking. Even my mother wonders how life has changed so drastically from her generation to mine. It's not necessarily what Newton was talking about in his blog that fascinated me, but rather, the comments he received after posting it.

Jas of Perth comments:

"i came out of high school a few years ago and at the start of year 8 all me and my mates did was smoke cigs and green and skip class we never had the money to afford to get a stripper but sometimes we had piss ups. we always had very little money and by the sounds of things these kids have lots of money and i would like to know where they get this do they work or is it rich mummy and daddys who give there kids everything they want. WAKE UP PEOPLE the time are changing and we all need to keep up with it but how old are these kids and how do they get booze they are tougher than they where a few years ago. hopefully these kids grow up and learn there is more to life and having fun that getting trashed and get a good life and a good job and not be on the street"

This may be a typical reaction for most, but it was the comment by Scotchy of Perth interested me the most.

"I’m from Scotch College and i can say that all this media hype is an absolute load of bullshit...The depiction of Scotch College as under a ‘drugs and sex crisis’ and that “booze-fuelled sex romps” are occurring is just sensationalistic journalism. I can knowingly say that the situation described is NOT accurately reported. All the issues the media has mentioned has been blown out of proportion and sensationalised. Although there are issues which need to be dealt with, everything happening at Scotch is happening at every other public or private school and has been for as long as i can remember and is definitely not a new crisis or something just Scotch is experiencing.

To those of you who think we are spoiled little kids getting money from our parents for alcohol you are severely mistaken. Just because a person goes to a private school doesn’t mean they have it easy money wise, there a large number of people who struggle with money issues at the school."

It is interesting to see the perspective from someone that is part of the culture I am investigating. Obviously, Scotchy of Perth, feels as though his culture is very poorly misrepresented.

This touches upon a very important point in today's culture: the role of media. In many cases media can misrepresent both situations, such as the war in Iraq, and people, such as Scotchy of Perth. Media plays a very important role in the perception of various people, and ultimately the way they are viewed. For example, Gossip Girl is a very popular tv drama in today's socitey. This show portrays the ritzy New York City lifestyles characters like Blair and Serena experience. Both are extremely wealthy, and gallivant around New York City without a care. Below is an clip from this popular television show. Just from this 2 minute and 6 second clip, it is easy to see how this show helps to support the various stereotypes thought about wealthy teenagers.

http://blogs.news.com.au/perthnow/overthefence/index.php/perthnow/comments/are_these_kids_so_bad/


Blog Source: http://blogs.news.com.au/perthnow/overthefence/index.php/perthnow/comments/are_these_kids_so_bad/
Video Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAQGTs9YIh4

Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous...

I was driving to the supermarket today, and heard a song that hasn't been played in a very long time-Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous by Good Charlotte. This song explores the "rich and famous" society of today, and how they complain, spend money frivolously, and act completely irrational. I used to think this song was hysterical, and I admit it, true. But after doing the little bit of research I've done about this culture, it's not at all the case. It's interesting to see the stereotypes we put on different cultures within our society. I've included the video and lyrics for this song.

Good Charlotte - Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous | Music Videos | SPIKE.com

Lifestyles Of The Rich And Famous lyrics
Good Charlotte
Always see it on t.v.
Or read it in the magazines
Celebrities want sympathy
All they do is piss and moan
Inside the rolling stone
Talkin'about how hard life can be

I'd like to see them spend a week
Livin' life out on the street
I don't think they would survive
If they could spend a day or two
Walkin' in someone else's shoes
I think they'd stumble and they'd fall
They would fall... (fall)

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
They're always complainin'
Always complainin'...
If money is such a problem
Well they've got mansions
Think we should rob them

Well did you know when you were famous you could kill your wife
And there's no such thing as 25 to life
As long as you've got the cash, to pay for Cochran
And did you know if you were caught and you were smokin' crack
McDonalds wouldn't even wanna take you back
You could always just run for mayor of D.C.

I'd like to see them spend a week
Livin' life out on the street
I don't think they would survive
If they could spend a day or two
Walking in someone else's shoes
I think they'd stumble and they'd fall
they would fall

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
They're always complainin'
Always complainin'...
If money is such a problem
Well they've got mansions
Think we should rob them

Lifestyles of the rich and the famous
They're always complainin'
Always complainin'...
If money is such a problem
They've got so many problems
Think I could solve them

Lifestyles of the rich and famous
We'll take your clothes, cash, cars and homes just stop complainin'

Lifestyles of the rich and famous...
Lifestyles of the rich and famous...
Lifestyles of the rich and famous



Lyrics found at: http://www.elyrics.net/read/g/good-charlotte-lyrics/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous-lyrics.html
Video found at: http://www.spike.com/video/good-charlotte/2787764

"At least we can afford the real stuff..."

My boyfriend and his family live right outside of Queens in New York City. This past weekend, my best friend and I decided to take a trip to see him and go the city on Saturday. Some of the most common things in New York are the replica watch and handbag stands scattered along the streets. They're just as much a part of the city as the Empire State Building and Times Square. My friend, my boyfriend's mom and I stopped at one of these stands and decided to take a look. None of us are able to afford a real designer bag, but it's fun to have one that looks like it. I had pick up a fake Coach bag right as a few young girls, no older then 17, walked by. One laughed, and I turned as she grabbed my attention. As I turned around her, I heard her say to her friends "I'm so glad my family can afford the real stuff! I wouldn't be caught dead with a fake purse on my arm!" The other girls giggled and nodded, and the 4 walked on. I was at first severely offended. Many New Yorkers say that too much judgment is placed upon them because of the way the act and live, but here is one doing exactly that to me, and the other people at the purse stand. I turned to my boyfriend's mother, and we both just started to laugh. We made our purchases and walked on.

I'm in no way saying that I think this is how all New York teenagers act, but they way these 4 carried and presented themselves shocked me. Of course, not all New York City teenagers would be so bold, but they way the cackled as they walked on was just offensive. There are numerous websites where you can literally borrow a purse like a movie or a library book at sites such as http://www.bagborroworsteal.com/ it’s impossible to assume that anyone is carrying the “real thing.” As I said in my last post, it is actions of these girls that I hope to gain an understanding for by the end of my cross-cultural encounter.

Image Source: http://www.worldofstock.com/slides/BCO1869.jpg

Introduction to My Cross-Cultural Encounter

I was raised on clearance racks and two for one specials. My clothes are primarily from Target, or sale racks at various department stores. I’ve never fully understood the point of buying $700 dollar Gucci jeans or a $1000 Louis Vuitton purse.

I also had a very strict childhood. My father was a teacher at the middle school I attended, and it's all business with him and my mother. If I was more then 5 minutes late for curfew, I was grounded for a week. I was never allowed to have parties or go to parties, and my parents would never think of buying alcohol for my friends and I.

It’s interesting to me however, that teenagers the same age as me don’t have the same standards. Walking down the streets of New York City you can see girls toting their Prada purses, and having lavish penthouse parties. In today’s day and age, there are countless newspaper and magazine articles telling the stories of parents buying alcohol for their underage children saying that “they’d rather them do it in the house, and not ruin the family name.”

This “Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll” teenage culture is something that intrigues me. There are many aspects of the culture that I disagree with, and some that I just don’t understand. Throughout this cross-cultural encounter, I hope to participate in this group in some way, and ultimately gain a sense of cultural relativism when it comes to these teenagers. I may not agree with some of the practices of this culture, but I hope over the course of the next 10 weeks to gain an understanding of just exactly why they do what they do.



Image source: http://blogs.smh.com.au/lifestyle/asksam/girls-partying.jpg