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A Content Analysis of Teen Drinking in American Hollywood films, 1984-2007. RUN, The Cops are here!. By: Meggan Bridget Patty. Introduction. Legal age to buy, possess, and consume alcohol in the United States = 21 years old.
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A Content Analysis of Teen Drinking in American Hollywood films, 1984-2007 RUN, The Cops are here! By: Meggan Bridget Patty
Introduction • Legal age to buy, possess, and consume alcohol in the United States = 21 years old. • Alcohol is a contributing factor in the top three causes of teen deaths: accidents, homicide, and suicide. • The entertainment media increasingly glamorizes and sexualizes alcohol and its consumption. • Exposing adolescents to the social norms of party atmospheres revolving around alcohol is a staple of Hollywood films.
Thesis Purpose: To examine the depiction of underage alcohol consumption in Hollywood films since the passage of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act in 1984. The data gathered from this analysis examines media images, particularly regarding female teenage drinking, occurring in films over a period of 23 years.
Previous Literature • Drinking Behavior Among Teenagers • Bank et. al. (1985) • Gender Differences • Robbins and Martin (1993) • Alcohol in the Media • Bucholz and Robbins (1989)
Robert Merton (1938) • Social norms are frequently broken in society even when formal and informal controls are in place to prevent or minimize deviance. • Anomie is understood as a situation in which the norms of society are weak, absent, or unclear or no longer applicable to the current conditions. • A condition in which there is an evident inconsistency between the culture's norms about what constitutes success (socially defined goals) and the culture's norms about the proper ways to achieve those goals (means). Structural Strain Theory
Methodology Content Analysis 25 American Hollywood films 1984-2007 • Amazon.com / IMDb (Internet Movie Database) • key words: “teen- movie,” “teen/party,” “underage-drinking,” and “teenage girl/teen.” • Total of 275 films were identified • Population of 50 films • Random sample to select final 25 films
Methodology Coding: • Each alcohol encounter, party scenes, and illegal alcohol encounter • Start and end timeof the alcohol exposure was recorded in minutes/seconds • Type of alcoholic substance shown (brand names were noted) • Whichcharacters were shown using the alcoholic substance, and the nature of thecharacter that used the alcohol
Findings 66 Main Teenage Characters: Race Class 64 White 2 Black 54 (81%) middle class 9 (15%) upper class 3 (4%) lower class /poor
Findings Gender
Findings Gender
Findings Gender
The majority of the teen characters portrayed in the sample are middle-class, white, “popular” teenagers. • Alcohol consumption in the films is portrayed as a normal, frequent, and exceedingly common aspect of teen social interaction. • Teen’s attitudes and behaviors about alcohol consumption may be shaped by the media images, leading to real life consumption as “normal.” • Portrayal of female alcohol consumption is shown as either peer pressured or influenced by problems within her personal life. • Image of female alcohol use in films implies the irresponsibility of an inexperienced drinker, shown as unable to handle alcohol. discussion