What kind of person do you think of when you think of College Student? The media has lead us to believe that college students are promiscuous, alcohol and drug loving young adults aged 18-24. What stereotypes does this lead us to? How does it affect the students who do go off to college and do not want to partake in the heavy drinking and promiscuity?
A new song by Asher Roth called "I Love College" is now #7 on the iTunes most downloaded charts. On Tuesday, March 3rd, it was #9, so its move on the charts is fast and it's direct download into homes is vast and fast!
This song defines what a college student is suppose to do. They are suppose to always have a drink, party, dance, and have sex. But there are also standards, like not falling asleep with your shoes on, don't leave the house until you have started to get drunk, don't have sex if she is too gone, wear 2 condoms and tomorrow night find a new place to party. And look at that video! It depicts a college student, a male, who is part of a frat. He goes to the frat party and you watch him hook up with many random girls, telling male college students that it is okay to be promiscuous. It shows them playing the ever so popular beer pong game, which by the way many young children have found entertaining on Wii, and playing strip poker. It talks about how these kids go to bed at 3, wake up at 10, and then party again! How could they live this life? Does this contribute to the many freshmen that fail out after the first semester because of excess partying?
College kids need to be told the real side of college before they go, and not have songs like Asher Roth’s “I Love College” negatively affect their view of what college really is. Kids go into college thinking it’s going to be all fun and games, and parties, since for once and their lives they are away from their parents. Alcohol Poising kills over 4,000 people a year, and 50,000 cases are reported each year. The Wii game originally titled "Beer Pong", now changes to "Pong Toss" also contributes to this culture. The game is rated "T" for Teen, meaning ages 13-up. Wow! We are selling 13-year-old's games about beer and playing beer games. When they do get older, and more than likely by the time they are 16, they will have trying alcohol and playing these games that they originally saw on oh so innocent Wii.
What if a college student does not want to partake in these activities? More times than most, these students are the ones that either go home every weekend to get away and not have to deal with the peer pressure, or if they live to far away from the college they chose, they soon realize how home sick they do become. College students come in all kinds of ways. Some are yes the straight out of High School students that are thought of when you think College Student. Some are middle ages people looking to go back to school to better their career. Many are much older, and looking to get a new job. Especially in the hard economy, where jobs are few, we see older people coming back to college in order to get a job.
The media overshadows a large group of college students, and creates a stereotype that is being lived up to in many University and College settings. Through music, music videos, television shows, and movies the media needs to include the older college student, and the college student that does not partake in excessive drinking and partying.
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This image of the normal college student is a little disappointing to me. As a college student that doesn’t drink, this shows me as abnormal or strange, whereas those that get drunk every night are normal and to be expected. Obviously this idea that all college kids party all the time and get drunk every night isn’t true (if it was I doubt we’d have so many college graduates), but it is sad how many kids are succumbing to this idea of college as being a non-stop party.
ReplyDeleteThis video also fails to show the consequences of constant drinking and partying. All it shows is the good times, but it doesn’t mention the car accidents, hospital trips, and assaults (both sexual and physical) that excessive drinking can lead to. I’m not saying that every party where there is alcohol is going to end in some tragic accident or assault (obviously many people drink responsibly, and many party’s are relatively harmless), but what this type of song (and video) tends to leave out is that there can be other consequences to drinking other then throwing up. Of course, that type of video wouldn’t really sell (which is all the musician really wants anyway), but why do musicians constantly have to show alcohol as the answer to all life’s problems and the only way to have a good time? This portrayal of the “average” college student is completely ridiculous. These musicians are taking one aspect of life for college students and they are sensationalizing it so that they can sell more music and become more popular by showing themselves as just like everyone else.
This video can be viewed in so many different ways. There are a lot of different college students. For myself I am no where near this stereotype. I go to class everyday, babysit, work and hang out with my boyfriend/family. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I am going to a community college. I know a lot of people away at college and every time they come home they tell me tons and tons of stories from late nights of partying to sometimes not even remembering what happened. In a lot of ways this video is true because if it was not it would have not been made.
ReplyDeleteThere are all different types of people and the people who actually party and do the things in his songs relate to the song from being in college. I can understand people not liking it if there not in this certain stereotype of college students but I love this song. I find it very amusing and can relate to certain things or know people who can.
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