Society Debate: Has the film industry been the major cause of youth revolt?

Don’t blame movies, blame busy parents Sometimes I wonder whether today’s young parents are going through similar troubles that our parents went through while we were growing up. In their time as juveniles, our parents didn’t have to worry about things like night clubs, internet, dirty music videos and erotic movies. When the Film Industry slowly started to fog around every culture, parents became aware of its impact and strictly shielded their children against moral harm from TV. Children thought of their parents as being un-cool for not embracing modern changes and somehow, got their way around and stealthily pocketed dirty magazines to high school. Those children are the young parents of today, and they have been affected with the same modern advances in cinematography and technology that their own children are facing; they might have a hard time trying to protect their adolescent kids from the things that they too are hooked on. For example, in our society now, it wouldn’t be surprising to find a mother telling her son that watching porn is bad, while on the other hand, indirectly introducing porn to the boy by switching on her favorite TV series that has numerous rated scenes. The youth love to watch movies; if it was possible, they would spend their days in cinemas or at home watching the latest series; this view sides with the idea that the film industry has indeed been a great influence on the lives of young people. However, should their bigheadedness be blamed on movies, or the fact that modern parents are not just up to the task of educating children about the cons and pros of TV? Charity begins at home; that is why we have some young people who are not addicted to pornography, while some others are. The wisest thing to do is to impart in them moral values, be it cultural or religious, until they are able to self-censor and discern what they should or shouldn’t watch. film directors, in order to stay successful in a competitive industry, have become greedy and open-minded to the extremes; nothing is censored anymore… animals can be tortured for a two-minute movie shoot; children can feature in highly erotic movies and it passes by unnoticed. In this day and age, a parent can’t afford to glue a tracker on their child to know what they are doing or where they are going. Computers are cheap, movie rentals are everywhere, the internet is a click away and there is nothing we can do about it; we have to confidently and keenly face the reality. When the youth become spoilt and do not want to hear what the elders are saying, let us not point a blaming finger at movies and other changes that modernity has brought to our society. Let us blame ourselves, the people they look up to. We are failing to be role models to our little brothers and sisters; we have failed to talk to our sons and daughters about their bodily changes as they grow up… we even can’t freely talk to our friends about the reality of HIV! When we fail to perform our roles, young innocent lives turn to peers and TV for advice and knowledge. When they follow such, who should be blamed? You have the decision! Mugishaivan@yahoo.com