Drugs Addiction Portrayal in Movies

Drugs Addiction Portrayal in Movies Name Institutional Affiliation Addiction is a state in which a person becomes dependent on a certain behavior or something such that the body functionality or brain is impaired (Nielsen 2008). The most common type of addiction is alcohol and substance abuse which can result into memory relapse and withdrawal from other people due to a shortage of brain coordination. In view of this, media greatly affects the perspective with which people view addiction. Furor instance, the substance and drug abuse are often depicted as a very dangerous thing in the television and movies than the reality in the real world. However, this presentation is two sided whereby in one case the media glorification of drug s such as various brands of alcohol contributes to the abuse of drugs while on the other hand the media works to educate the audience on the dangers of drug abuse by portraying the effects of drug addiction. Nevertheless, the media creates the image that drug addiction is a taboo which makes the drug addicts to be isolated from the society through stigmatization. Media glorification of drugs plays a key role in motivating or encourage people to take drugs such as alcohol (Cape, 2009). However, responsibility is emphasized which is also accompanied by age lint restriction such banning alcohol consumption for the people under age of eighteen years. Therefore, media presents a society where the uses of substance and alcohol can be condoned to some limits such as degrees of drug dependency whose ultimate result is drug addiction as well as restricting the use of substances and alcohol to some members is the society. When the expected standards or limits are exceeded, the media however presents addiction in an exaggerated, manner which is beyond the actual experience in real world. Movies or films tend to reach a large number of people since it can be presented as a program in the television. Looking back in the 1930’s, the first film was released to depict substance abuse (Cape, 2009). The film Reefer Madness exaggerated on the effects of drug addiction with the objective of scaring away the children from drug abuse. However, the society tends to develop a rebellious counter culture which makes people ignore warnings and opt for the actual experience. This aspect seemed to work against the expectation of the anti-drug abuse organizations which led to production of more films depicting the effects of a drug addiction in the 1980’s such as Requiem for a Dream. This movie portrays drug addicts who are permanently such in a cycle of drug abuse and pain. Therefore, it focuses on the bottom line of drug abuse without the consideration that only a small percentage of the drug users reach to that extent. The disparate measure taken by the people as it is presented by the movie may not be the baseline to generalize the behavior of the society when faced by chronic use of drugs. This makes the people in the community to receive the drug addicts as lesser beings. The victim’s past can therefore be used by the society to generalize their behavior even if they are in their recovery stage or reformed thus limiting their level of interaction society. This type media presentation has resulted into an increase in stigmatization of the drug addicts by the society (Cape, 2003). Therefore, the people facing addictive disorder in the public health facilities face moral judgement which is highly stigmatizing from the society and more specifically those who have developed relay complication due to the abuse of illicit drugs. Hence the people suffering from alcoholism of the highest order. The victims may feel quite uncomfortable while associate with their friends hence suffering from great shame, rejection, anger, hopelessness as well as feeling unworthy. These feeling of being unwanted by the society can trigger further problems to the victims such as indulging themselves in other risky behavi...