The World We Dont Live In Essays - Teen Dramas, Dawsons Creek

The World We Don't Live In Steve Lippo Final TV Essay 10/26/00 The World We Don't Live In Television is not real life. It's not even close. From Friends to Frasier, people's lives do not resemble TV show plots by any means. Television's number one goal is to portray what viewers would want their lives to be like. Dawson's Creek is no different. The world does not revolve around a small group of high school students, yet in this show it seems to. Dawson's Creek chronicles the wry humor the undeniably intense period of awakening known as teenage years. Set in the Boston suburb of Capeside, this series explores the blooming self-awareness and growing pains that go hand-in-hand with the triumphs of growing up. Dawson's Creek's fantasy lifestyle and unrealistic dialogue create a world where consumerism rules over conflicting relationships and the search for true love. Wisely intelligent and yet naively open, four teens are at the heart of this drama as they unknowingly embark on the road less traveled, going against the norm in the paths they choose. Together in this passage from adolescence to young adulthood, the series stars Dawson Leary, Joey Potter, Pacey Witter, and Jen Lindley. Dawson is a 17-year-old Steven Spielberg fanatic who is charmingly obsessive and passionate about his love of movies. Dawson's longtime best friend Joey is the tomboy and emerging beauty who lives a less functional home life down the creek. Pacey's gift for sarcasm is topped only by an over-confident knack for stumbling awkwardly and unprepared into adult situations. Rounding out the inseparable foursome, Jen may appear to be the girl next door, but she has an air of mystery surrounding her as she harbors a dark secret from her past. Together, they learn that growing up is never as easy as it seems in the movies. Blindly testing the waters towards young adulthood, th ese four astute teens shed their childlike innocence and endure the compromise of morality that accompanies so-called maturity. Exploring the passions that lie beneath the surface of Dawson's Creek, they deal with friendship, jealousy, family, school and love in their struggle to attain adulthood. The opening of Dawson's Creek features these lyrics sung by Paula Cole: ?I don't want to wait for our lives to be over. I want to know right now what it will be. I don't want to wait for our lives to be over. Will it be yes or will it be?sorry.? Each episode begins with this song as clips of the group sitting around and laughing with each other are flashed by the viewer's eyes. The opening resembles one of the music videos commonly seen on MTV. This is significant because Dawson's Creek and MTV try to obtain the same teenage viewer demographics. By using this strategy for the opening package, the show relates to the pop culture side of their audience. It is that MTV lifestyle, that livelihood, which the show tries to focus on. The obvious consumeristic success of MTV is a desirable trait to networks. Teenagers today are savvy consumers, and this is becoming more and more evident to networks. If you tap into the consumer side of teens, you have opened up a whole new world of ratings n ever seen before. The lyrics themselves also relate a message about the show. As in real life, the characters in the show grow up way too fast at this stage in life. Our society, along with our parents and authority figures, places such an emphasis on ?adult-like? behavior in teenagers that Dawson's Creek epitomizes the socially acceptable way to behave. Teens in real life along with the characters in the show are being pressured to grow up too fast. They're ready to go out and experience what life has to offer, and that's what this show is all about. The fact that this show takes place in Capeside, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb, tells us that we should be prepared for anything. Arthur Berger states that ?Boston has an identity due, in part, to it's being on the east coast?The fact that this takes place in Boston prepares us for all kinds of characters? (236). There are noticeable differences between the large urban empire of Boston and the small

Christians And Contraception Essays - Midwifery, Free Essays

Christians And Contraception Essays - Midwifery, Free Essays Christians And Contraception Christians and Contraception: Why it is Your Choice, and Why Christianity Was Wrong in the Past INTRODUCTION Contraception History Contraception is defined by Websters II New Riverside Dictionary as the prevention of conception. Its synonym is birth control; defined as the avoidance of unwanted pregnancies by preventing fertilization by the use of contraceptives or continence. It is argued that many forms of birth control are not in fact contraceptives because they do not interrupt the conceptual process, but merely inhibit the survival of the fertilized egg. While we will still frame our discussion in the general category of birth control, the distinctions are important when considering ethics. For example, since the so-called morning after pill prevents the fertilized egg from attaching itself to the wall of the uterus, and thus causing a miscarriage, it technically would be a form of birth control, not conception control . Ancient societies understood the difference between preventing conception and killing an infant. In fact, they used a variety of techniques to try and prevent conception. Coitus interruptus, also known as withdrawal, was widely practiced. It was, however, condemned by conservative Judaism and Roman Catholicism as a vice against nature. This idea grew from the belief that semen was a seed, containing everything necessary for life, and the womb was fertile soil in which to plant the seed. The seeds were believed to be finite, thus carelessly wasting them endangered the future health of the tribe . The ancients also used types of diaphragms to block the sperm. In Africa, women used plugs of chopped grass or cloth. Japanese women used balls of bamboo tissue paper. Greek women used wool . While birth control in one form or another has existed for as long as human culture, there have also been attempts to prevent anything that impeded pregnancy and birth. In 1873, Anthony Comstock was successful in passing a law through Congress that defined contraceptive information as obscene. This was the outgrowth of abortion legislation that outlawed all abortions except those necessary to save the life of a woman. In 1869, Pope Pius IX had declared that all abortion is murder. This was a change from previous Roman Catholic teaching that considered 40 days after conception for a boy and 80 days for a girl as the moment of quickening, meaning the beginning of life. The moment of conception now became the beginning of life, and actually the sperm and egg were even seen to be alive . Types of Contraceptives Contraceptive methods for women include the rhythm methodabstinence around the most likely time of ovulationand precoital insertion into the vagina of substances (creams, foams, jellies, or suppositories) containing spermatocidal chemicals. The use of a diaphragm, a rubber cup-shaped device inserted before intercourse, which prevents sperm from reaching the uterine cervix. It is usually used with spermatocidal substances, intrauterine devices, or IUDs, are variously shaped small objects inserted by a doctor into the uterus: they apparently act by creating a uterine environment hostile either to the sperm or to the fertilized egg. The birth control pill, an oral contraceptive, involves a hormonal method in which estrogen and progestins are taken cyclically for 21 days a month. These pills suppress production of the hormone that would ordinarily cause ovulation . Other forms include sterilization of either the man or woman, and many new techniques and medications such as the previously mentioned morning-after pill, or minutes-after hormone, and also different forms of progestin injections or insertions . The Ethical Contraception Argument The morality of contraception has been argued for centuries. Traditional Christians view the use of contraceptives or contraceptive behavior as sinful and in opposition to Gods will for humanity. These fundamentalists have interpreted small pieces of Biblical scripture to reveal the word of God, which shuns birth control. There has also been brought forth a scientific argument supporting the disallowance of Christians utilizing contraception techniques. On the other hand there is abundant evidence that welcomes the intelligent use of birth control measures into the lives of Christians living in the twenty-first century. There has been counter arguments formed to the traditional views, and stunning revelations about the misinterpretation of Gods word in scripture. Also, it will not be a surprise that there is a large