The Merchants of Cool

1. There is no “mook” in nature. He is a creation designed to catch teenagers’ interests. A mook is an adolescent male made by real teenagers’ attitudes, who is immature and aggressive. Similarly, the “midriff” is a character that pitched at teenage girls. However, she acts premature as an adult and highly-sexualized. When I was in high school, there were just few of them act like “mooks” and “midriff”. Media outlet influence teenagers by creating the characters, “mook” and “midriff”. Teenagers consider these characters as cool, and these characters become the mainstream among teens.

2. Personally, I think that many of these TV shows over exaggerate what’s really going on in teens’ lives. None of my friends and people I know lives that way. Instead of reflecting the teenager’s life, those programs basically reflect the market interest. In “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Dawson’s Creek”, the teenagers’ lives are mainly about sex, yet this does not mean all teens participate in these activities. It sure entertains audience, though I doubt many teens actually live their lives that way. However, media does illustrate teens’ relationships with others (friends, siblings, etc) and show other aspects to a teen's life such as school and their hobbies.

3. I have to disagree with the assertions. Nowadays, teenagers hold higher expectations on shows and movies, they want more excitements. Media makers know that in order to earn a profit, they have to fulfill viewers’ satisfaction. However, there should be a balance between making money and concerning the well-being of the consumers. The media has a significant influence on our society. Once I heard people said, “We live in a world where our views and beliefs change by the mass amount of people.” I believe people not only are influenced to buy things from advertising but they are influenced with sex and other things characters in TV shows are doing. So media should be more aware of what they broadcast, and what impact they