In the danah boyd reading for this week, she talks about to consequences of moral panics at the societal and parental level, and how it in turn places teenagers in a conflicted position within society. Being a teen in American society sets one up to a double standard; they are both a public nuisance and vulnerable targets, needing to be afraid of and afraid for. This conflicting image impacts adult’s relationships with teenagers, skewing their idea of how teenagers behave, which in turn impacts the limited opportunities available for teenagers themselves. The adult moral panic reaction does nothing but complicate things for teens as they navigate this time of their life, leaving many angry or frustrated at the misunderstanding and miscommunication left between them and adults.
The concepts of moral panic and the rift between teens and adults is everywhere in society, but you would think that adults would be more cognizant of the phenomenon since it serves as a main plot factor in so many pop culture and entertainment pieces. Footloose, The Breakfast Club, Risky Business, Titanic, 10 Things I Hate About You, The Little Mermaid, the list goes on and on. I took a trip down memory lane this weekend and watched the 2003 version of Freaky Friday with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis. These themes of moral panic and adult misconceptions were central to the movie’s plot. The movie does a good job of portraying the parent perspective versus the teenage perspective in regards to teenage culture, and the resulting conflicts that arise between the mother and daughter characters as a result. The movie takes it a step further, having the mother be a psychiatrist for her profession who as a result constantly tries to psychoanalyze her daughter as if she was one of her many troubled patients. Its only when the two mysteriously switch bodies that the mother realizes the real struggles of teenagers as a result of adult misunderstandings.
It’s curious that parents would continue this idea of moral panic, despite it being so prevalent as a topic of humor and unnecessary drama in much of our pop culture media. What keeps them from changing this trend? I’m going to switch to psychology mode as I attempt to speculate: it is common for people to worry when they are faced with something that is unknown or out of their control. Worrying is a defense mechanism, giving the person a sense of power over the situation. Parents feel like they have no control over their teenagers when faced with a new technology they themselves are just getting used to. Their natural reaction is worrying about the safety and control over their kids, but being the authority figure in this dynamic allows them to take their worries a step further as they act upon their fears and strengthen their control over teen’s actions.
I think the movie connection you make here is a really dynamic one. I had a similar relationship with my mother that was portrayed in the film, Freaky Friday, throughout my underclassman years in high school. As I’ve matured, however, I now understand why my mother was so protective and worrisome throughout my teenage years. Being a parent is no easy task – especially in our generation – and we don’t give our parents enough respect for that. Granted, there were times where things were taken too far by each party, but it really does take being in someone else’s shoes, or becoming a parent, to realize the true responsibility of having to take care of another human being and all the worries and anxieties that come along with it.
Based on what you have pointed out here, I don’t think there really is an answer to moral panic. Like you said, people freak out about certain things they are not used to. Considering that society is constantly changing from generation to generation–probably year to year more recently with fads becoming popularized on the Internet quicker–we are always going to be surround by the unknown. And moral panics with parents–it’s inevitable! Parents will always be uncertain about what their kids are doing purely because it is not what they did when they were their age. Like you said, they feel as if they have no control. But, as we have seen with Sabrina from chapter 4, maybe too much influence is a bad thing.
Like you said, worrying is a natural reaction embedded in our very DNA. The only proactive thing we can do is make sure whatever it is younger generations are exposed to is not detrimental to their overall maturation and growth. I think that our fear and worrying stems from this. Our inability to predict the ways in which our present cultures will affect the future of younger generations. It’s more so a survival instinct, than an extraneous emotional response.