Thursday, June 10, 2010

The Virgin Suicides



In The Virgin Suicides, Cecilia Lisbon, the youngest of five sisters, tries to kill herself. It is evident in the previous scenes that she is unhappy, and after her attempted suicide, her parents get her help from a therapist. Eventually, Cecilia jumps out of her window, falling to her death. The remainder of the movie shows the other four girls trying to cope with her death, as well as live their lives under their parents strict rules. The Lisbon parents make their rules even stricter when one of the girls, Lux, stays out all night with a boy. They are then unable to leave their house, even for school, and kept in complete isolation from the rest of the world. This then drives the four girls, Lux, Bonnie, Mary, and Therese, to make a suicide pact, and they all kill themselves on the same night.

In the video above, a therapist is talking to Cecilia, and he says, "...you're not even old enough to know how bad life gets." She suggests that she knows how bad life gets, just from being a teenaged girl. Cecilia is so depressed going through adolescence, that taking her life seems like the only answer.

Also, later in the movie, when Lux appears to be rebelling against her parents' strict rules, her actions could be confused with depression. Parents often mistake depression for rebellion, and Lux could have been feeling depressed from her sisters death, or her lack or a social life. When the girls made the suicide pact, it showed how much their parents restrictions had completely ruined their lives and caused them to be depressed.

Depression or Rebellion? + Drug Use



The lives of teens affected by depression are filled with sadness and hopelessness. "They see depression as a weakness and think they should be able to conquer it on their own. When they fail in their battle, they feel helpless and ashamed" (20). This means that many teens will not seek help from a family member or a professional because they think that people around them might not take it seriously, or they would get made fun of.


"Since there are not symptoms commonly associated with depression, teenage depression may be mistaken for simple rebellion and often goes undiagnosed. Many teens fall into drug or alcohol abuse in an attempt to escape from their feelings" (13). Parents or guardians may not want to believe that their child is suffering from depression, and may pass it off to be rebellion or just the way they are, to avoid coming to terms with it. Depressed teens often turn to drugs and alcohol not only to escape feelings, but to feel accepted. Although, many drugs can cause depression in teens who were not originally depressed, just because it is a side effect of the drug.

A Killer.


Teens can get depression from many different things. It could be caused by genetics, if their parent or other person in their family suffered form it. It could also be cause by life events or their environment, if they have gone through rough times or have a stressful, negative home life. Symptoms include being constantly sad for no real reason, no energy, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.


Not only is depression a mental illness, but it also has physical effects. People might experience headaches from stress, severe weight loss or gain, drug use, or suicide. Many teenagers commit suicide every year in the U.S., and it's "the third leading cause of death for 15-to-24-year-olds, and the sixth leading cause of death for 5-to-14-year-olds." Someone who is thinking about taking their own life might talk about death or "going away" and pull away from people they are normally close to. It is really important for people with depression to have support from their family, because it may decrease the possibility of suicide.

Work Cited

Websites: "Teen Suicide." American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Web. 24 May 2010.

"Depression." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. Ed. Michelle New. Oct. 2007. Web. 10 June 2010. .

Calco, Michelle. "Kristina Calco's Story." Bullying - Depression - Suicide - Jared's Story. Web. 11 June 2010. .

Nick. "Severe Depression." Depression Treatment, Medication, Help, Symptoms: Anxiety Attacks Depression Test, Types, ADHD Causes. 25 Apr. 2005. Web. 10 June 2010. .

Visual: "YouTube - Virgin Suicides- To Be Or Not To Be." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 16 Apr. 2010. Web. 11 June 2010. .

(The Virgin Suicides. Dir. Sofia Coppola. Perf. Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett. Paramount Classics, 2000. DVD.)

Audio: "YouTube - REM - Everybody Hurts (with Lyrics)." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 30 June 2009. Web. 11 June 2010. .

(Stipe, Michael. Everybody Hurts. R.E.M. Warner Bros., 1993. MP3.)

Print: Wolff, Lisa. Teen Depression. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1999. Print.

Smith, Judie. Coping With Suicide: a Resource Book for Teenagers and Young Adults. New York: Rosen Pub. Group, 1986. Print.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Bibliography

Klein, Daniel B., and Jason Briggeman. "Conservative magazines and the presumption of liberty: a content analysis on sex, gambling, and drugs." Independent Review 14.2 (2009) : 289+. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Dec. 2009.

Kropp, Phoebe. "Wilderness wives and dishwashing husbands: comfort and the domesticarts of camping in America, 1880-1910." Journal of Social History 43.1 (2009). 5+. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Dec. 2009.

Lorber, Judith. "Shifts in Paradigms and Challenging Categories." Academic OneFile. Web. 16 Dec. 2009.

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction , 1995. Print.