Literature

Everyday I hear, "You don’t need to be hanging out with that person, they’ll rub off on you," or maybe even "Quit listening to that devil music". But in truth, the people you are friends with and the music you listen to aren’t the only things that affect us teens and it's not always in a negative fashion. Literature is still a part in what makes up today’s pop culture for us teens who read too.

We have mangas, comics, poems, novels, and short stories that include tear jerking romance with a mix of fictional creatures such as vampires and werewolves like Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer; blood and guts scenes in some mangas; and kidnappings, arranged marriages, extreme conflicts of some kind, a girl going to an all guys boarding school, and etc…of short stories in series at fanfiction.com, quizilla.com, and many other sites where writers are able to share stories and poems online.

Yet, we are forgetting something. Those aren't the only types of literature out there. We read literature everyday. From street signs and textbooks to notes that we might have at work. At home, if you watch tv then you might read the little report on the news channel or maybe even subtitles when watching a moive. Even when it comes to the phone. The phone number and name of the person is literature.

Literature is everywhere and it's widely defined. It's not only in english, but in many other languages as well. You have documents, newspapers, signs, and more writen in Japaness, Chinese, German, French, Russian, etc....

Literature helps us to learn the information we need. It helps others to teach us or for us to teach ourselves. It was just a few years ago that I looked up a website just to learn how to sew, because I had a things that I had to mend on my own. It was literature that I read to learn how to sew.

Literature can also be a bit misleading to the unsuspected. You might misread something. You might not agree with what might be said. There might be something that you like, plus something that you like don't about it. You may get so used to that thing that you don't like being there that you learn to ignore it.

Hence music lyrics. Most songs now have a few words sensored, we may not notice it, or we just like the music and not pay attention to the lyrics. Sooner or later, you do end up knowing the lyrics. At some time though, you actually do listen to what it says and see the true meaning of the song.This has happened to me and it has caused me to stop listening to a few selective songs.

So, when parents make the arguement of that something influences teens, children, other adults, and etc... Yes, things, people, and more do influence teens. Though, it's also a matter of choice. I had chosen to not listen to a few songs because I didn't like nor support what the message was in the songs. I am an avid reader and there are books that I refuse to read due to what they portry. Yet there are several kinds of music I listen to, several kinds of literature that I read, and more; and yet my friends say that I have changed little to who I was 3/4 years ago except for the fact that I am now older, with a bit more sense of style, a little more confident, outwardly express myself more, more comfertable with myself, more outspoken, and better hair styles. Though, that's all they really say that has changed about me. The fact that I'm still friends with everyone that I was about 5 years ago regardless of now being a senior in high school proves that.

For the record, yes, I do listen to metal, hard rock, other types of rock, pop, seletive songs of rap, read almost everything from articles in newspapers to online stories, and like to talk to my friends online. I see that it has influenced me. Through the music, stories, my friends, mail, even my parents, and etc.. I see why I don't, and refuse, to do certain things such as smoking, drugs, and etc... because I know what comes with it and after it. I have compared and contrasted. I see much more con's than there are of pro's.

This is how literature influenced me. It taught me. It let me make a sound decision on concrete. I have been offered cigerrets. I refused. I have been offered pot. I refused. I have heard several offending words which most I refuse to say. I have been offered alcohol. Yet again I refused. There are friends of mine that are not the best examples of an angel but who knows, maybe I can influence them in a good why while they influence me to never become someone like they themselves.

Most influences are made by choice. True, there are few that aren't by choice that do influence you, but most are. You can choose if something influences you in a possivite or negative though. You get in an accident that is your fault. You can choose to not make the same mistake again. In other and simpler words, you can take something negative and turn it into something possitive.

So, who does this really affect teens who read these pop culture literature? I know that, for me, it gives me a way to pass time, motivation for drawing, to continue writing, calm myself, to get over something, meditate, and etc... For others it may do the same or it may do something different for them, but it’s not necessarily bad. As most of us claim we just like to escape from the world for awhile every now and then in which pop culture seems to help us do that.