Movies, books, TV shows, social media, and even walking down the street. These are all places where romantic relationships can be witnessed. Many people engage in relationships during their teenage years. Many teenagers complain about being single and wanting a significant other. Teenagers feel pressure to engage in romantic relationships due to media.

In a survey that I did amongst a group of Juniors at SLA, over half of them agreed that they have felt societal pressure to engage in a romantic relationship. Students in an environment where education should be a main priority express a feeling of pressure from their peers, social media, family, etc to have a romantic partner. Teenagers in this day and age have easy access to the internet, where romantic relationships are especially prominent due to social media pages that post pictures of ‘couple goals’ and other similar ideas of romantic relationships. Through social media it is easy to see who’s dating who, who likes who, who’s talking to who, ways to see relationships. Due to this teenagers feel pressure to fit in and engage in their own romantic relationships.

In an article written by TeenZeen.org the author writes that, “Sometimes, you may not be ready to start dating, but you feel that you have to because everyone else around you is.” A very common way that people, especially teenagers, express themselves is on social media sites such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Teenagers tend to show off the people that they’re talking to, they like to post about their emotions and how they feel about certain things. This can be a very powerful thing that can influence others feelings on certain topics. Many teenagers follow people that they idolize on social media, many of these social media famous people are teenagers themselves. When teenagers see people their age who are succeeding they feel pressure to mimic their actions to achieve their own success. One way that they might try and do that is through entering romantic relationships, especially if the person / people that they idol are in their own romantic relationships.

Kara Nesvig wrote an article for Teen Vogue about the “21 best TV show couples.” The article lists a few of the many romantic relationships that are shown on TV. She writes that, “These 20 iconic couples make us believe that love is real, even if it’s just on TV.” Almost every single teenager watches some type of TV. This shows how prominent couples are in TV shows and how it makes teenagers have a certain perception of what ‘love’ should look like. Almost every TV show or movie about highschool students has some type of love plot to it. This causes pressure on teenagers to enter their own romantic relationships because, “it’s what everyone else is doing.” By nature, humans want to fit into their environment and with their peers and if that means entering a romantic relationship, even if they aren’t ready, then that’s what they will do.

Relationships are seen everywhere nowadays, even though many teens say that they are content in not being involved in a romantic relationship they feel pressured to be in a relationship. This is due to how often teenagers are reminded of others, especially their peer’s, relationship statuses, and more oftenly the ones who are engaged in romantic relationships.

https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/best-tv-couples

https://www.teenzeen.org/teens-and-dating.html

Survey done by me

Genero Accooe

4/22/18

English 3

Larissa Pahomov

Due to recent events, many people are questioning the safety of what we  humans call, social media. About 2 week ago, Facebook's creator, Mark Zuckerberg went on trial on Capitol Hill as Facebook was caught dealing information to Cambridge Analytica which is a company hired by President Donald Trump which deals with data mining and storing, and strategies for elections. The reality of all this is that this data can all be accessed from each and every Facebook account on the planet which begs the question, do we really care about the actual information or the just the assumption that people/ companies make out of that data? People often care about consent when it comes to information, and many people be upset if they found out that their info was being used or studied once it was too late. People The data is misrepresenting and goes against what they themselves choose to portray online.

The grilling on Capitol Hill was long and awkward to most as Mark Zuckerberg  answered many of the senators questions, some of which seemed obvious due to their nature. One quick question that Senator Blumenthal had asked Mr. Zuckerberg had made it clear that even Zuckerberg did not fully agree with people invading his privacy. Blumenthal asked the CEO of Facebook if he would care to tell the senators were Zuckerberg had stayed the other night and had his beliefs on privacy confirmed when Zuckerberg refused to reveal that info. It goes to show that even someone like Zuckerberg who created the website which has abused others personal information wouldn’t like their own info used. Like most people, Zuckerberg wouldn’t want complete strangers to know where he’s stayed due to the probable dangers that could come from people that would like to do him harm. It seems that it is only specific information that Zuckerberg would have liked to show since due to the image he would like to convey to the media. If Zuckerberg were to have had his location known at almost all times then he would come off as a vulnerable person which can be a damaging trait to people in power and if they had the choice, they would certainly not allow such information to be put out into the media.

Even though Mark Zuckerberg was the main focus of the grilling on Capitol Hill, it still leaves people to question the thought process of those over at Cambridge Analytica. Aleksandr Kogan, the app developer for Facebook said that his actions were justified due to the companies so called “(“The belief in Silicon Valley and certainly our belief... was that the general public must be aware that their data is being sold and shared and used to advertise to them," - Kogan) In response to the interview, Cambridge Analytica said that they assumed that the data they were given did not violate data protection legislations and even began to ask consent from other users. This change of actions shows that the company saw some sort of problem with the way they gathered information and ultimately proves that they saw it shouldn’t be their choice to do as they please with others information but also shows that people often .

People often forget the risks of social media when it comes to their own privacy and take many of their choices lightly. They come in the form of blindly accepting the user agreement terms papers, posting or liking things that may end up damaging their own image, but the one thing that separates the two is that when humans do things against their will they revolt and become angry. Humans constantly battle for their free will, and constantly fight to make sure they are in complete controll of their lives and the ways in which thoes lives are percieved. The problem was not that Cambridge used data, it’s that it was against the will of thoes it came from.

Sources:

• Musil, Steven. “Cambridge Analytica Researcher Fires Back at Facebook on 60 Minutes.” CNET, CNET, 22 Apr. 2018, www.cnet.com/news/cambridge-analytica-researcher-fires-back-at-facebook-on-60-minutes/

• Granville, Kevin. “Facebook and Cambridge Analytica: What You Need to Know as Fallout Widens.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/facebook-cambridge-analytica-explained.html

English 3

Larissa Pahomov

4/23/18

Taming of The Shrew is book that centers around courtship and love, a man named Lucentio and his suitor Tranio arrive in Padua on their way to study when they see a lovely woman named Bianca. Lucentio finds Bianca to be beautiful in feature but he cannot marry her until her older sister Katharine is wed, they plan to marry her to a man named Petrucio who is a bit raw mannered. In the end, both parties get married but Katharine and Petruchio are the couple with a stronger bond than that of Lucentio’s marriage. The film Juno, which aired in the year 2007, was about a high schooler named… Juno!, who finds out that 3 months after her first and only sexual encounter, she’s pregnant! Juno decides to find a family to adopt the baby and go about her life as if nothing happened but this wouldn’t be much of a movie without some drama. The adoptive parents ended up divorcing due to the love between the two diminishing, while the two teens somehow come to a conclusion that they were meant for eachother.

The thing about love is that it's an uncontrollable thing, it doesn’t actually manifest right away as we can see from our two couples [ In Taming of the Shrew, and Juno] Juno and her partner Paulie were friends they weren’t actually in love with each other, one day Juno is really bored, and she gets the idea to make love with Paulie. Throughout the movie Juno makes it clear that she has no actual interest Paulie which could be tied back to the way that Katerine speaks to Petruchio after he reveals his motives (to marry her)

PETRUCHIO

For patience she will prove a second Grissel,

And Roman Lucrece for her chastity.

And to conclude, we have 'greed so well together,

That upon Sunday is the wedding day.

KATHERINE

I’ll see thee hanged on Sunday first. (Shrew, lines 258)

This quote may not be an exact parallel to the scene of Juno and Paulie bedroom chat but it has some similarities in which i could point out: In this scene, Juno goes over Bleekers house to talk about the adopted family she plans on giving the baby to, Paulie is accepting to all that is happening in response to this accident which shows us a very warm side that Paulie has for Juno despite her more rough and over stepping nature when it comes to taking care of issues. The talk leads to Paulie making a comment on the nature the couples faint but somewhat relevant love for each other, suggesting that he’d indeed like to get serious;

Paulie - “I mean we-we could always get back together too… that’s an option.”

Juno   - “...Oh-uhh-w-were we together?”

Unfortunately Juno strikes down the comment, suggesting that whatever they “might” of had together was barely there suggesting once more that Juno has yet to accept him as a partner. See, the two quotes may be on different levels due to the fact that the Shrew characters are dealing with marriage rather than BF & GF relationships and shows a little more seriousness as they are adults doing adult things… But Juno and Paulie are kinda doing the same although the seriousness comes from the fact that they have already created a child which lies in Juno. Both soon to be couples have one side which wants to make something official while another wants to deny any possibility of it happening… in the beginning.

The second quote has to do with the actual arguments that the two couples have as well as the one thing they both have in common, embarrassment. Throughout the book Taming of the Shrew, Petruchio pulls many psychotic pranks on Katharine, making her almost ashamed to be alive, let alone being married to a man. Petruchio’s most daring prank in terms of embarrassment, making his way to their wedding in garbs ridden with rot and stenches and has the whole audience shocked. His arrival gives Katharine a near heart attack, sending her running off in fury:

Juno may not have as much reason/ fury to bring to Bleeker but it is definitely juxtaposed. Due to the obviously pregnant Juno becoming larger in appearance, coupled with the fact that Bleeker is not taking her to prom puts her in a worse mood than before about the pregnancy. The two show the humiliation that the woman in the story faces due an action made by the male in the relationship. Even if Paulie’s negligence to protection wasn’t totally his fault it still left Juno with the feeling of loneliness when going through a situation of embarrassment. The outcome of the two love scenarios may have seen both couples triumph in the end, the conflicts they had may have only been loosely tied together but they ultimately show that love can bloom from damaged or complex relationships.

In my essay, I am writing about the comparisons that can be made between the book The Taming of the Shrew and the  movie Hitched for the holidays. In the movie there are two different families who don't know about each other but each family is pressuring someone from their family to find love.A guy from the one family and a girl from the other find each other, plot to fool their families and then during the plan end up fall in love with each other. In the book The Taming of the Shrew, there was a strong love drive in many of the characters but they used many complex plans and plots to get their desired outcomes even going as far as trading personalities. The main focus of the comparisons that I would like to make are about honesty and deception in relationships because this is a topic that happened through a majority of the play and movie with a true love shines bring at the end which is something again seen in both the movie and the book.

One reason why the play and the movie can  relate to each other is because in both the play and the majority of the dialogue showed  most of the characters plotting and planning in order to gain their family, friend, and or acquaintances to trick their families into thinking that they're both actually in love with one another. In the movie, a man by the name of Rob is being pressured by his family to get a girlfriend.  They want him to find love especially since it’s holiday season and this time of year is known for the romance and loving atmosphere. . There is a female character named Julie that is also experiencing the same situation in her family. It is key to remember that these character’s haven’t met or know each other yet. They meet online through an add,  that stated, tand thus they answer each others adds and thus they find each other. In this movie, they are each lying to their families and in Julie’s case her family and some of her friends about each other even having to fake religious beliefs just to get a believable story. In the play, although the motives were different the actions of lying were still the same. Lucentio and Tranio acted like people they were not to get the girl Lucentio  wanted. Lucentio switched places to get closer to Bianca without anyone knowing. Not even Bianca knew about the plots and planning.

In the movie Hitched for the Holidays there was a lot of pressure for a from Robs family for him to get married and find a relationship. Julie was going through the same thing from her family. Like in Taming of the Shrew there was a lot of pressure for Katherine to get married. There were a lot of men that wanted katherines little sister Bianca but no one wanted katherine herself because she was known for her bad and sour attitude. Their father even made it a rule that in order for Bianca to get married her older sister would have to get married first. Even thought that put more pressure on the men trying to get with Bianca that still put a lot of pressure on Katherine wich you could tell through her acts of aggression towards her younger sister Bianca when tying her up and hitting her.  

At the end of the book Rob and Julie after having a rough patch in their fake relationship ended up falling in love on New Year's night at the end of the movie. That is just like how in the end of the book Kathrine admitted to finding true love with Petruchio even after his rough “taming” process. Over the time of their relationship which wasn't exactly the definition of true love Katherine grew to love Petruchio

In conclusion, throughout The taming of the shrew and Clueless, both characters Katherine and Cher make these realizations at the end of the book and the movie. In The taming of the shrew Katherine was a woman who didn’t listen to anyone, had a bad temper, and had these expectations set for her because it was expected due to her status and attitude. Whereas, in Clueless was a girl who had status and made herself believe she was too good for others that weren’t what her expectations sought to be. In the end they both saw different things through their relationships that things aren’t always what they seem to be. In society we put expectations on what relationships should be or who we should be with depending on we stand on the social ladder and the higher up you are the more expectations one tends to have. Therefore, for both of these characters we see growth through their actions and in the end they realize it shouldn’t be that way.