Euphoria’s Power of High School Perception
It’s no secret that the season two premiere of HBO Max’s, Euphoria, has caused nothing short of an explosion of buzz and excitement among its teenage and young adult audiences. Incredibly, the premiere of the first episode of season two alone (13 million) amassed double the amount of average viewers of all of season one (6.6 million).
However, Euphoria only amplified the intensity of the content, and with that came controversy.
The show does not shy away from showing debilitating drug addiction, intense drug deals, frequent nudity, pedophilia, violence and more amongst all of the high school aged main characters. Many have taken to different social media platforms, Tik Tok in particular, to voice their concerns about the reality of high school experiences across the country.
While some have said that the presence of drugs and the parties filmed on the show are much more recurrent than within most high school realities, but with that presented a new Tik Tok trend: users have told stories of how their high school experiences have matched many of the things that are presented in Euphoria.
With 6,302 undergraduate students at Elon, each and every student has had their own high school experience that has shaped them.
“Euphoria was really nothing like my high school,” says sophomore Carolyn Phair, who attended a small public school outside of Boston. “There wasn’t really any hard drug use or anything like that.”
In another experience, sophomore Ashley Joyce has had a unique experience with an all girls school.
“At an all girls school, there really wasn’t any drama or interactions with boys on a day-to-day basis,” Joyce said. “That made my high school experience much different from any co-ed school.”
In a completely different high school experience, sophomore Karleigh Fisher went to a mid-to-large-sized public school.
“Some of the party scenes I could see, but a lot of things were exaggerated,” Fisher said. “Hard drugs weren’t a huge thing at my school.”
While many may say that certain aspects of the show are amplified for effect, the show does touch on many different forms of mental health that are greatly prevalent among high school students.
Illnesses such as drug and alcohol addictions, anxiety, depression, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and bipolar disorder are present among many of the main characters.
For example, Rue, the narrator and main character of the show, has been suffering with a severe drug and alcohol addiction. She has been in and out of rehab centers, but is still battling her addiction throughout both seasons.
Nationwide, 50% of teenagers have reported misusing drugs at least once and 62% of teenagers in 12th grade have reported abusing alcohol.
In reality, many of the literal plotlines are not always accurate, but the show has taught viewers to understand that everyone experiences high school differently. Through the lessons taught through the mental health of the characters and the wildly different plotlines of each character, it is important to always remember that there are things that others are going through behind doors and to never judge anyone.