ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Videos by Tag 4102 videos
GED Social Studies 1.1 Civics and Government
This video defines utopias and dystopias, and investigates how a utopia might become a dystopia. Can a seemingly perfect world actually be a dystop...
We may all be fools when it comes to love, but thankfully none of us will accidentally switch places with our twin brother and fall in love with ou...
Monster 21914 Views
Share It!
Description:
Monster isn't about the kind of monsters that hide under your bed. These ones are way worse.
Transcript
- 00:04
Monster, a la Shmoop. There’s something in your closet… and
- 00:14
it ain’t just your laundry hamper.
- 00:21
When you first showed up on this planet . . . . . . there were only two people who really
- 00:25
mattered to you. But that didn’t last long.
- 00:28
By the time you left elementary school . . . . . . you cared a lot less what your ma and
Full Transcript
- 00:32
pa thought. . . . . . and a whole lot more about what these
- 00:34
guys thought. Which isn’t such a bad thing, as long as
- 00:37
your friends stay out of trouble . . . . . . but what about when they don’t?
- 00:42
In Monster, Steven is a teenager on trial for murder.
- 00:45
From the opening of the novel, we’re not sure if Steven is guilty of a crime . . .
- 00:48
. . . or just a guy with bad luck who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
- 00:52
One thing we do know . . . . . . is that Steven could have used some
- 00:55
better friends. So why didn’t Steven just walk away when
- 00:59
James tried to recruit him as part of his “crew”?
- 01:01
Is peer pressure that powerful? Well, most of us don’t like being on the
- 01:08
outside. We want to be “cool.” We want to be accepted.
- 01:13
Even when we hear that little voice . . . . . . telling us maybe these aren’t the
- 01:16
kind of folks we should be hanging around with.
- 01:19
But you’ve got to admit, some people are hard to say no to . . .
- 01:23
. . . and fear makes us do a lot of things we know we shouldn’t do.
- 01:29
Steven might have gotten involved with James because he was afraid of what might happen
- 01:32
if he didn’t. Then again, maybe fear had nothing to do with
- 01:36
it. Maybe Steven was so unsure about his future
- 01:38
. . . . . . and tempted by James’ promise of easy
- 01:40
money . . . . . . that he let the loudest voice in the
- 01:43
room tell him what to do. That’s the thing about peer pressure . . .
- 01:47
. . . the people doing the talking make what they’re selling sound pretty sweet . . .
- 01:51
. . . and it takes a whole lot of strength to resist.
- 01:56
Some people are good at standing up for themselves . . .
- 01:58
. . . and some people aren’t. So, why do we have so much trouble resisting
- 02:03
peer pressure? Shmoop amongst yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...