It’s safe to say the HBO series “Euphoria” is taking the world by storm.
After airing one season in 2019, the second season premiered two and a half years later after filming was delayed due to covid-19.
The series stars Zendaya who plays Rue, a 17-year-old highschool student dealing with mental illness and substance use disorder. The show follows Rue, and other students through their lives who are going through their own struggles with drugs, sex and violence. Like any HBO series, it is extremely graphic and often controversial.
While “Euphoria” is very entertaining for those mature enough to handle its content, it has its fair share of critics, one of them being the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE). In a statement, DARE warned parents that the show “chooses to misguidedly glorify and erroneously depict high school student drug use, addiction, anonymous sex, violence and other destructive behaviors as common and widespread in today’s world.”
I am no longer an impressionable high schooler, but I can say this show has rather shown me the importance of helping people with substance use disorders and has helped me understand just how
painful it is both for those facing those challenges and their loved ones.
The creator of “Euphoria”, Sam Levinson, has said that he does not think the show is for anyone under seventeen, which also happens to be around the age of the main characters. I agree with Levinson,
not because the depictions of drugs and violence may influence teenagers to want to emulate what they see, but because the intensity of the content could be disturbing for younger teenagers.
While Rue has some cinematically beautiful, drug-induced dream sequences, in last week’s episode, she experiences a withdrawal from opioids. Rue destroys her home, says unthinkable things to her mother, terrifies her sister and burns bridges with all of her friends.
Even before this episode, Rue’s life has not been glamorized as something teenagers would want to emulate. While many teenagers would love to look like Zendaya, Rue’s appearance shows the dangers of substance use disorders.
In an interview about her character, Zendaya said, “it’s my hope for people watching that they still see her as a person worthy of their love. And worthy of their time, and that she has a redemptive quality still, and that we still see the good in her even if she can’t see it in herself.” Rue may not be a role model for teens, but she is teaching everyone in “Euphoria”’s audience to treat people battling substance use disorder with empathy and love.
