Activity 1

For this week, we were instructed to expand on one of the questions provided in the worksheet based upon the video "Through a Blue Lens." Despite the malfunction of the speakers in class, I actually found the video pretty intriguing, and I credit this to the underlying message and theme that I feel was portrayed. Therefore I've decided to address the question, "What was the underlying theme or message of this film in your opinion? Was it effective? Why or why not?"

To begin with, I think the message being transmitted was that it is vital to raise awareness about the consequences of abusing or even doing serious drugs because the effects are not necessarily foreseeable. Personal stories always seem to effectively convey messages and are usually really relatable, at least for the most part. I got the message and I feel that others similar to me would as well.

I enjoyed that the police officers featured in the video were more focused on interacting with the drug addicts on a personal level as a way to get help for them, versus focusing primarily on their arrest rate and temporarily getting the users off of the street. The officers also repeated that the life of the addicts were similar to their own before they were introduced to serious drugs like cocaine and heroin, so there is also a possible underlying message being that drug addicts are not necessarily born on to a bad path. Something triggers drug use that in turn changes the course of their life, however by raising awareness of the consequences of drugs, hopefully it can encourage those confronted with drugs to not make the same mistakes.