Analysis Of The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody

Superior Essays
Just as everyone has been an adolescent, everyone has seen a depiction of adolescence somewhere in the media, and although scholar Sarah Blakemore discusses how a teenager’s reckless behavior is caused by an underdevelopment in the brain, as shown in her TED Talk “The Mysterious Workings of the Adolescent Brain”, she is overlooking that it is not the brain that affects a teens decisions but the environment the teens are placed in. Although there is a large amount of media portraying adolescents, this essay will discuss The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, directed by Jim Geoghan, and how the show portrays adolescents behavior. In the show, adolescents behaviors vary from child to child. The twin boys, Zack and Cody, are wild. They run freely throughout …show more content…
The parents divorced not long after the twins were born, which only increased their instability of life by adding a fight to make money. All their lives, the boys had no stable life up and would fight to make ends meet. This is the main reason why one grew up to be a rowdy teen and the other became responsible. Zack, the rowdy one, got used to the instability of things and, as a teen, only wants to be free and independent. Cody, the more responsible one, looked at the instability of his life and decided that wasn’t for him. He grew up wanting stability and now, as a teen, acts responsibly knowing it will get him further in life. He realizes that acting rowdy can be the cause of instability and sees his brother as going nowhere if he keeps the act up. He even goes as far as answering with “not yet” when someone asked if Zack was in jail. Showing that the real reason the boys act the way they do is their parents and environment that surrounds them. Zack looks up to his father, whereas Cody looks up to their mother. Their mother is actually around and has been there for them as they grew up. She is the one who is responsible and has taken care of the boys their whole lives. Their father is less mature. He flirts with the girls that come to his shows, acts recklessly, is overall very immature, and behaves like a third child. These …show more content…
This is shown multiple times through both shows. In The Suite Life on Deck, what the show turned into in 2008, the two boys were left on the Tipton ship for school. When their mother drops them off, you see them fear being left alone but once they realize they have freedom the boys fall back into their risky behavior. They break multiple things and multiple rules. In fact, when their parents come to visit they receive a bill of all the things the boys have broken and the parents offer to stay with the boys. Upon hearing this news, they both grimace and say with hesitation “permanently? While we are traveling the world? Doing our thing? Becoming young men?” It is quite obvious from their uncomfortable tone and body language they do not want them to stay. This is because they were used to being alone and independent. While on the boat, their mind shifted to being alone and taking risks because they had more freedom so when their parents came back and said they were going to stay with the boys, they became scared that their freedoms would be taken away and would have to live with more restrictions. This fear led them led them to sabotage their trip and embarrass their parents so they would not want to stay on the ship any longer. Although, one can argue it was their brain that pushed them into this it

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