Drivel, Sex and Marketing! 

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WILHOIT: I think underground can sell out. I go to hardcore shows a lot, and there are people who go there just to be able to say, "Oh, I'm at a hardcore show." But I guess you find that anywhere.

HENDERSON: Anything that has potential is eventually going to be exploited by the media; that's their job. A lot of the punk rock fans at school are always talking about who's a sell-out, and who's still underground. There's something more romantic about listening to music that only you know. It's like your special band. But then when they become more popular, it's not as unique or special.

CL: How do you feel about the way MTV and programs like The Real World or TRL portray teenagers?

ROSADO: It's realistic in many ways. They take the things that they know are going to be on teenagers' minds. But they're also very selective about what they decide to show, and they exaggerate. They don't show the stress of doing homework or things like that as much as they show sex and partying.

WEBB: On shows like The Real World, they always have this formula where they pick out the air-headed blond, the angry black guy, the gay person, etc. But I do think some of the situations are real. It's more intense because they're forced into this environment, and their reactions are more exaggerated, but I think it's just different roles, and people try them out. In a way it's helpful. Without it you wouldn't know what else was out there.

PFEIFFER: It's hard to watch MTV for more than 30 minutes and not get depressed. This is how people view my generation? That's really sad. And if people underestimate us that much, then that's equally depressing. MTV has reduced our culture to something you can fit in a 30-minute TRL segment. It's mindless. I can't say I completely reject MTV, but sometimes it's like I watch it out of morbid curiosity.

SIGMON: It makes us look stupid. It doesn't say much for our generation.

DOYNE: It seems like all kids do is go out and get drunk and have sex, and that's just not true for most people I know.

CASH: They only show an extreme section of the population because they know that's what sells. But that's not what real life is like. Especially on those Spring Break shows -- I mean people don't act like that.

WILHOIT: People act that way because they think that's what you're supposed to do when you're on camera. All this "real life" stuff is just people doing what they've already seen on TV.

HENDERSON: When you watch the Spring Break shows and stuff like that, I can understand why parents are so paranoid. There's definitely an aspect of the drinking and sex that goes on, but the people who don't do all that are very under-represented. They'll have these Spring Break show with all this drinking and sex, but then they take a commercial break and it's about safe sex or how harmful marijuana is. It's such conflicting messages. It's like they have to be PC but they're also winking at all the drug use and sex.

Bigger and Better?"No Actors! No Scripts! No Limits!" So goes the rallying cry of New Line Cinema's latest film, The Real Cancun, being released this weekend. (Rated R for "extreme partying.") As the reality genre increasingly dominates television, it was inevitable that the trend would make the jump to the big screen. And who else to better pioneer this scary transition than the good folks at MTV? They've already had one hit with Jackass, the cinematic masterpiece that included a guy shoving a toy car up his butt. Now, with The Real Cancun, the same production team behind The Real World and Road Rules has put together a film that promises to "explore reality's barriers beyond the limits of television while on the ultimate Spring Break vacation, with surprising and electric results!" Gee, I wonder what those "electric results" will be? My money is on lots of drunken hooting, plenty of pointless, overly dramatic catfights, and the non-stop, roller-coaster joy ride of watching college kids trying to "hook up." It'll probably do quite well at the box office.

While the current glut of reality programming probably doesn't signal the end of Western civilization, it's certainly having a significant influence on our pop culture landscape. Industry experts -- particularly those not involved in the reality genre -- keep saying that all programming trends are cyclical, and that eventually the whole reality thing will end. But then again, MTV's The Real World is heading into its 13th season, and The Real Cancun is just one of three reality-based movies coming out this summer. As one TV producer said, frustrated over the "reality"-dominated nature of the media, "stupidity will always overcome greed." But if the kids featured in this article are any indication, smarts still has a good fighting chance.