Changing Focus

Not really a music video, per se, this is an excellent musical drama aimed at teens, which focuses on the efforts of the Oak Bay High School students to produce an anti-drug and alcohol music video. The main character Julie is having some trouble with her boyfriend, who tends to drink a bit and downgrades her involvement with the video. She also has a younger sister who likes to "get involved" at Julie's parties (meaning drinking one beer after another). Although these "stories" constitute the linking scenes between segments of the proposed video, it is the video itself which is the real achievement of the program. Loosely patterned after The Wizard of Oz, with elements of Alice in Wonderland thrown in, the story follows Julie's death in a drinking-related accident, and her subsequent awakening in a land much like Oz. On the yellow brick road, Julie meets Curiosity and Caution--a double-sided figure reminiscent of Tweedledee and Tweedledum. She is also befriended by the lion, the scarecrow, and tin man, who each have faults that they're inclined to fix with alcohol and drugs rather than common sense and work. All in all, the program eschews the treadworn "just say no" path for a creative and intelligent, even artistic, way of showing kids how drugs and alcohol are not necessary for self-esteem. Highly recommended for high school libraries; some public libraries may also want to consider this. (See KID BITS for availability.)