Berlin Calling

1) To Ickarus, drug was a source of recreation and a mean of escape from reality and stress of maintaining work life balance. In addition to working endless night shifts as a DJ, the level of work demanded by his new album project made him feel stressed. So, in order to be proactive day and night to work for his upcoming album project, he depended on drugs.
2)  Ickarus's fan took drugs mostly for recreational purposes in the night clubs. With music and drugs, they got themselves delved into their pleasurable moments.  They took drugs like Ketamine pills, MDMA, Keta Crystal and other PMA-containing ecstasy tablet.
3) Although drug habits got him pill and into a psychosis, which affected his abilities to work, the Ickarus subculture continued to focus on the drugs because they got addicted from which they could never get out of.
4) Drug abuse in the movie seemed pretty normal in the Ickarus subculture, which may be one of consequence of the German culture backed up by freedom. In contrast, drug abuse is strictly prohibited in the culture I grew up and is often as considered as a criminal act.
5) I do not believe that the youth drug culture portrayed in the movie would affect the reputation of Germany as a strong industrial nation in the world. The work ethics of Ickarus and Alice was strictly commercial and in no means seem to affect any reputation of Germany. Also, they do not seem to represent the entire youth culture of Germany.
6) One of the American TV series I can relate to this movie is Breaking Bad,which also depicts drugs abuse, especially Crystal Methamphetamine in youths, along with its consequences in the society as a whole.

I found the movie pretty interesting, as it got me engaged into it. This movie also led me to evaluate the cultural differences in youth culture from different regions of the world. Being from Nepal, a south-Asian nation, I grew up in entirely different environment from that depicted in the movie. Although drug abuse does exist in my culture, it is considered strictly illegal and often considered crime, except for one day in a year when smoking marijuana is completely legal. Likewise, having been to America for almost three years, I have not got any exposure to any hard drug culture, but what surprised me most was the evolving attitude of people towards drugs like marijuana, which has already been legalized in some of the states like Colorado and Washington.
 Another aspect, I found different about German culture from mine are the behaviors and actions people show towards drug addicts. In addition to being treated with care, drugs addicts in Germany are admitted to the rehabilitation center with health amenities. However, in the culture I grew up in, I have not heard of any rehabilitation center, where they can be treated well with all best possible care. Overall, the movie really did a great job of portraying the youth culture of Germany, which helped me draw contrast with that of the culture I grew up in.