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Representation of youth in todays media
Representation of youth in todays media
Representation of youth in todays media
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The Depiction of Youth Culture and “Coming-of-Age” Throughout American Film
Youth have a certain quality and charisma that has made making films about them not only an interesting endeavor but also fundamental to cinema (Shary, 2002). Representative of hope and change, children are viewed as the future. Youth culture, with its ‘here today and gone tomorrow’ kind of dynamic, suggests that children are also the future of film. For decades the film industry has relied on young audiences for patronage and also looked to youth for inspiration and just the kind of material that makes a relevant and refreshing script (Shary, 2002). Youth-oriented film has subsequently become a genre all its own (Shary, 2002). A history of American youth cinema would indicate no different. It is thus interesting to explore youth-oriented films and how films across time, namely Lolita (1962), Marathon Man (1976), Rain Man (1988), Kids (1995), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), have depicted youth culture, specifically the theme of “Coming-Of-Age.”
Coming-of-age is a process of maturation, realization, and transition. It has been approached in a number of ways throughout film history. At times, such approaches render similar as youth, no matter the decade, face the same developmental dilemmas and look to achieve the same life milestones. Other similar aspects include context like school, for instance, which has long been a favorite as well as important setting in youth-oriented films in which the character(s) come of age. However, contexts and approaches in depicting this theme have also differed over the years, understandably so as films must adapt to the political and social climate in which they are made. Nonetheless, films across time have de...
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... time retain one outstanding quality---they are empowering, first in how much power they give to the youth of that time. These are films for them and about them. They reflect their everyday experiences or those they long to have, with the best films knowing exactly what their young audiences want to see on screen and never judging them for it because the mistakes, struggles, and imperfections of young adulthood are timeless too. Second, coming-of-age films also give so much back to young audiences and empower them. These films’ characters have taught audiences what to do, how to feel, and essentially given them the tools by which to navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood and how to make it as painless as possible. As ‘coming-of-age’ changes or stays the same in meaning over time, youth culture, as a genre and subject, will remain a necessity in film.
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
To reach maturity it requires loss of innocence. It’s a coming of age experience that changes the outlook on life forever. For example, when Antonio saw Lupito’s death scene he couldn’t believe what had happened, he said “I had started praying to myself from the moment I heard the first shot, and I never stopped praying until I reached home.”(Anaya 23), he was terrified of what he had seen and didn’t know
Have you ever had one of those days that were so bad that you desperately needed a night at the ice cream or candy store? The 1970’s was that really bad day, while the night of self- indulgence was the 1980’s. Americans love to escape from our daily stress, and of all the products that allow us to do so, none is more popular than the movies. Movies are key cultural artifacts that offer a view of American culture and social history. They not only offer a snapshot of hair styles and fashions of the times but they also provide a host of insights into Americans’ ever-changing ideals. Like any cultural artifact, the movies can be approached in a number of ways. Cultural historians have treated movies as a document that records the look and mood of the time that promotes a particular political or moral value or highlights individual or social anxieties and tensions. These cultural documents present a particular image of gender, ethnicity, romance, and violence. Out of the political and economic unrest of the 1970’s that saw the mood and esteem of the country, as reflected in the artistry and messages in the movies, sink to a new low, came a new sense of pride in who we are, not seen since the post-World War II economic boom of the 1950’s. Of this need to change, Oscar Award winner Paul Newman stated,
When several films, including “A Raisin in the Sun” and “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” make the focus of films working for and acquiring his or her dreams, despite being made almost twenty years apart. A main factor in these films typically comes motherly support. Many times, you see the mother sacrificing her wants and needs in order to help her children succeed and achieve their dreams. Since the theme is common over time, it is relatable to the audience of the films and is a way to capture the audience and keep them focused on the film. Due to the similarities in both the theme of the role of the mother and achieving his or her dream, it can be shown that over decades, these themes remain constant, though the dreams, race, gender, and stories can change.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Everyone knows that growing up is not an easy thing to do. In fact, the teenage years can be one of the most tumultuous stages of a person’s life. Changes take place daily, making it seem as though a person has no control over his life. These years often are marked by feelings of insecurity, hostility, and uncertainty. Despite this, however, the fact remains that the teenage years also serve as a time of personal growth and maturation. Because these years are so important, it is my belief that schools would be wise to consider adding a unit devoted to the study of texts that chronicle this growth process. I believe that many students would benefit greatly from a curricular unit centered around the “coming of age” theme.
Almost every generation criticizes the current adolescent generation due to the difference of historical perspectives. In response to this, I went out into the world and decided to interview someone of these older generations, Diane Partee Miller. Mrs. Miller is the age of seventy-five and is my maternal grandmother. She grew up in the small town of Evansport, which is located in the Northern part of Ohio. Mrs. Miller was an adolescent and primarily grew up in throughout the prime years of the 1950s. Differences between these generations is evident in classes taken in high school, social acceptance of dress, romantic relationships, and technology.
"The Impact of Stereotyping on Young People." MediaSmarts. National Film Board of Canada, n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2014.
Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
The cliché saying, “Youth is wasted on the young” may apply to many people but not to all. Oskar Schell, a nine-year-old fictional character, can attest to that. In Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2005), he implies that youth is defined by a person’s intellectuality, relationships, and experiences.
I have chosen to review the film Boyhood written by Richard Linklater that took twelve years to film. In the movie Boyhood, it illustrates the life of a boy named Mason Jr. through the many stages of his childhood to adolescence to becoming an adult. The movie follows Mason Jr.’s life through his years of kindergarten, middle school, high school, and to college. Through these milestones in his life encounters society with socialization, culture and norms that are exhibited through his family, friends, and others. With factors of social classes, and gender that influence Mason Jr. as he grows and fits into the society that is formed. From the events and milestones in Boyhood, it is able to show human behaviour in society from our
There is a change between how the characters in teen coming of age films as seen in American Graffiti and Superbad. This is a sign of how society views teenagers or wants them to be portrayed to the public. It is not that teenagers have changed their behavior over time it is the idea that society has become more open and accepting of how a raunchy a film can be. In addition, both films represent society and its culture for the generation, American Graffiti was representing a time of innocence, which is shown through its characters while Superbad reflects the issues that teenagers in recent times have been pressured to do. Therefore, the teen coming of age film changes over time because it usually represents the generation of when the film is
In the movie Dennis the Menace, there are many different age groups represented; childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and older adulthood. During childhood, children are carefree, fearless, talkative, curious, and playful. In adolescence, teens are faced with many important responsibilities and decisions. They start to become more mature and become interested in the opposite sex and sexual actions. When you enter into the adulthood and older adulthood world then you are faced with many more decisions and obstacles including; what job you are going to choose to do for the rest of your life and when or if you are even going to get married and start a family. Also, you must think about buying food, clothes, a house, car and other necessities or wants.