Modern Teen Films Research Paper

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A Comparison of Modern Teen Films and Those of the John Hughes Era Young adult or “Teen Movies” are a genre of films largely popularized by Director and Writer John Hughes during the 1980’s. Hughes wrote and directed such films as Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Breakfast Club - which are considered to be era defining films. In the modern era, however; their direction has shifted from films about leaving high school, young love, or the characters simply realizing they are about to enter adulthood to films that glorify teen drinking and drug use, sex, and partying. The first major difference between films of the John Hughes and the modern films is the glorification of teen drinking and drug use. In almost every modern film directed at young adults there’s at least one party scene and the use of marijuana or other drugs is rampant. The 2012 film Project X provides a great example of this glorification because the films entire plot …show more content…

Take the film American Pie for example, the major plot points of the film feature a group of high school students trying desperately to lose their virginity. This is actually such a common theme throughout modern teen films that it is even parodied in the film Not Another Teen Movie, which was essentially a parody of all the modern teen films which were out at that time. The films of the John Hughes era, on the other hand, never glorified underage sexual acts to the extent that the modern films did. His films still viewed the subject as highly taboo and in that time period the most risqué thing you would see in one his films is two teens kissing or in Ferris Buelller’s Day Off, for example the most risqué scene in the entire film is a scene in which Ferris Buellers girlfriend, Sloane is seen swimming in bikini. This shows how the view on what was once considered a highly taboo subject can change of time to become more accepted by a wide

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