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Thirteen: The Age of Adolescence
Adolescence is the stage in life when you are no longer a child, but not yet an adult. There are many things that still need to be explored, learned and conquered. In the film Thirteen, the main character, Tracy Freeland, is just entering adolescence. While trying to conquer Erikson’s theory of Identity vs. Role confusion, Tracy is affected by many influences, including family and friends that hinder her development. Many concepts from what we have learned in class can be applied to this character from identity development, to depression, to adolescent sexuality and more. In this film Tracy is a prime example of an adolescent and much of what I have learned this year can be applied to her character.
“Fitting in” is a concept that is seen a lot in adolescence. Teenagers will do pretty much anything at times to have friends or appear to be “cool.” That is exactly what happens to Tracy in this film. As the film begins, Tracy is a good, simple girl, and her pureness all changes when she befriends the most popular girl in school, Evie Zamora. Evie is very rebellious. She does not have a strong authority figure in her life (Levy-Hinte, London, & Hardwicke, 2003). The sweet, innocent young Tracy is soon to be completely transformed. Evie is vividly a bad influence on Tracy from the beginning, as seen when she influences Tracy to steal something the first time they hang out together (Levy-Hinte, et al., 2003). Stealing is illegal and considered a minor crime and turns Tracy into a delinquent (Berk, 2011). Tracy’s identity development is heavily influenced by her new friendship with Evie from that moment on. Evie is so popular, but she makes very poor choices and Tracy follows her lead because she wants ...
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...t this theory in development, Tracy must decide what is truly important in her life and head in the right direction. She still has a lot of growing up to do.
Tracy Freeland in Thirteen is the epitome of a person going through the stage of adolescence. All of the surroundings you grow up in affect and help shape the person you become. In Tracy’s case, her identity was formed by her choices with her new friends, and how she chose to explore that new world. It can be seen throughout this film how easily adolescents are influenced by those around them when deciding the type of person they want to be in adulthood.
References
Berk, L. E. (2011). Exploring Lifespan Development (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Levy-Hinte, J. (Producer), London, M. (Producer), & Hardwicke, C. (Director). (2003). Thirteen [Motion Picture]. United States: Working Title Films.
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Adolescence is the time of development and mental advancement that happens between the onset of puberty and the fulfillment of physical and emotional development. Despite the fact that young ladies experience more dramatic physical change throughout adolescence than do young men, they have a tendency to achieve puberty prior and take less time to achieve development. Immaturity in girls start around the age of eleven and proceeds through about age sixteen. In youthful men, the same period starts about the age of thirteen and proceeds through about age eighteen. After about age fourteen, guys are,normal, heavier and taller than females. The motion picture film Thirteen, directed by Catherine Hardwicke introduces a correct and important point of view on the post-millennial adolescent experience and also displays many issues teens face in today’s society such as peer pressure, teenage sexuality, and drug use,
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The picture focuses on Tracy (the wondrous Evan Rachel Wood), a sensitive, impressionable, profoundly confused teen, who out of desperation and uncertainty, turns to nihilism. Some have deemed the picture lurid and exploitative, but for the more liberal-minded, its message is significant and has value. Thirteen does not condone or glorify reckless, self-destructive behavior; rather it warns adolescents of the dangers and temptations they will surely be confronted with, while concurrently stressing the need for parental guidance and
This film contains some classic examples of the kinds of real life issues adolescents deal with. Issues such as popularity, peer relationships, family/sibling relationships, sex, and struggles with identity are all addressed in this ninety-minute film.
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When life becomes overwhelming during adolescence, a child’s first response is to withdraw from the confinement of what is considered socially correct. Individuality then replaces the desire to meet social expectations, and thus the spiral into social non-conformity begins. During the course of Susanna’s high school career, she is different from the other kids. Susanna:
Thirteen is an arduous age. It is the average age in which one begins to explore their own sense of self, to challenge the lessons taught by their elders and to navigate and experiment with their newfound sexuality. Joe is no exception to this, however the way in which he approaches this delicate period is abruptly altered following
Knowles' book focuses on the adolescent period of life. Adolescence is a very confusing time of life, primarily because a person fluctuates from wanting to be a child and being innocent to wanting to be an adult and questioning life. Knowles emphasizes that both worlds of adolescent and adult life share many similarities and overlap often--they are not separate entities. Even in the green, neatly kept paradise of Devon School, there existed some areas of uncontrolled wilderness.
After reading the directions and topic for this paper, I was extremely eager to get started. Adolescence is a stage of life that is very critical for a person. Speaking from my own experience, I know that the teenage years are a difficult part of life and during these years, one experiences a rollercoaster of different emotions, obstacles, and decision-making. Aside from the topic of Adolescence, I was glad that I could choose which movie I wanted to watch, and that was an easy decision. I decided to watch Sixteen Candles. The last time I watched this movie was when I received the DVD as a gift, which was when I turned sixteen. Watching the movie then, I obviously did not realize that most of the problems and events that occurred in the movie
... not as they conceptualized. As adulthood is commonly linked with age, the shift from adolescence to maturity arises with experience. In Joyce’s “Araby”, the emotional journey for the narrator, begins with the infatuation with his best friend’s sister, and ends with his disillusionment for love. In Mansfield’s “The Garden-Party”, Laura acts as a tie between the brightness and wealth of the Sheridan’s contrasted with the darkness and sorrow of the Scotts. While struggling with inner confusion, she attempts to build a unique identity for herself. Her emotional journey culminates with the viewing of the deceased man, and her powerful realization of life, where her life is put into perspective of life on a universal level. Both main characters experience major changes in their personality, as well as their psychology, and these insights change both of them incredibly.
Coming of age, the transition from childhood to adulthood is a universal theme in all cultures and societies, whether it is a story or a ritual. With any coming of age story, teens are trying to figure out their place in the world. This is evident in each of the paths the students take after the vandalism that took place at school. The students join the movement, but people like Gilles seem to be torn between the life he wants to live, as an artist, and the revolution. It almost appears as if some of the students are simply taking part in the movement for the sake of rebelling. It comes as no surprise that this is so. Teens typically want to rebel and be a part of a movement that is bigger than them.
Adolescence refers to the transition period experienced by children that occur between childhood and adulthood (Shefer, 2011). Identity is first confronted in adolescence between the ages 12 – 19 years old, because of physical and hormonal changes in the body. It is also due to the introduction of formal operations in cognitive development and societal expectation that this contributes to an individual’s identity to be explored and established (McAdams, 2009). The forces within and outside (family, community) the individual that promote identity development usually create a sense of tension. The basic task is, in Erikson’s terms, “fidelity or truthfulness and consistency to one’s core self or faith in one’s ideology” (Fleming, 2004: 9), in a nutshell: "Who am I and where am I
Adolescence is known as the most difficult stage of the human being, since it is the transition through childhood to adulthood and implies taking on new responsibilities and leaving behind some behaviours and attitudes that were part of our childhood. Most of the time, adolescents are stuck in a confusion stage in their lives. They get frustrated and overwhelmed while struggling to find their own identity. During this process of transformation, adolescents seem to constantly shift, they may act one way with a particular group of peers and completely different from another, they abruptly change their mood and it is very difficult for adults to understand what’s going on with them. Adolescence is not an easy stage and teenagers typically feel that they’re all alone and that nobody understands them, yet rarely do they want someone else’s advice.
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