Sunday, November 10, 2019

Coming-of-Age Genre and Films


The coming-of-age genre is a subgenre of teen films and often falls under other genres such as drama. comedy, and romantic comedy. This genre contains popular movies and classics such as The Breakfast Club (1985), Mean Girls (2004), and Clueless (1995). Directors such as George Lucas and John Hughes have delved into this genre along with many others. Arising after the establishment of teenagers as their own age group in the post-WWII era, the film genre continues today with recent productions such as To All The Boys I've Loved Before (2018), Eighth Grade (2018), and Booksmart (2019).

The Breakfast Club
© Universal Pictures/From Everett Collection
This genre focuses on the transition of a character or group of characters from their youth to their adulthood. These characters tend to be teenagers.

Coming-of-age films often show the time's relevant digital technology, especially when it comes to phones and music playing devices. Cars and motorcycles may also make an appearance as driving is associated with a sense of independence, a common theme in the genre. Scenes with alcohol and illicit substances are also relatively common, depending on the production company.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower
© 2011 Summit Entertainment, LLC
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
©Paramount/From Everett Collection
Stereotypes and cliches are heavily used and often are crucial to the setup and development of the movie's plot, as it is a common convention in teen films. These include, but are not limited to the artsy kids, the band geeks, the brainy kids, the drama kids, the gamers, the goths, the hipsters, the jocks, the loners, the nerds, the kid-next-door type, the "popular" group (the elite girls is a subcategory), the skaters, and the troublemakers. Social groups are a key convention.

Mean Girls
©Paramount
This genre focuses more on internal growth in the protagonist rather than on external growth. That is, moral growth and maturity are what make the character come-of-age, not physical aging. Common themes include bullying, teen/young romance, familial conflict, and angst/rebellion. Others include the loss of virginity, teen pregnancy, high school, cliques, and pop culture. Due to the themes and content, there is more emphasis on dialogue than action.

Juno
©Fox Searchlight Pictures
Color in coming of age films tends to be bright. A youthful feel is created using soft and medium shades, jewel tones and darker colors are typically reserved for costumes and not for set design. The world is colorful unless purposely desaturated for narrative purposes. 

To All the Boys I've Loved Before
©Netflix
Costumes tend to be trendy and in line with what teenagers are wearing at the time, though it may vary for characters who belong to subcultures to allow for accurate characterization (for example, goth characters will wear goth fashion rather than what is mainstream). Styles may be eclectic in order to show a character's personality.

Eighth Grade
©A24
Actors tend to be young adults or adults in these productions rather than teenagers, this is due to the coming-of-age genre being dominated by American production companies and child labor laws that may prevent teen actors from working on full-time movie productions. This leads to a cast that may not look teenage while still representing (typically) teenagers. However, sometimes non-teenage actors are used in order to have explicit sex scenes present in the film. For example, Booksmart used 26 and 27-year-old actresses in order to portray a graphic lesbian sex scene.

Booksmart
©Annapurna Film
Typical shots used in coming of age films are close-ups, mid-shots, and two shots. This is because the story tends to focus on characters, internal dialogue, and relationships between characters. Sound tends to be non-diegetic in coming-of-age movies. Soundtracks tend to use popular music. The kind of music used depends on the gender of the protagonist. Rap/hip-hop is typically used for men, while pop music, especially by female artists, is used for women. Sound effects are not conventional in this genre.

10 Things I Hate About You
©Buena Vista Pictures
The main audience for coming-of-age movies target either young teen or older teen audiences. The target audience depends on the content of the movie. Those that overlap with romantic comedy tend to target younger teen audiences due to their more lighthearted material. Coming-of-age movies that overlap with drama target older audiences, which is teens but may include adults.

Lady Bird
©A24
Recently, with the rise of social media, it has become a crucial part of advertising for coming-of-age films. Posts shared on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have become a status quo. Sponsored posts, hashtags, and giveaways online have become commonplace ways for films to advertise themselves. Ads on these websites, and on YouTube allow for the target audience to discover these movies.


Due to viewership shifting from the traditional cinema to online streaming services, this means that there is a greater focus on thumbnails than movie posters. They show the main character or characters and have a trend of being colorful. The rule of thirds is applied to the thumbnails as well.

Netflix Thumbnail

Netflix Thumbnail

Netflix Thumbnail

Mean Girls (2004) is a perfect example of the coming-of-age movie. Cliches and social groups are the entire points of the movie, adapted from a parenting book Queen Bees and Wannabes. The movie follows Cady Heron as she navigates her first year in an American public high school. It follows her transition from the new girl to mean girl to queen bee to a normal member of the student body. Her maturity, self-identity, and awareness grow throughout the development of the plot. Iconographies like alcohol, cars, and mobile phones are plentiful throughout the film. Color in the film is bright and costuming is appropriate for the time period's trendy teens: from outcast Janis's look to the Plastic's juicy velour sweatsuits and miniskirts. The marketing of the movie fits into the trend of focus on characters and bright colors.
Mean Girls
©Paramount

Clueless (1995) is another prominent example of a coming-of-age movie. Cher Horowitz is part of the popular girls at her school, playing into cliques and cliches. This convention is furthered by the introduction of the character of Tai Fraiser. Cher chooses her due to the fact that Tai is "unhip". As the story progresses, Cher's worldview is confronted and she is forced to reflect. She is no longer allowed to be a selfish, self-absorbed girl in her own world. But rather, she realizes her feelings towards her ex-step brother and that she needs to put an effort into her schoolwork in order to succeed. This is where her internal growth comes from. The iconography is similar to Mean Girl's where phones, alcohol, illicit substances, and cars.

Clueless
©Paramount

If this is a genre that interests you, here are a few good films not mentioned already in the article you can watch to appreciate the film and the beautiful and fun genre.
  • Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
  • Stand By Me (1986)
  • The Spectacular Now (2013)
  • Boyhood (2014)
  • Sixteen Candles (1984)
  • American Beauty (1999)
  • Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
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