Coming-of-Age

A type of film which centers on a teenage protagonist or group of characters and their difficult rites-of-passage from adolescence to adulthood. Often episodic in structure, these films generally concern the social responsibility needed to grow up and the loss of childhood dreams and naivete. Films of this genre may be light and humorous or emotional, melodramatic, and sometimes tragic. Themes and subject matter include romantic pursuit or heartbreak, friendship dilemmas, alienation, sexual identity, runaways, juvenile delinquency, drug and alcohol experimentation and/or addiction, and vocational questions. Coming-of-age movies became an important genre during the baby-boom era with movies that discussed adolescent issues of identity like Rebel Without a Cause, The Wild Ones, and East of Eden. The French brought coming-of-age films into the modern world with films like The 400 Blows, and numerous foreign filmmakers have excelled at presenting adolescence without the saccharine nostalgia that's marred numerous American efforts. Examples include The Year My Voice Broke, Flirting, Lovers, Life is Sweet and Europa Europa. In the ‘70s, American film studied teenagers honestly with such films as Summer of ‘42, American Graffiti, and Breaking Away. The ‘80s gave way to a rush of films by John Hughes that treated the subject with humor and drama (Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Weird Science). The ‘90s saw other strong examples like The Man in the Moon, Dazed and Confused, My Own Private Idaho, Rambling Rose, and Welcome to the Dollhouse, films that took a more cynical glimpse at a world that forces its children and teenagers to grow up too fast.

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