2. Basic History
Changing social attitudes meant that parents
wanted their children to have full educations,
uninterrupted by work or military service. As a
result, young people found themselves with larger
allowances and more free time. The dramatic
possibilities of this stage of life, marked by
mutiny, worry and young love, quickly became
evident to movie-makers, so then the film genre
coming-of-age drama was born. Films from this
genre are often known as ‘teen movies’.
3. The 50’s
• The genre coming-of-age drama, started to become
popular in America in the late 50s. The idea of an
intermediate stage between childhood and adulthood,
with its own problematic obstacles, was still new when
Marlon Brando donned his biker jacket in The Wild One
(1953) and answered "What are you rebelling against?"
with "What've you got?“
• Rock and Roll was the sound that defined the 50’s era
especially for teenagers, and featured strongly in the
early coming-of-age movies. Rock Around the Clock
(1956) was one of the first films to be aimed primarily at
teenagers and purposely excluding adults. Its success
encouraged Hollywood to explore this new demographic
group.
4. The 60’s & 70’s
• The Gidget movies and Beach Party
(1963) created narratives and
protagonists which outlined the mood of
the 60s. Music, comedy and romance
alongside Californian sun and skimpy
bikinis. Much of the early success of the
coming-of-age genre is because it
crosses over so fluidly with other genres.
• The 70’s brought us some of the most
well known coming-of-age films: such as
‘American Graffiti’ (1973) ‘Mean Streets’
(1973) and ‘Grease’ (1978). The genre
had evolved a lot since the 60’s with more
realistic teenage related themes being
presented in the narratives and coming-
of-age was becoming a popular box office
genre.
5. The 80’s
• High-school comedies featuring the
so-called ‘Brat Pack’ were huge in
the 80s - a prime example being
The Breakfast Club (1985). None of
these films would be complete
without the ‘high-school trinity’: the
bitchy cheerleader, the hot
footballer and the abused nerd. In
teen films, this has become a key
convention, to have the
stereotypical characters. Sixteen
Candles (1984), Stand By Me
(1986) and Say Anything (1989) are
all popular coming-of-age movies
from the 80’s.
6. The 90’s
This was the era when transforming classic literacy texts
into teen-aimed motion pictures was popularised. These
films were created around the coming-of-age genre,
teenagers being the main target audience. This is
evident in Clueless (1996) which is an update of Jane
Austen's Emma, Romeo + Juliet (1996), and 10 Things I
Hate About You (1999), based on The Taming of the
Shrew.
Films like ‘Pump Up The Volume’ and ‘American Pie’ were
also massive coming-of-age success stories of the 90’s.
The themes were very explicit by this time being mainly
sex and drug related issues.
7. The genre today
The Coming of Age genre remains popular with modern
audiences, however it’s represented in a few different
forms. The ‘Harry Potter’ series uses magic as a forum
for aging, whereas films like ‘Superbad’ and ‘Juno’ focus
on sex as the ‘key’ to adulthood. Also movies about the
end of the American extended adolescence; films like
‘500 Days of Summer’ and ‘Garden State’ feature
characters, who, though they may look like adults, are
struggling to shake off childish fantasies in order to come
to terms with adulthood. The conventions of a coming of
age film have changed over time, this being down to real
life situations and also how style and music has
developed.
8. My film
Doing this background research of my
genre’s history, has helped me to
understand how the different generic
conventions of a coming-of-age drama,
have helped shape and define the genre
over time to how we know it today. I have
also extended my knowledge of how to
create a successful narrative and
protagonist to fit in with these conventions.
