The document provides an analysis of the coming of age film genre. It discusses how the genre focuses on the psychological and moral growth of protagonists from youth to adulthood. Classic films like Stand By Me and modern films like Booksmart are examined. While older films tended to focus on male protagonists, recent films increasingly feature female leads. The document also analyzes and compares the 1993 film Dazed and Confused and the 2019 film Booksmart as examples of the genre. Finally, it discusses how coming of age films do not always fit Vladimir Propp's theories of character types and story structure due to differences in scale and character development.

1. An Analysis of The Coming of Age Genre
In terms of the film industry, coming of age focuses on the
psychological and moral growth of one or more protagonists
from youth to adulthood and alwaysset in the early years of
a protagonistslife. (Immaturity to maturity).
The genre has become popularover the decades with classic
films like Stand By Me, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and The
Karate Kid to name a few, and all these films still hold up to
this day. And the genre is still populartoday, with Edge of
Seventeen, Perks of Being a Wallflower and Boyhood. The
genre has had some changes between when it first became
popularand today and this is mainly in terms of characters
and diversity. They used to be mainly focused on male
characters but as times have changed have begun to focus
even more on females being the main protagonists, not to
say we don’t still have these films with males as the main
characters, because they are still used in films today, they
just aren’t as common as they used to be.
Here are two analyses of two different films from the coming
of age genre. One film is very recent and the other was
released in the early 90’s. After analysingthem I will compare
how the two films relate to VladimirPropps theory.

2. Dazed and Confused was released in 1993, was directed
by Richard Linklater and is set in 1976 Austin Texas and
focuses on a bunch of teenagers on their last day of high
school by going to bars, indulgingin drugs and throwing a keg
party.
The film has a realistic approach to what a final day at an
American high school would feel like by showing multiple
characters in their own personal minor situations and scenarios,
dealing with their own problems, including one where some
young freshman are escaping seniors who are trying to beat
them up for fun. The charactersin the film are mostly male, with
some females who have their own things to deal with. The
character that the film mostly focuses on is Mitch Kramer (Played
by Wiley Wiggins), a freshman who is about to start his first year
of high school. He spends the movie, which takes place entirely
over one night, with these seniors, drinking, making out with
girls, as well as witnessing and slightly partaking in some
mindless but fun vandalism. Through the out the night Mitch
gets to experience what it feels like to be a high school student,
just by being around these seniors. By the morning when he
returns home he now has the idea of what his years at high
school is going to feel like and feels more confident about all of it
than he did at the start of the movie. The difference between
Mitch’sconfidence at the begging and at the end of the film is a
good representation of coming of age, and how experiences can
change you.
Booksmart was released in 2019 and was directed by
OliviaWilde. The film centres around two high school
overachievers who realise that they have wasted their years
of school without going to any parties or having much fun.

3. So they decide to cram all the fun into one night which
becomes filled with chaos they couldn’tpossibly prepare for.
The two main characters, Mollyand Amy, are inexperienced
and are considered by many students to be losers who only
care about schoolwork and don’t like havingfun. When it
they begin the night they are confident in everything going
smoothly but as they continue having fun throughout the
night they realise that even when having fun there comes
responsibility,there will still be obstacles you will have to
face. The films message is basicallytelling us that it’s okay to
have fun whilst working, and to live out your teen years
otherwise you will end up regretting it, which is why Molly
and Amy go out in the first place. The film also depictshigh
school as how it is to teenagers, like it’s actual life or death,
everything is a serious situation, like missing out on one
event can change how your life will feel. But most
importantlyfocuses on the emotion and the difficulty of
moving on from this part of your life which you are used to,
and saying goodbye to someone who has helpedyou through
those years of your life which would undoubtedlybe very
difficult to do. The difference between Mollyand Amy at the
start of the movie and the end is they have learned that you
can still go to parties and have fun whilst you try to succeed
as long as you are aware of what responsibilitiescould come
along.
I think havinga female director behind the camera helpsthe
film appealto its female audience, as well as having a mostly
female cast.

4. Differences
With the previous two films you can see the difference
between them in the way that Booksmart, the more recent
film, focuses entirely on the females as the main characters
rather than Dazed and Confused which mostly focuses on
males as it’s main characters. The reason for this change in
genders is really due to the way that media and films have
become more diverse over the years and because we have
already seen males as the main characters it is currently
more interesting to see females taking that role. It also
changes the films target audience;a film that is centred
around teenage girls is obviouslyaimed at a female audience
and the same goes for movies about males, but it is possible
for teenagers to like or relate to films with the opposite
target audience.This change shows that as the times change
over the years certain films seem to change their main
character to appealto a different target audience, as many
genres tend to do. They do this by includingthemes and
topics that relate to either teenagers of different genders or
cultures.
Similarities
There are some similarities between the two films despite
their differences. They both centre around the last night of
high school for its main characters. They share the theme of
teenagers having parties and making big decisionsbefore
they never have the opportunityto do them again.

5. Comparisonsto Propps Theories
In terms of ValdimirPropps Theory, Booksmart is the only
one of these two films that has any at all comparisonsto his
theory of character types; The two main characters, Molly
and Amy go out on a quest to make the most of their final
night of high school, which makes themselves dispatchers of
the story. However, the film has no other comparisonsto
either of Propps theories on story structure, and neither does
Dazed and Confused. I think this is because VladimirPropps
theories are made for fantasy and folklore stories, it’s
possible that they just don’t fit the coming of age genre
because it is too different and has a different target for its
characters.
However, I have found one other coming of age film that I
know that bears the most resemblance to the story structure
of VladimirPropps theory is the 1986 Rob Reiner classic,
Stand by Me. It followsa group of young boys on the quest
for a dead body and is based on Stephen Kings novella“The
Body”. There is an absentation;a local boy has been reported
missing, feared dead. Then there is the interdiction;one of
the boys overhears the news of the missing boy. Departure;
the boys leave their home on the quest for the body. Then
there is the trickery; one of the older boys in the town(the
bullies) steals the cap of the main character which belonged
to his now deceased older brother. Reconnaissance;the
bully’stry to learn more about the dead body and where it is.
Finally,the struggle; the main character, Gordie, saves his
friend, Chris, from the bully by pointinga gun at him in a
standoff. The bullyand his gang forfeit and leave our heroes
with the body allowingthem to take the credit for it.

6. In conclusionI believe that a coming of age story requires a
need for a character to mature into or out of something and
to learn to find their place in the world. The main character
should developa crush on someone in order to help the films
narrative. Film could involvea certain time setting of
whenever the creator wants, it couldbe set in modern day to
appealto modern audiences or set in the past in order to
show how life was like peopleof young ages in that time
period. The genre does not always fit into VladimirPropps
theories of characters and plot structure as they are both too
different to each other to be compared, in terms of scale and
character development.
By Harry T. Docwra
Bibliography
Stand By Me(Columbia Pictures, 1986)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off(ParamountPictures, 1985)
The Karate Kid(Columbia Pictures, 1984)
The Edge of Seventeen(STX Entertainment, 2016)
Perks of Being a Wallflower(SummitEntertainment, 2012)
Boyhood(Universal Pictures, 2014)
Booksmart(Annapurna Pictures, 2019)
Dazed and Confused(Gramercy Pictures, 1993)