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“Something in the Air”, a French film directed by Olivier Assayas, follows high school students after the May 1968 events. The film begins in 1971 and the spirit of revolt is still in the air. A group of high school students begin to take part in the revolution in Paris. The story is told from the perspective of Gilles, an aspiring artist and filmmaker, and follows the lives of himself and his friends.
The film is a coming of age story of students trying to discover themselves in a time of turmoil. Political ideology and rebellion presents things that the students must grasp. They must understand where they stand on these pressing issues in their world. The students experiment with sex, drugs, and politics throughout the film as they also transition into adults.
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.

Students battle between understanding radical ideas such as anarchy and Marxism, and understanding their own place within the world they live.Gilles and his friends plan to vandalize their school one night as a form of protest. They are nearly captured by the security gua...

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... passion for revolution. . As they work together at school with the protests and live with each other for the summer, they begin a romantic relationship that does involve sex. Sex is viewed as a very a casual thing for the youth to during that time. It ties along with nudity throughout the film.
Nudity is viewed more as art than over sexualized. Several times throughout the film, women are topless and at one point a man is completely nude. At each of these moments, you can hear the audience gasp and make comments, this is mostly the younger audience. Compared to the United States during this time, the French youth are more liberal and free when it comes to nudity and sex. Sexuality and nudity were embraced as opposed to earlier in history. Nudity was almost a symbolic revolt of the earlier generations and their authority because they were more modest conservative.

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