Coming Of Age Film Analysis

735 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Movie genres ESSAY

Genre plays a huge role in our cinematic experience. Whether audiences are deciding whether to watch a movie, or whether to recommend a film to fellow cinephiles, it is the most effective way to distinguish various forms of texts by categorising their characteristics with their familiar (Vocabulary.com, 2016). To establish this understanding, genres are associated with specific sets of codes and conventions. The coming of age genre, in this case, is a complex genre that originated from the literary bildungsroman genre that became prominent in the late 18th century. The narrative structure would focus on the moral and intellectual growth of the protagonist as a child is introduced into the adult world. This genre has evolved over the centuries, …show more content…

Usually the protagonist is a teenage boy and the story includes themes of death of a loved one (e.g. Father’s death in Aparajito (1956)), separation of family (e.g. Parents’ divorce in The Squid and the Whale (2005), sexuality (e.g. Exploration of homosexuality in Danish film You are not Alone (1978)), falling in love for the first time (e.g. Juli and Bryce in Flipped (2010)) and loss of virginity (e.g. Little Darlings (1980)), and are usually are portrayed through characters’ ‘inner-voice’ through voice over and narration. Additionally, many coming of age films are set in the past and retold by their future selves as a form of flashback, for example, 1986 film Stand by Me, in which the protagonist, Gordie Lachance, is narrating the film as an adult, as he reminisces and recounts the journey of searching for a dead body when he was just 12 years …show more content…

When she presented the script to the owners, they agreed it was an excellent representation of the novel and granted her permission to create the movie. The inspiration this novel gave Coppola truly drove her passion for film making, which is clearly apparent in every frame of this movie. Her attention to detail is immaculate and her distinct ethereal style portrays the story in a beautiful way, often imitating the internal workings of the characters themselves, creating this harmonious atmosphere between character and cinematic

Show More
Related

  • Confronting Reality: How Nosferatu Exemplifies Film Horror Tactics

    2551 Words  | 6 Pages

    Many films, and sometimes film genres, are dismissed as being part of the cinema of escapism. This assumes that in times of particular social or economic hardship (often on a national or international level), people go to movies for the sole purpose of “getting away from it all.” While some films may follow this overall trend, it is important to note that it cannot be a generalization made for all films. During the Weimar era in Germany, the nation was in the midst of a national struggle on many fronts. As a people, Germans attempted to deal with their past (the problems during World War I as well as the consequences of their loss) and move toward the future (finding a solution for their economic struggles and defining themselves culturally and socially). This period saw a resurgence of the horror genre, this time adapted to the new medium of film. However, the way horror was portrayed via film is the interesting part: it drew specifically on the struggles of the nation to instill horror. This is an exact reversal of the idea of cinematic escapism, since many Weimar era horror films used relatable struggles in order to both entertain and terrify (in this case, existing concurrently as well as dependently on each other). One of the clearest examples of this is through the film Nosferatu, a cinematic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula directed by F.W. Murnau. The budding horror genre of the Weimar era, as exemplified by Nosferatu, succeeded because it drew parallels to the German people’s collective post-World War I mindset, including references to the terrible nature of the war itself and the fearful prospect of how to move forward.

    Read More

  • Male Failure and Genre Affirmation in New Hollywood Westerns and Noir

    2198 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the classical Western and Noir films, narrative is driven by the action of a male protagonist towards a clearly defined, relatable goal. Any lack of motivation or action on the part of the protagonist problematizes the classical association between masculinity and action. Due to inherent genre expectations, this crisis of action is equivalent to a crisis of masculinity. Because these genres are structured around male action, the crises of action and masculinity impose a crisis of genre. In the absence of traditional narrative elements and character tropes, these films can only identify as members of their genres through saturation with otherwise empty genre symbols. The equivalency between the crises of genre and masculinity frames this symbol saturation as a sort of compensatory masculine posturing.

    Read More

  • Evolution of the Gangster and America

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    Barry, , Keith, and Grant, ed. Film Genre Reader III. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press,

    Read More

  • Obstinate Bildungsroman In Catcher In The Rye

    696 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the 1950s in the United States, World War II came to an end and was met with the start of the jazz era. During this time, teenagers played a huge role in developing identities for themselves as an age group. The idea of a bold and rebellious youth bled over into literature, where the bildungsroman, also known as a story of the coming of age, is found. In J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield portrays this exact image of a defiant teenager, resisting the process of growing up.

    Read More

  • The Human Experience Movie Analysis

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the movie, The Human Experience, Abraham Maslow’s and James Fowler’s beliefs play a major role in describing the three experiences that the characters chose to live out. The characters Cliff, Jeff, Michael, and Matthew join each other on three different encounters to experience life in other people’s shoes. The encounters were homelessness, caring for physically and mentally handicapped children, and visited Ghanaians with HIV AIDS and leprosy. Each character learned lessons and were humbled immensely by their experiences.

    Read More

  • Women in Early Westerns

    5840 Words  | 12 Pages

    In her book, West of Everything, Jane Tompkins discusses the essential elements that define the genre. From her discussion, one can extract a working definition: the setting, th...

    Read More

  • The Western as a Film Genre

    1434 Words  | 3 Pages

    Friedman, L., Desser, D., Kozloff, S., Nichimson, M., & Prince, S. (2014). An introduction to film genres. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The Lives Of Others

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Within the German Democratic Republic, there was a secret police force known as the Stasi, which was responsible for state surveillance, attempting to permeate every facet of life. Agents within and informants tied to the Stasi were both feared and hated, as there was no true semblance of privacy for most citizens. Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, the movie The Lives of Others follows one particular Stasi agent as he carries out his mission to spy on a well-known writer and his lover. As the film progresses, the audience is able to see the moral transformation of Stasi Captain Hauptmann Gerd Wiesler primarily through the director 's use of the script, colors and lighting, and music.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: Fed Up

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the documentary “Fed Up,” sugar is responsible for Americas rising obesity rate, which is happening even with the great stress that is set on exercise and portion control for those who are overweight. Fed Up is a film directed by Stephanie Soechtig, with Executive Producers Katie Couric and Laurie David. The filmmaker’s intent is mainly to inform people of the dangers of too much sugar, but it also talks about the fat’s in our diets and the food corporation shadiness. The filmmaker wants to educate the country on the effects of a poor diet and to open eyes to the obesity catastrophe in the United States. The main debate used is that sugar is the direct matter of obesity. Overall, I don’t believe the filmmaker’s debate was successful.

    Read More

  • Comparing Maestro And Goldsworthy's Coming Of Age Novels

    577 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you walk into a book store coming of age novels are everywhere to be found. Most of these novels focus on the times in our lives when we are most susceptible to trying new things and when we think we know everything. The teenage years are what no one wants to go back to yet we can’t stop reading about them. Some examples of these novels include ‘To kill a Mockingbird’, ‘The Outsiders’, and ‘Looking for Alibrandi’. These books focus on the ugly duckling stage of a swan’s life through to when they transform into a majestic swan. No book shows this better than the Peter Goldsworthy’s book Maestro.

    Read More

  • Coming Of Age In American Film Analysis

    3104 Words  | 7 Pages

    ... time retain one outstanding quality---they are empowering, first in how much power they give to the youth of that time. These are films for them and about them. They reflect their everyday experiences or those they long to have, with the best films knowing exactly what their young audiences want to see on screen and never judging them for it because the mistakes, struggles, and imperfections of young adulthood are timeless too. Second, coming-of-age films also give so much back to young audiences and empower them. These films’ characters have taught audiences what to do, how to feel, and essentially given them the tools by which to navigate the transition from childhood to adulthood and how to make it as painless as possible. As ‘coming-of-age’ changes or stays the same in meaning over time, youth culture, as a genre and subject, will remain a necessity in film.

    Read More

  • Sociological Analysis Of The Movie Essay

    1060 Words  | 3 Pages

    Before the civil rights movement could begin, a few courageous individuals had to guide the way. Dr. Vernon Johns was one of those individuals. Dr. Vernon Johns was a pastor and civil rights activist in the 1920s. Johns became the pastor of Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama in the late 1940s. During his time as a pastor, Johns preached many sermons on how African American people were being treated not only in the community but in society. Johns on multiple occasions upset his community through his ideas on social change. Through a sociologist perspective, many sociological concepts were displayed in The Vernon Johns Story. Some of those concepts included: ascribed status, conflict theory, deviant behavior, alienation, and

    Read More

  • The Decade Of Realizations: American Youth During The 80s

    2969 Words  | 6 Pages

    Of all the 1980’s films, that can be described as “Eighties Teen Movies” (Thorburn, 1998) or “High School Movies” (Messner, 1998), those written and (with the exception of “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind of Wonderful”(1987)) directed by John Hughes were often seen to define the genre, even leading to the tag “John Hughes rites de passage movies” as a genre definition used in 1990s popular culture (such as in “Wayne’s World 2” (1994 dir. Stephen Surjik)). This term refers to the half dozen films made between 1984 and 1987; chronologically, “Sixteen Candles” (1984), “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Weird Science” (1985), “Ferris Bueller's Day Off” (1986), “Pretty In Pink” (1986) and “Some Kind Of Wonderful” (1987) (the latter two being directed by Howard Deutch). For the purpose of this study, “Weird Science” and “Some Kind of Wonderful” shall be excluded; “Weird Science” since, unlike the other films, it is grounded in science fiction rather than reality and “Some Kind of Wonderful” as its characters are fractionally older and have lost the “innocence” key to the previous movies: as Bernstein states “the youthful naivete was missing and the diamond earring motif [a significant gift within the film] was no substitute” (Bernstein, 1997, p.89). Bernstein suggests that the decadent 1980s were like the 1950s, “an AIDS-free adventure playground with the promise of prosperity around every corner … our last age of innocence” (Bernstein, 1997, p.1). The films were very much a product of the time in terms of their production (“suddenly adolescent spending power dictated that Hollywood direct all its energies to fleshing out the fantasies of our friend, Mr. Dumb Horny 14 Year Old” Bernstein, 1997, p.4), their repetition (with the growth of video cassette recorders, cable and satellite with time to fill, and also the likes of MTV promoting the film’s soundtracks) and their ideologies.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: A League of Their Own

    1311 Words  | 3 Pages

    A League of Their Own (Marshall, 1992) explicitly characterizes an American era when a woman’s place was in the home. Even our modern perspective implicitly follows suit. Although women have gained rights and freedoms since the 1930’s, sexism remains prevalent in America. This film offers an illustration when men went to war and big business men utilized women as temporary replacements in factories, sports, and so on. Here, course concepts, such as gender socialization, gender expressions, role stereotypes, emotion expressions, and language, correspond to the film’s characters and themes.

    Read More

  • Film Analysis: The World Before Her

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    The world before her is a film of hope and dreams for Indian women. We examine two girls with different paths but one goal in common, empowerment. This term conveys a wide range of interpretations and definitions one of them being power over oneself. Both Prachi and Ruhi manifest a will for female empowerment but both have distinct views on how this is achieved. Prachi believes the way to achieve empowerment is through her mind and strength, while she still confines to tradition views of Indian culture. Ruhi desires to achieve female empowerment by exposing her beauty in a non-conservative way while maintaining her Indian identity.

    Read More

More about Coming Of Age Film Analysis

Open Document