What is a Coming of Age movie?
A coming-of-age is just as it's named. It's a film that depicts one or more young protagonists facing a key moment of personal growth from childhood to adulthood. This may be when the protagonist has to make a personal decision in their lives or may come to a realization about their future.
Content
These films focus on the character's mental, emotional, and personal growth. Additionally, these films may portray first romances, graduating from high school or college, getting in trouble with the law, and other significant events in a young person's life. Many times, coming-of-age movies are commonly used amongst filmmakers to tell a semi-autobiographical story. For many young actors, it often offers their first opportunities to appear in dramatic lead roles. Since moviegoing is most common in teenagers, coming-of-age movies seek to target teen audiences. Furthermore, because coming-of-age movies will typically depict young characters first love this makes the genre a frequent crossover genre with romantic movies. An interesting fact about coming-of-age movies is they were heavily influenced by John Hughes when he released a series of films within this genre such as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Buellers Day Off, and Pretty in Pink. These films became hits critically and commercially.
Production Techniques
Within coming-of-age movies, techniques such as dialogue are featured more often throughout the film. This is because the films focus more on the character's personal life and emotions rather than the outside action or adventure that drives the narrative. These films are typically narrated by the characters themselves through a first-person voiceover and usually take place in everyday settings that relate to the young characters' life.
Marketing
Coming-of-age movies are mainly targeted towards teens around the age of 12 to 18. This is because they can relate to the films as they may be experiencing similar matters in their life. Additionally, the audience is also transferring into their adulthood which is usually depicted in coming-of-age movies as well. In the marketing of the movie, the protagonist is given a general look that the target audience can relate to and sympathize with.
The Breakfast Club (1985)
The Breakfast Club is arguably one of the most well-known coming-of-age films by John Hughes. This film depicts five very different high school students who are brought together for a day in Saturday detention. While they first treat each other as rivals, they began to realize they have much more in common than they thought. This relates to the coming-of-age theme since it depicts a group of teenagers who run into trouble and receive detention as a consequence. The group of teens shown represents the variety of students a person may see in the average high school during this time. Because of this, the movie became highly well-known as it relates to the target audience of coming-of-age movies.
Perks of Beina a Wallflower (2012)
This film focuses on the socially awkward protagonist Charlie who experiences his first real friendship. The enticing and eccentric step sibling duo Sam and Patrick open Charlie up to a colorful way of living where he discovers music, first love, and his dream to become a writer. However, as many coming-of-age movies have a turning point as the protagonist grows into adulthood, Charlie's happens when he realizes his new friends are getting ready to leave college and his world threatens to fall apart. Charlie encounters his first love which is typically shown in this genre and is also a socially awkward teenager to which many teenagers can relate. The movie follows his up and downs throughout this period of his life which ends with him feeling more confident and wiser as he transfers into adulthood.
Some Coming of Age movies to explore
mid90s (2018)
