The Movieless Generation | What Happened to Films for Teenagers?
Last week we had Aoife, a 16 year old Transition Year student, doing work experience here with us in HeadStuff HQ. She was interested in our work and we were interested in her ideas, so we decided to publish some of the articles she worked on while she was here. This is one of them.
Going to the cinema as a teenager these days is tough; especially if you want something light-hearted. Teen movies are just not as common as they used to be. Rom-coms aimed towards teenagers are a dying species, with most movies now being of the tragic or horror variety such as Room, The Babadook and Still Alice. If we want to see a rom-com about teenagers we have to watch the old ones. Why has this shift away from typical teen movies happened?
I realised this not so long ago after a trip to the cinema with my friends. Picking the only movie aimed towards our age group, we saw Me, Earl and the Dying Girl. Roughly two hours of tragic friendship, overshadowed by the looming threat of cancer, and we were seriously questioning our movie choice. It was a fantastic movie, but after watching it we all just wanted to go home and have a good cry. Not quite the humorous teen movie we had been hoping for.
Mostly the lack of teenage romcoms is due to censorship. Modern movie censoring simply doesn’t allow for a lot of teen movie material. The drinking, smoking, and sex would earn modern movies an 18s rating. According to the parental survey by the IFCO “ Sexual content is of greater concern than drugs content.” The teen movies from the 80s and 90s just wouldn’t be socially acceptable now.
Take The Breakfast Club for example. A classic, this 80s movie still resonates with modern teens. It has retained its relatability with the issues of stereotyping and social hierarchy, and, of course, relationships with parents and teachers. Watching it now though, there are a few rather questionable things in it.
John Bender’s treatment of Claire; which then was considered a typical boy thing – amusing even – is now plainly sexual harassment. Putting your hand up someone’s skirt isn’t amusing or endearing, it’s creepy. They do deal a little with the treatment of women when Alison says “If you say you haven’t; you’re a prude. If you say you have; you’re a slut.” This prejudice is seen as something unavoidable. Watching it now though it seems outdated and misogynistic to me.
Another thing I find surprising is the portrayal of smoking. Any teenage movie released now would never have such casual smoking. I’m not used to seeing smoking on TV, and in the rare times it is it’s always villainized. Having grown up with the knowledge that smoking kills I always find it odd to see smokers. The number of smokers in Ireland has reduced 29% to 22% in the past ten years. When I do meet a teenager that smokes I’m always shocked at their foolishness.
These censorship issues are probably the main reason behind the lack of movies about current teen life. The reality is that teenagers are still drinking and having sex. An American study showed that 65% of high school kids have tried alcohol. Any movie that showed this however, would be rated 18s, preventing teenagers from viewing them. Teenage life isn’t seen as compatible with films. In an effort to set a good example the film industry has alienated a whole generation.
The only teenage movies coming out at the moment are filled with violence, or angst. It is okay to have The Hunger Games in the cinema; a film where twenty-four teenagers are put in a ring and must fight to the death. As Orange is the New Black so elegantly puts it, “This is America. Violence is all good and fine. But sex? LORD no!” Killing teenagers on screen is fine, but God forbid they drink underage or have sex.
The final instalment in the Divergent trilogy Divergent came out recently. Featuring a dystopian world, a lot of oppression and multiple character deaths, it is a far cry from the fun teenage movies I would like. Of course if you are not a fan of violence, there are always a multitude of angsty films. A recent film trend is to have teenagers dying of cancer in movies. The Fault in Our Stars is definitely a teenage romance, but I spent most of the movie crying at the tear-your-heart-out plot.
The movie Diary of a Teenage Girl was rated 18s by the BBFC preventing it from being seen by any teenage girls under 18. The coming-of-age movie was seen as unsuitable because of sexual content. Our generation is no longer allowed to watch films about people our own age.
Of course there are other shocks when watching old teen movies. For one, it seems like an entirely different culture. Cher’s -the star of the movie Clueless- life is fairly alien to my own, for more reasons than just her mansion of a house. I have never seen a pager before. I know very few of the bands they mention, and thankfully, boys no longer dress like that.
So the current generation of teenagers are being denied teen movies. I don’t believe this post-millennial generation has been named yet, but ‘The Movieless Generation’ should definitely be considered.
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