I caught a screening of the much buzzed about doc "American Teen" here at SXSW -- I loved it. Of course I would love it. I spend my days and nights thinking about "American teens" so I devour any content that relates. That's not the only reason I loved it though. I thought the film, which was shot reality TV style, told the stories of four small town middle America teens in their senior year of high school in a way that was both engaging and entertaining. In telling these stories, we see that "The Breakfast Club" teen archetypes still exist in the teen caste system that is high school: The jock, the geek, the princess and the freak.
What's new? We got a glimpse of cyberbullying as it happened when Megan (the princess) decides to punish her friend for hooking up with her male best friend by sending her topless photos (originally sent to him) all over the school -- then topping it off with a torrent of nasty phone messages.
Other than that -- there wasn't much that was new. Some of the parents put an unreal amount of pressure on their teens. The jock's dad, a fallen high school basketball star who is now an Elvis impersonator, basically tells his son he has two options, getting a basketball scholarship or going into the military. Megan's dad is all about Notre Dame -- it's the family tradition.
Hannah, who is really the star of this film, is the misunderstood artist, the creative girl (think Molly Ringwald in Pretty in Pink) who just wants to move to San Francisco. She falls hard for boys who ultimately reject her, struggles with a manic depressive mother and fights her own inner demons. It was hard not to fall in love with her and cheer her escape. I also loved Jake, the nerd who never gave up.
After watching the film, you realize (and remember) that teens tend to live in the moment and often can't see beyond high school. For most teens, high school is hard -- even for the jocks and the princesses. They feel trapped in whatever role they are assigned (usually back in middle school) and literally just have to survive until college. You see these teens awaken to the possibility of reinventing themselves after high school as senior year comes to a close -- they fantasize of being liberated from who they were and begin to dream about who they want to be.
Posted by anastasia
Movies
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Interesting to hear your take on the film, Anastasia.
I left you a comment on your wall over at Facebook about having seen it last week and walking out. It may have had something to do with the women behind me who talked through the whole film, but it really didn't click for me.
Your comment "there wasn't much that was new" means something different to me. Yes, I agree with you that young people can be fascinating, but I think the filmmakers relied on that a little too much. The "characters" felt cliched.
More disturbing -- and this was particularly the case with Hannah -- I felt like the film was an unseen character. (They are a generation who has not lived without a season of The Real World.) I don't doubt that Hannah had some sincere mental health issues (as the daughter of a bipolar mother, she runs a high risk of mental illness herself), but I was sincerely concerned that she was complicit in creating a "good story" and I just couldn't watch anymore.
Posted by: Alison Byrne Fields | March 10, 2008 6:16 PM
Hi Alison. I appreciate your perspective. The film won me over because it made me empathize with these teens -- even Megan, who made that challenging. We don't know how much they were playing to type or archetype or doing what they thought was expected -- we won't until we hear from the teens who were in the film themselves. That's an interview I want to read.
Posted by: anastasia | March 12, 2008 9:14 AM