Cultural Significance Of Teen Films - 1426 Words

Teen films are the definitive genre that captures the adolescent zeitgeist during the 1980s, and its popularity still hold cultural relevance in the present day. The teen films produced during the 1980s effectively represent youth concerns and the coming-of-age narrative, in terms of adolescent identity, the different roles characters play, sexuality, gender, relationships, class issues and the generational divide. Exploring these issues is essential for recognizing the cultural significance of this specific group of films and how they are important in addressing concerns of the adolescent coming of age narrative. The Breakfast Club by John Hughes is an exploration and reflection of the changing Hollywood industry, political, economic,†¦show more content†¦Sex and relationships are recurring themes throughout the genre and are essential elements teen narrative. Their portrayal ranges from comic interactions to serious exchanges and emotional liberation from restrictive force s. Timothy Shary explains the significance of these two thematic threads: â€Å"Romantic longing and sexual curiosity take on heightened intensity and profundity for youth in the adolescent years struggle to recognise and cope with the emotional and psychological changes†(2002). The character’s experience with sex are usually comedic and linked to sexual discovery and loss of virginity, which are continually present topics in the narrative. It is is often a determinant that shapes teen identity, as well as providing a commentary on societal questions regarding a desire of intimacy. The sexual exploits between the teen male and female investigates teen behavior and the conceptualization of feelings and emotions in their discovery of identity. Another convention which surfaces again and again during the 1980s teen genre is the generational divide that exists in the familial structure, resulting in teens rebelling against adult authority. Within the genre adults are often portrayed in a negative light in both comical and serious ways: teachers are depicted as corrupt and arrogant as incompetent social figures. Parents are often unseen, distant, emotionally detached, cold, violent and abusive. The setting andShow MoreRelatedTeens Making a Cause for Rebellion Essay1248 Words   |  5 Pagesdeal within that time. In the film Rebel Without a Cause, we are exposed to three different teens who each had a different struggle they were dealing with that unified them to one another. In the beginning of the movie we get an idea of how teens were portrayed in the time period as rebellious and troublesome. As the story line continues we are taken from the portrayal that the teens were given and go into the teen’s perspective and how they reacted to the world. 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Awakening And Suicide Essay Example For Students

Awakening And Suicide Essay Indeed, the very person who takes his or her own life may be least aware at the moment of decision of the essence of his or her reasons and emotions for doing so. At the outset, it can be said that a dozen individuals can kill themselves and do or commit 12 psychologically different deeds Encyclopaedia Britannica, 385. Suicide is written about in a variety of novels, short stories, and movies. Suicide moves like an undercurrent in the sea of themes of The Awakening. The possibility of suicide and even the idea of death darkens the story, making Ednas emotional ups and downs dangerous her occasional misery leads her to subconsciously think of suicide. She holds the hopelessness at bay by moving out and getting her own apartment, while trying to find a man who will accept her, but in the end she succumbs. Ednas closest physical brush with death occurs one night at the beach, when the summer residents decide to take a midnight swim. Despite having had a hard time learning to swim, she realizes her ability and swims farther out than she ever had before. She overestimates her power and almost doesnt make it back. She has a quick vision of death. The experience scares her, but she has tested her limits and survived the sea for a while. Metaphorically, she has come close to death but resisted it. Falling asleep can be associated with the idea of death as well. Whenever Edna falls asleep, it is noted in the story; across the bay at church and the first night once her husband has left are examples. Each time there is a suggestion of drifting off to sleep and never waking up. When she is across the bay, once she wakes up, she likens her nap to a hundred years sleep. However, each time Edna does awaken; it is only at the very end when she finally drifts away. She could have chosen sleeping pills as her method of death, but she returns to the beach because of its memories of the summer, and the men in her life. Her near-death experience in the summer left an impression on her that influences her choice of escape from life. Throughout the story, Edna struggles to free herself. Leonce Pontellier tries to hold Edna down, wanting her to be a mother and a housewife, when she knows she is not like that. Her husbands oppression forces her to break free. This time, she escapes and begins life on her own, to succeed at first. Then she meets Alece Arobin. He is a disreputable man-about-town who draws Edna out to the horse races. For a moment, he brings her away from the precipice of suicide. His attentiveness attracts her, but in the end she  realizes that he means little to her. Eventually she sees Robert again. Having left her husband, she hopes to start a fresh new life with Robert. Edna reminds him, that it was he who awoke her last summer out of a life-long ,stupid dream; however, Robert only leaves her a note that reads, I love you. Good-by because I love you. Chopin, 695. He does not understand what she needs either. She realizes, during the long sleepless night that follows, that eventually she will forget her love for even Robert. That night she thinks about the forces that have tried to hold her down. She thinks of . . . Leonce and of the children. Chopin, 698; they sought to drag her into the souls slavery for the rest of her days. Finally, she realizes that her only escape is suicide. All her life, she has known people who try to hold her down; she will forget them and meet others. This is her surrender to a tradition and a society that is too powerful. She has flirted with suicide throughout the novel; in the end she . . . looked into the distance . . . heard her fathers voice and her sister Maragrets Chopin, 698, and then she was gone.