Teen Movie Angst from Back in the Day
Posted by left_blank on 11-08-2005This weekend I saw the truly chilling teen movie "Over the Edge" from 1979. Starring a very young Matt Dillon in his first film role, it focuses on disaffected teens in a Colorado planned community. Basically all hell breaks loose when the adults ignore the kids by not providing resources or activities for them in this new suburban community. Violence ensues and you're left with an unsettled feeling as the credits roll. Similar to films like "River's Edge (1986)," "Suburbia" (1984)and "Kids," (1995) there are no easy solutions for the bored & jaded youth in this film.
I was left wondering after seeing this film dealing with my generation if any generation is more disaffected than another. "Thirteen" (from 2003) is the one semi-recent movie I've seen that captured a similar sense of teen angst for Generation Y. Obviously none of these films are typical Hollywood fare, as they are extremely dark, don't necessarily have happy endings, and are often marketed to indie audiences. "Over the Edge" wasn't even released theatrically for those very reasons.
The intense emotions and potential perils of adolescence are certainly timeless. In many respects the emotions of films like the 50-year-old "Rebel Without a Cause" are just as relevant to today's teens as is "Degrassi: Next Generation." What do you think about how teen angst has been portrayed for different generations? Does suburbia offer more to teens today than it did back in the 1980s?
Categorized under: Movies
November 8th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
I was having dinner with danah boyd last night who was talking about how teens have less and less hangout space leading to the explosion of social networking sites as virtual hangouts. The suburban places we all used to hang out at like malls have become more regulated and less teen-friendly (many ban teens without parents). I think this combined with today's overscheduled teens means that they it's not just about not having suburban malls to troll, but literally having so many activities scheduled there's just no time to hang out period.
The part of teen life "Thirteen" showed so well (I personally really didn't like "Kids") was the natural need to find those adult-free zones — the teens who are struggling at home with their parents and don't have any solid adult relationships are more apt to get in trouble in these spaces — but I think all teens need them as part of growing up.