#Coming-of-Age-Film

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⋆˚｡⋆ ⋆˚｡⋆⋆˚｡⋆ ⋆Carrie (1976) dir. Brian De Palma⋆˚｡⋆ ⋆˚｡⋆⋆˚｡⋆

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Killed The Family And Went To The Movies (1991)

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Persepolis (2007) Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud

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Stand by Me (1986), dir. Rob Reiner

Mickey's a mouse, Donald's a duck, Pluto's a dog, what's Goofy?

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ticket to heaven pilot trailer (2024) dir aof noppharnach chaiyahwimhon

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My Old Ass (2024)

Dir. Megan Park

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Timothëe Chalamet

Call Me By Your Name

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Lilja 4-Ever Artwork

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my favorite scenes from morvern callar (2002)

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Writing Notes: Coming-of-Age Story

A story featuring an adolescent making the mental leap from child to adult.

In real life, this happens over the course of several years.

Literature, films and some television series are media that have the space to show the story at a slow pace. Things have to be compressed to several months at the most, so expect some really accelerated character development.

Writing Tips: Coming-of-Age Story

When writing a coming of age story, consider these steps to increase the emotional power and appeal to readers:

Develop a clear voice. Many coming-of-age stories are in first person, giving the reader an immediate impression of the protagonist. Work on developing a voice for your protagonist—think about how the character speaks, how they address other characters vs. how they address the reader, and what kind of opinions they have.

Seek originality. Try to find a novel way of approaching the experience of character growth. You can create an unusual character or a strange event to highlight the change and its effects.

Work motifs into the story. As with any narrative, the use of motifs, such as images that resonate with the theme, can be a great way to strengthen your story. Carefully evoke some of the possible throughlines, like markers of change, loss of innocence, childhood versus adulthood, moral growth, and knowledge.

Find the conflict. Reaching adulthood has plenty of built-in conflict. To make a solid, affecting story, focus on specific instances of conflict. This can be between a child and their parents, between the character and an institution (such as school), or between different youths with varying experiences and personalities. Having these scenes in mind can be especially helpful when planning the plot points of your story.

Draw from personal experience. Many coming-of-age stories are wholly or partially autobiographical. While your own experiences can be a valuable resource, such self-exposure takes courage and often involves personal details of others who might not want to be written about. Carefully choose personal information to work into your story.

Identify the pivotal events. Often, coming-of-age stories center around a particular event or a few key events that are formative to character development. This will be one of the most significant emotional beats in the narrative

Find your writing approach. No two writers have the same approach to writing a story. Some take extensive notes, while others meticulously plan every scene before writing the details, descriptions, and dialogue. Other writers make much of their narrative up as they proceed; finding out which approach is right for you takes practice and a certain amount of trial and error.

Types of Coming-of-Age Stories

Bildungsroman: Bildungsroman, which translates to “novel of education” or “novel of formation,” chronicles a character’s journey from young innocence to worldly adulthood. This is a specific type of coming-of-age story in which the character gains knowledge and experience, even as innocence is lost.

Sexual awakening: Many coming-of-age books and movies center around the momentous changes brought about by discovering sexuality. This can be a highly-charged emotional experience to write about, and the dramatic possibilities are rich and varied, making it an excellent material for revealing personal growth.

Discovery of identity: This type of coming-of-age tale involves a character coming to discover, and hopefully embrace, their identity. This type of story might focus on gender identity, sexual identity, political identity, racial identity, or a combination of identities to expand the depth and emotional heft of the story.

Betrayal: Growing up can be a painful process. When shaping a coming-of-age narrative, it can be helpful to emphasize how increased knowledge, especially about other people and their motivations, can cause suffering for the protagonist. A character might emerge from this experience with more pain but more knowledge of themselves and the world.

The words bildungsroman (Ger. "educational novel") or bildungsgeschichte (Ger. "educational story") are sometimes used to describe these kinds of stories.

A note on the translation: the terms originated in the Age of Enlightenment, when "Bildung" meant not only "education" but also "self-improvement" (cf. English "building") — or as Werner Heisenberg put it, Bildung is "that which is still there after you've forgotten everything you had ever learned".

In other words, it's not a "novel to educate the readers" but a "novel about the hero becoming someone".

Examples of Coming-of-Age Novels

The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger (1951): The main character is Holden, a jaded teenager expelled from boarding school who is easily annoyed by everyone and everything. The book follows his journey from living a life of angst to finding true happiness.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960): This novel tells the story of a young girl who experiences hate from her community when her father defends a Black man accused of committing a crime in the south. At the beginning of the novel, she’s an innocent, immature girl. But as the story progresses and she witnesses injustice and racial prejudice, she learns that life isn’t always fair.

In Film

Coming-of-age movies belong to a genre that focuses on young adults.

A coming-of-age movie - a film that follows a protagonist as they transition from childhood to adulthood.

This genre of storytelling is popular for literature and movies in Hollywood and often features stories about critical junctures between childhood and adulthood, such as first romantic relationships, graduating from middle school or high school, and moving away from home.

Characteristics of Coming-of-Age Movies

Coming-of-age films typically feature these standard storytelling devices:

Character growth: These films usually follow a character realizing their future, which propels their development from an innocent child to a perceptive young adult. The films focus on the characters’ mental, emotional, and personal growth.

Dialogue: Coming-of-age films focus on the interior lives and emotions of the characters, rather than an outside action or adventure that’s driving the narrative. These films feature more dialogue and moments of stillness than dramatic actions or events.

Social commentary: Coming-of-age films address issues that teens face today, like coming out in Moonlight (2016), teen pregnancy in Juno (2007), or race and violence in Boyz n the Hood (1991).

Examples in Film

The Breakfast Club (1985): Arguably one of the most well-known teen films and coming-of-age films, John Hughes' movie is set one weekend where a group of teens from different backgrounds are trapped together in detention.

Boyhood (2014): This coming-of-age movie from filmmaker Richard Linklater was filmed over twelve years. It follows one boy from age six to eighteen.

Moonlight (2016): This film follows a man through three stages of his life—childhood, teenage years, and adulthood—as he slowly comes to terms with his sexuality.

Call Me By Your Name (2017): This Italian-set movie is a love story, following the relationship between a young man as he falls in love for the first time.

Lady Bird (2017): Lady Bird is Greta Gerwig's solo directorial debut. It follows a teenage girl applying for college far from home in New York and navigating a fraught relationship with her overbearing mother.

We wouldn’t call all films or books “coming-of-age” stories simply because the main character matures.

The genre has certain hallmarks denoting not just change, but the loss of innocence in the transition.

To put it another way, childhood must be left behind and the lessons of adulthood will be complex, ambiguous, and arduous.

That’s not to say that every coming-of-age story is a downer, but there is a realization that the past is lost and gone forever, so there is a bittersweet element at play.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

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the hazy melancholy of being a teenager

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The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015) dir. Marielle Heller ⋆˙⟡ ——

"i want someone to be so totally in love with me that they would feel like they would die if i were gone"

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love this movie<3

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The Wood (1999)

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Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Directed by Gurinder Chadha