codes and conventions of Teen coming to age films.

In Teen coming of age there are many specific code and conventions that regularly
occur, one example of this is setting. Teen coming of age films are normally set in
schools, High school typically, using specific iconography such as lockers, desks,
chairs, bleachers, etc. This helps the audience easily identify the setting and creating a
sense of familiarity to the audience allowing it to be more compelling as they
audience are often similar ages as the characters therefore the setting is all more
familiar therefore compelling because they can relate it to their own life.

Another common thing seen in Teen coming of age films there are usually the same
recurring storylines and situations, for example, the nerdy/unpopular kid becoming
popular is a common theme used as seen in films like clueless and hairspray. Another
common theme is the new girl/boy which can be seen in movies like mean girls and
grease. Teen coming of age films also have a tendency of the main characters having
traumatic backgrounds and absent parents, allowing an understanding/bond among the
characters themselves and also the audience. There are a lot of other themes that tend
to follow this genre as well such as bets, forbidden romances etc. The characters also
have common complications for example falling in love with someone unlikely like in
Cruel intentions and a Cinderella however contrasting to normal expectations of Teen
coming of age films the bittersweet ending in cruel intentions contradicts our
expectation of a typical Teen coming age creating a lot anticipation allowing for an
unexpected ending leaving the audience surprised, whereas a typical Teen coming of
age film has an almost expected ending acting as if a sort of comfort film due to the
reliable happy ending, nevertheless this idea is proven absent in the Cruel intentions
contradicting the comfort factor of normal Teen coming of age movies.

Stereotypical/common characters are also used in this Teen coming of age also
creating adding a comfort factor to the film as we see these characters often in this
genre. An example of a commonly used character is the dumb blonde, this character
adds somewhat of a comedy element to the movie as they normally are out of the
conversation loop or are unable to comprehend and normally oblivious to the situation
occurring what is going on therefore making outlandish and dull-witted statements
normally helping break apart the drama in climactic scenes, providing the scene to be
more light-hearted and adding dimension to the otherwise drama packed sequel of
events. Examples of movies where this character is shown is in mean girls by Karen
smith, legally blonde by Elle woods and clueless by Cher. Another character
repeatedly used in Teen coming of age movies is the jock, the jocks are always
popular and play some kinds of sports. These characters are often loud they are
misunderstood and trying to uphold a reputation and somewhere along the way they
find themselves. An example where this happens is the breakfast club Another films
where this happens is A Cinderella story and the DUFF. Another common character
and character theme is the bad boy who falls in love with the good girl, this is perhaps
the most commonly used character combo as it allows the contrast of character types.
Two characters who are distinctively different from one another falling in love
creating them both to develop in front of our eyes, the contrast making there love
almost explosive as they both enter new territory with one another. The good girl
becoming more daring and breaking out of the box she has been in her whole life,
making her act more freely and the bad boy opening to the good girl and letting her
see past his ‘tough guy’ exterior along with the audience discovering a whole new
side to this closed off troubled character. Examples of where this is shown is Cruel
intentions, After, Keith, Good will hunting and many more. This character
combination is familiar to the audience and ensures for a drama packed movie that has
lots of twists and turns throughout, helping allude to why the character combination is
so frequently used as it insures the audience’s full attention.

Another thing that is highly seen in Teen coming of age movies is the movie itself
being time relevant to the period in which it was filmed. For example, the film The
hate you give, this film was time relevant as it was all about the black rights
movement and how innocent people of colour where being prosecuted and killed by
people in power and how nothing was being done about it. The film also heavily
focuses on young people and their coming to terms with how the world around them
has its prejudices. This is highlighted as in 2018 BLM celebrated 5 years of action and
continued to highlight the deaths of black people and their deaths at the hands of US
police that year, including Grechario Mack and Kenneth Ross Jr. In early may it was
discovered that the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter. Another way films can be relevant to
the time period it’s made in is not only through events but through technology. An
example of this film is The perfect date, this film is about a boy who makes an app
where people can book him for dates to dances and dinners if they don’t have one. A
way this is seen as time relevant is because it heavy shows the use of phones which
we know is something that most teens have and obsess over these days, another way
this is time relevant is because in this day and age online dating/meeting someone
online is more used than ever, in fact in my opinion it has become the new way to
meet people, the film represents the use of dating apps well as represented how new
concepts and apps are made every day in modern culture. The reasoning why films
make these films relevant to the times in which they are made relevant to the error is
to connect to the audience as they are most likely teens to making it easy for them to
relate and feel part of the movie world also making them want to watch.

The camera work used normally consists of a range of shots. A Commonly used shot
In Teen coming of age are mid-shots, this allows for the audience to be close enough
to be able to see their facial expressions and reactions., while still being able to see
them from the waist up to be able to recognise body language. Another commonly
used shot is establishing shots, these are usually used at the start of the movie to
institute the setting for the movie giving the audience a full view of what they are
getting themselves onto. An establishing shot mostly used in Teen coming of age is
the view if the school helping to implement the school/teenage environment. Another
way this can be used to highlight character status for example in clueless an
establishing shot is used when Cher is driving down the road lined with palm trees
showing that she lives in a wealthy environment automatically determining one of her
characteristics for the audience. Another establishing shot is used in clueless to show
Deon’s house which also determines her character type too. Tripods are also used in
Teen coming of age rather than handheld cameras like in social realism, this is
because they usually have higher budgets and are normally made on a higher scale.
The sturdiness of the camera can also be representing the sturdiness of their lives
opposing to social realism where the camera is hand held representing them not
having a handle of their lives. Another thing used is group shots this is used to show
the social side of the characters and who they associate themselves as Teen coming of
age films normally focus on issues within relationships and friendships. Helping
establish the relationships the audience will watch either bloom or expire.

The music used in Teen coming of age films is usually upbeat pop. This is used
because this type of music is popular amongst teens appealing to the teens watching
and also giving added effect to the characters. The music is usually upbeat helping
uphold the ideas of this ‘American dream’ heavily represented in movies and media.
The music used id heavily representative of the situation going on in the film. The
music used at the start is usually soft and innocence, foreshadowing the nature of our
characters from the very start. The middle is usually full of dramatic music as this is
normally when the climax appears. As it gets the end this music normally turns into
passionate love sings presenting the situation that the characters are in at that point in
time. An example where this can be seen is in After, as Tessa pulls up to the school in
her mum’s car, as she drives up the school a girly uplifting song is being played in the
background. The music talks about ‘never looking back’ heavily representing Tessa’s
current situation as she was starting a new chapter in her life, however it also
foreshadows the events about to happen in her life leaving both Tessa and the
audience in the unknowing. In the middle when Tessa’s boyfriend Noah finds out
about her and Hardin’s affair. After he drives of sad piano music plays leaving both
Tessa and the audience in disbelief. Towards the end we see Tessa and Hardin
dancing at the wedding. The song in the background is all about love, the song says “I
believe in something I believe in us” showing how the relationship between them has
gone from rocky and unsure to love and that their love is something to trust and
believe in. The song also says “we used to be kids living just for kicks in cinema seats
learning how to kiss” explaining their character development and how they have
grown right in front of us, the line “learning how to kiss” maybe a reference to losing
the innocence Tessa previously was showing in the song choice and how she has
developed and changed with Hardin. This is used to adding dramatic effect to the
events adding assurance to the character types so the audience can easily distinguish
the characters and how they feel thought out the movie giving the audience a deeper
connection to the film.

In high school musical in the lunch scene the students break out into song/ Dance. The
diegetic sound in this scene is coming from the students when they are singing and by
the cello which is played a couple times during the scene. The non-diegetic sounds in
this scene is the backing music to which they are singing to. The iconography scene in
this film is significant to teen coming of age films as we can see things like school
books, glasses on the ‘nerdy’ characters, the lunch tables, the food trays etc. At the
end of the scene Gabriella bumps into Sharpay and knocks her food over her, after
which Sharpay screams and the scene ends. This scene is a great representation of
Steve Neal’s theory, same same but different. This theory is built up on the basis that
in every or most teen coming of age films there will be a lot of similar codes and
conventions, for example, the use of school iconography or the stereotypical
characters such as ned, popular kids, jocks etc. like shown in high school musical.
However, there are also differences allowing there to be an element of surprise added
so the audience maintains interest in the film, in high school musical this is seen when
the kids start to want to break out of there stereotypes. For example, the jock wanted
to bake, or the nerd wanted to dance, this element of surprise allows for there to be a
change of pace adding suspense helping back when Neal says “difference is
absolutely essential to the economy of genre”

In 17 again the lunch scene starts off by Alex and mike sitting at a lunch table, after
some conversation about a girl Alex likes Stan comes over to their table to torment
Alex, mike has enough of this and stands up for Alex causing Stan to throw the ball at
Mike to which he catches the ball then grabs the attention of everyone in the lunch
hall. This then leads to mike listing all the reasons why Stan’s a bully causing
everyone to laugh. This scene has typical iconography such as the lunch hall, lunch
trays etc. The scene has non diegetic background music to intensify the mocking
attitude of Mike. This scene exemplifies fully Todorov’s theory of power being in a
state of equilibrium. For example, at the start of the scene it is quite evident how Stan
who is the antagonist of the scene holds all the power as it is shown that Alex is
frightened of him, however as the scene goes on the protagonist Mike holds the upper
hand as he mocks Stan. Then from there the audience recognises the shift in power
along with the characters, Stan tries to act as if he is Still holding the power then it is
fully established at the end of the scene that the power has fully shifted to Mike, this
shows all 5 stages of Todorov’s theory in which he explains how the power in a story
is always shifting in order to make a compelling story.

17 Again and High School Musical both have similarities for example the
iconography of lunch tables and lunch trays. stereotypical characters such as jocks,
nerd’s popular kids etc. are also shown. well as camera angels such as over the
shoulder shots allowing for us to see how the characters react to conversations in
close proximity allowing for the audience to see their full emotions and establishing
shots allowing the whole lunch hall in both scenes to be able to be fully seen giving
the audience a full view of where the scene is set in order for them to fully be able to
see the school atmosphere. However, despite there being some similarities there are
also a lot of differences such as high school musical being a musical, which adds a
type of un-seriousness to the scene diluting the tension between the characters
whereas 17 again is more serious and the tension is more intense. Watching both
these scenes I can see common themes throughout teen coming of age films. I can
also see a lot of film theory’s coming into play, such as Todorov’s theory, however
the most common theory to appear Neal’s theory as it can be seen in both films as I
have previously mentioned, Neal’s same, same, but different theory is fully
represented in High School Musical. This theory is also highlighted in 17 again as we
can see familiar themes with high school musical like I have stated prior in this
paragraph both movies have similar iconography and stereotypes, however in 17
again the movie is about a man who reverts back to his 17-year-old self and has to go
to school with his teenage sun ad daughter allowing him to get an insight to their high
school life. the story line of him becoming his younger self makes the movie itself
different to others making the movie that much more compelling to watch making the
audiences want to be well acquainted with the unfamiliar as the themes of the film
have both been commonly used.