Journal of Adolescent Research

Book Review 25(6) 885­–888

© The Author(s) 2010
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Timothy Shary and Alexandra Seibel (Eds.)

Youth Culture in Global Cinema. Mahwah, NJ:
University of Texas Press, 2007. 347 pp. $24.95 (paperback). ISBN 9780292714144

Reviewed by: Dionne Patricia Stephens, Florida International University, Miami-Dade

DOI: 10.1177/0743558410379896

Research has shown that media representations can provide an important,

although not always accurate, window into the perceptions and behavioral
expectations shaping young people’ lives. Through films, we can identify
young people’s roles and positions in their society at this phase of the life
span. Although there is a growing body of research examining the relation-
ship between adolescent development and the media, few studies have exam-
ined these phenomena in global contexts. This is extremely problematic
given we now live in a world where rapid media technologies serve to voice
for adolescents’ affiliation, identity, and interaction within and across local
cultural settings. Thus, there is a critical need for a detailed review of films
that seek to explore development at this phase of the life span, and for the
elucidation of both similarities and differences across cultures. For this rea-
son Youth Culture in Global Cinema (edited by Timothy Shary and Alexandra
Seibel) provides an important and timely contribution. This volume offers a
comprehensive investigation of films’ representations of youth cultures, and
how these representations provide insights into global attitudes and values.
The book uses a thematic approach to provide a critical review of a wide
range of films on youth development processes. Divided into five parts
(rebellion and resistance, politics and style, inner national conflict, gender
differences, and queer identities) this collection moves beyond themes
traditionally examined in Westernized framed texts. Furthermore, there are
clear generational connections and comparisons, as demonstrated in Part I
(Rebellion and Resistance) of this volume. Timothy Shary’s chapter “Youth
Culture Shock” provides the reader with a critical look at American cinema’s
reflection of, and influence on, youth culture. He examines foundational
youth culture films in the 1950s The Wild One, Blackboard Jungle, and Rebel
Without a Cause. In response to the conformity and conservatism that

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characterized the social mores of the time, these films depicted ideas about
juvenile delinquency and appropriate youth behavior.
However, Shary does not simply critique the movie’s presentation of youth
culture, rather he focuses on the influence of moral panic and censorship of
youthful behaviors on shaping the ways in which these films are scripted (and
rescripted), marketed, and distributed. This examination provides an applicable
contrast to Alexandra Seibel’s chapter, “The Imported Rebellion.” Drawing
upon the critiques of the American teen rebellion films, this chapter’s focus on
how films’ projections of deviance actually serves as a reflection of youths’
attempt to reject prevailing cultural values. Arguing that Australian and
German postwar youth films modeled male characters on the “bad boy
American hero” archetype, Seibel illustrates how these characters came to
represent the rejection of “good Eastern” youth values in their society. This
comparative approach provides the Westernized reader with an alternative
response to ideas about rebellion and youth identity development tasks.
Whereas Part I focuses on youth acts of resistance against the cultural
norms, Part III examines youth self-identity conflicts with national identity
ideals. Essentially, this section is an examination of within-group diversity.
These chapters highlight the ways in which diverse subcultures of youth are
simultaneously included and rejected by their nation’s value systems due to
such culture influences as class and politics (Podalsky), ethnicity (Preckel),
or religious beliefs (Arslan). In particular, Lino’s discussion of the interna-
tional award winning movie City of God captured the importance of youth
rebellion in response to class- and ethnicity-based exclusion in the chapter
titled “Birds That Cannot Fly.” Based upon true experiences in the infamous
Brazilian urban slums, this film gives voice to adolescents’ fragile negotia-
tion of “respectable” cultural goals and realistic daily life experiences, which
are shown to be incongruent in this context. Lino refers to this as the “terri-
tory of normality and the law,” a space that has multiple rules, expectations,
and values that force Brazilian youth residing in slums to select sides. It is a
“world” where youth realize that concepts of right and wrong are as fluid as
their daily existence. Survival is based on day-to-day negotiations of these
sides as the future is not thought of beyond a few weeks. Lino encourages us
to consider the ways in which film can show us the “blurred boundaries” of
the worlds in which adolescents live as insiders and outsiders. Furthermore,
there is a discussion of how this creates alternative identity development
processes within what may (incorrectly) appear as a homogenous culture.
Both researchers and practitioners working with youth cultures can benefit

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Book Review 887

from “seeing” that within-group differences are often more dynamic than
broad cultural identities.
Thought-provoking critiques about the negotiations of identities are also
found in Parts IV (Narrating Gender and Difference) and V (Coming of Age
Queer). In these chapters, the authors introduce films that illustrate youths’
coming-out (Henderson), sexual empowerment (Driver), and discovery of
gender role (Fouz-Hernandez and Projansky) experiences across the world.
The richness of the films explored in these chapters offer diverse international
portrayals of sexual and gender identity development processes. Projansky’s
chapter “Gender, Race, Feminism and the International Girl Hero” examines
how films can challenge the ways female sexuality is informed by cultural
divisions of gender roles. However, there is an understanding of the impor-
tance of validating gender relationships in marginalized communities for the
purpose of maintaining cultural pride and empowerment. For example, when
discussing the Whale Rider’s main character’s (Pai) challenging of these
roles, Projansky did not frame the movie simply as a Westernized feminist
stance against a one-dimensional, patriarchal society; rather, Projansky con-
veys respect for cultural differences while critiquing Pai’s individual explora-
tion of gender identity and the rippling affects of this process on her Maori
community. This kind of cultural specification of sexual orientation beliefs is
examined in Henderson’s chapter “Youth, Sexuality and the Nation.” He
examines the ways in which films can provide alternative perspectives on
sexual development in British and Swedish contexts. This is highlighted by
his discussion of shifting subjectivity. Through an examination of the “les-
bian gaze,” he examines the ways in which coming out is not a linear process
and is influenced by unique contexts familial, cultural, and national identity
contexts.
In summary, this book provides a useful introduction to cinematic presen-
tations of youth development in global contexts. In fact, researchers seeking
to further explore the role of film in youth development are provided with
filmographies of global youth films in the appendices. Still, scholars of ado-
lescence will have to make the connections between the chapter content and
adolescent development processes. Although thorough attention is given to
reviewing and synthesizing each film’s presentations of youth identity devel-
opment and expressions of rebellion/resistance, applicable theory, research,
and practical implications are not central in the writings. However, the atten-
tion given to important adolescent developmental experiences through an
international lens should be lauded. As this is a young area of inquiry, this
collection offers insights into cultural values, norms, and expectations of

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888 Journal of Adolescent Research 25(6)

youth from a perspective not traditionally used by clinicians and researchers.

By viewing these experiences through the camera’s eye, the reader is given a
greater understanding of the diverse perspectives of adolescence and emerg-
ing adulthood around the world. Given the extent that “globalization” has
become integral to our understandings of and participation in youth develop-
ment discourses, researchers will find this volume both informative and
stimulating.

Bio
Dionne Patricia Stephens, PhD, is an assistant professor with a joint appointment in
the Department of Psychology and African & African Diaspora Studies Program at
Florida International University. Her research examines sociocultural factors shaping
minority populations’ sexual health processes, with emphasis on gender and ethnic/
racial identity development.

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