Post 8: Research - A Book

POST 8: I'VE READ A BOOK

To further our research, we were given a task to each read a couple of chapters (or the whole thing, if we want) of a book that was given to us by our teacher. I chose a book called Teen Film: A Critical Introduction which is a book written by Catherine Driscoll discussing everything about Teen Film.  

Teen Film: A Critical Introduction - By Catherine Driscoll

The Blurb

What makes a film a teen film? And why, when it represents such powerful and enduring ideas about youth and adolescence, is teen film usually viewed as culturally insignificant? Teen film is usually as a representation of the changing American teenager, highlighting the institutions of high school and the nuclear family, and experiments in sexual development and identity formation. But not every film featuring these components is a teen film and not every teen film is American. Arguing that teen film is always a story about becoming a citizen and a subject, Teen Film presents a new history of the genre, surveys the existing body of scholarship, and introduces key critical tools for discussing teen film.

Surveying a wide range of films including The Wild One, Heathers, Akira and Donnie Darko, the book's central focus is on what kind of adolescence teen film represents, and on teen film's capacity to produce new and influential images of adolescence.

Catherine Driscoll is Associate Professor of Gender and Cultural Studies, University of Sydney, and author of Girls: Feminine Adolescence in Popular Culture and Cultural Theory and Modernist Cultural Theory. 

Why you chose that particular book?

I chose this book because it's probably one of the few books on the table, that I could choose from, that I could identify with and undertsand, seeing it is about teen film and why it's so important. I also, had no real knowledge about teen film and the representation of teens in films, so I wanted to know more about it, how it has been used in history and how the audience connects so strongly with teen films.

What you've read in the book?

I have read the "Introduction - The Adolescent Industry: 'Teen' and 'Film' " part of this book, which isan introduction to the world of teen film from the perspective of an Australian who was a teen in the 80s watching American films such as Grease (1978), Friday the thirteenth (1980), Little Darlings (1980) and WarGames (1983). The introduction talked about the social positions and experiences associated with being a teenager in these films didn't describe her life, but felt the film's situations could be related to anyone's life e.g. high school, parties, boyfriends/girlfriends, relationships with parents etc. Therefore, everyone (not matter their age) could relate to a character in a teen film.

Anything new that you have learnt?

These are just a few points, among many, of what I have learnt about teen film:

- Considine, 1985, talked about the power of teen films and that they could transcend cultures and borders because the messages and morals were often so clear so that people could watch 'an image of themselves'
- Martin, 1994, said 'the teen in teen movie is itself a very elastic, bill-of-fare word; it refers not to a biological age, but a type, a mode of behaviour, a way of being... The teen in teen movies means something more like youth" relating to Robert Benayoun's list of noaml qualities of youth: naivete, idealism, humour, hatred of tradition erotomania and a sense of injustice. These factors can be found in any teen film.
- Defining teen film is not a matter of assessing which films 'teens' watch, as Emma Hughes argues, a consideration of marketing is useful for defining teen film; distinguishing some films as 'for' as well as 'about' adolescents.
- It is actually as difficult to establish the boundaries of 'teen film' as it is to specify when 'adoclescence' begins or ends as the label 'teen' is controversial due to not knowing what 'teen' is
- Studying the films is an important way of understanding an era's common beliefs about it's teenage population within a broader pattern of general culture and in particular, using history to understand the history of teens.

Anything that you might use as a stimulus/idea for future ideas/work?

I think I will use these ideas for future reference and work becuase they explain teen film in a way that is useful to me and my projects, becuase they can be relevent to my work or ideas considering we may use teenagers in our coursework and therfore create a 'teen' music video, wether that be 'for' teens or 'about' teens.

Would you recommend the book to anyone else?

I would recommend the book to other people, especially if they are interested in teen film and creating teen film, then reading about different perspectives and theorists on how that should be done, wouldbe useful to any filmaker or student. The book, itself, can be quite heavy going and difficult to read in a sense that even in just the introduction, there are a lot of ideas about a very niche area and so can be a little confucing at times, but other than that, I found it to be a very interesting read.

LR