Films Tackling Teen Issues

Film has an extraordinary way of providing viewers with a unique and important snapshot of culture. In watching a film, we can observe fashion trends, relationship dynamics, popular culture, and views on societal roles that were present at the time of the film’s creation or setting. Film also holds a special place within the teen world too. When a film becomes a teen classic, it begins to hold a place in pop culture where it will be returned to, referenced, and viewed for years to come. Growing up, I remember the first time I was introduced to a John Hughes movie and my mom excitedly explained how formative these movies were to her teen years. Then as I got older, babysitters would show me movies like Mean Girls or Clueless and explain that these were their favorite movies as teens. All of these movies reflect a specific point in teen culture and the themes and contents of these films are important to analyze to understand the ideas that teens were focused on at that time.

The Breakfast Club - 1985

The Breakfast Club is centered on a day in detention for five extremely different high school students. There is a jock, an outcast, a popular girl, a nerd, and a rebel. These teens give viewers an idea of the cliques and teen subtypes of the 1980s. Largely, you can still find these groups and stereotypes in high schools today as well. Over the course of the film, these teens bond over a mutual dislike for the vice principal. Eventually, they all begin to find compassion for each other as they learn of each person’s struggles and personal hardships. By the end of the film, they have a newfound appreciation for each other’s uniqueness and despite knowing that in reality, they probably will not all remain friends, they end the film as a group committing one last act of rebellion together and refusing the detention assignment. They write to the vice principal that he does not need them to answer his essay prompt about who they are because he has already assumed that for himself, but in reality, they all have characteristics of each other and no one can be reduced to such simple labels.

The film focuses on themes of bullying, discipline/authority, self-discovery, rebellion, and mental health, which are major struggles for many teens. Dealing with peer pressure, labels, and finding yourself are three major components of many high schoolers’ lives and the film does an excellent job at showing teens that regardless of popularity or labels, we all face struggles and especially the growing pains of adulthood. The film posits that beneath these stereotypical labels, we often all have more in common than we think. Additionally, the film supports the rebellious actions of these teens as they are a form of identity assertion and done for good, against a particularly abusive adult figure of authority. Furthermore, the film displays risk-taking behaviors, such as marijuana use, that may be perceived by adults as negative or dangerous. However, the film displays these actions in the name of self-discovery, and asserts that these self-selected acts of rebellion are not nearly as dangerous to the teens as the societal, parental, and social pressures that they regularly face. Additionally, the film tackles the topic of suicidal ideation and perhaps suggests that struggles with mental health amongst teenagers are not necessarily rare, but instead posits that these struggles are normal, real, and require support.

Donnie Darko - 2001

Donnie Darko tells the story of a teenager, Donnie, who struggles to find purpose and suffers from mental illness. In this mind-bending movie, Donnie accidentally evades death due to him sleepwalking out of his room before a plane engine falls on it. However, after this, he begins to see Frank, an ominous, prophetic, large rabbit who gives Donnie a time for the end of the world. As the film develops, Donnie begins to explore the ideas of time travel, mortality, and rebellion. Adults surrounding Donnie misdiagnose him with paranoid schizophrenia due to his visions of Frank and push Donnie further away. Slowly, viewers witness an uptick in violence in the film with vandalism, bottle shooting, fire, fighting, death, and finally, Donnie shooting Frank Anderson in the Frank costume. By the end of the film, Donnie has realized the purpose that he has long sought out. He wakes up in his bedroom laughing before the plane engine falls on him. Both his family and the characters he met in his alternate timeline are troubled by this loss.

This film contains strong themes of violence, existentialism, mental health, and monsters. In a very extreme way, the film reflects the questions of purpose faced by many teens as well as the lack of belief from adults. In the film, Donnie faces more than just Frank in terms of monsters. The monsters of this film are the adults who don’t believe him, the child predator, and Kitty. Despite its outlandish nature, the film uses extremes like time travel and monsters to create a dialogue about the problems many teens face. Questions of who we are and the discovery of real-world monsters are part of the harsh realities of adulthood that teens are transitioning to. While most teens are not envisioning large, frightening rabbits around their house or burning down the home of a child predator, teens are forced to confront the loss of innocence from their childhood and come to terms with larger ideas in life such as purpose and evil. Ultimately, Donnie’s self-sacrifice to restore the timeline may be interpreted as Donnie’s reaction to his world. Some may consider Donnie’s choice a form of suicide which may prompt a larger discussion about the importance of parental involvement, support, and belief during teenage years. While Donnie believes his choice to be saving his loved ones from this alternate timeline (i.e his actions and issues), his choice leaves his family devastated. Debatably, this ending could serve as a reminder about the negative impacts of suicide and portray to young viewers that despite their issues, the world is better with them in it.

The Perks of Being A Wallflower - 2012

The Perks of Being A Wallflower depicts the story of Charlie, a mentally ill young teen who is adjusting to high school. At the beginning of the film, Charlie is released from an in-patient facility before he starts 9th grade. He meets Patrick and Sam and tells Sam that his best friend committed suicide while he is high. When Charlie witnesses Patrick and the school's quarterback making out and agrees to keep this secret, he becomes a part of Patrick and Sam’s friend group. As the film continues, Charlie develops feelings for Sam. After tutoring her one day, he tells her that he has never been kissed and she admits that her first kiss was the result of sexual abuse by an adult before she kisses him. Due to his feelings for Sam, Charlie is ultimately exiled from the group which exacerbates his depression again. After the quarterback’s father catches him and Patrick, he is beaten and then attempts to beat Patrick up at school with his friends. Charlie experiences a blackout and discovers that he has violently defended Patrick which gets him back into good graces with Patrick and Sam again. At the end of the school year, Charlie and Sam kiss once more which encourages a flashback for Charlie about his Aunt Helen, who died in a car wreck. However, when Sam goes to college, Charlie’s mental health worsens again and a doctor helps him realize that these flashbacks were of his Aunt Helen sexually assaulting him. In the end, Charlie is released and spends the night with Patrick and Sam back in the tunnel from earlier in the film where he finally feels free.

This film contains themes of mental illness, abuse, friendship, love, and violence. Charlie’s struggle with mental illness in the film exists as a result of his trauma from childhood sexual abuse. He fights to blackout these moments from his memory, but he is forced to face these growing flashbacks as he falls more and more in love with Sam. Here, the film is possibly suggesting that friendship, or love, can help us face problems that would be too much on our own. Furthermore, the film connects Charlie and Sam as they have both faced this trauma as children. Perhaps indicating the message that no one is alone in their suffering. The film also tackles issues of acceptance when the quarterback is caught with Patrick by his father and is subsequently beaten. When the quarterback and his friends retaliate by trying to beat Patrick, the film creates a commentary on how abuse and violence only beget more abuse and violence. The film tackles common teenage themes of first love, new friendships, and growing up amidst larger themes of mental health, acceptance, and vulnerability. In doing so, this film seeks to normalize all of these aspects and themes as parts of adolescent development. Without shame, the film brashly faces childhood trauma and sexuality and in turn, creates a dialogue about how these issues can be seen and treated both amongst friends, lovers, and families.

These three films’ releases span generations of teens from 1985 through 2012, yet they remain steadfast teen classics. While some themes, such as rebellion and mental health, are seen in all three films, others, such as sexuality, become increasingly prevalent as the films grow more recent. Perhaps this thematic progression and development in these films reflects a shifting culture regarding adolescence and the important topics of discussion that come with it. It is critically important that films like these seek to normalize teen behaviors as healthy forms of self-exploration rather than demonize teenage rebellion. For each of their respective time periods, these films sought to tackle issues directly faced by teenagers everywhere and normalize these issues. Who we are, what are our struggles, and how can we accept ourselves are questions forcibly faced by the American teenager and each of these films reflects on these questions in their own right. Characters in all of these films open up to each other and inevitably find common ground, despite any perceived differences, which reinstates the importance of communication, vulnerability, and honesty among teenagers. Communication allows teens to find critical support networks amongst friends or family. Additionally, each of these films depicts reasons why teens may struggle with issues in silence amongst adults, whether it is due to fear of disbelief, abuse, or non-acceptance, multiple teens in these movies do not feel as though they can communicate with parents. Considering that this fear of communication exists across these generational movies, this theme suggests that teens have struggled with parent relationships for years, which reasserts the importance of strong social networks for teens where they can be vulnerable. Perhaps this suggests that parents could learn as much from these movies as their teens can.