In the 1980s John Hughes became synonymous with the teen movies. Whereas before teen rebels thought it would be cool smoking drugs, in a John Hughes movie you would end up in a police cell.
It marked an improvement from how teens were portrayed on the screen but it was not without problems. The John Hughes films such as The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Some Kind of Wonderful was packed full of stereotypes and was horribly white. I still cannot get over rich kids turning up to high school with fancy cars. As Mark Kermode notes, his films also went through a reexamination after the #MeToo movement.
François Truffaut led the way with his depiction of young Antoine Doinel in the partly autobiographical The 400 Blows. Kermode deconstructs the title sequence of how the Eiffel Tower was always out of reach for Antione.
The 400 Blows was influential to filmmakers such as Greta Gerwig who wrote and directed Ladybird. The film's ending at the seaside was also mirrored by Barry Jenkins in Moonlight.
Kermode goes through the anatomy of a coming of age film. He especially focuses on the music which can cover up a multitude of sins in teenage movies. George Lucas made good use of music in American Graffiti to give his film a time and place.
Recent years have seen directors take risks. Richard Linklater spent 12 years filming portions of Boyhood. He certainly hoped that the young cast had the acting chops to show their character's progress.
Kermode is especially interested in lesser known coming of age films. The 1973 film, Jeremy or the Scottish film, Gregory's Girl.
