1. History of the
Coming-Of-Age Drama
genre

2. Basic History
Changing social attitudes meant that parents wanted their
children to have full educations, uninterrupted by work
or military service. As a result, young people found
themselves with larger allowances and more free time.
The dramatic possibilities of this stage of life, marked by
mutiny, worry and young love, quickly became evident to
movie-makers, so then the film genre coming-of-age
drama was born. Films from this genre are often known
as ‘teen movies’.

3. The 50’s
O The genre coming-of-age drama, started to become popular
in America in the late 50s. The idea of an intermediate
stage between childhood and adulthood, with its own
problematic obstacles, was still new when Marlon Brando
donned his biker jacket in The Wild One (1953) and
answered "What are you rebelling against?" with "What've
you got?“
O Rock and Roll was the sound that defined the 50’s era
especially for teenagers, and featured strongly in the early
coming-of-age movies. Rock Around the Clock (1956) was
one of the first films to be aimed primarily at teenagers and
purposely excluding adults. Its success encouraged
Hollywood to explore this new demographic group.

4. The 60’s & 70’s
The Gidget movies and Beach Party (1963)
created narratives and protagonists which
outlined the mood of the 60s. Music, comedy
and romance alongside Californian sun and
skimpy bikinis. Much of the early success of
the coming-of-age genre is because it crosses
over so fluidly with other genres.
The 70’s brought us some of the most well
known coming-of-age films: such as ‘American
Graffiti’ (1973) ‘Mean Streets’ (1973) and
‘Grease’ (1978). The genre had evolved a lot
since the 60’s with more realistic teenage
related themes being presented in the
narratives and coming-of-age was becoming a
popular box office genre.

5. The 80’s
High-school comedies featuring the so-
called ‘Brat Pack’ were huge in the 80s -
a prime example being The Breakfast
Club (1985). None of these films would
be complete without the ‘high-school
trinity’: the bitchy cheerleader, the hot
footballer and the abused nerd. In teen
films, this has become a key convention,
to have the stereotypical characters.
Sixteen Candles (1984), Stand By Me
(1986) and Say Anything (1989) are all
popular coming-of-age movies from the
80’s.

6. The 90’s
This was the era when transforming classic literacy texts
into teen-aimed motion pictures was popularised. These
films were created around the coming-of-age genre,
teenagers being the main target audience. This is evident
in Clueless (1996) which is an update of Jane Austen's
Emma, Romeo and Juliet (1996), and 10 Things I Hate
About You (1999), based on The Taming of the Shrew.
Films like ‘Pump Up The Volume’ and ‘American Pie’ were
also massive coming-of-age success stories of the 90’s.
The themes were very explicit by this time being mainly
sex and drug related issues.

7. The genre today
The Coming of Age genre remains popular with modern
audiences, however it’s represented in a few different
forms. The ‘Harry Potter’ series uses magic as a forum for
aging, whereas films like ‘Superbad’ and ‘Juno’ focus on sex
as the ‘key’ to adulthood. Also movies about the end of the
American extended adolescence; films like ‘500 Days of
Summer’ and ‘Garden State’ feature characters, who,
though they may look like adults, are struggling to shake off
childish fantasies in order to come to terms with adulthood.
The conventions of a coming of age film have changed over
time, this being down to real life situations and also how
style and music has developed.

8. My film
Doing this background research of my genre’s history, has
helped me to understand how the different generic
conventions of a coming-of-age drama, have helped shape
and define the genre over time to how we know it today. I
have also extended my knowledge of how to create a
successful narrative and protagonist to fit in with these
conventions.