Blog no. 1: Genre ☺

Teen movies are movies whose target audience are teenagers. Most of the cast, or the main members of the cast, are teenagers, and often the main crux of the story is teenage problems, revolving around peer pressure, relationships, school life and romance.

Teen movies are very open to interpretation and because of this there are many unique Teen movie opening sequences. However, most teen movies use the opening to introduce the main character and the time period, whilst the main plot and sometimes the location remain as enigmas to the audience.

Because so much can fit under the genre of ‘Teen movies’, they are often made into hybrids; the most frequent of these are teen/drama and teen/comedy.

Teen/Drama focuses heavily on teenage life, and, more often than not, explores some form of abuse associated with teenagers. This could include bullying, drug and alcohol abuse, physical/sexual abuse and prejudice/discrimination. the opening of Teen/Drama film ‘Thirteen’ (2003) is a perfect example of this, showing teenagers abusing drugs which leads to severe self destructive behaviour.
Teen/Comedy films generally parody teen life, exaggerating awkward situations and making light of the problems Teen/Dramas focus seriously on, often by using slapstick comedy. The Teen/Comedy genre centres around mocking stereotypes linked with teenagers. For Example, in this scene from ‘Superbad’ (2007) when they make fun of alcohol abuse, showing drunk police officers act in a dangerous, juvenile manner toward the main characters, though the situation isn’t taken seriously.

Post by Shona ☺