American Teen
An MTV generation inspired movie that follows 4 teens around through there senior year, and shows the "drama" that surrounds it. Part of me has this tendency to want films like this to be real; the other side of me knows when 17 year olds are putting on a act for the cameras. It's not hard to spot, because I'm the first generation of young people to be raised on a diet of reality TV. I'm old enough to remember the first season of The Real World.
This film does several things right. It shows how hard being 17 and 18 is. It's the point in life where people start treating one like an adult, but one tends to be bad at it the first few times choices are presented. For example, break ups are done by text message, humiliation is done by passing a picture from in box to in box, and reactions to perceived slights are to vandalize a home. In other words, it's all typical teen behavior. Or is it? Would these things have happened if the documentary camera wouldn't have been there? I really can't answer these questions.
Would this be a film anyone would be interested in seeing? Possibly. It would make for a decent rental a few years from now. What would be even more interesting is if the film maker went back ten years from now and did a follow up film with the adults that grew out of this process.
An MTV generation inspired movie that follows 4 teens around through there senior year, and shows the "drama" that surrounds it. Part of me has this tendency to want films like this to be real; the other side of me knows when 17 year olds are putting on a act for the cameras. It's not hard to spot, because I'm the first generation of young people to be raised on a diet of reality TV. I'm old enough to remember the first season of The Real World.
This film does several things right. It shows how hard being 17 and 18 is. It's the point in life where people start treating one like an adult, but one tends to be bad at it the first few times choices are presented. For example, break ups are done by text message, humiliation is done by passing a picture from in box to in box, and reactions to perceived slights are to vandalize a home. In other words, it's all typical teen behavior. Or is it? Would these things have happened if the documentary camera wouldn't have been there? I really can't answer these questions.
Would this be a film anyone would be interested in seeing? Possibly. It would make for a decent rental a few years from now. What would be even more interesting is if the film maker went back ten years from now and did a follow up film with the adults that grew out of this process.
