Representation Within Genre

In the past, most coming-of0age films did not have a fair amount of representation for minority groups. Most of the characters were always portrayed as and played by white heterosexual male teens, who were typically in the middle class. This stereotypical portrayal is unfair because that is not the norm and it also makes people.  In the recent years, many filmmakers have been making an effort to casts more diverse casts, such as having more female leads, characters who are apart of the LGBTQ community, and members of black, white, asian and other minority communities. The teen comedy, coming of age genre has shown to come a long way with the recent release of the movie, "Booksmart", in 2019. This movie features two female protagonists who were the academic overachievers all throughout high school, but on their graduation night, they looked for scandalous activities and parties to partake in after realizing that they missed a lot of special moments in their adolescent years. This movie features the topic of sexuality, with one of the female characters being a lesbian, sex, smoking, and drinking as well. The evolution of coming-of-age films has most certainly taken a turn, and I plan to take this turn in my film opening as well, by having a protagonist from an ethnically diverse community. I feel that it is important to have representation in film so that everyone can see themselves in a character in the film.

Citations

A Teaching & Learning Resource. https://www.media-education-portal.com/year-10-unit

            representation-of-teens-in-film.html

 Hughes, Tegwyn. The Journal. What the evolution of coming-of-age movies means for 

representation. https://www.queensjournal.ca/story/2019-07-07/pop-culture/what-the-evolution-of-coming-of-age-movies-means-for-representation/