honorentheos wrote:A conversation at work turned to coming of age movies with some younger co-workers who were in high school in the late 2000s. It lead to a discussion over what they viewed as coming of age movies they related to from their generation. And they came up blank. One decided TV shows were better examples and cited a couple of as examples. One they brought up was Stranger Things, which they thought today is a better coming of age story than any movie recently produced. Could be.
It made me wonder what others thought? Are movies like Breakfast Club, Stand By Me, The Sand Lot (perhaps), Dazed and Confused, and others like them a product of a particular time and not relevant to the modern American young adults sense of identity?
Honorentheos,
Despite Eallusions comment that the theme is timeless, I found myself embarrassed unable to think of such a thing which meant something to me back in my teens or twenties. I have not seen the examples you mention ,a later period I believe.
With further review of my membory I found for the genre, , Carrie , The Graduate, Bonnie and Clyde and A Boy and his Dog. No movies except Carrie about high school, I do not think anybody wanted to remember High school. Maybe the time was less upbeat than other times.
I do remember being very fond of Zorba the Greek. If I get to think of coming of age as something recent in my life I can think of Zorba as my favorite example of the genre.
What is comming of age? sex? realization someone might try to kill you?
Perhaps full Metal Jacket could be considered.