The Coming of Age Movie

14 May 2008

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This week sees the release of Charlie Bartlett, the latest coming of age movie. Starring Anton Yelchin teenager Charlie Barlett has been expelled from another private school and finds himself at a public school.

Struggling to fit in Charlie becomes an underground, not to mention under-aged, shrink who only listens to the private confessions of his schoolmates, and makes the imprudent decision to hand out the pills he's proffered from his own psychiatric sessions.

Charlie Bartlett takes a look at high school life and how difficult everyone finds it to fit in and become comfortable with who they are.

But Charlie Bartlett is just the most recent in a long line of coming of age movies that have graced the big screen over the years here at FemaleFirst we take a look back at some of the best coming of age movies.

Napoleon Dynamite

Napoleon Dynamite is a 2004 independent film co-written and directed by Jared Hess and Jerusha Hess starring Jon Header.

Napoleon Dynamite (Heder) is a high-school outcast in every sense of the word. More interested in playing tetherball by himself and drawing pictures of his favourite animal, the "liger" (a combination of a lion and a tiger), Napoleon is ignored by everyone in his tiny hometown of Preston, Idaho.

At home, things aren't much better: his uber-nerd older brother, Kip (Aaron Ruell), and ultra-vain Uncle Rico (Jon Gries) are too busy with their own obsessions to give Napoleon the time of day.

It isn't until a new student, Pedro (Efren Ramirez), arrives that Napoleon finds friendship and performs an act of brave defiance that makes him a true hero.

Despite receiving mixed review from the critics the film earned a cult following and went on to gross $44.5 million in the U.S alone, and being made on a budget of $400,000 it was a huge hit.

Rebel Without A Cause

Rebel Without A Cause is one of the earliest and most famous coming of age movies released in 1955 starring James Dean.

Rebel without a Cause" focuses on a teenage social outcast searching for his identity. His dysfunctional parents (a milquetoast father and a cantankerous mom) can't help him and he shuns any form of authority.

The young man only finds solace in the company of two fellow teenage misfits, but even they aren't able to prevent tragedy from befalling this reckless and uncontrollable anti-hero.

The film was designed to portray the existing decay of youth in middle America, question parental style, and expose the rift that was growing between the two generations.

In 1990, Rebel Without a Cause was added to the preserved films of the United States Library of Congress's National Film Registry as being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The Karate Kid

The Karate Kid looked at issues of school bullying and Daniel is taught to defend himself not through violence but the disciplined art of karate as well as learning respect and self respect along the way.

Daniel (Ralph Macchio) and his mother (Randee Heller) move from New Jersey to Southern California, where he's not too keen about his new home--until he meets Ali (Elizabeth Shue), an attractive girl who seems to like him.

But trouble looms when Ali's ex-boyfriend (William Zabka) and his gang of ruffians start tormenting Daniel.

One day, as Daniel is suffering a beating at the hands of these louts, Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita), an elderly Japanese handyman, comes to his rescue.

To Daniel's amazement, Miyagi manages to take down the whole group all by himself using karate. Daniel begs to learn this ancient martial art, and soon Miyagi begins the boy's training, teaching Daniel that there is more to karate than fighting.

Through a series of lessons, the wise mentor instils a sense of honour and nobility in his young pupil while preparing him for the ultimate karate showdown.

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