Sing Street: Typical Coming-Of-Age Film

When examining the 1980s film Puberty Blues, using techniques of content analysis and personal reflection, I have observed certain differences and similarities between the culture depicted in the film and my own society and culture. The subject of the film is the journey that two young people go on as they transition from adolescence into adulthood, I will be outlining what exactly that means.

Most common cultures have rituals, celebrations, or traditional ceremonies to acknowledge the coming of age of boys and/or girls. The Hispanic culture have a traditional “Quinceañera” for young teenage girls turning age 15 to recognize her coming of age as a woman. Jews have “Bar Mitzvah” for men or “Bat Mitzvah” for women to celebrate coming of age. Although in some cultures, celebrating coming age is nothing less than actually celebrating; but in other cultures, such as Aborigine culture, rather than having a huge celebration, young teenage boys, age thirteen, are enduring an essential evaluation. In this stage of their life, their elders test them to see if they are “man” enough to survive by themselves.

Sunset Boulevard is a drama/romance black and white film. It was released to the public on August 10, 1950 in New York City. The film was directed by Billy Wilder, and produced and co-written by Charles Brackett. The film was named after the boulevard that runs through Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, California. Film stars William Holden as Joseph C. Gillis, an unsuccessful screenwriter, and Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond, a faded silent film actress who drags him into her fantasy world where she dreams of making a great comeback to the big screen, with Erich von Stroheim as Max Von Mayerling, Norma’s devoted servant. Nancy Olson, Fred Clark, Lloyd Gough, and Jack Webb also make an appearance in this film and play supporting roles. Sunset Blvd. was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won three. The film was noted to be “culturally and historically” by the U.S. Library of Congress in 1989. Sunset was also included in the first group of films selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. Sunset Boulevard was ranked number twelve on the American Film Institute’s list of the one hundred best American films of the twentieth century in 1998.

In the novel “A Long Way Gone”, there are endless amounts of evidence to be found explaining why this novel is a “coming of age” novel. So, what exactly is “coming of age”? Typically, this is a story that is made up of three different factors: young characters who experience a crisis, absent or negative adult relations, and the incorporation of an epiphany moment. The story of Ishmael Beah could not be an any greater representation of this category of story, because at 12 years old there is no peace that could be described in his childhood simply because peace was absent.

The movie The Breakfast Club was released in 1985, and is based on a group of five high school students from stereotypical cliques; the popular, jock, nerd and the outcasts, who all wind up stuck together for Saturday detention. Throughout the movie many themes present themselves such as teenage rebellion, peer pressure and family issues as the students get to know each other. The most prominent theme throughout the movie is the student’s placement in the social structure of the school. From the very different reasons why they are in detention to the way that they are all treated differently by the principle, their social placement is evident.

Music also plays a key role in reminding the audience that this movie took place in the past.

Did you ever want to see the truth about everyone and understand what they mean? In the novel Tangerine by Edward Bloor the themes seeing and truth is expressed. "But I can see. I can see everything. I can see things that Mom and Dad can't. Or won't." These are Paul's words and they foreshadow what's to come. In other words, Paul’s parents are underestimating his eyesight and believe that Paul is only a handicap kid that needs assistance with everything. In addition to that Paul has an older brother named Erik, he’s the star of the show. Paul’s parents think of Erik as the golden child, but in reality Erik is a psychopath that wants to kill Paul, sadly only Paul sees Erik’s inner demon. All in all, Paul isn’t relevant in his family and his

Most of the time, becoming an adult is planned. There are religious ceremonies, the gaining of a driver’s license, and other forms of new responsibility to signify the coming of age. Sometimes though maturity comes at you like a freight train. It comes at you in the blink of an eye and there is no stopping it once it hits you. You are forced to grow up and take on new responsibilities that you thought you wouldn’t have to take on until many years later. It's up to you though to decide what to do from there. You can either try and run away from the problems you have come to face or you can take the train head on and conquer what has been presented to you. I decided to face the train.

The movie Mean Girls is set in a high school setting. The movie starts with a new girl coming to the school as a first time public school student. Cady, the new student, is immediately accepted into a group of friends, but later invited to another. The first clique she joins pushes her to become friends with the second group. This subsequently led to a typical high school drama scene. The ways these high school students go about their normal life seem very alike to the “typical” high school. Even though the movie Mean Girls by Mark Waters, uses humor to portray some questionable realism, it effectively depicts characteristics of ordinary high school life and uses realistic characters.

The sounds and music in this film are very realistic, and to the point. There is not anything abstract or out of place, and everything is very appropriate. The

“Our brothers and sisters are there with us from the dawn of our personal stories to the inevitable dusk” (Susan Scarf Merrell). Merrell, an American author and a creative writing and literature teacher at Stony Brook Southampton, states that since the early days of your youth to the end of our story our siblings are there throughout our whole journey. Life is similar to a play; parents pass away during the first half; while one’s children come in during the second half; but siblings are there throughout both acts. Tobias Wolff’s, The Rich Brother, portrays the relationship between two brothers that are complete opposites; yet they know each other’s strengths and weaknesses better than anyone else will ever be able. The Rich Brother describes a complex sibling relationship that is fairly common in today’s society; Tobias Wolff makes use of pathos by incorporating real life sibling abuse; and ethos in his own life and credentials.

We discussed in class how a movie made about eras past has twenty-twenty hindsight about what constitutes popular music, whereas if this film were made in the 1970s it might make some poor musical decisions. Anytime the radio is playing or non-diegetic music is used it is a piece of music that is still popular today. It is possible for a movie to successfully guess what piece of music will transcend generations, as was the case in the movie Blackboard Jungle, but the music might have been used to create a much different effect.

Whether it be due the malleable minds of children, or the turbulent world around them, dramatic changes in life are an absolute certainty. Young, naïve children are highly impressionable. Their parents teach them one thing, their friends another, and society, yet something else. Fickle, they morph in and out of the plethora of ideologies and mindsets laid out in front of them. This leads to a disorienting and rather confusing child-to-young-adult life, one without a clear sense of morality. The lack of focus upon what is right and wrong, inherently subjective terms, continues into our early adult hood and, for better or worse, seemingly defines the child for the rest of his or her life. This universal theme has been explored for many years through films aptly called “coming-of-age” stories, recently, and perhaps most effectively in Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom (2012). This film revolves around Sam and Suzy, two recently pubescent kids, their romantic affair, and their effects on the world around them. The film not only captures the youthful dynamic between the two protagonists, but explores the “coming-of-age” theme through Anderson’s signature flat perspective and through the actors’ portrayals of these characters.

The importance of music in movies is highly regarded for manipulating the viewer’s emotions and helping them immerse into the story. Music is one of the prime elements in cinema. Without it a movie would feel dull and unexciting. There are three elements in a movie: one is acting, the second is picture, and the third one is music. It is a holy trinity; if incomplete, there would be a lack of sensation and excitement. Both acting and picture can stand independently from one another, but music is the one that makes the movie memorable.

It’s 1982 in Dublin, Ireland. A teenage boy begins his first day at his new high school. He is immediately terrorized by students and teachers alike. After enduring several days of bullying, the boy decides to start a “Futurist” band named Sing Street. Flash forward thirty years to 2012. An American girl is beginning college and decides to join one of the school’s a capella groups. Despite her disinterest and hesitation, she finds that, together, the group sounds pitch perfect. These teenagers both initially struggle to find friends at their new schools, and subsequently join music groups to fit in. Eventually, through hard work and musical creativity, the respective groups gain popularity and the characters find true friendships. However, though the main characters and basic storylines for Sing Street and Pitch Perfect are extremely similar, the soundtrack cover art for the two movies are designed in very different ways. These movie soundtrack covers each appeal to certain audiences, but the soundtrack for Sing Street is advertised in a way that allows it to appeal to a wider market.