Coming-of-age story
In genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, film, and video that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from youth to adulthood ("coming of age"). Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action, and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers.[1] The Bildungsroman is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story.
In literature
- The Telemachy in Homer's Odyssey (8th century B.C.)
- Hayy ibn Yaqdhan, by Ibn Tufail (12th century)[2]
- The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding (1749)[3]
- The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne (1759)[3]
- Candide, by Voltaire (1759)
- Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (1817)
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce (1916)[4]
- A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith (1943)
- The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger (1951)
- To Kill a Mockingbird, (novel) by Harper Lee (1960)
- The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath (1964)
- The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton (1967)
- A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck (1972)
- Vision Quest (novel), by Terry Davis (author) (1979)
- Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)[5]
- It, by Stephen King (1986)
- Into the Widening World, a collection of 26 short fictional coming-of-age stories by 26 notable authors (published 1995)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky (1999)
- The Name of the Wind and the rest of The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (2007–present)
In film and television
In film, coming of age is a genre of teen films. Coming-of-age films focus on the psychological and moral growth or transition of a protagonist from youth to adulthood. Personal growth and change is an important characteristic of this genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses, rather than action. The story is sometimes told in the form of a flashback.[1] Historically, coming-of-age films usually centred on young boys, although coming-of-age films focusing on girls have become more common in the early 21st century.[6]
Films in this subgenre include:
- Pinocchio (1940),
- Bambi (1942),
- Rebel Without a Cause (1955),
- The Apu Trilogy (1955–59),
- Sleeping Beauty (1959),
- The 400 Blows (1959),
- Oliver! (1968),
- Walkabout (1971),
- Summer of '42 (1971),
- American Graffiti (1973),
- the original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983),
- Breaking Away (1979),
- Over the Edge (1979),
- The Last American Virgin (1982),
- The Outsiders (1983),
- Rumble Fish (1983),
- Sixteen Candles (1984),
- Fandango (1985),
- Mischief (1985),
- The Breakfast Club (1985),
- Vision Quest (1985),
- Pretty in Pink (1986),
- Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986),
- Stand by Me (1986),
- Some Kind of Wonderful (1987),
- Empire of the Sun (1987),
- Stealing Home (1988),
- Mermaids (1990),
- Flirting (1991),
- Dazed and Confused (1993),
- The Lion King (1994),
- The Thief and the Cobbler (1995),
- Girl, Interrupted (1999),
- Almost Famous (2000),
- Y Tu Mamá También (2001),
- Spirited Away (2001),
- Dil Chahta Hai (2001),
- The Motorcycle Diaries (2003),
- Lakshya (2004),
- Happy Days (2007),
- Juno (2007),
- Gamyam (2008),
- Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008),
- The Reader (2008),
- Submarine (2010),
- Moonrise Kingdom (2012),
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012),
- The Spectacular Now,
- Fukrey (2012), (2013),
- The Kings of Summer (2013),
- Boyhood (2014), which was filmed with the same cast over a period of twelve years,
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015),
- Kerintha (2015),
- Sleeping Giant (2015),
- Yevade Subramanyam (2015),
- Moonlight (2016),
- The Edge of Seventeen (2016),
- Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017),
- It (2017),
- 2 Cool 2 Be 4gotten (2017),
- Call Me by Your Name (2017),
- Lady Bird (2017),
- Vunnadhi Okate Zindagi (2017),
- Love, Simon (2018),
- Eighth Grade (2018),
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018),
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018),
- Bumblebee (2018),
- Mid90s (2018),
- Booksmart (2019),
- Little Women (2019),
- The Half of It (2020),
- There's Someone Inside Your House (2020),
Films featuring protagonists in particular age groups, such as pre-teens, are:
- My Girl (1991),
- The Sandlot (1993),
- Now and Then (1995)
or high school graduates and college students, in films such as
- With Honors (1994),
- Can't Hardly Wait (1998),
- American Pie (1999),
- Spider-Man 2 (2004),
- Superbad (2007),
- An Education (2009),
- 3 Idiots (2009).
Coming-of-age television series include
- Happy Days (1974–84),[7],
- the Degrassi franchise (1979–2017),
- The Wonder Years (1988–93),[7],
- Boy Meets World (1993–2000),
- Daria (1997–2001),
- Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000),
- Skins (2007–13),
- Glee (2009–15),
- Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai (2011),
- Teen Wolf (2011–17),
- Adventure Time (2010-2018),
- Steven Universe (2013–20),
- Over the Garden Wall (2014),
- Girl Meets World (2014–17),
- Skam (2015–17),
- We Bare Bears (2015–19),
- Stranger Things (2016–present),
- 13 Reasons Why (2017–2020),
- One Day at a Time (2017–present),
- Big Mouth (2017–present),
- On My Block (2018–present),
- SKAM Austin (2018–present),
- The End of the F***ing World (2017–2019),
- Sex Education (2019–present),
- I Am Not Okay with This (2020–present),
- Love, Victor (2020–present).
In video games
While not represented as often as in other mediums, coming-of-age stories can also be found in video games such as Life Is Strange.[8]
References
- Benyahia, Sarah Casey; Gaffney, Freddie; White, John (2006). As Film Studies: The Essential Introduction. Essentials Series. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-415-39311-6. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
- Joy Palmer, Liora Bresler, David Edward Cooper (2001). Fifty major thinkers on education: from Confucius to Dewey. Routledge. p. 34. ISBN 0-415-23126-4.
- McWilliams, Ellen (2009). Margaret Atwood and the Female Bildungsroman. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-7546-6027-9.
The two early English Bildungsromane already mentioned, Tom Jones and The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, are examples of coming-of-age narratives that predate the generic expectations of the German tradition.
- Knausgård, Karl. "On Reading Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
- Melanie Kinchen; et al. (13 July 2006). "Bildungsroman Novels for Young Adults". Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2012.
- Kate Erbland, "7 Female-Centric Coming-of-Age Movies to Watch If You Loved ‘Lady Bird’". IndieWire, December 5, 2017.
- Fox, Levi (2002). "The Historical Coming of Age Genre". Were Those the Days? Historical Coming of Age Films in American Culture. American Studies, University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
- Riaz, Adnan (26 October 2015). "Review: Life Is Strange Episode 5: Polarized". Hardcore Gamer. Archived from the original on 28 October 2015. Retrieved 31 October 2015.