Critical context research
- 1. Critical Context Research Harry T. Docwra
- 2. What did I research? • For the essay I went and watched two different movies that were in the coming of age genre. Both of the movies were new to me so I watched them without knowing what to expect. The movies were Richard Linklaters “Dazed and Confused” (1993) and Olivia Wilde’s “Booksmart” (2019). Both movies were from different eras of media/pop culture so it was easy to spot the massive differences between them, in terms of Diversity and music. • I also watched an episode of Mark Kermodes “Secrets of Cinema” on BBC iPlayer, which covered the coming of age genre. He discussed lots of important key factors that make a good coming of age story. • Both of these were very helpful for my research for my essay.
- 3. Stand By Me • Stand By Me was directed by Rob Reiner and was released in 1986. • The film was based off of Stephen Kings novella, entitled “The Body”. • The films stars Jerry O’Connell, Cory Feldman, Wil Wheaton and the late River Phoenix. • The plot follows these four characters, Gordie, Chris, Teddy and Vern as they embark on an adventure to find the body of a local boy. Word gets out about the body and eventually the town bully, Ace, gets his gang together and go after the body as well. The film manages to take the idea of a kid friendly adventure story and set it in the cruel, dark unfriendly real world we live in. The films official main character, Gordie, is feeling survivors guilt after the death of his brother, Dennis. In the climax of the film where the boys find the dead body Gordie begins to cope with the guilt and when he finally stands up to Ace to protect Chris we see that he has completely overcome it. That is what a coming of age story is meant to do; grow the characters from immaturity to maturity. In a way the boys all mature as soon as they discover the body.
- 4. Booksmart • Booksmart was directed by Olivia Wilde and was released in May 2019. • The film is a coming of age buddy comedy that follows high school seniors Amy and Molly who are both A* students who realise they have wasted their high school years by sacrificing partying for studying. On the night before their graduation they decide to cram all the celebrating into one night. • The movie stars Kaitlyn Denver Beanie Feldstein, Jason Sudeikis, Diana Silvers and Billie Catherine Lourd. One of the main reasons this film is different from most coming of age movies over recent years is that it has a gay female as one of its main characters. The film teaches younger viewers to have fun in their high school years while they last as well as work hard for their grades.
- 5. Dazed and Confused • Dazed and Confused was written and Directed by Richard Linklater and was released in 1993. • It is an American coming of age movie about a group of seniors in Austin, Texas celebrating their last day of high school in 1976. • The films stars Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg, Wiley Wiggins and Anthony Rapp. For many of these actors this film was the beginning of their careers. • The film follows multiple different characters, but mostly revolves around a soon to be freshman ‘Mitch’ who throughout the film is being pursued and harassed by senior Fred O’Bannon who attempts to spank him as part of the freshman initiation. The film reminds us of how tough the teen years can be but also reminds us of how fun they can be and exciting they can be. It reminds us what we find as relevant and what matters to us the most and with the all the trouble comes the nostalgia and memories that last for life.
- 6. The Breakfast Club • The Breakfast Club was written and directed by John Hughes and was released in 1985. • The film stars Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Anthony Michael Hall and Paul Gleason. • The film centres around 5 young high school students stuck in detention on a Saturday. As the day goes on they put aside their differences realise they all grow fond of each-other. The film is never thrilling, it is never exciting nor surprising...because it’s not meant to be. The film is about 5 characters, all with different mindsets and backgrounds and nothing in common forced to bond with each-other and that alone is enough to engage me as a viewer.
- 7. How did I find know what to research? • I thought that watching classic coming of age films would be a good thing to analyse for research because I can get a good idea of what makes the genre so praised and special. • Taking notes from a professional who is discussing coming of age is possibly the best way of research. The information is delivered almost directly to you and it’s easy to breakdown what they are saying and get the information.
- 8. Where did I find my research? • I searched for the movies I I chose to watch on amazon prime. Booksmart was free to watch however Dazed and Confused cost money was worth it, especially if it was for the research. • Mark Kermodes secrets of cinema was recommended to me by someone. They told me that I can watch it on BBC iPlayer, I created an account and watched the recommended episode.
- 9. What have I learned from this research? I learned about the core strengths of a coming of age story and how to execute them as well as the common tropes used in the genre, such as: • The main character having a friend or group of friends that they can connect with. • Someone to mentor the main character into finding their place in life. • Using music to give the audience a sense of when and where it is set. • Characters should have conflict with their parent or mentor.
- 10. What do you want to look at next? • For further research I would like to watch some more Coming of Age films to understand how films have changed over the years and possibly obtain more ideas for plots and characters. Movies in particular that I would like to watch or re-watch are “Mean Girls” and “Kings of Summer”. The research for these will be similar to the research for my other two films, considering that both of their target audience is very different in terms of gender.
- 11. Which theory am I going to use? • After looking at all the possible theories I could use for my project I have decided to use Vladimir Propps theory of a strong story, which he believes needs seven different types of character. 1. The protagonist – who is on a quest 2. The antagonist - someone who creates troubles for the protagonist 3. Donor – someone who assists the hero by giving them a useful tool. 4. Dispatcher – Someone who sends the hero on their way 5. The false hero – someone who attempts to persuade the protagonist away from the quest. 6. The helper – who helps the protagonist 7. The princess – who is the reward for the protagonist. 8. Her father — who rewards the hero for his efforts
- 12. Who was Vladimir Propp? Vladimir Propp was born 29th April 1895 and died August 22 1970. He was a Russian folklorist and scholar who analysed structural elements of Russian folktales. His family were of German descent and were from Saratov Governorate. He was the author of popular Russian books such as: Morphology of the Folktale Theory and History of Folklore On the Comic and Laughter …to name a few. He also believed there were 31 steps to a good folktale story.