By our definition, a teen film is classified as a movie about teenagers. However, as we embark on the journey exploring the intersection between classic/art cinema and teen screen, sometimes this intersection is found within the teen film itself, not via comparison.

For example, quintessential teen angst film Rebel Without a Cause (1956) would not be used as an example of teen screen (“low culture”) against a classic film because it itself is commonly acknowledged as a classic film. It would feel weird to post a quote from Clueless about having a “Twin Peaks experience”, when the TV show it references centres it’s narrative around the mystery of a dead prom queen. Although this is an ensemble show about the town of Twin Peaks, it is equally about the teenagers who try their own hands at helping to solve the case as it is about the adults.

So, what makes these things have Classic status? I’ve narrowed it down to a few factors.

What Makes a (High Art) Classic Film – Rebel Without a Cause

James Dean as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (1956)

The 1950s was a high time for teen films, as it was the decade where the term really came into full force. Being a “teenager” hardly exited before then, and it was truly enforced through Hollywood jumping on the band wagon, especially with the series of “I Was a Teenage…” films. However, Rebel Without a Cause endures partly because of the way it portrayed the complexities and anxieties of being a teenager, and partly due to the mysterious allure of James Dean who died a month after the film was released.

Other teen films such as Grease, Dirty Dancing and The Breakfast Club are classics because of the way they explore the complexities of being a teenager—and also due to age. These films have stood the test of time and continue to be popular. However, they aren’t “classic” in the high art sense. This is due to the language used and how the films are perceived. Dirty Dancing is a terrific coming of age film about a seventeen-year-old Baby and her sexual awakening, as well as being the first film to talk about abortion in a serious, non-demonising way. It deals with issues in a serious manner but persists in popular culture as some sappy guilty pleasure film women sob in front of the TV over. Grease is nothing but a campy musical and The Breakfast Club, while being one of the best films ever made, is always talked about in terms of its teen film-ness. John Hughes was a great director—of teen films.

Rebel Without a Cause does not fall into this imposition due to the help of a particular group of voices. The film is directed by Nicholas Ray, who was a favourite of the Cahiers du Cinema: especially Francois Truffaut (whose film The 400 Blows was referenced here). As such, Ray was one of the first directors to be named an auteur, an artist. This discussion surrounding the director and the film also informs who the larger audience is: cinephiles and those who like arthouse cinema. This kind of audience operate as tastemakers in defining what is a Good Film. It is unlikely for these audiences to view teen film in the same way, unless it has been vouched for by an approving body: The Cahiers du Cinema in the 1950s, or in the case of Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird via The Academy Awards.

What Makes an Arthouse TV Show – Twin Peaks v Riverdale

Twin Peaks vs Riverdale - Title Cards

Historically, like teen film, television would be seen as low-culture itself compared to the true art that is cinema. However, as television developed with higher production values and sophisticated storytelling, this can no longer be considered true. The high versus low art divide now exists within television itself. And I’m not just talking about reality TV versus HBO.

Twin Peaks is widely considered a Classic television show. The series is a masterpiece, it’s use of narrative and film techniques were ground-breaking for television at the time. Yet when it aired in 1990-91, the ratings fluctuated during the series, leading it to be axed at the end of series two. Usually this is a bad omen for TV shows. However, the show was created by David Lynch, and his status as a highly revered arthouse director and auteur defines how the show was received.

When actor James Marshall, who plays James Hurley in the show, was asked why he thinks the show has continue to stay so popular nearly 30 years later, he attributed it to Lynch: “certain directors are gifted with a certain magnetism and a certain sense of visual poetry that most people don't get. I think it's true art.” With this kind of language surrounding the show, no wonder it remains a classic, with a prequel film and a reboot series, Twin Peaks: The Return. The latter was even included in many critics’ Top 10 Films of 2017 lists. Lynch brought art cinema to television audiences who previously may not have thought to access it. “Lynchian” has been added to the dictionary.

It is interesting, then, to think if a show like Riverdale could ever receive the same cult following. Like Twin Peaks, Riverdale is a sleek and stylish show about a quiet and mysterious tree-surrounded town which is shaken up after the murder of the popular teenager. The title of the show is the name of the town, and its narratives focus on the relationships between all the towns-members, while the teenagers try to help solve the murder as much as the adults do. 

James Marshall as James Hurley  in Twin Peaks (left) Riverdale (right) 

When I first watched Riverdale, I was struck by the level of sophistication it possessed. With its moody, neo-noir lighting, twists and intrigue, unlike the bland looking teen dramas of the 00s (sorry One Tree Hill, I love you), Riverdale has a cinematic quality to it. Produced by The CW, Riverdale’s audience is younger than Twin Peaks. Because the network made a name for itself with shows like One Tree Hill, Smallville and Gossip Girl—a lot of teen dramas—The CW is always looked down upon as nothing but teen fodder. Despite being also available on Netflix, these pre-conceived notions about the series turn watching Riverdale into a guilty pleasure or tasteless, rather than an engrossing neo-noir.

Nowadays, “auteur” is not a term which hold a lot of weight anymore. Other than the way films and shows are perceived, ultimately, what creates “classic” status is what it adds to the medium, and also time. How has the film/show influenced the industry? It is obvious Twin Peaks continues to have influence, due to Riverdale’s similarities. Whether or not Riverdale’s distinctive neon-noir (petition to change neo-noir to emphasise the use of neon) style will influence new shows in the future and reach Classic status, only time will tell.

--

Cause a Cine and the Teen Screen Cinematheque do not own any of the images used in this post.

What We Are

Teen Screen Cinematheque is a curated online project, presented by Cause a Cine, which aims to explore the intersection between teen screen (film and television), and classic and art cinema. This project is inspired by Tabloid Art History, which publishes visual comparisons between popular culture and art history. This combination of high and low culture is something which can also occur in film, with the duelling dichotomies of high and low art. The Cinematheque will find visual references, comparisons, mentions and intersections of classic and art cinema in teen film and television, to not only bridge the gap between high and low art, but also introduce teens to classic cinema, and vice versa.

Definitions

As we embark on this journey, it is important to define what exactly we mean when we refer to teen screen.

If we are to look at “teen film and television” as anything which features an ensemble of teen characters as the protagonists, this would be an easy distinction to make. However, in terms of genre, this can propose some challenges. For example, what about coming of age?

Hadley Freeman describes the difference between teen film and the coming of age story thus: “The teen movie is a celebration of teen-ness: the tribes, the slang, the annoying parents. The coming-of-ager is a more soulful phenomenon: yes, it looks at teen life, but something deeper about the human spirit is revealed.”

It is in this way that Clueless and Mean Girls, both films about navigating high school and introducing new lingo into our everyday vernacular, count as teen film, whereas Lady Bird, a story about a young girl and her relationship with her mother during her senior year of high school, is a coming of age film.

Due to its deeper meaning, coming of age films are generally more critically acclaimed and taken seriously than that of teen films. Examples include Stand By Me, The Breakfast Club, Boyhood and Lady Bird. Teen films are predominantly all surface (even the best ones).

However, for some films, this distinction is not so clearly cut. The films of John Hughes, for example, are herald as iconic teen films, yet Freeman describes Pretty in Pink as coming of age due to the emotional journey and exploration of class differences. The same can be said for contemporary films. Love, Simon, the latest addition to the teen film cannon, is both a major studio production which celebrates teen culture, but also counts as a coming of age narrative, as the film’s titular character, Simon, navigates coming out and the courage to be true to yourself and those around you.

It seems fitting then to look at a different definition of teen film, such as John Lewis, the author of the Road to Romance and Ruin: Teen Films and Youth Culture, who defines teen films as any film about teenagers, not films targeted at them. While some films about teens are more serious in tone, they are still lacking in representation at institutions such as the Oscars or many Top 100 Movies lists.

High vs Low

This project takes inspiration from the writings of Susan Sontag, particularly, her essays Notes on Camp and On Culture and the New Sensibility, which are seminal texts in the distinction between high and low culture.

When a film which is defined as “classic” or “art” cinema, it is described in terms of poetic or pure cinema, as intellectual, as a masterpiece. In today’s culture, these films are black and white films from early and Golden Age cinema, and other critically influential films from the 20th and early 21st century. In contrast, major studio films such as romantic comedies and teen film, genres traditionally and predominantly enjoyed by young women, are looked over as tacky, commercial, and low culture. This critique forgets that these films are the same art form, and that cinema does not exist in a vacuum. As filmmaking develops, cinematic history informs each new film.

This dismissal as low culture also removes value from the tastes of young women and come across as elitist. As Sontag wrote in On Culture, “If art is understood as a form of discipline of the feelings and a programming of sensations, then the feeling (or sensation) given off by a Rauschenberg painting might be like that of a song by the Supremes.” In relation to film, the Cinematheque believes the emotions and sensations given off by an Alfred Hitchcock film could be comparable to that of watching I Know What You Did Last Summer.

While I tend to agree that not all commercial films are a masterpiece, not everyone was first introduced to film via the French New Wave or the works of Andrei Tarkovsky. A romantic comedy screened during your Saturday night sleepover or going to the cinema to see the latest comedy with your parents: these experiences are most young people’s gateway into film.

Continuing to appreciate these films as one delves more into film appreciation and film history shouldn’t negate one’s legitimacy as a cinephile, nor exist remotely as a guilty pleasure.

This mode of thinking updates that of early Cahiers du Cinema, whose founding writers started the influential film journal in response to the old regime of cinephilia, which idolised early silent film and sneered at new Hollywood. With an intense love of cinema, these men such as Andre Bazin, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard believed in the importance of reframing film spectatorship and bringing attention to the films they cared about. The Cinematheque is doing the same.

In an article for Film School Rejects, Emily Kubincanek writes “Millennials do care about classic movies, but need more exposure to them.” This post was written in response to an article published by the New York Post, which contended millennials do not care about classic cinema. Based on research which found that 30% of millennials surveyed admitted to not having seen a black and white film, this seems like a drastic number when placed next to a number like 85%, the number of people over 50 who have seen a black and white film. These two numbers are drastic but ignore the 70% of millennials who have seen a black and white film, only a 15% difference with those who are over 50.

While the Cinematheque wants to allow teen screen to be discussed in the same way alongside classic film, it also aims to make classic cinema more accessible. By comparing the two, and reframing in regard to their similarities, not only will the Cinematheque close the gap between high and low culture, but also celebrate that these films are not so different after all.

--

“My wish for film criticism is that it free itself at last from the ideas dictated to it by its elders, and be able to consider, with fresh eyes and mind, the works that, in my opinion, count far more in the history of our age than the pale survivors of an art that is no more.”

– Eric Rohmer, Cahiers du Cinema 26, 1953.

“If cinema can be resurrected, it will only be through the birth of a new kind of cine-love.” 

– Susan Sontag, The Decay of Cinema, 1996

By Claire. 

Hailee Steinfeld in her Golden Globe nominated performance as Nadine.

If you’re anything like me, you most likely have Stevie Nick’s classic 'Edge of Seventeen' in your head right now. Written and directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, Edge of Seventeen's association (intentional or not) to Nicks’ song of teenage romance and self-discovery is not far off base.

Fremon Craig’s latest feature is a magnificent feat for the teen film genre. Screening at Toronto Film Festival, the film has received rave reviews, some even going so far as to call it an “instant teen classic”. A self-proclaimed teen film enthusiast, I will admit, I remained skeptical throughout the film; asking myself “where is the iconic fashion statements, the plethora of new lingo to add to the teen’s everyday vernacular?” But by the time the credits rolled, I got it.

Starring a cleverly hilarious and convincing Hailee Steinfeld, Edge of Seventeen has a simple plot: Excruciatingly awkward high school Junior Nadine’s (Steinfeld) life comes crashing down when her best, and only friend Krista (Hayley Lu Richardson) starts dating her older, annoyingly perfect older brother Darien (played by Blake Jenner, who, since Glee, can no longer pass as a high schooler). What extends from this, however, is a tale of heartbreak. After the passing of her father four years prior, Krista is the only one who Nadine feels like she can depend on. Her mother Mona (Kyra Sedgwick) struggles to understand her, and her brother only cares about himself. The emotions which ensue, from all characters, are what make the film.

It is a common saying in which going to the cinema and watching a movie is like being transported to another place. While I sat in the plush velvet chairs, one hand a constant rotation from the popcorn box and my mouth between sips of frozen coke, I was transported back to my seventeen year old self. Brought to life from Fremon Craig’s script by an excellent Steinfeld, Nadine’s deeply rooted awkwardness, self-deprecation, dramatics and self-absorption perfectly capture what it’s like to be a seventeen-year-old girl, especially an insecure one.

Nadine (Steinfeld) and Krista (Robertson) mid-crisis.

Equipped with an “old soul” and awkward personality, Nadine declared herself an unlovable outsider a long time ago. Hunched over the toilet bowl after one too many orange soda and vodka cocktails, she reveals to us that her biggest fear is having to live with herself, whom she sees no appeal in. This genuine sadness is inescapable to Nadine. So, when Nadine’s only friend starts to show interest in other people, in being with the older brother she deems so perfect, it’s understandable to feel her betrayal (if not a little selfish and maybe a smidge irrational). She gets by with frankness, biting wit, and spending lunchtimes with her history teacher, something I understand all too well (Class of 2013 Teachers Pet right here!). In the company of Nadine, there is a touching moment with her mother, Mona, battling herself with the decision between over-bearing and trust while composing a text to her daughter, and a heartfelt reconciliation between brother and sister, who begin to finally understand each other.

Let us not be fooled, along with the hard-hitting emotional journeys, this film is funny. Stand outs include Woody Harrelson's classic deadpan delivery as Nadine's trusted history teacher Mr Bruner and Nadine’s classmate Erwin Kim (Hayden Szeto), who's nervous attempts at flirting with her had me cackling. What I liked most about this character is his ability to call out Nadine's bullshit (she's an asshole!) and his understanding of his own self-worth.

Movies about teenage girls are hard to pull off, and due to their complexity, the characters often come across as catty shallow bitches. What Fremon Craig demonstrates as screenwriter and director is the importance of women writing about girls and women to break down these stereotypes. Of course, the legendary John Hughes did well with representing teens, but two the most important and iconic teen films for teenage girls, Clueless and Mean Girls, were written and directed by women—the great Amy Heckerling (Clueless) and Tina Fey (Mean Girls). It is these films which continue to live on, because teenage and young adult women see themselves in the characters, and feel connected to the stories. They both demonstrate an authenticity that only women can bring to the table, which is especially important for teen girls, who crave accurate representation. 

Edge of Seventeen may not be an instant sleepover classic like Clueless or Mean Girls, as it perhaps may be a bit too heavy for that, but I'm sure it will endure, and help girls like myself, who identify or identified with Nadine, to find peace with themselves.

Edge of Seventeen is out now in cinemas.

Hailee Steinfeld is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -- Musical or Comedy at today's Golden Globes. She is the only nominee in any of the film acting categories to have been directed by a woman. 

--

Cause a Cine do not own any images used in this post.