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Coming-Of-Age Film in the Age of Activism

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Coming-Of-Age Film in the Age of Activism Coming-of-Age Film in the Age of Activism Agency and Intersectionality in Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Call Me By Your Name 29 – 06 – 2018 Supervisor: Anne Salden dr. M.A.M.B. (Marie) Lous Baronian [email protected] Second Reader: student number: 11927364 dr. A.M. (Abe) Geil Master Media Studies (Film Studies) University of Amsterdam Acknowledgements First and foremost, I would like to thank Marie Baronian for her first-rate supervision and constant support. Throughout this process she inspired and encouraged me, which is why she plays an important part in the completion of my thesis. I would also like to thank Veerle Spronck and Rosa Wevers, who proved that they are not only the best friends, but also the best academic proof-readers I could ever wish for. Lastly, I would like to express my gratitude towards my classmate and dear friend Moon van den Broek, who was always there for me when I needed advice (or just a hug) during these months, even though she had her own thesis to write too. Abstract The journey of ‘coming of age’ has been an inspiring human process for writers and filmmakers for centuries long, as its narrative format demonstrates great possibilities for both pedagogy and entertainment. The transformation from the origins of the genre, the German Bildungsroman, to classic coming-of-age cinema in the 1950s and 1980s in America saw few representational changes. Classic coming-of-age films relied heavily on the traditional Bildungsroman and its restrictive cultural norms of representation. However, in the present Age of Activism recent coming-of-age films seem to break with this tendency and broaden the portrayal of identity formation by incorporating diversity in its representations. A case study of three critically acclaimed contemporary coming-of-age films Moonlight, Lady Bird, and Call Me By Your Name shows how these films diverge from the historical tradition by incorporating agency and intersectionality in their diverse representations of maturity. A comparison of the Bildungsroman’s portrayal of identity formation to the recent corpus pointed out that the included agency and intersectionality politicize the century old genre. Due to this politicization, one can witness a distinct development towards growing awareness of diversity issues in 21st century coming-of-age cinema. Keywords: Coming-of-Age Cinema, Bildungsroman, Identity Representation, Agency, Intersectionality, Moonlight, Lady Bird, Call Me By Your Name. 3 Table of Contents Introduction 5 Part I: Theoretical Framework Chapter 1: Traditions of Growing up 10 1.1 The Bildungsroman Origins 10 1.2 Coming-of-age on Screen 13 1.3 Representation Matters 17 1.4 Gender, Sexuality, Race, and Class 18 Part II: Analyses Chapter 2: The Agency of the Central Hero 23 2.1 Agency: A Theoretical Perspective 23 2.2 Agency in the Traditional Coming-of-age Genre 25 2.3 Agency in Recent Coming-of-age Films 27 2.4 Female Agency in Lady Bird 28 2.5 Black Masculine Agency in Moonlight 32 2.6 Queer Masculine Agency in Call Me By Your Name 35 Chapter 3: Intersectional Journeys of Maturity 39 3.1 Intersectionality: A Theoretical Perspective 39 3.2 Intersectionality in Cinema 41 3.3 Intersectionality in the Traditional Coming-of-age Genre 43 3.4 A Working-class Journey in Lady Bird 44 3.5 A Multifaceted journey in Moonlight 47 3.6 A Queer journey in Call Me By Your Name 51 Conclusion 55 Filmography 59 Works Cited 60 4 Introduction “At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can’t let nobody make that decision for you.” – Juan to “Little” in Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016) “I want you to be the very best version of yourself.” “But what if this is the best version?” – Marion and Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson in Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017) “How you live your life is your business, just remember, our hearts and our bodies are given to us only once.” - Mr. Perlman to Elio in Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017) Coming of age is a human experience that is similar to birth, and eventually death: everyone goes through it at some point in their life. One finds himself rather different than before through experiences of loving and losing, seeking and settling, running and returning. We might say, that one has matured. While the specific experiences that determine one’s coming of age process differ for everyone, the fundamental notion stays universal: you live through stuff that urges you to grow up. This timeless characteristic of the coming-of-age experience explains the enduring success of the cinematic adaption. Personally, I have always enjoyed the classic American coming-of-age film genre, but somehow it has also always felt like a ‘guilty pleasure’, due to its traditional high school allure. However, with recent American releases such as Boyhood (Richard Linklater, 2014), 20th Century Women (Mike Mills, 2016), Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016), American Honey (Andrea Arnold, 2016), Lady Bird (Greta Gerwig, 2017) and Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017) I was introduced to a new approach to coming-of-age films. Not only did these films move away from the original high school environment, but they also seemed to transcend the high school sentiment through the implementation of unfamiliar characters and environments within the familiar coming-of-age genre. Due to these aforementioned recent releases one might say we are in the midst of a renaissance of the American coming-of-age genre, which last culminated in the 1980s when John Hughes dominated the scene with celebrated teen films such as The Breakfast 5 Club (1985), Sixteen Candles (1984), and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). While these original coming- of-age films offer insights into the rich tradition of the genre, recent films aim to shake up this tradition by broadening the scenery of coming of age. The six different titles mentioned earlier collectively focus on telling untold stories of growing up through new points of view, and in a manner that feels more realistic than the rather idealized teen films of the 1980s. This feeling of realism stems from the fact that these coming-of-age stories represent the lived and quite complex experiences of diverse people, with varying genders, sexualities, races, and classes. It is my hypothesis that through these non-normative portrayals, coming-of-age cinema is not only broadening its portrayal of identity formation, but also moving towards the realms of politicization by taking part in the societal debates on representation, diversity and equality within the cinematic field. Such societal participation makes sense when considering the current time, as numerous American journalists1 have argued that people live in the ‘Age of Activism’ since around 2014, and increasingly after Trump’s 2016 election win. The recent Age of Activism is centred around the youth and refers to the manner in which young activists mobilize the American nation with political marches, protests and debates demanding gun control, racial equality and gender equality. Similar to these political protesters, recent coming-of-age films seem to have started using their voice as a medium to talk about socio-political issues having to do with gender, sexuality, race, and class. All of a sudden, the everlasting teen film is becoming a medium with a politicized voice, and a medium to take seriously. 1 Some of the journalists that argue for the Age of Activism in their articles are: Blakemore, Erin. "Youth In Revolt: Five Powerful Movements Fueled By Young Activists". News.Nationalgeographic.Com, 2018, https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/youth- activism-young-protesters-historic-movements/ Gabbatt, Adam. "Activism In The Age Of Trump: Meet The Leaders Of The Grassroots Resistance". The Guardian, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/19/anti-trump-activists-protest-grassroots-leaders. Pindell, James. "Welcome To America’S Golden Age Of Political Activism - The Boston Globe". Bostonglobe.Com, 2017, https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2017/01/24/groundgame/oB0e1onE4q6AaztzShw0PM/st ory.html. Ruiz, Rebecca. "Trump’s America Will Also Be A New Golden Age Of Activism". Mashable, 2016, https://mashable.com/2016/11/15/trump-presidency-sparks-liberal- resistance/?europe=true#cT5SNBbDMuqp Safronova, Valeriya. "Millennials And The Age Of Tumblr Activism". Nytimes.Com, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/style/millennials-and-the-age-of-tumblr-activism.html 6 Concomitantly, these contemporary coming-of-age films were also starting to get critically acknowledged for their representational value, as the efforts were rewarded by the acclaimed award shows. Boyhood was nominated for Best Film at the Oscars and won the Golden Globe for Best Film (Drama) in 2015. Two years later in 2017, another coming-of-age film was nominated at the Oscars, and even managed to win: Moonlight. This win was both an accomplishment for the longstanding critically neglected coming-of-age genre as well as for the people the film represented, being black queer men. Since the last Academy Awards presented us with two more nominations from the coming-of-age genre, Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name, the genre has become increasingly vital again, and therefore worthy of further investigation. One recurring element in the reviews of these ‘rejuvenated’ coming-of-age films is the frequent mentioning of the German Bildungsroman, the 18th century literary tradition from which the classic cinematic coming-of-age genre originates2. This mentioning gives the contemporary coming-of-age films a bit of historical cachet, however, I also questioned the accuracy of the Bildungsroman reference. This 18th century tradition was known for its conventional, pedagogic and peaceful nature, while in contrast, the 21st century coming-of-age films were all praised for their disruptive, complex, and divergent representations of adulthood.
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