Teenagers and the complexities of adolescence have been portrayed for decades throughout cinema, offering interesting perspectives exploring what it means to be a teenager during various periods. Throughout cinema, teen characters have been both minor and major in their focus. In other cases, some of these portrayals are more limited or restrained than others.

However, at the core, many teen films do target teenagers as their primary audience, though that was not always the case. There were numerous films that featured teen characters but were not necessarily teen-oriented or teen-focused.

Timothy Shary’s Teen Movies: American Youth On Screen offers a fascinating examination of teen portrayals and teen-oriented films over the years, from the classic to the contemporary. As a classic film fan, I was especially interested in Shay’s discussion of these early teen portrayals, such as in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), the Andy Hardy films, and more. Additionally, the exploration of the teen film’s gradual maturation was also well-written, including discussions about films such as Rebel Without a Cause (1955), The Blackboard Jungle (1955), etc. One of my favorite features of this book was just how thorough it was in its inclusion of teen films; I concluded the book with many more new-to-me films that I now want to seek out and enjoy.

Teen Movies: American Youth On Screen is available for purchase via Amazon.