Project Idea: Youth Culture in Film

                So for my final project I want to explore youth culture in film, and how different tropes and archetypes that we can see in today’s movies like Mean Girls have evolved over time. Mainly I think I’m going to focus on movies from the 1980s and movies from the 2000s. In each set, I would like to look at a few different types of movies, at least one in each of these categories: ones that are catered to guys, ones that are more for girls, and ones that seem to be a bit more gender neutral. For example, in the 1980s Sixteen Candles is more for girls, while The Karate Kid seems to be more catered for guys. But The Breakfast Club is more gender neutral. My focus will be on the 1980s and the 2000s, but I may stretch back into some films from the 1950s to explain where the tropes from the 80s movies came from, as well as stretch forward into our time to explore some examples on how these trends are continuing. An explanation on what I mean when I say “tropes:” this term can mean plot devices as well as different character types, and I want to focus on more of the character aspect. I guess if you want to nail it down to a set of questions: what character tropes and archetypes are present in films that portray youth culture, and how have they changed over time? In what ways are different genders represented, and what different tropes and archetypes do characters of different genders take on? Are they the same in the 1980s as they are in more modern films?

                I mentioned the 1980s movies I want to talk about already. Some of the 2000s ones I’ve considered are Mean Girls or Bring It On! For the girl movies, Napoleon Dynamite or Superbad for the guy movies, and I was also think of including Juno as well, perhaps as the neutral. For the pre-80s movies to compare them too, obviously Rebel Without a Cause and Grease will probably be used. I’m not limiting myself to these movies, but these are the ones I want to particularly focus on. If you all would, I would love any other movies from these eras or others that you would think relevant. My biggest issue so far is finding secondary sources, and if anyone has ideas where to find those, that would be awesome as well.