Stereotypes In Teen Films

“Social Construction theory examines the development of jointly constructed understandings.” (Dugger) I will be examining why the stereotypes perpetually displayed in typical teenage film do not resonate with audiences and cause disruption in the relationship between teens and adults through the 2005 film Brick, which overcomes these stereotypes in order to provide it’s audience, both teenager and adult, with a realistic view of the world from a teenager’s perspective. Although Hollywood had begun producing films that reflect aspects of adolescent life several decades prior, the 1950’s ushered in the end of film noir and the introduction of the “teen pic” genre, providing young moviegoers “a heightened version of reality, one that they could

34) opposed to film noir in which there children are depicted to “represent optimism and a potentially promising future.” (Silver Ursini 1999: pg. 213) In Brick, these genre characteristics are paralleled against each other. The few adults shown represent optimism and the promising future yet remain unaware and fail to understand the issues. This makes the interactions with adults to be a believable relationship. In the breakfast table interrogation scene in which Brenan, our teenaged detective, meets The Pin for the first time at The Pin’s mother’s house, the Pin’s mother clearly exhibits this relationship. Throughout the entire film she only appears briefly in two scenes, remaining completely oblivious to the fact that her son is a violent drug dealer using her home as his base of operations yet her presence reinforces that they are all still teenagers as she makes them breakfast. The only other adult to appear in the film is the vice-principal, acting as a typical police captain in a noir film, and he is also equally unaware to what’s really going on. In Brick, the adults represent a forgotten understanding of teenage and adolescent