Young adult literature has come a long way. Teen music, on the other hand, has started to diminish. Justin Bieber and anybody from Disney have fans more in their tweens. We're right in the middle, so we just listen to whatever we want. The same goes for TV shows, only not as many people can tolerate cheesy Disney Channel shows past the age of thirteen. The internet is anybody's game.
What's left? Movies. I cannot not name a single good movie written for teenagers. I think I can sum them all up for you. Let's see...Outcast Kid lives life at the bottom of the high school popularity ladder with a small but loyal group of friends. Two of them, usually. Outcast is constantly bullies by Jock (if male) or School Diva (if female). They quietly crush on Jock (if female) or School Diva (if male) but don't dare talk to said crush because he/she is dating a horribly wrong, horribly attractive person.
Bells ring exactly when you need them to, cafeteria lunch consists largely of mystery meat, and everybody has enough time in between class to act out entire scenes in front of the lockers.
With a sudden twist of fate, Outcast is propeled to the top of the food chain and gets their dream date. Not surprisingly, Jock or Diva turns out to be a jerk. Outcast realizes they were actually in love with their best friend all along and everything works out perfectly by prom.
How did I do?
Sadly, most teen movies are horrible. Book adaptions are exceptions. But even those tend to fail miserably.
But not all of them do. Some become cult classics and you either love or hate.
Let's face it. Young adult literature isn't strictly for teenagers. Adults saw those too.
So what do we watch? Lots of kids movies. Many of these are adaptions as well.
And then the normal, adult movies.
What do you see here? More adaptions. Is anybody original? Yes, Disney, I'm looking at you.
Come to think of it, all superhero movies are based off other superhero movies, which were based on comics. And who were the comic books written for? Kids. Of course, nobody reads those now. Just graphic novels and manga.
And then all big movies are rated PG-13 or R, so younger, Batman adoring audiences can't see them. Adults seem to have forgotten what it's like to be too young for a movie. You think they'd make things kid enjoy, like Spiderman, into movies they're allowed to watch.
And who picked 13 and 17 for the cutoff dates? I've looked over rating systems used around the world. 12 and 16 are popular numbers. At least America's system isn't complicated. Some countries have up to four different classifications between 10 to 18. Most countries, including America, are supposed to check for identification. But I've never had to that for a PG-13 movie, even though I've always looked three years younger than my actual age and I usually go to movies with friends a grade or two below me.
Some so called "teen movies" have no teenagers at all. Jennifer Lawrence is 21, five years older than Katniss. But Suzanne Collins selected her so I have no problem with that. Robert Pattison is 26, which is actually young for Edward's 107. But then we have actors like Cory Monteith from Glee, age 30. Jason Earles from Hannah Montana played Jackson while he was 34. That's old enough to have your own teenagers. Grow up already.
With stuff like this made for us, is it any wonder we stick to the "normal" movies?
What's left? Movies. I cannot not name a single good movie written for teenagers. I think I can sum them all up for you. Let's see...Outcast Kid lives life at the bottom of the high school popularity ladder with a small but loyal group of friends. Two of them, usually. Outcast is constantly bullies by Jock (if male) or School Diva (if female). They quietly crush on Jock (if female) or School Diva (if male) but don't dare talk to said crush because he/she is dating a horribly wrong, horribly attractive person.
Bells ring exactly when you need them to, cafeteria lunch consists largely of mystery meat, and everybody has enough time in between class to act out entire scenes in front of the lockers.
With a sudden twist of fate, Outcast is propeled to the top of the food chain and gets their dream date. Not surprisingly, Jock or Diva turns out to be a jerk. Outcast realizes they were actually in love with their best friend all along and everything works out perfectly by prom.
How did I do?
Sadly, most teen movies are horrible. Book adaptions are exceptions. But even those tend to fail miserably.
But not all of them do. Some become cult classics and you either love or hate.
Let's face it. Young adult literature isn't strictly for teenagers. Adults saw those too.
So what do we watch? Lots of kids movies. Many of these are adaptions as well.
And then the normal, adult movies.
What do you see here? More adaptions. Is anybody original? Yes, Disney, I'm looking at you.
Come to think of it, all superhero movies are based off other superhero movies, which were based on comics. And who were the comic books written for? Kids. Of course, nobody reads those now. Just graphic novels and manga.
And then all big movies are rated PG-13 or R, so younger, Batman adoring audiences can't see them. Adults seem to have forgotten what it's like to be too young for a movie. You think they'd make things kid enjoy, like Spiderman, into movies they're allowed to watch.
And who picked 13 and 17 for the cutoff dates? I've looked over rating systems used around the world. 12 and 16 are popular numbers. At least America's system isn't complicated. Some countries have up to four different classifications between 10 to 18. Most countries, including America, are supposed to check for identification. But I've never had to that for a PG-13 movie, even though I've always looked three years younger than my actual age and I usually go to movies with friends a grade or two below me.
Some so called "teen movies" have no teenagers at all. Jennifer Lawrence is 21, five years older than Katniss. But Suzanne Collins selected her so I have no problem with that. Robert Pattison is 26, which is actually young for Edward's 107. But then we have actors like Cory Monteith from Glee, age 30. Jason Earles from Hannah Montana played Jackson while he was 34. That's old enough to have your own teenagers. Grow up already.
With stuff like this made for us, is it any wonder we stick to the "normal" movies?
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