Part 1 Essay
Ella Park
My devised theme is The Truth about Teenagers and it’s directed at teenagers to show them a different side of what they may think and know teenagers to be about. The films I have researched are Kidulthood, directed by Menhaj Huda; and Juno, directed by Jason Reitman. The theme of both films is teenagers, however they’re about completely different things
Kidulthood is a British Drama about deprived teenagers who make trouble, it’s very dramatic and serious. However, Juno is an American Comedy-Drama about a very independent-minded teenager who becomes pregnant by accident. It’s a lot more light-hearted and cheerful than Kidulthood. This is shown by the music, language and storyline of the films. Throughout Kidulthood there is swearing, violence, drugs and sex shown in dark and uneasy situations with a lot of tension and fear. It’s naturalistic because it is shown in an ordered progressive way. It focuses on only one day in the life of teenagers. Juno is quite the opposite with no drugs or violence, but more about how different people, like Juno’s parents and boyfriend, respond to her situation shown in a less dramatic, easy-going way. Juno is more non-naturalistic because it shows events in different orders with flashbacks. However Juno is about pregnancy, which is a main part of the storyline in Kidulthood but because of the settings and characters of the films, the situation couldn’t be more different. The main themes in Kidulthood are violence, solidarity and power. In Juno the main themes are pro-life, choices and relationships.