Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie : Gender, Genre and Identity

An analysis of the Hollywood Teen Movie from a variety of key theoretical perspectives Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie is the first academic monograph to consider the aesthetic and narrative potential of this highly popular, yet often overlooked, film genre. Reconsidering tropes such as the male juvenile delinquent figure, the makeover and the teen vampire, the book uses a series of detailed case studies of key films like Rebel Without a Cause, Grease, Heathers and Twilight to explore the genre’s relation to key critical concepts of intersectionality, postfeminism and the posthuman, and provides an innovative overview of the Hollywood teen movie and its construction of teen identity. Case studies include: Rebel Without a Cause (Nicolas Ray, 1955) Grease (Randel Kleiser, 1978) Heathers (Mark Lehmann, 1989) Pretty in Pink (Howard Deutch, 1986) She’s All That (Robert Iscove, 1999) Mean Girls (Mark Waters, 2004) American Graffiti (George Lucas, 1973) Dirty Dancing (Emile Ardolino, 1987) Easy A (Will Gluck, 2010) Spider-Man (Sam Raimi, 2001) Twilight (Catherine Hardwicke, 2008) Chronicle (Josh Trank, 2012) Rethinking the Teen Movie is the first academic monograph to theorise the construction of identity in the Hollywood Teen Movie, one of the most popular, yet academically overlooked film genres. As such, the book constitutes a significant intervention in Film Studies, providing a reconsideration of such key tropes as the male juvenile delinquent figure, the makeover and the teen vampire. Providing detailed case studies of key films from the genre, the book provides an innovative overview of the genre, and its relationship to performativity, intersectionality, post-feminism, and the post-human. Rebel Without a Cause, Grease, Pretty in Pink and Twilight are all considered here in a volume destined to be used widely in undergraduate teaching and academic scholarship alike Rethinking the Hollywood Teen Movie is the first academic monograph to consider the aesthetic and narrative potential of this highly popular, yet often overlooked, film genre. Reconsidering tropes such as the male juvenile delinquent figure, the makeover and the teen vampire, the book uses a series of detailed case studies of films like Rebel Without a Cause, Grease, Heathers and Twilight to explore the genre's relation to critical concepts of intersectionality, postfeminism and the posthuman. This book is an innovative overview of the Hollywood teen movie and its construction of teen identity This monograph considers the aesthetic and narrative potential of this highly popular, yet often overlooked, film genre. Reconsidering tropes such as the male juvenile delinquent figure, the makeover and the teen vampire, the book uses a series of detailed case studies of films like 'Rebel Without a Cause,' 'Grease,' 'Heathers' and 'Twilight' to explore the genre's relation to critical concepts of intersectionality, postfeminism and the posthuman. It is an innovative overview of the Hollywood teen movie and its construction of teen identity Introduction -- Rethinking The Teen Movie -- Acting Up : Performing Masculine Delinquency In The Teen Movie -- Making Over : Gender And Class At The High School Prom -- Looking Back : Nostalgia, Postfeminism And The Teen Movie -- Becoming Other : The Posthuman And The Teen Movie -- Conclusion : Not Another Teen Movie? Frances Smith. Includes Bibliographical References, Filmography And Index.