Coming of age movies are fun largely because they tend to take us back to our childhoods, whichever time period is being represented, and tend to remind us of what life was like at that point. Of course the whole term ‘coming of age’ tends to cover a few different age ranges during which kids are growing up and learning about the world in different ways. The experiences, as many might remember, can vary from being benign and rather tame to being world-ending and traumatic enough to make us realize just how foolish we were being at the time and why our parents were doing and saying everything they could to get us to stop or just look around every now and then to see what we were doing. That’s the disadvantage of being young though, while it’s not a universal trait among every last kid it is far too common to simply act and not think about it before coming to realize just what a person might be doing and how it affects the people around them. Coming of age isn’t just about personal revelations after all, it’s about how a person comes to understand their world and their place in it, and how they can affect their own sphere of influence as well others that they come into contact with.
Here are a few great coming of age movies that a lot of people have enjoyed.
5. Juno
Teen pregnancy isn’t all that funny when it happens to you or someone you know but it’s a big step in life since for women it’s definitely an experience they won’t forget and will likely think about before deciding to go through it again. It’s very true that accidents do happen and the issue of abortion or adoption tends to be a big one among a lot of people, but thankfully in this movie it’s also shown as a learning experience that tends to make those involved grow up and begin to show their character in a very big way. Of course it does help that Juno’s parents are more understanding than a lot of people might be in this situation.
4. To Kill A Mockingbird
What’s really telling about this movie is that people that want to run around calling out racism and bigotry in many ways never had to deal with it on this level since the movie goes into the idea of it without really slowing down. But then again back in this day such subjects were still allowed to be shown without being condemned in such a way as to worry about being canceled. The story itself is of how a young girl came to view the world and how she learned through various experiences not to judge others too harshly based on gossip or their looks. In truth, this story is probably one of the most important we could hold onto today.
3. My Girl
There are definite moments that occur while growing up that boys will never understand as well as girls since the truth is that boys don’t get periods and if we do bleed it usually means there’s something wrong with us that needs to be fixed. But the whole process is something that girls go through and there’s no doubt that it can be a little scary if girls aren’t taught what’s going to happen and how to get through it. On top of that boys and girls both go through a wide range of emotions at certain ages but the truth is that a lot of boys are still taken unawares when girls suddenly flip on them for what feels like no reason. Just to be fair, there is a reason, but we’re still confused.
2. Lady Bird
It’s easy to feel sorry for Lady Bird in some regards but it’s just as easy to feel irritated by her since she has a home, parents that care about her in their own way, and she still feels that it’s necessary to just stop listening and do things her way, which doesn’t always work since her lack of experience and judgment manages to get her in a bind more than once. By the end of the movie it does appear that she’s coming around and has finally figured out that she’s not completely ready for life, but that she’s ready to slow down and start learning. For those with headstrong daughters this is actually a pretty good movie.
1. Stand By Me
This is like a buddy movie for young boys since it goes through a lot of things that boys tend to think is cool in their younger years, albeit the time period is a lot different. But from rough-housing to being gross to just being guys it’s one of those movies that you can watch and say ‘yep, I’ve been that dumb before’. Let’s face facts here, we’ve all known someone like these guys in our lives at some point, whether we wanted to or not.
It’s not a perfect type of movie, but coming of age movies are fun because they remind a person that they’re not meant to be perfect.
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