What Turned Your "Tween / Teen" Crank?
Filed under: Fandom, Family Films, Brad Pitt
For better or worse, we're living in a generation dominated by the "tweens." Granted, I think this is largely the media and movie industry being reminded that the young exist, have a little disposable income, and like soft, safe movies with Zac Efron and sparkly vampires. I don't mean that as dismissively as it may sound. Adolescence is an awkward thing, as I'm sure we all remember, and while I don't want the tastes of 10-13 ruling studios for the next ten years, it's good to cater to them with a movie or two.
Thinking back though, I'm at a loss as to what ruled my tween / teen years. I was an odd duck though, focused on Renaissance Faires and all things medieval, so the only thing that looms very large is Braveheart. I also remember being quite impressed by Legends of the Fall and Brad Pitt's long, tousled hair. I believe he and Mel Gibson were my first pin-ups, which I'm sure explains a lot about me to this day.
Though I know I was hideously out of touch with my demographic, I wonder if my generation is a "lost" one of 20-somethings that escaped being pigeonholed into a particular taste and demographic. Casper was about as gently gushy as we got. There was no in-between like Twilight, you had to jump straight from Disney into Tarantino. It was eye-opening and kind of scary, and makes me empathize with those who enjoy a chaste stepping stone of Hannah Montana and Edward Cullen. I know I was too young to see some of that stuff ... but then again, I also turned out just fine.
Thinking back though, I'm at a loss as to what ruled my tween / teen years. I was an odd duck though, focused on Renaissance Faires and all things medieval, so the only thing that looms very large is Braveheart. I also remember being quite impressed by Legends of the Fall and Brad Pitt's long, tousled hair. I believe he and Mel Gibson were my first pin-ups, which I'm sure explains a lot about me to this day.
Though I know I was hideously out of touch with my demographic, I wonder if my generation is a "lost" one of 20-somethings that escaped being pigeonholed into a particular taste and demographic. Casper was about as gently gushy as we got. There was no in-between like Twilight, you had to jump straight from Disney into Tarantino. It was eye-opening and kind of scary, and makes me empathize with those who enjoy a chaste stepping stone of Hannah Montana and Edward Cullen. I know I was too young to see some of that stuff ... but then again, I also turned out just fine.
With that thought in mind, I think it's time we all took a trip down memory lane and confess who and what we flocked to the theaters for. I'm not talking "Oh my God, everyone was talking about Pulp Fiction!" (although that can qualify) but the films, actors, and actresses who ruled your awkward years. Maybe you're like me, and can look on your formative film years with a minimum of embarrassment (come on, what girl didn't want to cure Tristan Ludlow of PTSD?), or perhaps you look back and cringe at way Keanu Reeves or Alicia Silverstone ruled your heart. Maybe you look on this teen / tween trend as something that's a little dangerous for the future of film fans. Tell us your thoughts, if only to remind the whipper-snappers that Grease and Interview with the Vampire came first, and kept us awake at night for the same romantic reasons.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-20-2009 @ 3:08PM
laura said...
I had it for The Lost Boys, Rocky Horror, and anything that Fangoria recommended.
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4-20-2009 @ 3:18PM
Jessica Dillon said...
I remain thankful that I grew up around Interview with a Vampire or Go instead of Hannah Montana (or around Garbage and Green Day and not... Hannah Montana).
I do remember William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet being huge among my school class, though. And Scream.
As for Braveheart - we had that on so often on dorm (boarding school kid), that when my mother met Mel Gibson, she mentioned how popular it was, and he worried we were too young to be seeing so much violence. Trufax.
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4-20-2009 @ 3:25PM
Kate said...
Lemme see, we had The Birdcage, Titanic, Romeo & Juliet, Scream, Star Wars (prequel and "special ed"ition), Braveheart, Jerry Maguire, James and the Giant Peach, and that fabulous film, Clueless.
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4-20-2009 @ 3:29PM
LiqwidZero said...
Grease and Star Wars
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4-20-2009 @ 3:31PM
Monika said...
Like Jessica above, I am quite thankful for the time I grew up because the '90s were excellent for teen fare, before Disney took the tweens to the big screen. (+/- a few years) Differences were relished.
The world of Christian Slater - Heathers, Pump Up the Volume
Plus..
Empire Records, Can't Hardly Wait, Toy Soldiers, Dazed and Confused, Clueless, Dream a Little Dream and other Coreys fare, Hackers, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead, Under the Boardwalk, Threesome, SFW, Overnight Delivery, Mallrats, American Pie, Mermaids...
Towards the end, as Jessica pointed out above, there was R&J, Scream, and the film I think was a last hurrah to the teens of the '90s - Go.
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4-20-2009 @ 4:10PM
Saltypoison said...
Terminator 2. Best action movie EVER.
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4-20-2009 @ 6:28PM
Holley said...
Pump up the Volume, The Lost Boys and Robocop :-)
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4-20-2009 @ 7:18PM
Olga T said...
the first 2 films I have any memory of watching on VHS are Interview with the Vampire and the Lion King. From then it was all Rated R or Disney & Pixar animation, which is more mature and more entertaining than Hannah Montana, if you ask me.
The John Hughs films and campy teen dramas of the 90s were also fantastic. Now a days, people seem to be doing camp, without realizing they're doing camp. Someone should tell them.
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4-20-2009 @ 10:25PM
Ace said...
Dream a little dream
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4-20-2009 @ 8:51PM
Rivndellelf said...
Wow. Everybody is naming great films from when I was a tween/teen... Mine definitely were Star Wars, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Clueless, Empire Records, Clerks, Mallrats, Dazed and Confused, Interview with the Vampire, Rocky Horror, Can't Hardly Wait, and Real Genius.
I had a thing for Brad Pitt, Val Kilmer, Ethan Embry, and Paul Rudd...
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4-21-2009 @ 12:53AM
YouFaceTheTick said...
I don't understand the concept of this article. For many of us, there never was a TWEEN or a bridge. The first movies I recall well - History of the world Part 1 (at 5), Star Wars (at 3) and Superman (at 4). I saw all of them at the theater. Movies on TV that stuck with me - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and then the VCR and everything from the 80s. We'd watch Grease on video and then Conan...they were just movies. My wife who is 4 years younger has similar memories of childhood. We watched what our parents watched. No big deal.
I didn't see a Disney film until i was 13. Never much liked "kids" films until I was older and the people making kids films stopped pandering (for the most part).
You know what films rocked my world? Empire Strikes Back. I was 6. That blew my socks up. The bad guys won. The kicked butt and I was shocked and loved every second of it. From that point on I tend to embrace films that throw up the conventions. Where you're rooting for the villain or you're tricked into it. So I guess that was my Tween movie - Empire Strikes Back.
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4-21-2009 @ 9:53AM
Reba said...
Because I am old...
Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Turning Point. Partially because i was a dancer, but mostly because he was Baryshnikov.
Harrison Ford, especially when Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. He was okay as Han Solo. He was sex on a stick as Indiana Jones. May explain why I won't watch the fourth one.
Michael York - Three Musketeers or Logan's Run. Take your pick. He was a blond British dude with a great smile. Be still my teenaged heart.
Sean Connery as Bond. Thank goodness for art house reruns. Bond double features on the big screen was a great way to spend a Saturday.
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4-21-2009 @ 12:31PM
Julie said...
I think the "tween" thing is a new concept drummed up by marketers for everything from books to clothing. Children didn't exist in marketing when I was a kid. Disney was just coming into its own with Sunday night television and I was 10 by the time Sesame Street began to rule over toddlers. We actually began to be noticed when I was in Jr. High and someone out in movie land thought maybe we were having problems and created the "Afterschool Special" (many of which were really good) and a film called "Go Ask Alice." I think this was the same time authors or (was it libraries) created the "young adult" book genre.
I don't think there ever have been real bridges between children's film fare and adult until now. Reading the comments above, the film examples seem to bear that out. You went straight into watching what your parents were watching. I think television has done a bit better job creating bridges than film. And I think this new phenomena is because this market does have more money to spend and everyone wants a piece of it.
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4-21-2009 @ 9:01PM
David said...
Luckily my father had an extensive collection of movies, so by the time I was 14 I was well versed in Tony Montana, Rambo, Rocky and some Indiana Jones. My mother provided the classic Disney cartoons as well as the movies of the time; Lion King, Toy Story, etc.
I think on my own, Jurassic Park. Batman, Ninja Turtles ruled my youth, along with Batman The Animated Series, and the Batman movies (but even at 11 years old, Batman and Robin just didn't seem right)
Times were so much different then
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4-22-2009 @ 5:57PM
William said...
Batman the Animated Series kicked ass! I also loved TMNT.
As for movies, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, The Rock, Real Genius...I can't think of any others off the top of my head right now.
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4-23-2009 @ 1:03AM
Joe said...
I saw so many great movies growing up be it watching the remakes of the first Star Wars movies, Jurassic Park, watching Back to the Future.
Great stuff like David said Batman The Animated Series other more mature kids shows too like Gargoyles. Even to great Disney films that were not geared to kids. You got movies like Tron, Aladdin just things like that even the parents liked those movies.
You could have violence in (Kids) films people killing, guns being showed now the FCC and things like that do not allow violence at all.
It is a total different time now. You can look back many great classic films people love came out in either the 80s or 90s.
So yeah total different stuff now from when I was a kid.
Even Looney Toones which looks like a kid show if you really watched it was not a kid show. Things like Johnny Quest were great shows and even shows like Tom and Jerry. They were great fun and in this day and age is said to dark for children.
So I am so thankful I grew up in the 90s getting to see great 80s films and stuff in the 90s.
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