Discussing nihilistic teen films from the late 80's to the mid 90's. Examining moral panic around 'killer teen' films such as River's Edge and how American coming of age fiction fetishises white youth. I wanted this show to be quite personal as I had a really intense visceral reaction to River's Edge, Kids was also a really formative film for me as a teenager. However... I am not very skilled at articulating deeply personal reactions to film so my failure to communicate it has led to a year long obsession with stories that centre slackers, burnouts, 'degenerates' and other poor kids left to fend for themselves. Consequently, I will be revisiting this theme on the show soon!
(Anytime I tell people I love Kids I have to give a non disclosure about the infamous date rape scene, the fact that I love a film that mostly follows predatory 15 year old boys... but idk, has anyone actually hung out with teenage boys or been one before? Don't you remember?)
I've always been ashamed of how much I love his films as they are often labelled as crude, exploitative and perverse due to the often salacious content. His films are lurid, grimy and confrontational; I think a lot of people hate Larry Clarke because they just think he's a pervy old man leering at teens, his fixation on youth and teenage sexuality provokes audiences disgust for obvious moralistic reasons. But, like all the films mentioned in this show and this write up, the disgust is a weird defence mechanism. These films are populated with first time actors, they're closer to neo realism then they are exploitation flicks* (despite the constant labelling of teensploitation) and they are largely based off real crimes and lived experience.
It was only watching Bully on the Girls, Gut's, & Giallo live stream a couple months ago that I realised how maligned these films are; I recommend signing up to the Patreon to access the notes that host Annie Rose Malamet provides, there's some great essays reccs about these films in the context of transgressive cinema!
American teen film is rife with mcmansions and the ultra rich, often the only depictions of anyone even marginally lower class become caricatures of white trash; it's refreshing to watch films that treat their subjects with care and nuance, films that aren't solely poverty porn. I find them comforting as much as they disturb me, cathartic almost.
There is no McMansion fantasy, just a dirty mirror.
Essays of interest:
Films Referenced
River's Edge (1986) dir. Tim Hunter
Kids (1995) dir. Larry Clark
Other slackers and burnouts on screen...
Out of the Blue (1980) dir. Dennis Hopper
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) dir. Lou Adler
Bully (2001) dir. Larry Clark
Thirteen (2003) dir. Catherine Hardwicke
Under the Bridge (2005) by Rebecca Godfrey (book)
Fish tank (2009) dir. Andrea Arnold
White Girl (2016) dir. Elizabeth Wood
Skate Kitchen (2018) dir. Crystal Moselle
*I would like to clarify that I have no beef with these films being labelled teensploitation, I just feel they are lumped into this genre as a way of delegitimizing the emotional empathy these films have for being a teen! No faux angst here, it's all raw teen terror!
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