Teenagers did not always exist. In this living collage of rare archival material, filmed portraits, and voices lifted from early 20th Century diary entries, a struggle erupts between adults and adolescents to define a new idea of youth.
A mildly interesting documentary but one that barely skims the surface of the subject matter.
The history of teenagerdom feels like the history of a revolutionary artistic movement, like surrealism or situationism, full of wild clothes, new music, provocation and excitement.
Doesn’t tell us all that much, but full of loving grace, nonetheless. A teenage dream, indeed.
As shown here, ‘teenagers’ didn’t just spring from nowhere circa 1945 – which is when this film very pointedly ends too. Mesmerising.
This experimental documentary offers a fascinating insight into the birth of the teenager as a social construct by exploring the way in which youth was shaped by and helped shape the early 20th century.
Matt Wolf's film is structured in an awkward fashion, falling somewhere between a conventional documentary and a poetic essay.
Through a dense collage of archive, retro-reconstruction, and dramatic narration, this fascinating study leads us through the personal and political stories of Jitterbugs, Boy Scouts, Bright Young Things and Hitler Youths.
Tackling a huge sociological subject in less than 90 minutes, Teenage is adolescence personified: a bit superficial and spotty.
'As a teenager you see the world as it is'
Glasgow Film Theatre, Glasgow from Monday March 3, 2014, until Thursday March 6, 2014. More info: http://www.glasgowfilm.org/theatre/
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