American Teen

Whitney and I ventured to see American Teen last night in Pasadena. It was a preview movie, meaning that it has not yet been released and the creators of the film are looking for feedback from audiences. It was, however, released at Sundance a couple of weeks ago and got raving reviews.

Essentially the film follows the lives of 4 "cliche" high school students through their senior year in a small midwestern town in Indiana. While all will undoubtably find their story and the stories of others within the stories of the four whom the film focuses upon, something else stood out to me in the film. It was the most hidden and disheartening part of the overall story.

There were no adults in the lives of the students.

Well, there were adults... But they were hardly "in" the lives of the students. In a best case scenario, the adults were peering into the lives of the students from a safe distance. Sometimes they casted their "wisdom", which was more similiar to casting heavy stones, upon the fragile students, but they were essentially void from the lives of these beautiful people working through numerous layers of personality in pursuit of wholeness. The climax of this hidden theme comes through Hannah's mother. Hannah is the free spirit in the film. The student longing to leave Indiana for California. Hannah's mother is mentally unstable and when dealing with Hannah's decision making process to move to California tells her that she is not special.

"You are not special!"

I encourage everyone to support the film. Let it sink into your soul. How can we continue to help fix this problem?


This you tube is from the creator of the film... Nanette Burstein.