The series has been broadcast on television internationally. As a cinematographer, Becker has shot films for several independent filmmakers, as well as for the BBC and the Discovery Channel. Today teenagers are dealing with the painful trials of adolescence at the same time that they are confronted with a cultural shift that has distorted the way they view themselves and has complicated their emotional development. Due to a confluence of social factors, they find themselves facing complex decisions of self-determination long before they are equipped to handle it. While the film subjects are sorting out gender roles and social status issues that will reverberate throughout the rest of their lives, viewers will be given the privilege of observing how the metamorphosis of the nuclear family and an overpowering media culture impact their formative years.
Teenagers digest astounding contradictions in their representation.
The media fetishizes them as sexual objects and is horrified by their promiscuity. Stories of adolescent violence flood the airwaves but thoughtful examinations of modern family life are scarce. In a damaging feedback loop, our cultural representation of what it means to be a teenager affects both parental assumptions about who they are raising and the teenagers own self-conceptions. But more importantly, given that teenagers are inundated with confusing messages in the visual media, I argue that a complex, nuanced portrait of adolescence that actually reaches young teenagers could help serve as a catalyst for discussion of the way our culture influences their attitudes and actions. This film will tell the stories of five real kids and how they cope with modern socialization.