New American teenagers
Subtitle: the lost generation of youth in 1970s film
By: by Barbara Jane Brickman
Publisher: Continuum International Pub. Group Inc; Continuum
Published: 2012
Place of publication: New York, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 280
ISBN-13: 9781441176585
Subjects: Teenagers in motion pictures; Teen films; History
Description: Taking a closer look at teen film in the 1970s, New American Teenagers uncovers previously marginalized voices that rework the classically male, heterosexual American teenage story. While their parents' era defined the American teenager with the romantic male figure of James Dean, this generation of adolescents offers a dramatically altered picture of transformed gender dynamics, fluid and queered sexuality, and a chilling disregard for the authority of parent, or more specifically, patriarchal culture. Films like The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Halloween, and Badlands offer a reprieve from the 'straight' developmental narrative, including in the canon of study the changing definition of the American teenager. Barbara Brickman is the first to challenge the neglect of this decade in discussions of teen film by establishing the subversive potential and critical revision possible in the narratives of these new teenage voices, particularly in regards to changing notions of gender and sexuality.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: The rock 'n' roll high school picture show: a genre deconstructed; title: Coming of age in the 70s: revision, fantasy and rage in the teen-girl badlands; title: The queer kid and women's lib; title: Bad news Jodie, or how the Disney family got freaky; title: Brothers, sisters, and chainsaws: sibling rivalry and peer centrality in the teen slasher film; title: Epilogue.