Template:Short descriptionIn genre studies, a coming-of-age story is a genre of literature, theatre, film, and video game that focuses on the growth of a protagonist from childhood to adulthood, or "coming of age". Coming-of-age stories tend to emphasize dialogue or internal monologue over action and are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers.[1] The Bildungsroman is a specific subgenre of coming-of-age story.
The plot points of coming-of-age stories are usually emotional changes within the character(s) in question.[2]
Bildungsroman[]
- Main article: Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, coming-of-age novels and Bildungsroman are sometimes interchangeable, but the former is usually a wider genre. The Bildungsroman (from the German words Bildung, "education", alternatively "forming" and Roman, "novel") is further characterized by a number of formal, topical, and thematic features.[3] It focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from childhood to adulthood (coming of age),[4] in which character change is important.[5][6][7]
Judy Garland playing the character Dorothy in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz
The genre evolved from folk tales of young children exploring the world to find their fortune.[8] Although the Bildungsroman arose in Germany, it has had extensive influence first in Europe and later throughout the world. Thomas Carlyle had translated Goethe's Wilhelm Meister novels into English, and after their publication in 1824/1825, many British authors wrote novels inspired by it.[9][10]
Many variations of the Bildungsroman exist, such as the Künstlerroman ("artist novel"), which focuses on the self-growth of an artist.[11]
Teen films[]
- Main article: Teen filmIn film, coming-of-age is a genre of teen films. Coming-of-age films focus on the psychological and moral growth or transition of a protagonist from youth to adulthood. A variant in the 2020s is the "delayed-coming-of-age film, a kind of story that acknowledges the deferred nature of 21st-century adulthood", in which young adults may still be exploring short-term relationships, living situations, and jobs even into their late 20s and early 30s.[12]
Personal growth and change is an important characteristic of the genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses, rather than action. The story is sometimes told in the form of a flashback.[1] Historically, coming-of-age films usually centred on young boys, although coming-of-age films focusing on girls have become more common in the early 21st century, such as The Poker House (2008), Winter's Bone (2010), Hick (2011), Girlhood (2014), Mustang (2015), The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015), Mistress America (2015), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), Lady Bird (2017), Sweet 20 (2017), and Aftersun (2022).[13]
See also[]
- List of coming-of-age stories
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 (2006) As Film Studies: The Essential Introduction, Taylor & Francis.
- ↑ Romero, Travis (2020). "Coming Of Age". Ginglu. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
- ↑ Iversen, Annikin Teines (2010). Change and Continuity; The Bildungsroman in English.
- ↑ Lynch, Jack Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms. Rutgers University.
- ↑ Bakhtin, Mikhail (1996). "The Bildungsroman and its Significance in the History of Realism" Speech Genres and Other Late Essays, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
- ↑ Jeffers, Thomas L. (2005). Apprenticeships: The Bildungsroman from Goethe to Santayana, New York: Palgrave.
- ↑ "Bildungsroman: German literary genre". Encyclopædia Britannica. (22 April 2013).
- ↑ Cicchelli, Vincenzo (2010). Les legs du voyage de formation à la Bildung cosmopolite. Le Télémaque 38 (2): 57–70.
- ↑ Buckley, J. H. (1974), Season of Youth: The Bildungsroman from Dickens to Golding, Harvard Univ Press, Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Ellis, L. (1999), Appearing to Diminish: Female Development and the British Bildungsroman, 1750–1850, London: Bucknell University Press, Template:ISBN
- ↑ Werlock, James P. (2010). The Facts on File companion to the American short story.
- ↑ Murthi, Vikram The Wonder and Horror of Delayed Adulthood. The Nation.
- ↑ Erbland, Kate 7 Female-Centric Coming-of-Age Movies to Watch If You Loved 'Lady Bird'.
Template:Young adult development Template:Film genres