From the Teen Film to the Emerging Adult Film
From the Teen Film to the Emerging Adult Film

The Road to Adulthood in Say Anything (1989) and High Fidelity (2000)

Summary/Abstract: In the past decades, the transition to adulthood in post-industrial countries has become longer, giving rise to emerging adulthood, a new life stage between adolescence and adulthood (Arnett and Taber 1994, Arnett 2000, 2004). Cinema has reflected this change, with a growing number of narratives exploring the challenges of this life stage. Through a comparative analysis of Say Anything (Cameron Crowe, 1989) and High Fidelity (Stephen Frears, 2000), this article seeks to establish the emerging adult film as a youth film subgenre of its own by outlining some of the generic conventions that make it different from teenage films.

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