The Coming of Age Story: Not Just for the Teenage Dirtbag
It’s freshman year of high school and Caitlyn just can’t wait to see what life is going to throw at her, we’ve all heard this trope, right? It’s the typical coming of age story, and as much as most coming of age stories tend to be timeless classics (see: The Breakfast Club), we all, unfortunately, start to grow up and stop relating so much to the extreme emotions of rebelliousness and heartache of these characters. As we start growing up though, these characters are exactly the kinds of people that we need in our lives to relate to…just less going through puberty and more going through their first mid-life crisis. Coming of age stories are beginning to not have an age limit, with films such as Dirty 30, Girls Trip, and Wine Country, coming of ages stories are aging with us.
Dirty 30 came out in 2016 and is about three women: Charlie, Evie, and Kate (mostly Kate). It’s Kate’s 30th Birthday so it has to be bold, it has to be big, and it has to be crazy. Charlie is newly engaged to her soon to be wife, Evie is married to her rude and rich husband, and then there’s Kate. Kate didn’t want a huge birthday bash, but she’s about to get one and what happens next is exactly what every coming of age story is all about: the craziness that ensues at the unwanted huge birthday party.
Girls Trip came out in 2017 and is about four women: Ryan Pierce, Lisa Cooper, Dina, and Sasha Franklin. This story begins when Ryan is asked to be the keynote speaker at the Essence Music Festival which sparks the four of them to take a trip together to New Orleans. Because the four have grown apart in their life endeavors, conflicts erupt in the days to come that they spent together before Ryan’s big conference.
Wine Country came out in 2019 and is about six women: Abby, Val, Naomi, Jenny, Rebecca, and Catherine. This story also centers around a birthday, this time a 50th birthday. The ladies are celebrating Rebecca’s 50th birthday by taking a trip up to Napa Valley. These long time friends run into some snags as they are reminded of why they haven’t seen each other in just so long.
So why were these stories told? Why do these stories matter? For the longest time it seemed that every facet of media cared about how diverse it was based on race, gender, (maybe) sexuality, but never age. People seem to be dehumanized past the point where they “figure it all out.” A perfect example of this is in The Devil Wears Prada where Miranda Priestly is more of a monster with a latte than she is a woman. However, as all of our moms can tell us, that’s not true. Our moms are the cool moms that they claim to be, we just don’t really want to see that. Inclusivity matters in all facets of life no matter how small. Everyone wants to see themselves represented on the big screen and who we are changes as we age. I, myself, have watched and loved all of these films for the dual reason of loving these actresses, writers, directors, and producers; and because even at the age of 20, my little cousin Rafael — who is seven — is already calling me old. With that idea in mind, it’s comforting to watch movies about awesome women who are living their lives, working their jobs, getting married, divorced, are scared, happy, and are still keeping up with their high school and college friends and having ridiculous fun and ridiculous hangovers. Just as teenagers don’t seem to have it all together, 20-somethings aren’t quite there yet either, and neither are 30-somethings, 40-somethings, or 50-somethings! We’re all going through life trying to figure life out one decade at a time, so why not give each decade that coming of age story it needs?
