Coming-of-Age Film Comparisons
Having discussed Portrait and coming-of-age in general in more details during class has made me slightly more attuned to the elements of coming-of-age stories. I’ve started noticing these patterns in a few of my favorite movies, so perhaps a comparison of them to Portrait is worthwhile.
On his blog, Dylan mentioned the movie Breaking Away, one of my favorite movies probably (and not just because it features biking and Campagnolo bikes, although that is definitely a big reason). It’s a classic coming-of-age film, particularly in the sense that Dave becomes disillusioned with the thing he most believed in - Italian culture and cyclists. He’s in a bike race where he was ahead of these professional Italian cyclists, but they sabotage him and he doesn’t finish the race. When he comes home, instead of calling his mom and dad “papa” and “mama”, he returns to his American lingo. He tears down every single poster of Italy in his room and starts calling his cat Jake instead of Fellini. But he finds his inspiration for biking and realizes that Italians aren’t as perfect as he though. This reminded me a lot of how Stephen was extremely pious and almost became a priest, but realizes that it’s not what he wants to do. And in other ways, he believes less in the authorities that be. Both Dave and Stephen have to navigate what they believe in and what they truly want to do as part of their coming-of-age narratives.
Another one of my favorite movies is a Yugoslav classic, Tito i Ja. It features a similar disillusionment with authority figures, but also replacing them with newfound respect. The main character Zoran goes on a “journey to Tito’s homeland”, which essentially is a trip for city kids to hike across the Zagorje region in Croatia to visit the president Josip Broz Tito’s childhood house. They follow the routes of the Partisans, who liberated Yugoslavia from the fascists after WWII, so the movie focuses a lot on the culture of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1950s (in a positive light, I should say, as it’s a 90s movie for adults growing up in the 50s). Zoran is obsessed with Tito, and gets to go on the trip by writing a poem about how he “loves Tito more than his parents” (which shocks his capitalist aunt and uncle, who live in the same house as him). He also is obsessed with this girl Jasna, who’s definitely a good foot taller than him. By the end of the trip, Zoran realizes that he actually loves his parents, and comes to realize that Tito is overhyped. When they are invited to meet him, he doesn’t surround him like the other kids. He also becomes disillusioned with the entire idea that Jasna is some sort of heavenly superwoman, and sees that she’s actually really horrible to him. He becomes friends with a girl who’s been nice to him the whole time, and they both stand up for each other. He starts having a healthier, less binary or obsessive mindset about politics, his family, and friends/girlfriends, in a lot of ways that is similar to Stephen.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is a Ghili movie by Hayao Miyazaki about a 13-year-old witch who goes to a big city to do her witch training, and ends up doing a delivery service for a bakery (since flying on a broom is extremely efficient). It’s a really beautiful movie, with a city that is based on Visby and Stockholm, but also with a lot of very Japanese elements to it. The story was based on a children’s book, with the same character but each chapter was sort of just a fun adventure story about certain things that Kiki had to deliver. But then Miyazaki took all of the episodes and essentially wove together the most important ones into a story about Kiki’s crucial coming-of-age. I found this turning of episodes into a more linear story with fuzzy time periods very similar to the structure of Portrait. And on top of this, Kiki also goes through various similar coming-of-age things, like finding what her passion and motivation is. It’s also a phenomenal film in terms of specifically female coming-of-age, and in general Miyazaki makes what I think are the most compelling female coming-of-age stories, despite being a male filmmaker. So if you’re looking for a break from the male-centric viewpoint of Stephen, I’d give this movie a watch.
All of these films and Portrait share a similar search for oneself, a disillusionment with authority, finding positive relationships, and feature an episodic structure that highlights key moments of the character's development.
Also I was scrolling r/me_irl today and I found a great little comic. If it doesn't sum up Stephen Dedalus then I don't know what does.
On his blog, Dylan mentioned the movie Breaking Away, one of my favorite movies probably (and not just because it features biking and Campagnolo bikes, although that is definitely a big reason). It’s a classic coming-of-age film, particularly in the sense that Dave becomes disillusioned with the thing he most believed in - Italian culture and cyclists. He’s in a bike race where he was ahead of these professional Italian cyclists, but they sabotage him and he doesn’t finish the race. When he comes home, instead of calling his mom and dad “papa” and “mama”, he returns to his American lingo. He tears down every single poster of Italy in his room and starts calling his cat Jake instead of Fellini. But he finds his inspiration for biking and realizes that Italians aren’t as perfect as he though. This reminded me a lot of how Stephen was extremely pious and almost became a priest, but realizes that it’s not what he wants to do. And in other ways, he believes less in the authorities that be. Both Dave and Stephen have to navigate what they believe in and what they truly want to do as part of their coming-of-age narratives.
Another one of my favorite movies is a Yugoslav classic, Tito i Ja. It features a similar disillusionment with authority figures, but also replacing them with newfound respect. The main character Zoran goes on a “journey to Tito’s homeland”, which essentially is a trip for city kids to hike across the Zagorje region in Croatia to visit the president Josip Broz Tito’s childhood house. They follow the routes of the Partisans, who liberated Yugoslavia from the fascists after WWII, so the movie focuses a lot on the culture of socialist Yugoslavia in the 1950s (in a positive light, I should say, as it’s a 90s movie for adults growing up in the 50s). Zoran is obsessed with Tito, and gets to go on the trip by writing a poem about how he “loves Tito more than his parents” (which shocks his capitalist aunt and uncle, who live in the same house as him). He also is obsessed with this girl Jasna, who’s definitely a good foot taller than him. By the end of the trip, Zoran realizes that he actually loves his parents, and comes to realize that Tito is overhyped. When they are invited to meet him, he doesn’t surround him like the other kids. He also becomes disillusioned with the entire idea that Jasna is some sort of heavenly superwoman, and sees that she’s actually really horrible to him. He becomes friends with a girl who’s been nice to him the whole time, and they both stand up for each other. He starts having a healthier, less binary or obsessive mindset about politics, his family, and friends/girlfriends, in a lot of ways that is similar to Stephen.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is a Ghili movie by Hayao Miyazaki about a 13-year-old witch who goes to a big city to do her witch training, and ends up doing a delivery service for a bakery (since flying on a broom is extremely efficient). It’s a really beautiful movie, with a city that is based on Visby and Stockholm, but also with a lot of very Japanese elements to it. The story was based on a children’s book, with the same character but each chapter was sort of just a fun adventure story about certain things that Kiki had to deliver. But then Miyazaki took all of the episodes and essentially wove together the most important ones into a story about Kiki’s crucial coming-of-age. I found this turning of episodes into a more linear story with fuzzy time periods very similar to the structure of Portrait. And on top of this, Kiki also goes through various similar coming-of-age things, like finding what her passion and motivation is. It’s also a phenomenal film in terms of specifically female coming-of-age, and in general Miyazaki makes what I think are the most compelling female coming-of-age stories, despite being a male filmmaker. So if you’re looking for a break from the male-centric viewpoint of Stephen, I’d give this movie a watch.
All of these films and Portrait share a similar search for oneself, a disillusionment with authority, finding positive relationships, and feature an episodic structure that highlights key moments of the character's development.
Also I was scrolling r/me_irl today and I found a great little comic. If it doesn't sum up Stephen Dedalus then I don't know what does.
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ReplyDeleteThe comic at the end really got me ahhah. I loved this blog post, as we are constantly surrounded by media portrayals of coming-of-age stories that not only are similar to Stephen's journey, but essentially are examples for us as we develop. I watched a lot of Disney TV shows growing up, and I'd say watching Alex Russo's coming-of-age narrative throughout all the seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place taught me "how to grow up" (and made me dream of being a wizard but you know, it's fine) and reassured me that the cringe moments, like Stephen's, are normal as we age. I'll add that the whole concept of Alex was chosen as the family wizard in this show is similar to how Stephen was asked by the priest to consider priesthood -- a vocation they both subconsciously prioritized (initially for the wrong reason) and spent lots of thought/time grappling with.
ReplyDeleteI freaking LOVE Kiki's Delivery Service. I think a lot of Studio Ghibli movies are also coming of age, episodic type movies (also 15/10, definitely should see absolutely all of them). The most popular one I think is Spirited Away, which follows Chihiro on her journey from kind of a spoiled brat to a mature young girl. Two of my personal favorites are Whisper of the heart and The Cat Returns, which kind of follow the same pattern of following their main heroine who's a little brash and rough and bratty and transforms them into confident driven young women. It is remarkable, as you pointed out, Hayao Miyazaki's ability to create coming of age stories for females that don't feel condescending and are very compelling.
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