From the Teen Film to the Emerging Adult Film: The Road to Adulthood in Say Anything (1989) and High Fidelity (2000)

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.