American Teen Analysis

American Teen

In American Teen, Nanette Burstein attempts to portray the high school experience of typical American teenagers, by following a few different teens in Warsaw. This quote from Ela Taylor definitely illustrates the adversity and peer pressure teenagers are facing in our present society American teen depicts effectively the struggles and the successes American teens have to face. High school experience is an important part of a teenager's life because it's at a stage where they are trying to understand themselves and figuring out their identity. At a glance, the five teenagers in this movie seem as though they could not be more different from one to another. Despite their differences, they are all facing problems that need to be overcome. Often, viewers' question the reality of what is shown. One of the reason why is because they are used to one type of reality, such as the one from The Hills, which only portrays the side of reality that viewers want to see. Meanwhile, in this movie, both faces of reality is shown, where teenagers have to struggle to eventually succeed. This is definitely not something viewers are used to. Of course, most argue how the happy ending for all five teens makes the story hard to believe and stereotypical because they get all they wanted. Obviously, in real life, this kind of scenario does not always happen, but in this case it did and it could be having been pure chance. They did get what they wanted, but Burstein displayed the entire process the teens had to go through in order to obtain it. Thus, life is portrayed in a more realistic way where we see parents putting pressure their children to succeed. Teenagers are going to go through tough times and work their way back up on their own. Unlike The Hills, where only a part of their lives are exposed and editors make it look as if that was their every life, American Teen depicts both sides of their lives and that's reality. The Hills portrays life as being something easy and fun, but the truth is that life is hard and American Teen shows that side of life. In addition, family plays a crucial role in the teenager's lives. Here, although parents put pressure on their children, they ultimately want them to succeed and still support them. For example, Colin's dad kept putting pressure on him to get the scholarship. The pressure was getting to him, but in the end his dad did this for his son's sake. All in all, Burstein was able to approach reality in a completely different way by making it look as much as possible like everyday life.

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