The Age When Nothing Fits

The teen film has become so ubiquitous in recent years that it’s easy to forget it is still a relatively modern phenomenon. The word “teenager” only became part of the general lexicon in the early 1900s, and it took several decades for American cultural marketeers to work out that they could capitalise on this untapped demographic. American filmmakers virtually ignored adolescents until the middle of the 20th century, both in cinematic depictions and as a potential audience. As far as Hollywood was concerned, children were children until they were not, so the appearance of adolescent characters on screen was rare and usually unimportant.