I finally got around to watching a DVD from Netflix that’s been sitting on the coffee table for about a month (thank goodness for that “no late fees” policy!). The movie was House of D. In the movie a thirteen-year-old comes of age through loss, grief, and escape. As an adult, and a father, he returns to the place of his childhood in order to reconnect and move on.
Coming of age stories touch on powerful issues related to identity, self, and emotional process. At around age 10 something shifts developmentally within us. For the first time we become self-aware in new ways, and, we become more keenly aware of the emotional process at play in our families and relationships. The genre can be very effective as a vehicel in teaching about self, identity, and family emotional process. Here’s a list of some coming-of-age stories, in books and films. How many do you know?
Road to Perdition (12 year old boy and father)
National Velvet (13 year old girl and her horse)
Shane (10 year old boy, father, and gunslinger)
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (13 year old girl and father)
Treasure Island (10 year old boy and pirates, leaving home)
Johnny Tremain (10 year old boy and revolutionary war)
Where the Red Fern Grows (10 year old boy in depression-era Ozark mountains)
The Navigator (Disney film. 10 year old boy and lost family)
Harry Potter (10 year old+ boy and lost family)
Huckleberry Finn (10 year old misfit and absent father)
Seabiscuit (10 year old boy separated from family, grows up to race the famouse racehorse)
Tom Sawyer (13 year old orphan)
Madeline (Of his books, author and illustrator Ludwick Bemelmans said, “We are writing for children, but not for idiots.”)
The Kid (Fantasy-comedy, 2000. 8 year old boy meets himself as an adult)
David Copperfield (10 year old orphan)
Great Expectations (10 year old orphan)
The Sandlot (friendship among 10 year olds. Father-son issues)
Stand by Me (a group of 10-year-olds form friendships)
A Wrinkle in Time (10 year old boy and 13 year old girl and lost father)
Something Wicked This Way Comes (10 year old boy small town)
Dandelion Wine (10 year old boy, family)
The Yearling (10 year old boy, father, mother, pet)
The Black Stallion (10 year old boy and his horse)
Catcher in the Rye (late bloomer)
How Green Was My Valley (10 year old in Welsh mining town)
Angela’s Ashes (Memoir about coming of age in Ireland)
To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee’s coming of age in the South novel)
The Red Pony (Steinbeck novel of a 10 year old boy)
The Ant Bully (10 year old boy learns life lessons)
Oliver Twist (10 year old orphan story by Dickens. Said to be the first English novel to center on a child character)
The Golden Compass (11 year old girl)
Unbreakable (Movie. 10 year old and dad hero-worship. Awareneww of mom & dad’s relationship)
Persepolis (10 year old Iranian coming of age memoir)
The Lord of the Flies (10 year olds isolated from society come of age)
Anne Frank: Diary of a Young girl.
A Google search will reveal numerous lists of coming-of-age novels and films.
What are some of your favorite coming-of-age stories?
What was life like for you as a ten-year-old?
Dead Poets Society has always been my favorite movie, from an Educator’s standpoint, but I now realize from a coming of age as well. A more recent film, Juno, is a modern day coming of age film as well.
As you know, I have had to reflect recently on my own family systems. At the age of 10, 11, 12, I was just coming out of the shadow of my three older brothers and finally getting my own room, while at the same time, staying under the “only baby girl” shadow of my parents.
It is interesting that the significance of the age of 10 comes at the same time that we transition from elementary school into middle school. That is a coming of age moment right there, and to do it while facing the other obstacles is significant.