Back to School 3—The Classics

We’re taking a few weeks to study the genre of back to school films that have been produced in order to be able to create a back to school film that’s innovative and doesn’t just tread over old ground.

This week, let’s look at the classic back to school films of Rebel Without a Cause [1955] and The Last Picture Show [1971]. Why are these considered classics? I think it’s because they deal with the rawest of emotions—and they deal with emotions that aren’t tied up in nice, neat bows by the end of the film.

Rebel Without a Cause has the added benefit of starring James Dean—an actor who, tragically, died young. And because of that, he’s taken on a bit of a cult following. But I think the film would have still have been a classic without the cult following that Dean engendered. Because this film is about the universal theme of teenage alienation—in school amongst one’s peer group and out of school in one’s family. As a writer, pay attention, when you see this film, to how Dean’s character, Jim, gets his angst across without saying much. It’s important to see that how you write the action between the dialogue lines can be more important than the dialogue itself in communicating a character’s angst.

The Last Picture Show has also achieved the level of ‘classic’ status. It tells the story of a dying town in Texas and the teens who live there as they contemplate leaving high school. One will stay in town, one will go to college, the brother of one will die, and one will head to the army, and eventually Korea. What makes this film resonate is the emotions these teens experience in this final summer together. There’s a lot of death in this film in addition to the teen who dies. An older, wise confidant of one of the teens dies, lots of dreams die, love certainly dies, and an era dies. All this, set against the backdrop of this dying Texas town where things are so bad that even the small movie theatre is having to close—hence the title of the film.

In both of these films, the writing is so beautiful you hardly know it’s there. The characters seem to speak without contrivance, no emotions felt or discussed seem to be trite, and there are surprises along the way. But most importantly, both films are very serious explorations of what it means to be young, to be limited by your surroundings and the adults in them, and to watch your dreams turn to dust. Neither of these films is about a happy ending—instead each is about looking into a way of life and the feelings and frustrations that come with being teens on the precipice of the rest of your life.

If this is the kind of film you want to write, you have a hard road ahead of you because it’s difficult to deal with these emotions so truthfully. But hey, why not aspire to greatness?

Next week: Based on the Classics.

Copyright © Diane Lake

23Sep18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com